The Story of Habil (Abel) and Qabil (Cain)
Allah describes the evil end and consequence of transgression, envy and injustice
in the story of the two sons of Adam, Habil and Qabil. One of them fought against
the other and killed him out of envy and transgression, because of the bounty
that Allah gave his brother and because the sacrifice that he sincerely offered to
Allah was accepted. The murdered brother earned forgiveness for his sins and
was admitted into Paradise, while the murderer failed and earned a losing deal in
both the lives. Allah said,
﴾ق
ّ َى ْءاَدَم ِباْلح
ْ عَلْيِهْم َنَبَأ اْبَن
َ ل
ُ ﴿َواْت
(And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam in truth;) meaning, tell
these envious, unjust people, the brothers of swine and apes from the Jews and
their likes among mankind, the story of the two sons of Adam, Habil and Qabil,
as many scholars among the Salaf and later generations said. Allah's statement,
﴾ق
ّح
َ ﴿ِباْل
(in truth;) means, clearly and without ambiguity, alteration, confusion, change,
addition or deletion. Allah said in other Ayat,
﴾ق
ّح
َ ص اْل
ُ ص
َ ن َهـَذا َلُهَو اْلَق
ّ ﴿ِإ
(Verily, this is the true narrative ﴿about the story of `Isa﴾,)
﴾ق
ّح
َ ك نَبَأُهم ِباْل
َ عَلْي
َ ص
ّ ن َنُق
ُح
ْ ﴿َن
(We narrate unto you their story with truth, ) and,
﴾ق
ّح
َ ل اْل
َ ن َمْرَيَم َقْو
ُ سى اْب
َ عي
ِ ك
َ ﴿ذِل
(Such is `Isa, son of Maryam. (It is) a statement of truth.) Several scholars
among the Salaf and the later generations said that Allah allowed Adam to marry
his daughters to his sons because of the necessity of such action. They also said
that in every pregnancy, Adam was given a twin, a male and a female, and he
used to give the female of one twin, to the male of the other twin, in marriage.
Habil's sister was not beautiful while Qabil's sister was beautiful, resulting in Qabil
wanting her for himself, instead of his brother. Adam refused unless they both
offer a sacrifice, and he whose sacrifice was accepted, would marry Qabil's sister.
Habil's sacrifice was accepted, while Qabil's sacrifice was rejected, and thus what
Allah told us about them occurred. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said
-- that during the time of Adam -- "The woman was not allowed in marriage for
her male twin, but Adam was commanded to marry her to any of her other
brothers. In each pregnancy, Adam was given a twin, a male and a female. A
beautiful daughter was once born for Adam and another one that was not
beautiful. So the twin brother of the ugly daughter said, `Marry your sister to me
and I will marry my sister to you.' He said, `No, for I have more right to my
sister.' So they both offered a sacrifice. The sacrifice of the one who offered the
sheep was accepted while the sacrifice of the other ﴿the twin brother of the
beautiful daughter﴾, which consisted of some produce, was not accepted. So the
latter killed his brother.'' This story has a better than good chain of narration. The
statement,
﴾ن
َ ن اْلُمّتِقي
َ ل ِم
ُّ ل ا
ُ ﴿ِإّنَما َيَتَقّب
("Verily, Allah accepts only from those who have Taqwa.) who fear Allah in their
actions. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abu Ad-Darda' said, "If I become certain
that Allah has accepted even one prayer from me, it will be better for me than
this life and all that in it. This is because Allah says,
﴾ن
َ ن اْلُمّتِقي
َ ل ِم
ُّ ل ا
ُ ﴿ِإّنَما َيَتَقّب
(Verily, Allah accepts only from the those who have Taqwa.) The statement,
َ ط َيِد
ى ٍس
ِ ك ِلَتْقُتَلِنى َمآ َأَنْا ِبَبا
َ ى َيَد
ّ ت ِإَل
َ سط َ ﴿َلِئن َب
﴾نَ ب اْلَعـَلِمي ّ ل َر
َّ ف ا ُ خا َ ك ِإّنى َأَ لْقُتَل
ّ كَ ِإَلْي
("If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand
against you to kill you, for I fear Allah; the Lord of all that exists.") Qabil's
brother, the pious man whose sacrifice was accepted because of his piety, said to
his brother, who threatened to kill him without justification,
َ ط َيِد
ى ٍس
ِ ك ِلَتْقُتَلِنى َمآ َأَنْا ِبَبا
َ ى َيَد
ّ ت ِإَل
َ سط
َ ﴿َلِئن َب
﴾ك
َ لْقُتَل
ّ ك
َ ِإَلْي
(If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand
against you to kill you,) I will not commit the same evil act that you threaten to
commit, so that I will not earn the same sin as you,
﴾ن
َ ب اْلَعـَلِمي
ّ ل َر
َّ ف ا
ُ خا
َ ﴿ِإّنى َأ
(for I fear Allah; the Lord of the all that exists.) and, as a result, I will not commit
the error that you threaten to commit. Rather, I will observe patience and
endurance. `Abdullah bin `Amr said, "By Allah! Habil was the stronger of the two
men. But, fear of Allah restricted his hand.'' The Prophet said in a Hadith
recorded in the Two Sahihs,
ُل َواْلَمْقُتول
ُ سْيَفيِهَما َفاْلَقاِت
َ ن ِب
ِ سِلَما
ْ جَه اْلُم
َ »ِإَذا َتَوا
«ِفي الّنار
(When two Muslims fight (meet) each other with their swords, both the murderer
as well as the murdered will go to the Hellfire.) They said, "O Allah's Messenger!
It is all right for the murderer, but what about the victim'' Allah's Messenger
replied,
«حِبه
ِ صا
َ ل
ِ على َقْت
َ صا
ً حِري
َ ن
َ »ِإّنه َكا
(He surely had the intention to kill his comrade.) Imam Ahmad recorded that, at
the beginning of the calamity that `Uthman suffered from, Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas
said, "I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah said,
،ن اْلَقاِئِم
َ خْيٌر ِم
َ عُد ِفيَهاِ ن ِفْتَنٌة الَقا
ُ سَتُكو
َ »ِإّنَها
َ خْيٌر ِم
ن َ شي ِ َواْلَما،شيِ ن اْلَما َ خْيٌر ِم
َ َواْلَقاِئُم
«عي ِ سا ّ ال
(There will be a Fitnah, and he who sits idle during it is better than he who stands
up, and he who stands up in it is better than he who walks, and he who walks is
better than he who is walking at a fast pace.) When he was asked, `What if
someone enters my home and stretched his hand to kill me' He said,
«ن آَدم
ِ ن َكاْب
ْ »ُك
(Be just like (the pious) son of Adam.)'' At-Tirmidhi also recorded it this way, and
said, "This Hadith is Hasan, and similar is reported on this subject from Abu
Hurayrah, Khabbab bin Al-Aratt, Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas`ud, Abu Waqid and Abu
Musa.'' The Qur'an continues,
ْ ن ِم
ن َ ك َفَتُكو
َ ﴿ِإّنى ُأِريُد َأن َتُبوَء ِبِإْثِمى َوِإْثِم
﴾نَ ظـِلِمي
ّ جَزآُء الَ ك َ ب الّناِر َوَذِل
ِ حـ َصْ َأ
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours, then you
will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the
wrongdoers.") Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi and Qatadah said that,
﴾ك
َ ﴿ِإّنى ُأِريُد َأن َتُبوَء ِبِإْثِمى َوِإْثِم
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours...") means,
the sin of murdering me, in addition to your previous sins. Ibn Jarir recorded this.
Allah's statement,
َح ِمن
َ صَب
ْ خيِه َفَقَتَلُه َفَأ
ِ ل َأ
َ سُه َقْت
ُ ت َلُه َنْفْ عَ طّو
َ ﴿َف
﴾ن َ سِريِ خـ
َ اْل
(So the soul of the other encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him the
murder of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers.) means,
his conscience encouraged him to kill his brother by making it seem like a
sensible thing to do, so he killed him, even after his brother admonished him. Ibn
Jarir said, "When he wanted to kill his brother, he started to twist his neck. So
Shaytan took an animal and placed its head on a rock, then he took another rock,
and similar is reported on this subject from Abu Hurayrah, Khabbab bin Al-Aratt,
Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas`ud, Abu Waqid and Abu Musa.'' The Qur'an continues,
ْ ن ِم
ن َ ك َفَتُكو
َ ﴿ِإّنى ُأِريُد َأن َتُبوَء ِبِإْثِمى َوِإْثِم
﴾ن
َ ظـِلِمي
ّ جَزآُء ال
َ ك
َ ب الّناِر َوَذِل
ِ حـ
َصْ َأ
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours, then you
will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the
wrongdoers.") Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi and Qatadah said that,
﴾ك
َ ﴿ِإّنى ُأِريُد َأن َتُبوَء ِبِإْثِمى َوِإْثِم
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours...") means,
the sin of murdering me, in addition to your previous sins. Ibn Jarir recorded this.
Allah's statement,
َح ِمن
َ صَب
ْ خيِه َفَقَتَلُه َفَأ
ِ ل َأ
َ سُه َقْت
ُ ت َلُه َنْفْ عَ طّو
َ ﴿َف
﴾ن َ سِريِ خـ
َ اْل
(So the soul of the other encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him the
murder of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers.) means,
his conscience encouraged him to kill his brother by making it seem like a
sensible thing to do, so he killed him, even after his brother admonished him. Ibn
Jarir said, "When he wanted to kill his brother, he started to twist his neck. So
Shaytan took an animal and placed its head on a rock, then he took another rock,
and smashed its head with it until he killed it while the son of Adam was looking.
So he did the same thing to his brother.'' Ibn Abi Hatim also recorded this.
`Abdullah bin Wahb said that `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said that his
father said, "Qabil held Habil by the head to kill him, so Habil laid down for him
and Qabil started twisting Habil's head, not knowing how to kill him. Shaytan
came to Qabil and said, `Do you want to kill him' He said, `Yes.' Shaytan said,
`Take that stone and throw it on his head.' So Qabil took the stone and threw it
at his brother's head and smashed his head. Shaytan then went to Hawwa' in a
hurry and said to her, `O Hawwa'! Qabil killed Habil.' She asked him, `Woe to
you! What does `kill' mean' He said, `He will no longer eat, drink or move.' She
said, `And that is death' He said, `Yes it is.' So she started to weep until Adam
came to her while she was weeping and said, `What is the matter with you' She
did not answer him. He asked her two more times, but she did not answer him.
So he said, `You and your daughters will inherit the practice of weeping, while I
and my sons are free of it.''' Ibn Abi Hatim recorded it. Allah's statement,
﴾ن
َ سِري
ِ خـ
َ ن اْل
َ ح ِم
َ صَب
ْ ﴿َفَأ
(And became one of the losers.) in this life and the Hereafter, and which loss is
worse than this Imam Ahmad recorded that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the
Messenger of Allah said,
ِلّول
َْ ن آَدَم ا
ِ عَلى اْب
َ نَ ل َكاّ ظْلًما ِإ
ُ س ٌ ل َنْفُ ل ُتْقَتَ»
«ن اْلَقْتل
ّس َ نْ ل َم
َ ن َأّو
َ لّنُه َكاَِ ،ن َدِمَها
ْ ل ِم ٌ ِكْف
(Any soul that is unjustly killed, then the first son of Adam will carry a burden of
its shedding, for he was the first to practice the crime of murder.) The Group,
with the exception of Abu Dawud, also recorded this Hadith. Ibn Jarir recorded
that `Abdullah bin `Amr used to say, "The son of Adam, who killed his brother,
will be the most miserable among men. There is no blood shed on earth since he
killed his brother, until the Day of Resurrection, but he will carry a burden from
it, for he was the first person to establish murder.'' Allah said,
َض ِلُيِرَيُه َكْيف
ِ لْر ّ ث ِفى ا ُ حَ غَرابًا َيْبُ ل ُّ ث ا
َ ﴿َفَبَع
َ ن َأُكو
ن ْ ت َأ
ُ جْز َع َ ل َيـَوْيَلَتا َأ
َ خيِه َقاِ سْوَءَة َأَ ُيَواِرى
َ صَب
ح ْ خى َفَأ ِ سْوَءَة َأ َ ي َ ب َفُأَواِرِ ل َهـَذا اْلُغَرا َ ِمْث
﴾ن َ ن الّنـِدِمي
َ ِم
(Then Allah sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him how to hide the
dead body of his brother. He (the murderer) said, "Woe to me! Am I not even
able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of my brother'' Then he
became one of those who regretted.) As-Suddi said that the Companions said,
"When his brother died, Qabil left him on the bare ground and did not know how
to bury him. Allah sent two crows, which fought with each other until one of them
killed the other. So it dug a hole and threw sand over the dead corpse (which it
placed in the hole). When Qabil saw that, he said,
ِ ل َهـَذا اْلُغَرا
ب َ ن ِمْث
َ ن َأُكو
ْ ت َأ
ُ جْز َعَ ﴿َيـَوْيَلَتا َأ
﴾خى ِ سْوَءَة َأ
َ ي َ َفُأَواِر
("Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of
my brother'') `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "A crow came to
the dead corpse of another crow and threw sand over it, until it hid it in the
ground. He who killed his brother said,
ِ ل َهـَذا اْلُغَرا
ب َ ن ِمْث
َ ن َأُكو
ْ ت َأ
ُ جْز َعَ ﴿َيـَوْيَلَتا َأ
﴾خى ِ سْوَءَة َأ
َ ي َ َفُأَواِر
(Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of
my brother)'' Al-Hasan Al-Basri commented on the statement,
﴾ن
َ ن الّنـِدِمي
َ ح ِم
َ صَب
ْ ﴿َفَأ
(Then he became one of those who regretted.) "Allah made him feel sorrow after
the loss that he earned.''
