Then, in order to reduce the stormy evil in his brother’s evil soul, the believing, pious, calm, and peace-seeking brother (Abel) explains that he does not intend to kill him, even if his brother (Cain) intends to kill him, because he fears Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. In this way, an example of humility, peace, and piety is drawn in the most extreme situations; a situation that strongly arouses the human conscience, arouses a sense of sympathy for the victim against the aggressor, and makes his calmness and confidence in the face of the threat and his piety of heart admirable before the Lord of the Worlds.
Undoubtedly, in this gentle speech, there was what could eliminate resentment, calm envy, soothe evil, soothe troubled nerves, and return its owner to the kindness of brotherhood, the joy of faith, and the sensitivity of piety. Yes, this was enough, but in addition to warning and caution, the righteous brother adds, “إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِي وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ النَّارِ وَذَلِكَ جَزَاءُ الظَّالِمِينَ.” Translation: “I want you to return (to your Lord) with my sins and your sins (on the Day of Resurrection) and be among the inmates of the Fire. And this is the just punishment of Allah for the wrongdoers.”
If you stretch out your hand to me to kill me, it is not in my nature that I should do such an act against you, because this thought (the thought of killing) does not even enter my mind and my thoughts do not incline to it; out of fear of Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, not out of inability to do it, I leave you to bear the burden of the sin of killing me and add it to the sin for which Allah did not accept your sacrifice; as a result, your sin and punishment will be doubled, and this is the reward of the wrongdoers. Thus, he showed his compassion to him for the crime of murder in order to prevent his brother from what his soul tempted him to and to shame him from what his soul told him about his quiet, obedient, and pious brother.
Abel showed him the heavy burden of the sin of murder, to make him hate it and to make attractive to him the way of deliverance from the double sin through the fear of Allah, the Lord of the worlds. He accomplished the utmost that a man can do in warding off evil and its motives from the heart of another man.
Cain’s reaction to Abel
After the honorable stance of the believing Abel towards his brother Cain, who declared with a crushing word until the Day of Judgment, “لأَقتُلَنَّکَ” (I will surely kill you), and after that, Abel’s eloquent advice that aroused in the soul the meanings of faith, piety, and fear of Allah Almighty and His punishment in the Hereafter, as well as the affection of relative brotherhood and compassion towards his advising, trustworthy, and noble brother who avoided confronting evil with evil (even if he intended to kill him) and forgave, it was obligatory on the jealous and rebellious brother who had left the religion of Allah and had lost the characteristics of faith and piety to respond to the call of goodness and to the religious imperative and sound nature that Allah Almighty has created humans with.
But instead, his ego encouraged him to kill his brother and killed him; then he became one of the losers. Meaning: His ego made this act seem good to him and encouraged him to kill his brother, and he killed him, so he became one of the losers in this world and the Hereafter.
The instructor Crow
When Cain killed his brother Abel unjustly and without reason, he was helpless in the face of this heinous crime [while he was a murderer and oppressor] and did not know how to hide his brother’s body; so, Allah Almighty sent a crow to show him how to bury his brother. In this regard, Allah Almighty says: “فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ يَا وَيْلَتَا أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِي فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّادِمِينَ.” Translation: “(After killing, he did not know what to do with his body.) So Allah sent a crow (who had killed another crow) to dig the ground and show him how to bury his brother’s body. (When he saw how the crow hid the dead crow in the hole that it had dug) he said, “Woe to me!” Can I not be like this crow and bury my brother’s body?! So (he finally regretted what he had done for fear of disgrace, and due to the pressure of his conscience, he regretted his action) and was among the regretted people.”
The narrations say that a crow killed another crow, or found the corpse of a crow, or brought the corpse of a crow with him; then he started digging the ground and buried it and covered it with dust; so the murderer said the same thing and did the same thing that he had seen the crow do. After this incident, Cain regretted killing his brother because he did not benefit from it, and his parents and brothers were angry with him because of it; therefore, his regret was for these reasons, not because murder was a sin; therefore, his regret was not considered repentance and did not benefit him.
