In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent
Relate to them in all truth the story of the two sons of Adam: how each offered a sacrifice and the offer of the one was accepted while that of the other was not. (The latter) said: “I will surely kill you.” (The other) replied: “Allah accepts only from the righteous. Even if you lay your hand on me to kill me, I shall not lift my hand to kill you: for I fear Allah, the lord of all worlds. I would rather, you should add your sin against me to your other sins, and thus you will be destined to the fire; for this is the just retribution of the wrongdoers.”
His evil soul drove him to kill his brother: he murdered him and thus he became one of the lost. Allah then sent a raven which scratched the earth to show him how to bury the naked corpse of his brother. He cried out: “ Woe to me! Am I too weak to do what this raven has done and so bury my brother’s naked corpse.” He was then overwhelmed by remorse.
Because of this, we decreed to the children of Israel that whoever kills a human being, for anything other than in punishment of murder or for spreading corruption on earth, it shall be as though he killed all mankind. And that who ever saves a human life , it shall be as though he has saved all man kind. Our messengers brought them clear proofs (on the truth), but despite all this, many of them continue to commit excesses on earth.
(The Repast, “Al-Maidah:” 5; 27-32)
In the first part of this story of the two sons of Adam, one of them threatened to kill the other out of blind envy, after his own offering was not accepted while that of his brother was. His threats were met by a calm response of his brother who made it clear to him that he would not lift his hand to kill him in any situation because he feared Allah. He added a word of warning telling him that should he kill him, he would add a new sin to his old one and incur a double punishment in the life to come.
He depicted to him how loathsome to him was the very thought of committing murder in the hope that he would help him thus to resist the evil thoughts towards a peaceful brother. He explained to him that the sinful burden of a murder crime was too heavy that he would do well to avoid it in order not to end up with a double punishment. The only way to rid himself of it was to fear Allah. In his persuasion, he went as far as any man could go. But the example of an evil man cannot be properly depicted until we know what sort of response he made in such a persuasion: “His evil soul drove him to kill his brother; he murdered him and thus he became one of the lost”
After all these admonition and persuasion, in a perfectly peaceful and gentle approach, the evil soul prevailed and crime was committed. His evil soul was able to over-ride every hindrance and made him less resistant to the thought of killing. Thus he killed his own brother, only to be doomed: “Thus he became one of the lost.” He lost all as he brought himself into ruin, and lost his brother who should have been his friend and support.
He also lost his world, since a murderer can never be happy in life. Most certainly he lost his future life as he added his new sin to his earlier ones.
The ghastliness of his crime was made to appear to him in its most physical shape. The dead corpse of his brother started to rot and its nakedness became intolerable. Murderer as he was, he was soon made to realize his powerlessness as he did not know how to conceal the nakedness of his brother’s corpse. He was weaker than a raven among birds: “Allah then sent a raven which scratched the earth to show him how to bury the naked corpse of his brother. He cried out: “Woe to me, I am too weak to do what this raven has done and so bury my brother’s naked corpse. He was than overwhelmed by remorse.”
Some reports suggest that there were two ravens and one of them killed the other. Other reports suggest the that the raven found a dead raven or brought the dead one with him and started to scratch the earth and then buried the dead one. The murderer expressed his feelings in the way reported in the Quran and did like what he saw the raven do. It is clear that the murderer had never seen a dead man being buried. Otherwise he would have buried his brother. This may have been because the murdered brother was the first of Adam’s children to die on earth or may be because the killer was still young and had never seen a burial before. Either case is probable. It also appears that this remorse was not one of repentance. Otherwise, Allah would have accepted it from him. It was the sort of remorse which comes with the realization that one’s action is futile and leads to nothing but trouble.
It may be that the burial of the dead raven by his brother is something that ravens do as some people suggest, it may also be something super natural which Allah wanted to show to the killer at that particular time. To us, both cases are the same. The Creator Who gives every species of His creation its nature and habits can accomplish whatever He wills through anyone of His creatures. His power is merely indicated by either course.
The surah then makes use of the profound effect of relating the story in this particular manner in order to enhance the feeling which gives a positive response to the legislation enacted to achieve the dual purpose of weakening the motive to commit a murder and to establish the just punishment for such a crime whenever it is done: “Because of this, we decreed for the children of Israel that whoever kills a human being, for anything other than in punishment of murder or for spreading corruption on earth, it shall be as though he had killed all mankind.”
This type of person does exist and aggression is committed against peaceful and good-natured people who harbor neither grudge nor ill-feeling towards others. A reminder and a warning may achieve nothing with those who have an evil nature. Adopting a peaceful attitude may not be sufficient to prevent aggression. For all this, the ghastly crime of killing one person is considered so grave and so sordid that it is equated with the crime of killing all mankind. On the other hand, efforts to prevent killing and to spare the life of one person is considered a great action, equal to saving all mankind. The law given to the children of Israel included this principle which equates the life of any human being with every life. The right to live is applicable to all. Hence, killing one person is an aggression against the right to live which is common to all.
It should be clarified here that this rule applies to the people in the land of Islam, whether Muslims or not, as long as they are living under the protection of the Islamic authority. As for those who are in the land which is hostile to Islam, neither their lives nor their properties are protected unless they have concluded a peace treaty with the land of Islam. This legislative rule should be well remembered. We should also remember that the land of Islam is that in which the rule of Islam prevails and the Islamic law is implemented.
Allah has decreed this principle for the children of Israel, because at that time, they were the recipients of divine revelation and as such, they represented the land of Islam as long as they implemented the law of the Torah in its fullness, without any distortion. But the children of Israel exceeded their limits after Allah’s messengers came to them with clear proofs of the truth. Since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), numerous among them are those who commit excesses of all sorts. The Quran records against them these excesses as well as the fact that they have no argument to justify their errors after Allah’s messengers have come to them: “Our messengers brought them clear proofs (of the truth) but despite all this, many of them continue to commit excesses on earth.” What excess is greater than distorting or ignoring Allah’s law?