3. QABIL AND HABIL: THE FIRST CRIME OF MURDER IN HUMANITY

STORIES OF THE PROPHETS

IN AL-QURAN

(Lessons that we can extract, lessons that we can apply)

(Teaser extraction from the book)

QABIL AND HABIL: THE FIRST CRIME OF MURDER IN HUMANITY

When Adam a.s. and Hawa’ came to earth, they descended to different places Ibnu ‘Abbas narrated that the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said that Adam a.s. descended to India while Hawa’ was sent down to Jeddah.  Adam a.s. then roamed the earth in search for Hawa’ and they finally met in Arafat.

Al-Tabary narrated that Hawa’ delivered from Adam a.s. forty children in twenty occasions.  Each time she delived a twin boy and girl.  The first pair was Qabil (Cain) and his sister Kelin, and the last were Abd Al-Mugheeth and his twin sister Al-Mugheeth.  At that time, a brother was permitted to marry a sister, as long as the brother did not marry his own twin sister.  Thereafter when enough generations were born, Allah s.w.t. commanded that brothers could no longer marry their own sisters.

Habil was a kind and gentle person while Qabil was callous.  Qabil was a farmer and while Habil tended to animals.  There was already animosity between Qabil and Habil over marriage to their sisters.  Qabil wanted to marry his own twin sister who was more beautiful than Habil’s twin sister, but Adam a.s. would not allow him to do so.  Qabil was not happy and felt jealous of his brother, and angry with the law that would not allow him to marry the sister of his own choice.

 When Adam a.s. decided to choose Habil as his successor, it made Qabil furious.  He told his father that he should be the one to succeed him (Adam a.s.) as the Prophet as he was older than Habil.  Adam a.s. decided to leave it to Allah s.w.t. to resolve this dispute.  Adam a.s. told both Qabil and Habil to each make a sacrifice to Allah s.w.t. the one whose sacrifice Allah s.w.t. accepted would be the one who would be appointed as his successor.

Habil sacrificed the best sheep from his herd.  Qabil thought that since Allah s.w.t. would not eat his crops, he did not have to sacrifice his best grains.  So be brought some spoiled corns as his sacrifice.  A thunderbolt came down from heaven and burnt Habil’s sheep to ashes while Qabil’s corn was left untouched.  This meant that Allah s.w.t. had accepted Habil’s offering.  Habil thus became Adam’s a.s. appointed successor.  Qabil grew even more jealous.  At that point he really hated his brother.

Iblis took this opportunity to instigate Qabil and whispered to him that he should get rid of his brother, Habil.  Qabil then started to plot his brother’s murder.  One night, while Habil was sleeping, Qabil took a rock and smashed his brother’s skull and killed him.  No one had died before this incident, so there was no precedence as to what to do with someone who had died.  Qabil, confused with his situation, put Habil’s dead body in a sack and ran away; not knowing what he should do next.

Allah s.w.t. then sent down before him two crows and had one crow killed the other.  The surviving crow then dug a hole with its beak and buried the carcass of the dead crow in it.  Seeing this Qabil realized that this was what he had to do and he buried his brother the same way.  Qabil was sorry for what he had done and for allowing his pride and jealousy to get the better of him.  However, while he had shown remorse, he did not ask for Allah’s s.w.t. forgiveness.

After murdering his brother, Qabil ran away with his wife and went to live in the plains to start his own family.  Soon they became a community.  Due to them being away from Adam a.s. and his teachings, this community gradually became engrossed in sins, wrongdoings, and deviations from the religion of Allah s.w.t.

Adam a.s. and Hawa’ missed Habil, and prayed to Allah s.w.t. for another son just like him.  The prayers were answered when Hawa’ gave birth to Sheeth which means ‘Gift of Allah’, the only time Hawa’ did not give birth to twins.  Before Adam a.s. died, an Angel descended to earth to inform that Sheeth was to become his successor as the next Prophet.

Adam a.s. lived 960 years as narrated in many Hadiths.  During his last days, Adam a.s. told his sons that he longed for the fruits from Paradise.  His sons set forth in search of these fruits when they were met by Angels disguised as humans.  When Hawa’ saw the Angels coming, she knew who they were and their purpose of coming to see Adam a.s.  Hawa’ died one year after Adam’s death.

To be continued…

(Enjoy and read the full version from the book)