2019-08-06T03:17:00-07:00
How does a Muslim understand the texts of the story of the two sons of Adam in the Qur’an?
First, we must convey the story found in the Old Testament and the Talmud, so that we know the true source of a Muslim’s awareness as he reads the Qur’an.
(Genesis 4)
1 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have obtained a man from the Allah.”
2 Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the land.
3 And it came to pass after some days, that Cain offered of the fruits of the ground an offering to the Allah.
4 And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his sheep and of their fat. Then the Allah looked on Abel and his offering.
5 But he did not look to Cain and his offering. Then Cain became very angry, and his face fell.
6 Then the Allah said to Cain, “Why are you angry? and why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do good, will you not be exalted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its longing is for you, and you have dominion over it.”
8 And Cain spoke to his brother Abel. And it came to pass, while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 Then the Allah said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said: “I don’t know!” Am I my brother’s keeper?
10 Then he said, “What have you done?” The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.
11 Now therefore are you cursed by the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand!
12 When you till the ground, it will no longer give you its strength. You will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth.”
13 Then Cain said to the Allah, “My transgression is too great to bear.
14 For today you have driven me out from the face of the earth, and from your presence I will be hidden, and I will be a wanderer and a fugitive in the land, and everyone who finds me will kill me.”
15 Then the Allah said to him, “Therefore everyone who kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the Allah made a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
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As for the Talmud
The story contains other details, including fire falling on the offering, which is evidence of its acceptance… and it contains information about the existence of two twin sisters for each one, and Adam commanded that they marry the other’s sister. Abel accepted and Cain rejected because he wanted to marry his twin sister.
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What about Islam?
The story of the two sons of Adam in Islam has two forms: the narration of the Holy Qur’an and the narration of religious heritage books (interpretations, hadiths, and stories of the prophets).
We will start by narrating heritage books
– What are the reasons for the revelation of the story of the two sons of Adam in the Holy Qur’an?
According to Al-Tabari’s interpretation
The saying regarding the interpretation of the Almighty’s saying: {And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam in truth when they offered an offering, and it was accepted from one of them and it was not accepted from the other} Allah Almighty says in His mention of His Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him: And recite to these Al-Yahoud who intended to extend their hands to you, upon you and upon your companions with you. They knew the unpleasant consequences of injustice and deception, the bad consequences of injustice and breaking a covenant, the reward of a breaker and the reward of a faithful one, the story of the two sons of Adam, Abel and Cain, and what the command of the obedient one of them to his Allah who fulfilled his covenant led to, and what the command of the disobedient of them became to his unjust Allah who broke his covenant. So let the Al-Yahoud know about this and their treachery and their breaking of their covenant between you and them.
– What is the story of my son Adam?
In Tafsir al-Tabari
¤ On the authority of Ibn Abbas, he said: It was their business that he was not poor and should be given alms, but rather the offering was offered by the man. So while the two sons of Adam were sitting, they said: If only we would offer an offering! If a man offered an offering and Allah pleased him, he would send fire to him and it would consume him, and if Allah was not pleased with him, the fire would disappear. So they offered an offering, and one of them was a shepherd, and the other was a ploughman, and the owner of the sheep offered the best and fattest of his sheep, and the other offered the most hated of his crops, so the fire came and descended on their yin, and it ate the sheep and left the crops. And the son of Adam said to his brother: Do you walk among the people when they know that you have offered an offering and it is accepted from you and returned to me? No, by Allah, people do not look at me and at you, and you are better than me! He said: I will kill you! His brother said to him: What is my fault? Allah only accepts it from the pious.
¤ Al-Harith told me, he said: Abdul Aziz told us, he said: Sufyan told us, on the authority of Mansour, on the authority of Mujahid, in his saying: {And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam with the truth when they offered an offering} He said: Abel and Cain, so Abel offered a hug from the best of his sheep, and Cain offered crops from Plant it. He said: So the fire consumed the bunches, but did not consume the crops, so {He said, “I will kill you.” He said, “Allah only accepts from the righteous.”}
He said to his friend: I will kill you! So he killed him, and Allah made one of his legs grow from its leg to its thigh until the Day of Resurrection, and He made his face toward the sun wherever it turned, an enclosure of ice in the winter, and on it in the summer an enclosure of fire, and with him seven properties. Whenever one king went, another came.
¤ Ibn Hamid told us, he said: Salamah told us, on the authority of Ibn Ishaq, on the authority of some of the people of knowledge of the first book: that Adam ordered his son Cain to marry his sister, Abel’s twin, and he commanded Abel to marry his sister, Cain’s twin. So Abel submitted to that and was satisfied, but Cain refused and hated it. He was proud of Abel’s sister, and desired his sister on behalf of Abel, and said: We are the birth of Paradise and they are of the birth of Earth, and I have more right to my sister. Some of the scholars of the first book say: Cain’s sister was one of the best of people, so he thought highly of her. His brother wanted it for himself, so Allah knows what that was. His father said to him: Son, it is not permissible for you! Cain refused to accept that from his father’s words, so his father said to him: O my son, offer an offering, and your brother Abel should offer an offering, so whichever of you accepts his offering is more deserving of it. Cain was to sow the land, and Abel was to take care of the livestock, so Cain offered wheat and Abel offered the firstborn of his sheep – and some of them say: he offered a cow – so Allah sent white fire, which consumed Abel’s offering and left Cain’s offering, and thus he would accept the offering if he accepted it.
– As for the interpretation of the verses
¤ {I want you to bear my sin and your sin.}
That is, I want you to bear the sin of killing me. So he omitted murder and merely mentioned the sin, since its meaning was understood by those who were addressing it. Others said: The meaning of that is: I want you to bear the sin of my sin, so that you may bear the burden of it and your sin in killing me. This is a statement I found on the authority of Mujahid, and I fear it is a mistake, because the correct version of the narration from him is what we mentioned before.
¤ {So his soul volunteered for him}
He said: He thought he wanted to kill his brother, so he killed him. Then they disagreed about the formula for killing him, how it was, and the reason for which he killed him. Some of them said: They found him sleeping and smashed his head against a rock.
¤ {Then Allah sent a crow searching the earth to show him how to hide his brother’s body. He said, “Oh my Allah, I am unable to be like this crow so I can hide my brother’s body.” So he became one of those who regret.}
Abu Jaafar said: This is also one of the evidence that the opinion regarding the matter of the two sons of Adam is contrary to what Amr narrated on the authority of Al-Hasan. Because if the two men whose characteristics Allah described in this verse had been from the Children of Israel, the killer would not have been unaware of the burial of his brother and the hiding of his brother’s body, but they were from the offspring of Adam and would have been crucified. The killer among them was his brother. He did not know the Sunnah of Allah regarding the customs of the dead, and he did not know what to do with his murdered brother, so he mentioned that he was carrying him on his shoulder for a while until his corpse rested, so Allah loved him introducing the Sunnah to the dead of His creation, so He rewarded him with the two crows whose description he described in his book. He mentioned the news about People interpret what was done by the murderer of the two sons of Adam to his murdered brother after he killed him:
¤ {For this reason We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul for other than manslaughter or corruption in the land, it is as if he had killed all of mankind}
Allah Almighty means mentioning Him when He says: {For that reason} whoever commits that, his crime, and his crime. He says: Whoever causes the murderer to drag his brother from the two sons of Adam, whose story We have recounted for the crime he committed and the crime he committed, We prescribed for the children of Israel. It is said of him: I postponed this matter: that is, I dragged him to it and earned it. I postponed it for him, as you say: I took it by taking. And from that is the poet’s saying: And the people of Khaba Salih Dhati among them have fought in the immediate. I postpone it. By saying: I postpone it, he means: I am the neighbor to that and the offender. So the meaning of the speech: From the crime of the son of Adam who unjustly killed his brother, we ruled against the Children of Israel that whoever among them killed a soul unjustly for a soul other than the soul it killed, then he should be killed for it in qisas; {Or corruption on earth} He says: Or he kills a soul among them without causing any corruption on earth, and thus deserves to be killed. Its corruption on earth only occurs through war against Allah and His Messenger and intimidation of the path. And in the same way as we said
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From all of the above…..there are many observations
■ The story found in the books of interpretations of the Qur’an, the hadiths of the Prophet, and the books of the stories of the prophets that appeared 300 years after the revelation of the Qur’an, seems very identical to the narrative of the Old Testament and the Talmud, and the only difference between them is in the name of the murderer son… his name is in the Old Testament and the Talmud. He is Cain, and as for his name in the heritage books that reached Muslims, it is Cain.
This similarity appears to us to be significant, in that the Old Testament, the Talmud, and the Muslim heritage books all emerged from a single environment, mentality, and psychology, and they also emerged at the same time, but in different languages and in different styles.
Let’s analyze the story
When you read the story……you feel that the first two born, Adam and Eve, were born directly with professional and practical specializations. Each one has a profession and craft from which he obtains money to support their families….in a world with a population of 4 people…. ..and they master two crafts that require a large prior accumulation of knowledge………but the story does not talk about this……and they also choose two economic patterns that still exist to this day. Agriculture and grazing, but hunting does not exist?! .
One was planting fruits….and the other was grazing the spoils
But what about their father Adam…..what did he do?
Some will say… that it is an exaggeration on my part to ask such a question, and that the topic is a text that was found like this and does not tolerate such questions… and this is very true.
But….as long as the story is very keen on mentioning the professions and work of the two people, it is supposed to be very keen on mentioning their father’s work as well……..otherwise it would be better for the story to be simple and there is no need for this extreme care and focus. Mentioning their professions.
In other words, it would have been better for the story to talk about two sons of Adam, one of whom the Allah loved and the other who did not love him……….and there is no need for fruits and sheep…and there is no need for the story of a farmer and a shepherd…and it ended. the topic .
Why do they get closer to Allah?
The story is as if telling us that the two sons, immediately after their birth, did not know the Allah, but after a long time… until they grew up, they wanted to worship the Allah and become closer to Him.
Is it possible that Adam, who was created by the Allah and knew the Allah, and then their two sons came without knowing the Allah… Is it reasonable that the two sons throughout their lives did not draw closer to the Allah while they were the sons of Adam who knew the Allah?!
The coincidence is that they… wanted to get closer to the Allah at the same time… and it was as if they had agreed behind a stage to act out a scene for the audience, so the first entered carrying fruits and the other entered carrying sheep. The two are watching the result… and the audience is waiting.
Is it possible that getting closer to the Allah can only be achieved through food?
How did the two know that the Allah had accepted one of them, so the other became angry and killed his brother?
There must be a magical movement that connects the sky to the earth and gives logic to the story.
In the Old Testament, it is not mentioned how he knew…but the Talmud and the heritage books that reached the Muslim…say that the two knew the outcome through fire.
Now Abel and Cain are on stage… and the audience is watching the scene, and a magical movement must occur… suddenly… fire struck Abel’s offering… and this is proof to everyone that The Allah accepted it and left Cain’s offering.
The audience applauds Abel… and greets him warmly… so Cain gets angry and kills his brother.
Since the Allah made fire the indication that He accepted one of the sacrifices, the logical question is: Why did the Allah not address the two of them without fire, and that He accepted the sacrifice of one of them… In other words… Didn’t the Allah address Cain after he killed his brother? ….Why was the Allah silent and used fire to confirm his presence……..and did not use the call to confirm his existence as he confirmed it to Cain after he killed his brother.
The Allah could have called out to both of them: I accept your offering, O Abel, but I do not accept your brother’s offering… and there is no need for a story about fire.
Also…don’t you find the scene of Cain’s answer to the Allah in a kind of lack of reverence and sanctification…as if…Cain is on a stage and addressing a worthless person…when he says: « I don’t know! Am I my brother’s keeper?
Is it possible that a person who wanted to get closer to his Allah and his father, Adam, who was created by the Allah and knows the Allah well, would address his Allah in this way….. I do not know.
Would Cain lie to his Allah so simply, when the Allah knows everything?
Also…don’t you find that the scene depicts the Allah……. unable to punish Cain and did not send fire upon him…as he sent it when the sheep were devoured.
Don’t you find that the scene depicts the Allah helpless in front of humans, and depicts the Allah as lacking food and quick provision… while when killing, He is powerless?
I think that this is a completely unholy story. This is a story that does not sanctify the Allah. These texts are not given by the Allah to His servants.
What is the benefit of the story at all for people to know?!
What benefit will accrue to the person who believes in this story in his consciousness and life?
Two of them had two crafts… One of them the Allah accepted sheep but did not accept fruits… So one of them killed the other… And the murderer said, “Behave with the Allah.” So the Allah did not punish him unless he said to him: “So now you are cursed of the land.” And He granted him A sign so that no one would kill him.
As for the heritage books that reached the Muslim, the benefit is for Muhammad to recite to the Al-Yahoud the story of Adam’s two sons, Abel and Cain, and what the command of the obedient one of them to his Allah and faithful to his covenant led to, and what the command of the disobedient of them became to his unjust Allah, who broke his covenant.
The story is not convincing… not exciting… and does not make sense.
The most important point… As long as the Old Testament does not talk about other details… the most important question is… what is the purpose of the story of the sisters Abel and Cain in the Talmud… there is a secret… it is impossible for it to come up with something that is not found in their book the origin ?!
I think that the story of the two sisters was necessary to bring up, to partially treat the story or give it an interpretation… but it is not found in the book of the Old Testament… it exists in a different place… and this treatment was transferred to books. The heritage that reached the Muslim… in order to address that part… because that part is present in the text of the Holy Qur’an.
Is it possible that two brothers and they have two sisters… they are all brothers… so how can Abel’s sister be other than Cain’s sister… because they have twin sons?!
Abel wants to marry Cain’s sister… Ok… Cain is Abel’s brother… This means that Cain’s sister is Abel’s sister.
Can a person marry his sister?!
Then look…the Allah does not ask them…but Adam the father…asks each one of them to marry the other’s sister. You feel here that Adam in this scene was in the position of Allah, and the Allah disappeared so that he would not feel embarrassed in front of the majority of believers by requesting that a brother marry his sister.
Some will say the beginning of humanity was like this.
Not true…until we hear another absent party.
Another important point
It is found in the heritage that reached Muslims with the story of the crow that buried another crow in front of Cain and taught him how to bury his brother’s body.
The question… If humanity began and two sons emerged from it and each of them had a skill and a craft…agriculture and herding…there is awareness and knowledge from Allah…besides that they are the sons of Adam, the Muslim…is it possible? The beginning is this way, and the killer does not know how to bury his brother’s body. He has no information?
Is it possible that a bird, which is an animal of the earth, has an instinct, while a human being, who is also an animal of the earth, has no previous instinct?
How did the two of them know that drawing closer to Allah is through sheep and fruits, while neither of them knew how to bury his brother’s body?!
Then what is the benefit of burying the body of his brother?!… He killed him and the matter was over… Did the crow, when he buried another crow, make Cain feel that he was a Muslim and practice the Muslim burial method… So Cain was affected… How could the crow be a Muslim when he was? non Muslim?!
Does the scene of a crow burying another crow make a person regret… In other words… Why does the scene of a crow burying another crow not increase the person’s hatred and hatred more… Why did Cain’s Islamic sentiment appear only in this scene, while We did not show his emotion when he killed his brother, or when he offered a fruit offering to Allah.
Cain became humane after the story of the crow…and his humane affection did not appear with his brother while he was thinking of killing him.
According to the perception… that Cain… is the beginning of humanity and man, and it is natural that he does not know how to bury the dead… but is it possible that the crow reached Cain with information that he did not know before… so an innate emotion aroused within him that made him regret it? !
I don’t even know what burial means…and I don’t know that burial is a humane process, for example…so how can I regret a crow burying another crow…and I didn’t regret killing my brother at that time.
It was as if the director of the scene… wanted to convey to us information that Cain was an infidel…and knew Islam through the crow while he was burying his brother.
It was as if the director of the scene… wanted to sympathize with the Muslim’s heart more to make him accept the story.
It is as if the director wants to create a different story, rather than the real story, in order to convince the Muslim.
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I think that the story appears in its form to be Greek mythology…and there is no logic, meaning, or glorification in these texts.
Rather… I find it impossible for a cultural system to glorify its Creator and reach this level of perception towards its Creator… It is impossible for any cultural system to have its greatest sacred text reach this illogical level.
Yes
There must be a game…that tried to destroy an ancient culture and make it reach this conceptual level of its religious text.
Why ?
The game that the Muslim does not want to realize… is that the story of Cain and Abel is found in the book of the Allah Jehovah, the Old Testament… and it is very different from the story found in the book of Allah.
Because the story in the Book of Allah is:
{And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam in truth, when they offered an offering, and it was accepted from one of them, but it was not accepted from the other. He said, “I will kill you.” He said, “Allah only accepts from the righteous.” (27) If you extend your hand to me to kill me, I will not extend my hand to you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Allah of the worlds. (28) I want to You will bear my sin and your sin, and you will be among the companions of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the wrongdoers. (29) So his soul tempted him to kill his brother, so he killed him and became one of the losers. (30) Then Allah sent a crow searching the earth to show him how to cover up his brother’s bad. (31) For this reason We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul for other than for manslaughter or for corruption in the land, it is as if he had killed all of mankind, and whoever saves a life, it is as if he had saved all of mankind. And indeed Our messengers came to them with clear proofs. Then many of them after that are transgressors in the land.
■ Do the previous verses talk about any of the previous information present in the story of Cain and Abel?
no
The text is clear and simple
The text…does not talk about the names of Abel and Cain, and it does not talk about a farmer and a shepherd, and it does not talk about fruits, fruits and sheep, and it does not talk about fire, and it does not talk about two sisters, and it does not talk about two crows and one of them Bury the other.
So…..it’s all illusions
■ Where is the whole big story of Abel and Cain in the story in the Holy Quran?
There is nothing of that Greek story.
■ Does the Qur’an talk about Adam’s two sons…the first two children born to Adam?
no
The meaning is clear… my son Adam only… not Abel, nor Cain, nor Jehovah… so you are the son of Adam… and I am the son of Adam… and we are all sons of Adam, or sons. Adam.
Doesn’t the Qur’an, in its address to the people, say: O children of Adam, do not worship Shaytan…. So is it addressing the people or the first born of Adam?!
So… when the Qur’an says, “My son Adam… it means two sons of Adam… two people… two human beings.
■ Do the verses talk about a story that happened in the past before the revelation of the Qur’an?
no
The story is a news………………a prophecy
{And recite to them the truth about the two sons of Adam}
As long as the story is a prophecy…then it is certain that it occurred during the period of time between the revelation of the Qur’an and until today…that is, the story does not talk about the first two births of Adam.
■ What is the benefit of the story?
As long as the story is news… it is not for entertainment and enjoyment… it is not Greek plays… the prophecy talks about a real event… and it happened with the same details as the verse… the prophecy talks about a fact, About a real incident…about confirmed and certain information…because the truth and confirmed and certain information are fought by all the forces of Shaytan, because the truth will remove all illusions around people.
As long as the story speaks at the end of the children of Israel… it is not originally for all people… it does not pertain to all people… but rather pertains to a specific group… because if it had been the story of the first two births of Adam… it would have been the end The story is in the form: “For this reason We prescribed for the children of Adam”
■ So what is the story?
The story will be known if we know the correct answer to fundamental questions
How did one of the brothers know that Allah had accepted one of them, and why would he kill his brother because Allah had accepted from him, and what are the two sins…..the sin of the murdered and the sin of the murderer…and what is the relationship between the appearance of the West searching the earth and the remorse of the brother. …And what is the relationship of the children of Israel to the story?!
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Allah willing, in an upcoming article