The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 333
PT. 6 AL-MA'IDAH CH. 5 أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَلَمِينَ fear Allah, the Lord of the Universe. 664 انى أُرِيدُ اَنْ تَبُوا بِاثْى وَإِثْمِكَ I wish that thou shouldst. 30 bear my sin as well as thy sin, فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحُبِ النَّارِ وَذَلِكَ جَزْوا and thus be among the inmates الظَّلِمِينَ of the Fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong. '665 664. Commentary: 665. Important Words:. i. e راد I wish is derived from اريد The expression, I am not going to stretch out my hand against thee to kill thee, does not mean that Abel did not even desire to defend himself. These words only mean that if he were forced to stretch forth his hand towards his brother, it would not be with the intention of slaying him, but only in self-defence. The declaration was necessary, for there are cases in which both the slayer and the slain become equally guilty. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that not unoften "both the slayer and the slain go to Hell. " This ḥadīth obviously refers to such slain persons as engage in a fight with the intention of killing their opponents, but it so happens that the latter get the better of them and kill them. In such cases, the intention of both parties being equally criminal, both are guilty and both deserve to be cast into Hell. But Abel, who desired to live righteously and die righteously, would not stain his conduct even in a moment of extreme danger and wanted to take good care that he did not overstep the limits of the right of self-defence. he or it went to and fro; or he desired or sought (a thing). means, he intended or willed or wished or desired or sought. But sometimes the word does not express an actual will or wish but simply a practical state or condition likely to develop in a certain manner. The Arabs say of a seriously sick person (lit. he 773 wishes to die) meaning, he is about to die or his condition bespeaks of near- ness of death. The Quran says: we viz. the wall intended to fall down, i. e. it was about or ready to fall down (18:78) (Aqrab & Lane). Commentary: The verse does not mean, as some may be led to think, that Abel desired his brother, Cain, to be cast into Hell. What he meant by the word (I wish), as explained under Important Words above, was simply that the natural and inevitable consequence of his own non-aggressive attitude would be that his brother would go to Hell. In fact, by using this expression, Abel desired to dissuade Cain from perpetration of the horrible crime of