The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 334
CH. 5 AL-MĀ'IDAH PT. 6 فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ But his mind induced him to. 31 became kill his brother, so he killed him and losers. 666 one of the 32. Then Allah sent a raven فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخُسِرِينَ فَبَعَثَ اللهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ which scratched in the ground, لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ that He might show him how يُوَيْلَتَّى أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَذَا to hide the corpse of his brother. He said, 'Woe is me! Am I not الْغُرَابِ فَأَوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِي فَأَصْبَحَ able to be even like this raven من اليمين so that I may hide the corpse of my brother?' And then he became regretful. 667 fratricide by picturing to him its awful consequences. He told his brother that, as for himself, he would rather die the death of one sinned against than raise his hand to kill him. The result of this would be that he (Cain) would take upon himself the burden of his (Abel's) sin, (i. e. that of slaying him) as well as that of other sins of his own. 666. Commentary: Instead of directly and briefly saying that "he killed his brother", the verse expresses the same idea in a somewhat longer sentence, viz. his mind induced him to kill his brother, so he killed him. This is done to point to the great truth that it is man's own or mind, or more properly his own "self" which often becomes the source of evil for him. The expression may be explained in another way also. The Holy Prophet 667. Commentary: is reported to have said that on the Day of Judgement the good deeds of transgressors would be transferred to the account of the persons whom they had wronged and if transgressors had no good deeds to their account, the sins of the persons transgressed against would be transferred to them and thus wrongdoers would bear not only their own sins but also those of the persons whom they had wronged (Muslim, ch. on Birr Waş-Şilah). Commentators differ as to whether 774 the incident of the raven mentioned in the present verse was an actual fact or whether it is merely meant as a parable. It is not at all improbable that an incident of this nature might have actually occurred. The study of the ways and habits of birds has led to many useful discoveries. For the Biblical story of the two sons of Adam see Gen. 4:1-15 also the Jerusalem Targum.