سورة المائدة

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): When Adam (peace be upon him) ate from the forbidden tree and was sent down to the earth, Habil (peace be upon him) and his twin sister were born to him. After them, Qabil and his twin sister were born. Adam (peace be upon him) ordered Habil and Qabil to offer a sacrifice. Habil was a keeper of sheep and Qabil was a farmer. Habil brought one of the best of his sheep as an offering, but Qabil brought some impure portion from his crop. Habil's offering was accepted, but Qabil's was not. This verse of the Qur'an refers to this very event: وَاتْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَیْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ یُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ الْآخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّکَ قَالَ إِنَّمَا یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [And relate to them the story of the two sons of Adam with truth when they both offered an offering, but it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other. He said: I will most certainly slay you. The other said: Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil]. An offering was known to be accepted when fire consumed it. After that, Qabil built a fire-temple, and he was the first person to build a fire-temple. He said: "I will worship this fire until it accepts my offering." Then Satan, who can enter into a person like blood flowing in the veins, came to Qabil and said: "Since Habil's offering was accepted and yours was rejected, if you do not do something about it, he will have offspring, and his children will boast over your children and say: 'We are the descendants of the one whose offering was accepted, and you are the descendants of the one whose offering was rejected.' It is best that you kill him, so that he has no offspring who will boast over your children." So Qabil killed him. When he came back to Adam, Adam said to him: "O Qabil! Where is Habil?" He said: "Go to the place where we made our offering and look for him." When Adam (peace be upon him) searched, he found Habil (peace be upon him) slain. Adam said: "Cursed be you, O earth, that you accepted the blood of Habil." Then he wept over him for forty days and nights. Afterwards he asked Allah to grant him a child. A son was born to him whom he named Hibatullah, because Allah granted him and his sister to Adam (peace be upon him).

Imam al-Sajjad (peace be upon him): When the two sons of Adam (peace be upon him) offered their sacrifice, one of them offered the fattest ram in his flock, and the other offered a bundle of ears from his field. The sacrifice was accepted from the owner of the ram, who was Habil, and it was not accepted from the other, who was Qabil. So he said to Habil: "By Allah, I will surely kill you." And Habil said: "إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقینَ * لَئِنْ بَسَطْتَ إِلَیَّ یَدَکَ لِتَقْتُلَنی ما أَنَا بِباسِطٍ یَدِیَ إِلَیْکَ لِأَقْتُلَکَ إِنِّی أَخافُ اللهَ رَبَّ الْعالَمینَ * إِنِّی أُریدُ أَنْ تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمی وَ إِثْمِکَ فَتَکُونَ مِنْ أَصْحابِ النّارِ وَ ذالِکَ جَزاءُ الظّالِمینَ * فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخیهِ [Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil. If you stretch out your hand toward me to kill me, I will not stretch out my hand toward you to kill you; indeed I fear Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Indeed I wish that you should bear my sin and your own sin, and so become one of the inmates of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the wrongdoers. So his soul made the killing of his brother easy for him]"; and he did not know how to kill Habil, until Iblis came and taught him and said: "Place his head between two stones and strike it hard and crush it." When he had killed Habil, he did not know what to do with the body. Suddenly two crows came and began striking each other and sought each other's lives, and one killed the other. Then the one that remained dug a pit in the ground with its feet and buried the other in it. Qabil said: "یَا وَیْلَتَا أَعجَزْتُ أَنْ أَکُونَ مِثْلَ هَذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِیَ سَوْءةَ أَخِی فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّادِمِینَ [Woe is me! Am I unable to be like this crow and hide the corpse of my brother? So he became one of the regretful]"; and he dug a pit and hid Habil in it, and it became a custom that people bury the dead. Qabil returned to his father, and Adam (peace be upon him) did not see Habil with him, and asked: "Where did you leave my son?" Qabil said: "Did you send me as a guardian over him?" Adam (peace be upon him) said: "Come with me to the place of the sacrifice"; and the heart of Adam (peace be upon him) became fearful with anxiety over what Qabil had done. When he reached the place, he came to know of his killing, and he cursed the earth that had accepted the blood of Habil, and Adam (peace be upon him) was commanded to curse Qabil. And Qabil was called out to from the sky: "May you be wretched, since you killed your brother. It is for this reason that the earth does not drink blood." Adam (peace be upon him) turned away and left, and for forty days and nights he wept over Habil. When he became distraught from his grief over him, he complained of it to Allah, and Allah revealed to him that He would grant him a son who would be a successor to Habil. Hawwa gave birth to a pure and blessed boy, and when it was the seventh day of the newborn's birth, Allah revealed: "O Adam (peace be upon him)! This child is a gift and bestowal from Me to you, so name him Hibatullah." So Adam (peace be upon him) named him Hibatullah.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When Qabil saw that the fire had accepted Habil's offering and had paid no attention to his own, Satan said to him: "The reason Habil's offering was accepted is that he worships this fire, so you too should worship it." Qabil replied to Satan: "I will not worship the fire that Habil has worshipped, but I have no objection to another fire and I will bring an offering for it." This time the new fire accepted his offering, so Qabil built a fire-house and lit a fire in it and sought nearness through it and worshipped it, and in this way he became entirely heedless of the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, and this became the cause that fire-worship remained as an inheritance in his lineage.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah revealed to Adam (peace be upon him): My knowledge has already decreed that I will not leave the earth without a scholar through whom My religion is recognised, and that I will bring forth that scholar from your progeny. So look to My Greatest Name and to the inheritance of prophethood and the names, all of which I taught you, and the inheritance that creatures are in need of, and hand it over to Habil. And He said: Adam (peace be upon him) did this concerning Habil. When Qabil became aware of this act of Adam, he became angry and came to Adam and said to him: "O father! Am I not older than my brother, and more deserving of what you have done concerning him?" Adam said: "O my son! The matter is in the hand of Allah; He gives it to whomever He wills. Although you are my elder son, Allah has singled him out with something for which he has always been worthy. If you believe contrary to what I have said and do not accept my word, then both of you offer an offering. Whichever of you has his offering accepted is more deserving of this favour and mercy than his companion." He said: At that time a fire would come forth over the offering and consume it. Habil and Qabil went out and brought offerings, as Allah the Exalted has mentioned in His Book: وَ اتْلُ عَلَیْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَیْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبا قُرْباناً فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِما وَ لَمْ یُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ الْآخَرِ [And relate to them the story of the two sons of Adam with truth when they both offered an offering, but it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other]. He said: "Qabil was an owner of crops and cultivation, and he brought forward leftover, poor-quality wheat, and Habil was an owner of a flock and from among it he brought forward a fat ram from the best of his sheep, and the fire consumed Habil's offering and did not consume Qabil's offering. Iblis — may Allah's curse be upon him — came to Qabil and said: 'O Qabil! This matter you are in is nothing, because there is only you and your brother. If you have children and your progeny becomes many, his progeny will boast over your progeny because of what your father singled him out with, and also because the fire accepted his offering and left yours. But if you kill him, your father will have no choice but to single you out with what he gave to him.'" He said: "Qabil sprang upon Habil and killed him."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sulayman ibn Khalid said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), "May I be your ransom, people claim that Adam (peace be upon him) gave his daughter in marriage to his son." Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) said, "People have said such a thing, but O Sulayman, have you not heard that the Prophet said: 'If I had known that Adam gave his daughter in marriage to his son, I too would have given Zaynab in marriage to Qasim, and I would not have turned away from the religion of Adam (peace be upon him)'?" I said, "May I be your ransom, people suppose that Qabil killed Habil only because of a dispute over taking their sisters." He said, "O Sulayman, do you say this? Are you not ashamed to relate this concerning the Prophet of Allah, Adam?" I said, "Then for what reason did Qabil kill Habil?" He said, "Because of the wasiyyah (bequest of succession)." Then he said, "O Sulayman, indeed Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, revealed to Adam (peace be upon him) that he should hand over the wasiyyah and the Ism al-A'zam (Greatest Name of Allah) to Habil, although Qabil was the elder. This word reached Qabil and he became angry and said, 'I am more deserving of the honour and the wasiyyah.' So Adam (peace be upon him), by Allah's command, ordered them to offer a sacrifice, and they did so, and Allah accepted the sacrifice of Habil; and Qabil grew envious and killed him." I said, "May I be your ransom, then how did the children of Adam (peace be upon him) produce offspring? Was there any woman other than Hawwa, and was there any man other than Adam?" He said, "O Sulayman, Allah bestowed Qabil upon Adam (peace be upon him) from Hawwa, and their son after him was Habil. When Qabil reached the age of manhood, Allah caused a female jinn to appear, and commanded Adam (peace be upon him) to give her in marriage to Qabil, and Adam (peace be upon him) did so, and Qabil was pleased with her and content. When Habil reached the age of manhood, Allah caused a houri to appear for him, and commanded Adam (peace be upon him) to give her in marriage to Habil, and he did so. Habil was killed while the houri was pregnant, and she gave birth to a boy whom Adam named Hibatullah, and Allah revealed to Adam (peace be upon him) that he should hand over to him the wasiyyah and the Ism al-A'zam. And Hawwa gave birth to a boy whom Adam (peace be upon him) named Shith, and when he reached the age of manhood, Allah sent down for him too a houri and revealed to Adam (peace be upon him) that he should give her in marriage to Shith, and he did so, and this houri gave birth to a girl whom Adam (peace be upon him) named Hurah. When this girl grew up, Adam (peace be upon him) gave her, being the daughter of Shith, in marriage to Hibatullah, and the progeny of Adam (peace be upon him) came from these two. Hibatullah passed away, and Allah said to Adam (peace be upon him): Hand over the wasiyyah, the Ism al-A'zam, and what I have taught you of the knowledge of prophethood and the names you have learned, to your son Shith. And this, O Sulayman, is their story."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): [In Majma' al-Bayan it is reported that some] said: Hawwa, the wife of Adam (peace be upon him), in every pregnancy gave birth to a boy and a girl. In the first pregnancy, she brought Qabil into the world, and it has been said: "Qabil and Iqlima, the daughter of Adam (peace be upon him), were born as twins with him," and in the second pregnancy she brought Habil into the world, and "Liyudha" was born as a twin with him. When they all reached [the age of maturity], Allah the Exalted commanded Adam to give the sister of Habil in marriage to Qabil, and the sister of Qabil in marriage to Habil. Habil consented, and Qabil refused; because his sister was more beautiful [he wanted to marry his own sister. He said to his father]: "This is not the command of Allah, rather this is your own opinion"; consequently, Adam (peace be upon him) commanded the two of them to perform an act of drawing near to Allah, and they consented to that. Habil, who was the owner of cattle and sheep, the next day took [one] of the best of his sheep in fatness and milk-giving [for the sacrifice], and Qabil was the owner of crops and took from the worst part of his crop [for the sacrifice]; then they climbed up and placed the sacrifices on the mountain; the fire came and consumed Habil's sacrifice, and kept away from Qabil's sacrifice. Adam was absent — by the command of his Lord he had gone to Mecca to visit the House of Allah. Qabil said: "O Habil! You will not remain alive in this world. Your sacrifice was accepted and my sacrifice was not accepted, and you want to take my beautiful sister and I take your ugly sister." Habil said to him what Allah the Exalted has related: إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقینَ [Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil]. So Qabil struck a stone against his neck and killed him.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir has narrated that I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "What is the philosophy of offering sacrifice?" He said: "The one who offers a sacrifice — with the first drop of blood that drips from the sacrifice onto the earth, the sin of its owner is forgiven, and so that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, may know the one who observes taqwa of Him in secret. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: لَنْ یَنالَ اللهَ لُحُومُها وَ لا دِماؤُها وَ لکِنْ یَنالُهُ التَّقْوی مِنْکُمْ [Neither their flesh nor their blood ever reaches Allah. What reaches Him is your piety and Allah-consciousness]. (Al-Hajj/37) See how Allah accepted the sacrifice of Habil but did not accept the sacrifice of Qabil."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The site of the Ka'ba was a white hill of earth which shone like the light of the sun and the moon, and this condition remained until the time when one of the two sons of Adam killed his brother, and that luminous white hill turned black.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Before Habil was killed by Qabil, all the wild animals and birds and beasts of prey and other animals lived together in a mixed manner, but after that they fled from one another and became frightened, and each one came to exist as a separate species. (Killing

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): The first matter in which Allah will judge on the Day of Resurrection is the shedding of human blood. So the sons of Adam (peace be upon him) will be held back and He will judge between the two of them, then those who after Qabil (Cain) opened their hands to shedding blood, until none of those people remains except that the slain one brings his killer, and while the blood pours down from his face, the appointed one of Allah says to him: "You have killed him," and the killer has no ability to conceal anything from Allah.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Husayn (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) was in the mosque of Kufa when a man from the people of Sham came to him and said: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! I have some questions for you." And he said: "Ask to gain understanding, and do not ask out of stubbornness and obstinacy." And the people were all staring at him. Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) continues the hadith until where he said: he asked: "How long was the lifespan of Adam (peace be upon him)?" And the Imam answered him: "Nine hundred and thirty years." And he asked about the first person who composed poetry. And the Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Adam (peace be upon him)." He asked: "What was his poem?" The Imam said: "When he was sent down from the heavens to the earth and saw its soil, its vast expanse, and its air, and Qabil killed Habil, he said thus: 'The lands and all that is upon them have changed, and the face of the earth is dusty and ugly; everything possessing colour and taste has changed, and the cheerfulness of the beautiful face has greatly diminished.' And Iblis — may Allah's curse be upon him — answered him thus: 'Depart from the lands and their inhabitants, for in Paradise the wide expanse became narrow because of me. You were in Paradise, and your wife in tranquillity, and your heart at ease from the harm of the world, and you did not escape from my scheming and deception until you lost the payment of the small price; and had it not been for the generosity of the Almighty Allah, from Paradise only a wind would have remained in your palm.'" Then another man came to Ali (peace be upon him) and said: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! Inform us about Wednesday, of which and of whose heaviness we are pessimistic; which Wednesday is it?" He said: "It is the last Wednesday of the month, which is called al-Muhaq, and it was on it that Qabil killed his brother Habil."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Narrated from Ali ibn Muhammad: Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to some of the Jews who had asked him questions: "The donkey is called with 'harr' for this reason: the first person to ride a donkey was Hawwa (Eve). She had a donkey which she would ride to visit the grave of her son Habil, and on the way she would repeatedly say: 'Wa harrah!' Whenever she uttered this expression, the animal would move on, and when she fell silent, the animal too would stop. So it seems this word is the name of this animal, and when it hears it, it becomes excited and moves. Later people modified it and said 'harr' in place of 'wa harrah'. And as for why the horse is called 'ijid' — the reason is that the first person to ride a horse was Qabil, who mounted it on the day he killed his brother Habil, and he composed this verse: 'Ijid al-yawm wa ma...'"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When Allah commanded Adam (peace be upon him) to make his will to Hibatullah, He commanded him to keep it hidden. So the practice became established that such a matter be concealed, and he made the will and kept it hidden.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): You will not be righteous until you recognise, and you do not recognise until you affirm, and you do not affirm until you submit — four gates, the first of which is not sound except through the last. The companions of the [first] three gates are astray and have wandered into far-off error. Indeed Allah, Blessed and Exalted, does not accept anything but righteous deeds, and Allah does not accept anything but the fulfilment of covenants and conditions. So whoever fulfils his condition for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and acts upon what He described in His covenant, will attain what is with Him and will complete what He promised. Indeed Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has informed His servants of the paths of guidance and placed for them upon them signposts, and has made known to them how to walk in them. He says: "Whoever repents, believes and does righteous deeds and then follows guidance, I will forgive him" (Ta-Ha 20:82). And He says: إِنَّمَا یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Indeed Allah only accepts from the Allah-fearing]. So whoever fears Allah in what He has commanded him will meet Allah as a believer in what Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) brought.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Umar ibn Hanzala said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "There is a verse in the Qur'an that makes me doubt." He said: "Which verse is it?" I said: "The words of Allah: إِنَّمَا یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Indeed Allah only accepts from the Allah-fearing]." He said: "What in it causes you doubt?" I said: "Whoever prays, fasts and worships — will his deeds be accepted?" He said: "Indeed Allah accepts only from the Allah-fearing who possess recognition (ma'rifah)." Then he said: "Are you more ascetic in this world, or al-Dahhak ibn Qays?" I said: "No, rather al-Dahhak ibn Qays." He said: "On that reckoning, Allah does not accept any of what you mentioned from him."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): The foundation and root of religion is abstaining from what is forbidden. Be one who abstains from what is forbidden, so that you become the most worshipful of people. Give greater importance to good deeds accompanied by taqwa (piety) than to good deeds without it, for a deed done with taqwa is not counted as little, and how could a deed be counted as little when it is accepted by the sacred Divine Essence? For Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has said: إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Any deed that is mixed with taqwa (piety) is not little, and how could that which is accepted by Allah be little!

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Abu al-Aswad said: I arrived at Rabadha and went to visit Abu Dharr. Abu Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated to me that one day I entered upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) in his mosque, and no one was to be seen in the mosque except the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and Ali (peace be upon him), who was seated beside him. I took advantage of the mosque's emptiness and said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, would you give me a beneficial counsel?" He said: "Yes, I hold you dear, O Aba Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him)... Give greater concern to deeds done with taqwa (piety) than to deeds [alone], for a deed with taqwa is not diminished, and how could an accepted deed be diminished, when Allah the Exalted says: إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil]. O Aba Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him)! A person will not be among the pious until he takes account of himself more strictly than a partner takes account of his partner, so that he knows from where his clothing, food and drink come — from what is forbidden or what is lawful."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): O Kumayl! Religion belongs to Allah the Exalted, so Allah does not accept from anyone the undertaking of it except a messenger, a prophet or a successor (wasi). O Kumayl! It is prophethood (nubuwwah), messengership (risalah) and imamate, and after these there is nothing but those who turn away, those who seize power by force, the misguided and the transgressors. O Kumayl! The Christians did not abandon Allah the Exalted, nor did the Jews, nor did they deny Musa (peace be upon him) or Isa (peace be upon him), but they added and subtracted, distorted and disbelieved, so they were cursed and detested, and they neither repented nor accepted. O Kumayl! Indeed, إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Allah only accepts from the pious]. O Kumayl! Our father Adam did not beget a Jew or a Christian, nor was his son anything but inclined to the truth and a Muslim. Qabil did not carry out what was obligatory upon him, which led to Allah not accepting his offering, but rather accepting his brother's offering. So he became envious and killed him. He is among those imprisoned in the falaq (chasm), whose number is twelve — six from the first ones and six from the last ones. That chasm is in the lowest part of the Fire, and the heat of hell is from its vapour.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — in Uddat al-Da'i it is reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: One of you raises his hands towards the sky and says: "O Allah, O Allah", while his food is unlawful and his clothing is unlawful. So what supplication of such a person is answered and what deed of his is accepted? Yet he spends from what is not lawful. If he performs Hajj, he has performed an unlawful Hajj; if he gives charity, he has given unlawful charity; if he marries, he has married unlawfully; and if he fasts, he breaks his fast on what is unlawful. So woe to him! Does he not know that Allah is pure and accepts nothing but the pure? And indeed He said in the Noble Qur'an: إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِینَ [Allah only accepts from those who guard against evil].

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The meaning [of: إِنَّما یَتَقَبَّلُ اللهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقینَ] is that Allah accepts only from one whose heart is pure, and He rejected your [offering] because your heart is not pure.