Al-Ma’idah Section 5 - Jews Warned Against Their Wicked Plots
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Cain’s Aggression
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The Israelites Warned,
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Punishment For Those Who War On The Apostle (Muhammad)
Al-Ma’idah Verses 27 – 34
وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَيْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ الْآخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ
“And recite unto them the story of the two sons of Adam1with truth, when they both offered an offering, but it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other; Said he2, “I shall certainly slay thee3,” (the other one) said, “Verily, Verily, God doth accept (an offering only) from those who guard (themselves against evil)” (5:27)
لَئِنْ بَسَطْتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِي مَا أَنَا بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِيَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ
“If thou stretcheth forth thy hand towards me to slay me, I am not one to stretch forth my hand towards thee to slay thee; “Verily, I fear God, the Lord of the worlds4.” (5:28)
إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِي وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ النَّارِ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الظَّالِمِينَ
“Verily, I intend that thou beareth my sins and also thine (own) sin, and so thou wilt be of the companions of the (Hell) fire, and this is the recompense of the unjust.” (5:29)
فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
“So led him his passion5to slay his brother and he slew him, and he thus became one of the losers.” (5:30)
فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ يَا وَيْلَتَىٰ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَٰذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِي فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّادِمِينَ
“Then sent God, a crow digging the earth so that he might show him, how he should cover the unsightly corpse of his brother; (seeing this) Said he6, “Woe unto me! Am I unable to be like this crow to cover the unsightly corpse of my brother?” So he became of the repentants.” (5:31)
مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ
“For this reason did we prescribe unto the children of Israel that he who slayeth any one (man), without (that being for) murder, or for mischief in the land, (It shall be) as though he hath slain mankind as a whole; and he who saveth it (a human life), shall be as though he hath saved mankind as a whole; and certainly our Apostles came unto them with clear evidences and yet verily, many of them even after that certainly commit excesses in the land.” (5:32)
إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا أَنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلَافٍ أَوْ يُنْفَوْا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ ذَٰلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
“The recompense of those who war against God and His Apostle, and strive in the land, spreading-mischief (therein), is only that they be slain or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off, from the opposite sides, or be banished from the land; This, for them shall be the dis-grace in this world, and for them, in the hereafter, shall be a great torment.” (5:33)
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
“Except those who repent7before ye gain power over them; Know ye! that God is Oft-Pardoning, Merciful.” (5:34)
Commentary
Verse 27
The reference is to the story of Abel and Cain.
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And in process of time, it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
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And Abel, he also brought of the first lings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
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But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain mas very wroth, and his countenance fell.
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And the LORD said, Cam, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
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If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin Heth at the door And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
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And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, That Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.
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And the LORD said unto Cain. Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, 1 know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
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And He said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
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And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand:
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When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. (Gen 4/3-12)
In spite of the definite reference to the son of Adam, the Ahmadi commentator gives his own interpretation saying the reference may be to some Jewish plot.
The concluding words of the Verse clearly indicate that sacrifice or any offering to God, is acceptable only from the pious and not from the impious ones.
It happened so that Adam had two sons, Qabil and Habil (i.e., Cain and Abel). Adam had nominated his younger son Abel as his successor, whereas the elder one was Cabel. Gabel disputed with his father about his right as his elder son. Adam suggested them to present their respective offerings and the one whose offering is accepted by God, will be deemed the deserving one. Abel tended the flocks and placed the best one of the herds on the altar and Cain who tilled the land brought some withered ears of com as his offering. A fire from heaven came down and consumed the sheep from Abel and the ears of com offered by Cabel were left untouched, which meant the rejection of the offer. Cain got envious of his brother and killed him.
Adam mourned for his son Abel very much and ultimately was blessed with another son Sheeth who succeeded his father as an apostle of God.
God blessed the seed of Adam so much, it is said that when he died, the children of Adam and the issues of his children numbered to some thousands.
Cain the cursed settled in the east of Eden and became a tire-worshipper. At last when the deluge of Noah took place it is said that all the progeny of Cain perished in it and the progeny of Sheeth continued (F.A.).
(B.H.) draws a logical conclusion saying:
“The murderer has all the sins (if any) of the murdered man borne on himself. Also if he is a righteous man and particularly a sinless prophet, as Abel mas, he bears the sins of those who might have been guided by him or profited by his example whether those living at the time or the lime to come to the end of the world. So also, he bears the sin of cutting of his posterity an amount calculable by God only. And a prophet is representative of all his people - at least we are taught this in the case of Our Holy Prophet - the sins of the people are laid at his door and are then pardoned on his account. This is the magnitude of ‘ismi’ ‘my sin.’
A similar comparison is narrated to have taken place after the revelation of Verse 5:55. Refer to notes on that Verse. (A.P.)
It is only the inner quality of the heart that counts for the acceptance of any offering from man to God and not the outer quantity of the thing offered. Three loaves given in the way of the Lord to the poor, the orphan and captive without expecting any reward or thanks from anyone other than God earned the highest praise from Him. Refer to Verses 76:5-22; and to give away any amount to people with any ungodly motive is condemned severely, refer to Verse 2:264.
Verse 29
According to (M.S.) ‘Ismi’ here, does not mean the sin of Abel but the sin of slaying Abel
committed by Cain. An ‘Ismika’ means the previous sin of Cain on account of which his offering was not accepted by God.
Verse 31
Here the Holy Qur’an corrects the story given in Talmud that it was Adam who was instructed through the conduct of the Raven (F. Fliezer Puke C. 20). Surely Adam who was educated by God Himself through the knowledge of all things, could not have been ignorant of such an elementary thing, known to a bird. It was Cain the son of Adam, in his mental agony after slaying his brother, not knowing what to do with the body of his slain brother, was instructed through the bird.
The repentance of Cain mentioned in this Verse does not relate to his slaying Abel but his self-condemnation for not knowing even that which the bird (raven) knew.
Here the murderer at least followed the example of the crow and buried the body of his brother murdered by him and turned repentant. But the people who professed Islam did not hesitate in raiding the House of the Holy Prophet himself (i.e., the Ahl Al-Bayt) and poisoning, killing, burning and plundering the Holy House and its godly inmates and the faithful devotees of the Holy Family though the crimes were pricking the brutes to the end of their lives yet they did not give up their rebellious tendencies and their practices. On the contrary attempts are continued to this day to make excuses to justify the brutality enacted in the early days of Islam after the Holy Prophet. (A.P.)
Verse 32
This Verse is of some extra-importance and of special value to those who wish to draw guidance from the Holy Qur’an. It gives the gravity of the crime of murder and the extent to which the gravity of crime runs. The gravity of the crime fixed by Islam, i.e., the slaying of even a single human being, being equal to the annihilation of the human race as a whole, is aimed to establish peace on earth. When the slaying of an ordinary soul without any justification for it, is so grave, it can easily’ be imagined what the slaying of an apostle of God or his deputy, i.e., an Imam would mean? It is quite a natural and a logical conclusion that those who follow’ Cain in slaying anyone without any justification for it, or even agreeing to such an act being done, or those who are not opposed to such a conduct on anybody’s part, take upon their head the burden of the crime. Jesus has referred to such a natural phenomenon in (Math. 23/35).
“That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Math. 23/35.
The event mentioned in the Old Testament about the blood shed by Cain: (Gen. 4/10) says: -
“And He said, what hast thou done? the Voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” (Gen. 4/10).
This clearly signifies the slaying of Abel was equal to cutting of Abel’s posterity.
Slaying of a soul mentioned in this Verse, is well applicable to the slaying of the prophets or their deputies the Holy Imams who being themselves sinless and also the Vicegerents of God on earth. Slaying the one of such divine being, is equal to slaying all men who would have been guided aright and assisting in saving such holy lives, is equal to saving mankind as a whole.
It is for the student of the Qur’anic truth to judge and say of what gravity would be the wholesale slaughter of the Holy Imam and the holy ones conducted at Karbala, in which Husain the Holy Imam, the grandson of the Holy Prophet with the band of seventy-two godly souls was mercilessly butchered.
This will remind any intelligent reader of the Qur’an, of the cold-blooded murder of Maalik Ibn Nowaira by Khalid Ibn Valeed and the ridiculous excuse for the adultery committed by Khalid with the widow of Maalik on the very night of the murder of her husband, and Khalid’s men putting the head of Maalik and the three other persons, to burn under the pots to cook their food, and how all these inhuman and brutal atrocities of the heartless tyrants were excused and their actions were justified by the ruler as ‘Khata-e-Ijtehaadi’, i.e., the mistake in discretion, which opened the door for every despot and tyrant to commit all sorts of atrocities for the establishment of his power and rule with the same excuse. So it is true that allowing such a murder in one case means subjecting humanity as a whole to it. And whoever tries to establish the law to secure the life of a single person means his attempt to secure the life of the human race as a whole, which is one of the objects, the apostles were sent for, but mankind had mostly been transgressors overstepping the limits. (A.P.)
Verse 33
The punishment here is graded to be meted out according to the gravity of the crime.
Those who wage war against God and kill the believers and plunder their belongings are to be killed or crucified. Those who do not plunder but only kill were only to be killed. Those who only plunder without killing are to have their opposite hands and feet cut off. And those who only wage war are to be banished from the land. The main object of Islam is that peace should be maintained with punishment to the offenders, tempered with justice and reasoning.
The reader would naturally get mindful of what punishment should be meted out to those who waged war against God in Karbala, killed the Holy Imam and his seventy-two godly comrades in which was even a baby of six months which was mercilessly butchered, plundered the camp of the Holy Imam, took captives, the bereaved ladies and children of the godly family of the Holy Prophet and put the Holy’ Imam Ali Ibn al-Husain, in his illness, to torturous treatment and inflicting on him untold miseries and sufferings. The wonder is that, yet the tyrants professed to believe in God, and in the Holy Prophet and called themselves Muslims and the one who conducted the whole brutal show of the wholesale slaughter posed himself as a kalif or the successor of the Holy Prophet. The question is if those tyrants who proved themselves worse than the most barbarous heathens rather as brutes in human forms, are to be called Muslims, who else then is to be a Kafir or disbeliever or an infidel.
The waging of war against God means hostility against his peaceful and faithful servants, breaking of His laws and overstepping the limits He prescribed in the doctrines or their practice. This minimum extent of the waging of war against God is to frighten the people or to deprive them of the rights or any attempt detrimental to the cause of Islam or the Muslim interest as a whole or any destructive activity to humanity in general. The degree of punishment is in accordance to the degree of the crime, at the discretion of the Islamic judicial authority. (A.P.)
Verse 34
The mercy of God is always there for those who sincerely repent in time and amend their belief and conduct.
The people disloyal to their scriptures will not be loyal to the Islamic or any other law. (A.P.)
