Anwar Al-Quran

Verses 24–31

5. Al-Maaida · The Table

Madinan120 verses

قَالُوا۟ يَٰمُوسَىٰٓ إِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَآ أَبَدًۭا مَّا دَامُوا۟ فِيهَا ۖ فَٱذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَٰتِلَآ إِنَّا هَٰهُنَا قَٰعِدُونَ

5:24They said, ‘O Moses, we will never enter it so long as they remain in it. Go ahead, you and your Lord, and fight! We will be sitting right here.’1

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى لَآ أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِى وَأَخِى ۖ فَٱفْرُقْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْفَٰسِقِينَ

5:25He said, ‘My Lord! I have no power over [anyone] except myself and my brother, so part us from the transgressing lot.’

قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ۛ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةًۭ ۛ يَتِيهُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْفَٰسِقِينَ

5:26He said, ‘It shall be forbidden them for forty years: they shall wander about in the earth. So do not grieve for the transgressing lot.’2

۞ وَٱتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ٱبْنَىْ ءَادَمَ بِٱلْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًۭا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ ٱلْءَاخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ ٱللَّهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ

5:27Relate to them truly the account of Adam’s two sons. When the two of them offered an offering, it was accepted from one of them and not accepted from the other. [One of them] said, ‘Surely I will kill you.’ [The other one] said, ‘Allah accepts only from the Godwary.3

لَئِنۢ بَسَطتَ إِلَىَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِى مَآ أَنَا۠ بِبَاسِطٍۢ يَدِىَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ ۖ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ ٱللَّهَ رَبَّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

5:28Even if you extend your hand toward me to kill me, I will not extend my hand toward you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

إِنِّىٓ أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوٓأَ بِإِثْمِى وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَٰبِ ٱلنَّارِ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ

5:29I desire that you earn [the burden of] my sin and your sin, to become one of the inmates of the Fire, and such is the requital of the wrongdoers.’

فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُۥ نَفْسُهُۥ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُۥ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ

5:30So his soul prompted him to kill his brother, and he killed him, and thus became one of the losers.

فَبَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ غُرَابًۭا يَبْحَثُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُۥ كَيْفَ يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ ۚ قَالَ يَٰوَيْلَتَىٰٓ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَٰذَا ٱلْغُرَابِ فَأُوَٰرِىَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى ۖ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلنَّٰدِمِينَ

5:31Then Allah sent a crow, exploring in the ground, to show him how to bury the corpse of his brother. He said, ‘Woe to me! Am I unable to be [even] like this crow and bury my brother’s corpse?’ Thus he became regretful.

Tafsir

Commentary on this passage

Verse 24

1.The first malevolence of Jews was that they did not believe in Allah and second malice was that they were sarcastic towards Allah and said Allah should fight, we are not going to involve ourselves in this trouble. Allah sent His wrath on them and put them in perplexity, they wandered about in the land for forty years and could not find a way to go out. Each community which wants to take heavenly bounties and does not obey His commands and does not want to fight in the way Allah has a bad ending.

Verse 27

2.This is an another story of devilish domination, when Shaitan created rivalry between the sons of Adam (a.s.) and Hawwa (a.s.) and one brother becomes the murderer of his own brother and this incident clarified that sometimes victim is not blameworthy but sometimes the rivalry is sufficient for slaying and makes one ready for wickedness. This incident draws attention towards the two characters. Some people gives dried petiole for the sake of God and some people spend their property in the way of Allah by announcing the fear of God and Allah accepts the good deeds of only sincere and pious persons. We will also find envied and jealous persons in the history of Islam and the parable of children of Adam (a.s.) reminds us that if the sons of Apostle can be murderers and jealous then what of the ability of friends and companions. Imperfection always make people jealous and jealousy makes them kill.

Footnotes

Explanations of words and phrases in these verses

  1. 1

    To call the Lord of the Universe as the Lord of Moosa (a.s.) is the most evil mischief of the Jews.

  2. 2

    This indicates that at least a period of forty years is needed to bring a change in a people. When a generation ends and a new generation enters puberty and comes to forefront. The Bani Israel also wandered in the Sinai desert for forty years bearing the consequences of their faithlessness and undergoing hardships and afflictions.

  3. 3

    The two sons were Habeel and Qabeel. Habeel sacrificed a healthy ram, while Qabeel made an offering of dried ears of corn. The sign of acceptance of a sacrifice in that age was a heavenly fire which used to descend and burn the offering. The offering of Habeel was accepted while the stalks of corn offered by Qabeel remained. This infuriated Qabeel. The Quranic verses do not have these details - Allah knows best.

  4. Benefit

    The claim of Christians that Quran has changed Qaban to Qabeel is a baseless and ignorant assertion. The names of Adam’s children are not mentioned in Quran, and neither does it describe the method of acceptance of the sacrifice. The details are recorded in the corpus of traditions (ahadith).