“If you raise your hand against me to kill me, I will not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of all worlds. I want you to bear both my sin and your own, and thus become one of the people of the Fire. Such is the recompense of the wrongdoers.” (28–29)

Then his soul prompted him to kill his brother, so he killed him and became one of the losers. (30)

“If you raise”—that is, extend—“your hand against me to kill me, I will not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of all worlds.” Abdullah ibn Umar said: “By Allah, the slain one was certainly the stronger of the two men, but religious scrupulousness prevented him from raising his hand against his brother.” Under the law of Adam, it was permissible for one whom another intended to kill to yield and submit, seeking reward, as Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, did. Mujahid said: “At that time, it was prescribed for them that, if one man intended to kill another, the latter should not resist, but should endure patiently.”

“I want you to bear”—that is, return, and it was also said: carry—“both my sin and your own”: that is, the sin of killing me in addition to your own sin, meaning the sins of disobedience you committed previously. This is the view of most Quran commentators. Ibn Abi Najih narrated from Mujahid that he said: Its meaning is, “I want the sin that I committed to be upon you if you kill me, along with your own sin; thus you will bear both my sin and my blood.” It was also said that it means: you will return bearing the sin of killing me and the sin of the disobedience on account of which your offering was not accepted, or the sin of your envy.

If it is asked: How could he say, “I want you to bear both my sin and your own,” when desiring murder and disobedience is not permissible? The answer is that this was not a literal desire. Rather, when he knew that Cain would inevitably kill him, he resigned himself to submission in pursuit of reward; thus, figuratively speaking, it was as though he desired his own killing, even though he did not truly desire it. It was also said that its meaning is: “I want you to bear the punishment for killing me.” This is a valid desire, because it accords with Allah’s judgment. Thus, it is not a desire for the killing itself, but for the sin and punishment that the killing entails: “and thus become one of the people of the Fire. Such is the recompense of the wrongdoers.”

His saying: “Then his soul prompted him”—that is, it complied with him, supported him, and aided him—“to kill his brother,” meaning, in killing his brother. Mujahid said: “It emboldened him.” Qatadah said: “His soul made it seem fair to him.” Yaman said: “His soul made that easy for him,” meaning, it made it easy. (1) Its sense is that his soul portrayed to him that killing his brother was something readily within his power—that is, easy for him. So he killed him. When Cain resolved to kill Abel, he did not know how to kill him. Ibn Jurayj said: “Iblis appeared before him, took a bird, placed its head upon a stone, then crushed its head with another stone while Cain watched him; thus he taught him how to kill. Cain then crushed Abel’s head between