The story of Cain and Abel

The story of Cain and Abel is given here because it is a part of the story of Adam. These two sons of Adam are not mentioned in the Qur'an by name but referred to only as ibn-e-Adam, Adam's son/s. We have taken the names here from the Old Testament.

Hafiz Imaduddin bin Kathir has quoted in his history a Tradition authoritatively recorded in Sudiyyi from Abdulla b. Masud (radi Allah-u Ta'la an-hu) and other Companions, which states, "To increase the population of the world of human beings it was necessary for Hazrat Adam (peace be on him) to marry the twins born of Eve at one time with the twins born of her a second time. When the time of the marriage of Cain and Abel came, and Abel was younger of the two. Cain disliked the idea of Abel marrying his twin sister and he marrying Abel's, because the latter's was not as good-looking as his twin sister."

"To resolve the matter, Adam proposed that the two offer sacrifices to the Almighty Lord and he whose sacrifice was accepted would have the right to his wish being carried out. It appears from the Old Testament that the custom at that time was to place the sacrificial object on high ground and a fire from the heaven would descend and consume the accepted sacrifice. Abel selected the best sheep from his flock for sacrifice while Cain chose the worst part of his harvest from his field for sacrifice. This alone shows the comparative purity of the heart of each of the two. The heavenly fire consumed Abel's sacrifice in token of the Divine acceptance. This infuriated Cain and he told Abel that he would kill him to prevent him from fulfilling his desire. Abel replied that he would not fight back to kill Cain and that Allah accepts the motive, and with Him anger was of no avail. This further enraged Cain who fell upon Abe and kill him."

The Qur'an does not mention the marriage part of the story but only the sacrifice, with the addition of the burial problem.

Cain was at a loss to think out a way for disposing of Abel's body, for so far there had not been any death in Adam's lineage, so that Adam had not yet given any instruction to that end. While Cain was yet wondering, a raven came down and began scratching the earth with its beak. Seeing this, Cain felt greatly humbled, saying to himself that he did not even posses the sense, which this bird had. He now realized what he should be doing and quickly dug up the earth and buried Abel in the pit.

(Hazrat Adam & Eve by Maulana Hafiz-Ur-Rehman Sevharvi - Translated by Shakir Rizwani)