The Almighty—w. n. b. pr.—has said: ‘Relate unto them also the history of the two sons of Adam with truth. When they offered their offering, and it was accepted from one of them, and was not accepted from the other.’*
The stringers of the pearls of words, and the narrators of stories old and new, have related that every time Eve became pregnant she was delivered of a boy and girl. The first child born of her was Qabil (Cain), with his twin sister Aqlemia; the second was Habil (Abel), with his sister Labûda. When these children attained the age of maturity, Adam, by the command of God—w. n. b. pr.—desired to marry Labûda to Qabil and Aqlemia to Habil, but as Aqlemia was extremely beautiful, Qabil refused, and said that he would not allow his twin sister to be subject to anyone; reproached his father for loving Habil more than himself, and for being on that account desirous to give him Aqlemia. Adam replied: ‘I act thus in conformity with the information brought by Jebrâil, and not for the sake of the strong love which I bear towards Habil, and because it is incumbent upon worshippers to obey their Lord, whose name be exalted.’ Qabil was of an obstinate and litigious temper, and his father’s entreaties proved of no avail. At last Adam said: ‘Do you both offer sacrifice, and he whose offering is accepted shall obtain Aqlemia.’
It was customary when two individuals were at enmity to carry eatables to the top of a mountain, and to deposit them there; whereon a white fire descended from heaven, and first approaching the individual who was right in the matter, it afterwards turned to his sacrifice and consumed it totally. When Adam hinted at the sacrifice both brothers agreed to it, and Habil, who was a shepherd, brought a fat sheep; Qabil, who was a farmer, placed a sheaf of wheat on the mountain, but at the same time resolved not to yield his sister to anyone, whether his offering was accepted or not; Habil, on the other hand, openly and secretly resigned himself to the judgment of the Creator. When the fire descended by the prayer of the Lord Adam from the sky, it first approached Qabil and his sacrifice, but touched it not. Then it sped to Habil’s oblation, and entirely devoured it. In consequence thereof the depravity of envy and hatred so overpowered Qabil that he threatened to slay Habil. The latter, however, replied: ‘God—w. n. b. ex.—receives the offering of the pious, and if thou stretchest forth thy hand to murder me, I shall offer no resistance, because I dread the Omnipotent Nourisher of the inhabitants of the world.’ When enmity had thus openly broken out between the brothers, Adam said to them: ‘Do not distress me, but wait for my return from the house of Allah,* which He has commanded me to visit.’ After Adam’s departure on his pilgrimage, Qabil was watching for an opportunity, until one day he found Habil on the top of a mountain asleep, and, at the instigation of Satan, struck him such a blow on the head with a stone that he will not awake until the day of the resurrection. This dreadful crime remains on record against Qabil. May Allah reward him with the worst of rewards. Not knowing what to do with his brother’s body, so as to remove it out of sight, Qabil was carrying it about for several days, until the Almighty—w. n. b. pr.—incited two crows to fight with each other, and one of them having been slain in the contest, the other buried it underground. Qabil perceived this, and said: ‘Woe is me! am I unable to be like this raven?’* He then concealed his brother’s corpse under the ground. When Adam had performed the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, he returned, but found the world not to be in its usual state, because the trees had become yellow [i.e. withered] from the darkness of tyranny; the victuals had changed their savour, the fruits had become sour, the waters bitter, and the surface of the earth was impure. From these signs he concluded that something dreadful must have happened. When, on the termination of his journey, he arrived home, Qabil came to meet his father, who asked: ‘Where is Habil?’ But the murderer replied: ‘Was I his surety or his keeper,* that thou requirest him from me? His sheep have often devastated my fields, and for fear of this he has fled.’ Adam —u. w. bl., etc.—understood the state of the case from these words, and in some books it is recorded that Jebrâil had informed him of what had befallen Habil. At any rate, he began to deplore the loss of his beloved son. Habil was the most sagacious and intelligent of Adam’s sons. His father was extremely fond of him, and in his memory composed an elegy in the Syriac tongue, distributed it among all his children, and commanded them to learn it by heart, bequeathing it to all succeeding generations. These verses have also been translated into Arabic, and as they are well known, the two first lines are here inserted.
Verses: Changed is the country and everything therein;
The face of the earth has changed for the worse.*
When Adam the pure—u. w., etc.—had fulfilled the duties of mourning, he cursed Qabil, who became estranged from mankind and associated with no one. He fled from everyone he saw; he roamed about on mountains and in deserts, killing mountain-goats by throwing stones at their heads, and eating their flesh. It is said that this is the reason why wild animals run away at the sight of men. In many historical books it is related that when Adam’s time of lamentation for Habil had expired, the divine command to retaliate upon Qabil reached him. Adam informed Qabil of it, but the latter avoided it [i.e. retaliation] by taking refuge in the deserts of Yemen, where he remained during his whole life, worshipping fire and building fire-temples, because Satan had informed him that his sacrifice had not been accepted, as Habil had secretly worshipped fire, which had therefore obeyed him and consumed his offering. Qabil became a follower of Satan, and his offspring increased greatly in that country; they began to invent and to play upon musical instruments, to drink wine and to do shameful things. It is related that a short time after Habil’s death and Qabil’s flight to Yemen, the Lord and Giver of all good gifts betowed Sheth [Seth] upon Adam, as will be narrated by-and-by.