The 365 · Tazkiyah · Day 157 · Envy
The First Murder · Hābīl and Qābīl
The disease
حسد قابيل
Ḥasad Qābīl
The story
Allah preserved the first murder in Sūrah al-Māʾidah: 'Recite to them the story of Adam's two sons, in truth, when they both made an offering, and it was accepted from one of them but was not accepted from the other' (5:27, Ṣaḥīḥ International rendering). The rejected brother did not pause to examine his own offering; he turned on the accepted one - 'I will surely kill you.' Hābīl's reply is the model of a heart that refused to let envy reach his hand: 'If you should raise your hand toward me to kill me, I shall not raise my hand toward you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds' (5:28). Qābīl killed him even so. Mark the sequence Allah froze in place for the umma to study forever: rejection met not with repentance but with envy, envy grown into hatred, hatred hardened into murder. Envy left uncorrected does not stay at envy; it travels to its end.
Why it's named first
The first murder in human history was envy-killing. Allah preserved the story in Sūrah al-Māʾidah: the two sons of Ādam, Hābīl and Qābīl, offered sacrifices to Allah; Hābīl's was accepted, Qābīl's was not. Instead of repenting or examining his own deficiency, Qābīl envied; the envy grew into hatred; the hatred grew into murder. Allah preserved the structural sequence to teach the umma forever: envy-uncorrected ends in killing. The Prophet ﷺ: 'No soul is killed unjustly without Qābīl bearing a share of its guilt, because he was the first to establish the practice of killing' (Bukhārī 3335).
In the Qur'an
۞ وَٱتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ٱبْنَىْ ءَادَمَ بِٱلْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ ٱلْـَٔاخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ ٱللَّهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ لَئِنۢ بَسَطتَ إِلَىَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِى مَآ أَنَا۠ بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِىَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ ۖ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ ٱللَّهَ رَبَّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ إِنِّىٓ أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوٓأَ بِإِثْمِى وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلنَّارِ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُۥ نَفْسُهُۥ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُۥ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ فَبَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُۥ كَيْفَ يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ ۚ قَالَ يَـٰوَيْلَتَىٰٓ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْغُرَابِ فَأُوَٰرِىَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى ۖ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلنَّـٰدِمِينَ
“And recite to them the story of Adam's two sons, in truth, when they both made an offering [to Allāh], and it was accepted from one of them but was not accepted from the other. Said [the latter], "I will surely kill you." Said [the former], "Indeed, Allāh only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him]. If you should raise your hand toward me to kill me - I shall not raise my hand toward you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allāh, Lord of the worlds. Indeed, I want you to obtain [thereby] my sin and your sin so you will be among the companions of the Fire. And that is the recompense of wrongdoers." And his soul permitted to him¹ the murder of his brother, so he killed him and became among the losers. Then Allāh sent a crow searching [i.e., scratching] in the ground to show him how to hide the disgrace¹ of his brother. He said, "O woe to me! Have I failed to be like this crow and hide the disgrace [i.e., body] of my brother?" And he became of the regretful.”
5:27-31 Read 5:27 with tafsir
Svenska: LÅT DEM höra berättelsen om Adams två söner, så som allt verkligen gick till - de bar fram var sitt offer [till Gud] och den enes [offer] togs nådigt emot men inte den andres. [Denne] sade: "Jag svär att jag skall döda dig." [Och brodern] svarade: "Gud tar inte emot offer av andra än dem som fruktar Honom. Även om du lyfter din hand för att döda mig, skall jag inte lyfta min hand mot dig; jag fruktar Gud, världarnas Herre. Men jag vill att du skall bära min synd i tillägg till din egen synd, och att Elden skall vara din arvedel; sådan är de orättfärdigas lön." Men den andre, driven av sin [hetsiga] natur, tvekade inte inför brodermordet, och han dödade honom och blev så en av förlorarna. Och Gud sände en korp, som krafsade i jorden och visade honom hur han kunde dölja broderns nakna kropp. [Och] han utropade: "Har jag, eländige stackare, blivit så svag att jag inte kan göra som denna korp och dölja min broders lik?" Och han greps av ånger.
In the Sunnah
The Prophet ﷺ: 'No soul is killed unjustly without there being upon the first son of Ādam a share of its bloodshed, because he was the first to establish killing' (Bukhārī 3335). The structural implication: every subsequent murder in human history shares its guilt-record with Qābīl, because he introduced the pattern. The envy that became murder became the template; the template now applies across millennia.
The cure
(1) Examine your own deficiencies before envying another's blessing. Qābīl's specific failure was not addressing his own sacrifice's quality; the envy was his deflection. The believer faced with another's success should ask: what am I not doing? rather than: why do they have what they have? (2) Where envy has already taken root, kill it before it grows. The Qurʾanic warning is that envy does not stay at envy; it becomes hatred, becomes harm, becomes destruction. The window to extract the disease is when it is small. (3) Use Hābīl's response as the model: 'If you extend your hand to kill me, I will not extend my hand to kill you; indeed I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds' (al-Māʾidah 5:28). The non-retaliation against an envious brother is the prophetic posture.
What is at stake
Qābīl's specific consequence: he carried his brother's body for days, not knowing what to do; Allah sent a crow to bury another crow as a teaching; Qābīl regretted, saying 'I am unable even to be like this crow and bury the body of my brother'; he became of the regretful (al-Māʾidah 5:31). The structural arc: envy to hatred to murder to regret to lifelong shame. The pattern is the warning.
A du'a for this day
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ حَسَدِي، وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَسَدِ الْحَاسِدِينَ.
“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the evil of my own envy, and from the evil of the envious.”
A supplication in this meaning, not a narrated hadith.
A reflection to carry
Allah preserved the first murder in human history with structural precision. Two sons of Ādam, Hābīl and Qābīl, each offered a sacrifice. Allah accepted Hābīl's; He did not accept Qābīl's. Qābīl had two paths. The first: examine his own deficiency, repent, and improve the next sacrifice. The second: envy his brother. Qābīl chose the second. The envy became hatred; the hatred grew into threat: 'I will surely kill you' (al-Māʾidah 5:27). The threat became act. The first murder. Allah preserved the entire arc in five verses (5:27-31) because the pattern is universal. Every subsequent envy carries within it the seed of Qābīl's trajectory. The Prophet ﷺ: 'No soul is killed unjustly without there being upon the first son of Ādam a share of its bloodshed, because he was the first to establish killing' (Bukhārī 3335). The seriousness is structural. Today, when envy of someone's accepted blessing rises in your chest, ask Qābīl's question: am I examining my own deficiency, or am I deflecting? Hābīl gave the prophetic answer: 'Allah only accepts from those who fear Him' (5:27). The cure is in your own taqwā, not in the envied's loss.
Read the longer reflection
Allah preserved the first murder in human history in Sūrah al-Māʾidah 5:27-31, and the preservation is one of the most structurally instructive narratives in the Qurʾan. Read each clause. 'wa-tlu ʿalayhim nabaʾa ibnay Ādama bi-l-ḥaqq'. And relate to them the news of the two sons of Ādam in truth. Allah is commanding the Prophet ﷺ to tell this specific story; the structural lesson is universal-applicable. 'idh qarrabă qurbănan fa-tuqubbila min aḥadihimă wa-lam yutaqabbal min al-ăkhar'. When they offered a sacrifice, it was accepted from one of them and not accepted from the other. The starting point: a difference in Allah's acceptance. Allah accepts from one believer's deeds and not from another's; this is the structural reality of the akhirah-ledger. The classical commentators note that Allah's acceptance is conditional on the inner state of the worshipper; the same outward act can be accepted from one and rejected from another based on taqwā. 'qăla la-aqtulannak'. He (Qābīl) said: I will surely kill you. The envy moved instantly to murder-threat. There was no transitional phase preserved in the verse; the rejection of one sacrifice and acceptance of the other produced the immediate threat. The envy was so intense, so unmoderated, that within the same scene Qābīl threatened murder. 'qăla innamă yataqabbalu Allăhu min al-muttaqīn'. He (Hābīl) said: Allah only accepts from those who fear Him. Hābīl's response is the prophetic diagnosis. He did not boast about his acceptance; he did not gloat. He named the structural truth: acceptance is correlated with taqwā, and Qābīl's response should be to examine his own God-fear, not to murder the accepted. 'la-in basaṭta ilayya yadaka li-taqtulanī mă ana bi-băsiţin yadiya ilayka li-aqtulak; innī akhăfu Allăha rabba al-ʿălamīn'. If you extend your hand to kill me, I will not extend my hand to kill you; indeed I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds. The non-retaliation. Hābīl chose the prophetic posture: he would not become the second-killer in response to the first. His God-fear restrained him from defending himself with reciprocal murder. The story continues: Qābīl killed Hābīl; he then did not know how to handle the body; Allah sent a crow to bury another dead crow as a teaching for him; Qābīl realized his own helplessness and became regretful, saying 'I am unable even to be like this crow and bury my brother'; he 'became of the regretful' (5:31). The arc is complete. Envy to threat to murder to bewilderment to regret. The Prophet ﷺ, in a hadith of structural significance, said: 'lă tuqtalu nafsun ẓulman illă kăna ʿală ibn Ādam al-awwal kiflun min damihă; li-annahu kăna awwala man sannna al-qatl' (Bukhārī 3335). No soul is killed unjustly without there being upon the first son of Ādam a share of its bloodshed, because he was the first to establish killing. Read this carefully. The Prophet ﷺ is saying that every subsequent murder in human history shares its sin-record with Qābīl. Why? Because Qābīl established the practice; the pattern he opened is now available to every soul that walks the same trajectory. The Hadith of Bukhārī 3335 establishes the structural cumulative-guilt principle: the founder of a sin-pattern bears partial responsibility for every subsequent commission. And the inverse: 'whoever founds a good practice in Islam has its reward and the reward of all who act on it after him; whoever founds an evil practice in Islam has its sin and the sin of all who act on it after him' (Muslim 1017). Qābīl founded the practice of killing; every murder after carries his share. Now apply the structure. The envy you have toward a fellow believer is the same seed Qābīl had. Unattended, it grows. Threat, then action, then regret. The Prophet ﷺ is teaching the umma to extract the disease at the envy-stage, before it grows. The cure has three motions. First, examine your own deficiency rather than envying another's acceptance. When you see another's success (their accepted sacrifice, their prosperous business, their beautiful family, their religious station), ask Hābīl's question: are they more taqwă? Then ask Qābīl's deflection: did I prepare my sacrifice well enough? The believer who examines self rather than envies other has refused Qābīl's trajectory at the entry point. Second, where envy has begun, kill it before it grows. The Prophet ﷺ's medicine (from Day 156) is the conversion-duʿā: Allāhumma anta arzaqtahu mă ʿindahu; fa-arzuqnī mithlahu wa-bărik lahu. The recitation cannot coexist with envy; the conversion forces the disease out. Third, take the Hābīl posture when others' envy targets you. If another believer's envy reaches you (verbally, behaviorally, harmfully), do not respond with reciprocal envy or with vindictive harm. The prophetic posture is the non-retaliation grounded in God-fear: 'If you extend your hand to kill me, I will not extend my hand to kill you; indeed I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds'. The non-retaliation is the inverse of Qābīl, and Allah's reward attaches to it. Pray today: Allāhumma 'ajʿalnī min al-lădhīna yataqabbalu minhum, wa-ăminnī min sharri ḥasad qalbī. O Allah, make me of those from whom You accept, and protect me from the evil of my heart's envy. The first murder was preserved as eternal warning; the pattern still operates; the cure is named.
Sources: Quran, Sahih Bukhari. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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