Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:30

(فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ): It facilitated and eased it for him, derived from the phrase ta'a lahu al-marta'a (the pasture became easy/accessible) when it expands. The sequencing of the taw'i' (facilitation) after Abel’s preceding statements—despite its fulfillment earlier, as indicated by his saying, "I will surely kill you"—is because the persistence of an act after its prerequisite is established, even if it is a continuation according to appearances, is in reality a new occurrence and a fresh deed. Alternatively, this level of facilitation had not been achieved before, based on his hesitation regarding his ability to kill because his brother was stronger than him; it was only attained after he realized Abel’s surrender and lack of resistance. The explicit mention of his brotherhood is for the sake of extreme condemnation of what his soul enticed him to do.

Al-Hasan recited fatawa'at (it contended/cooperated). There are two aspects to this: First, that the active participle (fa'ala) has the meaning of the intensive verb (af'ala), as Sibawayh and others have mentioned, which is more consistent with the mutawatir (mass-transmitted) recitation. Second, that the reciprocal form (mufa'ala) is metaphorical, implying that the act of killing invites the soul to commit it, while the soul resists it. Thus, both the act of killing and the soul are as if each wants the other to yield to it—the soul ultimately yielded to the killing. The letter lam (in lahu) is for emphasis and clarification, as in His saying: "Did We not expand for you [thee] your breast?" The claim that it is to preclude the possibility that it facilitated the killing for someone other than himself is meritless.

(فَقَتَلَهُ): Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Mujahid and Ibn Jurayj that Cain did not know how to kill Abel, so the accursed Iblis appeared to him in the form of a bird, took another bird, placed its head between two stones, and crushed it, teaching him how to kill. Thus, he killed him in the same manner while he was surrendering. Ibn Mas'ud and a group of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated that Cain sought his brother to kill him, but Abel evaded him in the mountain peaks. One day, while Abel was sleeping while tending his sheep, Cain took a rock and crushed his head, killing him, then left him in the open, not knowing how to bury him until Allah sent the raven. Abel was twenty years old when he was killed.

There is a difference of opinion regarding the location of the murder. Amr al-Shu'bani narrated from Ka'b al-Ahbar that he was killed on Mount Deir Maran; in another narration from him, it was on Mount Qasiyun. It is also said it was at the pass of Hira, or in Basra at the site of the Great Mosque. Na'im ibn Hammad narrated from Abd al-Rahman ibn Fadalah that when Cain killed Abel, Allah destroyed his intellect and unmoored his heart; he remained a wanderer until he died. It is reported that when he killed him, his skin turned black, though he had been white. Adam asked him about his brother, and he replied, "I was not his keeper." Adam said, "Nay, you killed him; that is why your body has turned black."

Ibn Asakir and Ibn Jarir narrated from Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd that when one of his sons was killed, Adam (peace be upon him) did not laugh for a hundred years out of grief. At the end of the hundred years, he was told, "May Allah bring you to life and greet you," and he was given the good tidings of a boy, at which he laughed. Muhyi al-Sunnah mentioned that fifty years after the killing of his son, Seth (peace be upon him) was born to him. His name means "Gift of Allah," meaning he was the successor to Abel. Allah taught him the hours of the day and night and the worship required for each, and He sent down upon him fifty scrolls; he became the trustee of Adam and his heir apparent. Ibn Jarir narrated from Ali (may Allah honor his countenance) that when the son of Adam (peace be upon him) killed his brother, Adam wept and eulogized him in poetry. Al-Khatib and Ibn Asakir narrated something similar from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), and it is famous.

It is reported from Maymun ibn Mihran from the Scholar (Ibn Abbas) that he said: "Whoever claims that Adam (peace be upon him) spoke poetry has lied. Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and all the prophets (peace be upon them all) are equal in the prohibition of poetry. However, when Cain killed Abel, Adam eulogized him in Syriac. It was transmitted until it reached Ya'rub ibn Qahtan, who spoke both Arabic and Syriac, so he looked at it, rearranged it, and turned it into Arabic poetry." Some Arabic scholars mentioned that there is grammatical error or poetic weakness in that poem. It is better not to attribute it to Ya'rub either, due to its manifest frailty.

(فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ): In this world and the Hereafter. The two Shaykhs and others narrated from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "No soul is killed unjustly except that the first son of Adam bears a share of its blood, for he was the first to institute killing." Ibn Jarir and al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman narrated from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: "We find the killer son of Adam sharing the portion of the people of the Fire exactly; upon him is half of their torment." It is reported that he is among the most wretched. This and similar narrations make it explicit that the man died a disbeliever.

More explicit than this is the report that when he killed his brother, he fled to Aden in the land of Yemen. Iblis (may the curse of Allah be upon them both) came to him and said: "The fire only consumed Abel’s offering because he served it and worshipped it, and you also worshipped it, so your goal was achieved." So he built a fire temple and worshipped it, becoming the first to worship fire. It is apparent that he also bears the sin of those who worship fire; indeed, it is not unlikely that he bears the sin of everyone who worships other than Allah until the Day of Resurrection. Some inferred from His saying "became" (asbaha) that the murder occurred at night, but this is baseless; for it is the habit of the Arabs to say, "Such-and-such person has become a loser in his trade" when he performs an act whose outcome is loss, meaning the attainment of that state regardless of the time. The reason He did not say "became a loser" (khasiran) is for emphasis, even if he were not the only loser at that time.