Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:28

"If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I fear Allah; the Lord of all that exists." Qabil's brother, the pious man whose sacrifice was accepted because of his piety, said to his brother, who threatened to kill him without justification,

لين بسطت إلي يدك لتقتلني ما أنا بباسط يدي إليك ﻻقتلك

(If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you), I will not commit the same evil act that you threaten to commit, so that I will not earn the same sin as you,

إني أخاف الله رب العالمين

(for I fear Allah; the Lord of the all that exists), and, as a result, I will not commit the error that you threaten to commit. Rather, I will observe patience and endurance. Abdullah bin `Amr said, "By Allah! Habil was the stronger of the two men. But, fear of Allah restricted his hand.'' The Prophet said in a Hadith recorded in the Two Sahihs,

إذا تواجه المسلمان بسيفيهما فالقاتل والمقتول في النار

When two Muslims fight (meet) each other with their swords, both the murderer as well as the murdered will go to the Hellfire. They said, "O Allah's Messenger! It is all right for the murderer, but what about the victim?'' Allah's Messenger replied,

إنه كان حريصا على قتل صاحبه

He surely had the intention to kill his comrade. Imam Ahmad recorded that, at the beginning of the calamity that Uthman suffered from, Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas said, "I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah said,

إنها ستكون فتنة القاعد فيها خير من القايم والقايم خير من الماشي والماشي خير من الساعي

There will be a Fitnah, and he who sits idle during it is better than he who stands up, and he who stands up in it is better than he who walks, and he who walks is better than he who is walking at a fast pace. When he was asked, `What if someone enters my home and stretched his hand to kill me?' He said,

كن كابن آدم

Be just like (the pious) son of Adam.'' At-Tirmidhi also recorded it this way, and said, "This Hadith is Hasan, and similar is reported on this subject from Abu Hurayrah, Khabbab bin Al-Aratt, Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas`ud, Abu Waqid and Abu Musa.'' The Qur'an continues,

إني أريد أن تبوء بٳثمي وإثمك فتكون من أصحاب النار وذلك جزاء الظالمين