Question: What are the messages given to believers in the parable of Cain and Abel?

In relation to this and other stories in the Qur’an, it is important to know that they are not in the holy scripture just for the sake of conveying historical knowledge. The Qur’an is teaching us certain truths by means of them. What falls to us is to find their aspects that relate to our time and draw lessons from them.

A superficial consideration will not be so helpful to disclose the truths behind these verses. It requires reading them time and again, in their integrity and with serious thought. “It must definitely be telling something to me here” should be our approach to every verse, as if it were a direct address to us. And so should we approach the parable of the two sons of Prophet Adam.

As is known, there was a disagreement between Cain and Abel. Cain did not consent to what God decreed for him. Upon this, in order to test who was right and who was wrong, they referred to a practice special to the people of that era. Accordingly, a fire that descended from the sky would destroy the sacrifice of the righteous one and not touch the sacrifice of the other. This way it would be clear who was right and who was wrong. Thus they offered a sacrifice each and a fire that descended from the sky took the sacrifice of Abel. Cain was so much blinded by greed and envy that he could not admit the result although his being wrong was affirmed by God Almighty Himself. Then he committed the sin of murdering his brother, as related in the Qur’an. Afterwards he buried the body in the ground, following the example of a crow he saw digging up the earth.

Now imagine a person who was brought up in the household of a Prophet. Yet, he is not consenting to God’s decree about him, then committing a willful murder, and then hiding the proof of what he did. His discontent with God and murder of his brother were so gross as crimes that they made him enter a dark realm step by step; he may even have fallen to unbelief after a certain point, for the Qur’an says that he became a loser forever.

“Narrate to them (O Messenger) in truth the exemplary experience of the two sons of Adam…” (Maeda 5:27-31). The Qur’an and authenticated sayings of the Messenger do not mention their names. These names are taken from the Old Testament. No matter what their names were, both of them were brought up under the guidance of a Prophet, in a home where revelation was showering over them. Therefore, Cain was most probably a believer like Abel, but he obeyed Satan and killed his brother. Cain was the first one among children of Adam to commit murder, and thus he is the one who blazed this evil trail for the first time. In this regard his sin is a manifold one and this sin may have led him to unbelief; with the approach of Said Nursi, every sin is a path leading to unbelief. At the same time, every step taken toward sin is a step taken toward unbelief.

The sin that caused Cain to lose is jealousy and intolerance. It is his jealousy of what God granted to his brother and not accepting the Divine decree. As the Qur’an clearly points out in different verses, God created everyone differently. He bestowed different blessings to everyone, endowed everybody with different talents and abilities, and rendered some better than others. The Qur’an states that even some of the Prophets were exalted above some others (Isra 17:55). Even if a person is better than others in one thing, that person can be behind others in another thing. For certain wisdoms we do not know of, God Almighty may have given more to some, endowed them with knowledge and wisdom, and expanded their horizons. By utilizing these favors of God properly, they may have realized even further progress. Each of these is an element of trial. The trial and responsibility of one who received more blessings in a certain respect is greater. On fulfilling what that responsibility calls for, that person will have passed the trial.

The other person’s responsibility is to the degree of the blessing they received. The duty that falls to a believer is to meet all of these decrees of God Almighty with respect, consenting to what is in hand, and fulfilling the due responsibility for what fell to their own share. However, many people cannot easily stomach others who are better than themselves. Because of their jealousy, such people kill their own hearts, consume their own good deeds, and come under the burden of sins, without even being aware of it. If one does not try to extinguish the fire of their intolerance and envy and not curb those feelings, then the person puts them into action and starts committing sins.

Abel’s stance

Another point that catches attention in the parable mentioned is the attitude taken by Abel in response to Cain’s attempt for murder. The Qur’an relates this attitude as follows: ““Yet if you stretch out your hand against me to kill me, I will not stretch out my hand against you to kill you. Surely I fear God, the Lord of the worlds…” These words of Abel are counseling us to avoid tit-for-tat, namely not to respond to aggression with aggression.

This does not necessarily mean we should not use our right of legal defense when appropriate. On the contrary, a person is responsible for protecting their faith, life, honor, and property. Lawful defense is not a sin or crime. If a person dies while trying to defend these essential values, he or she is regarded as a martyr.

Be that as it may, it is also important to respond with tolerance as much as possible, of course without failing to protect what we should. “Without hands against those who strike, without a tongue against those who curse, and without a bitter heart against those who feel bitter against us”; responding in this manner is so essential to improve personal relationships and to establish peace in our local communities and around the world. Even if some show their teeth growling at us, we should still respond saying, “God did not give us teeth to bite others and claws to attack them.” We still prefer to behave mildly towards everybody, particularly so towards our fellow community of believers, as an indication of magnanimity; this must be our unchanging character.

In our time, even trivial matters are made into a fuss with political considerations or other plans. To obtain esteem and status, they greatly exaggerate petty issues as if they were crucial, and raise big fights around these. For this reason, choosing the way of mildness and not responding to evils with evil are very important in terms of establishing peace in society. If only politicians too could learn certain things from this lesson of the Qur’an and revise their style accordingly once more! If only they would check with their ways and methods with regard to the Qur’anic virtues and could moderate certain attitude and behaviors of theirs. If only they did not act in such a reactionary way, not add fire to flames of disagreement, and not destroy bridges of peace.

Balance in love and anger

The Messenger of God counsels a person to have moderation at loving someone and to have moderation at being angry with someone, because the person we love might become an enemy one day and the person we are angry with might become a friend one day (see Tirmidhi, Birr 60). So when such a day comes, you might feel very serious remorse for what you did in the past. Therefore, one should not go to excess neither in love not in anger.

If you praise somebody to the skies, they will fall to the ground and shatter when you stop. In the same way, when you are enraged with someone, you should know to curb your rage, for your paths might cross later in very different terms. We should not act solely by looking at the present day, as if there were no tomorrow. Who knows, maybe tomorrow we will come side by side with people with whom we are at loggerheads today, and at a critical moment we may need to struggle against a common adversary together.

This was the very conduct followed by Abel, brought to our attention as a paragon of virtue. If only people who influenced others with their ideas and writings acted more sensibly by taking into consideration the tomorrow of the path they are walking.

Thus, while walking toward the future as a whole community, tolerance is our safest refuge and our fortress against the handicaps that arise from schism, factions, and the difficulties inherent in reaching mutual agreement; troubles that lie waiting at every corner.

We should have such tolerance that we are able to close our eyes to the faults of others, to have respect for different ideas, and to forgive everything that is forgivable. In fact, even when faced with violations of our inalienable rights, we should remain respectful to human values and try to establish justice. Even before the coarsest thoughts and the crudest ideas, ideas that we find impossible to share, with the caution of a Prophet and without losing our temper, we should respond with mildness. This mildness is presented in the Qur’an as “gentle words”; it will touch the hearts of others. This mildness is the result of a tender heart, a gentle approach, and mild behavior. We should have so much tolerance that we can benefit from opposing ideas in that they force us to keep our heart, spirit, and conscience active and aware, even if these ideas do not directly or indirectly teach us anything.

Tolerance, a term which we sometimes use in place of the words respect, mercy, generosity, or forbearance, is the most essential element of moral systems; it is a very important source of spiritual discipline and a celestial virtue of perfected people.

Under the lens of tolerance the merits of believers attain new depths and extend to infinity; mistakes and faults become insignificant and whither away until they are so small that they can be placed into a thimble. In fact, the treatment of He Who is beyond time and space always passes through the prism of tolerance, and we wait for it to embrace us and all of creation. Because of the broadness of this embrace, when a corrupt woman who had given water to a thirsty dog touched the knocker of the “Door of Mercy,” she found herself in a corridor extending to chastity and Heaven. Similarly, due to the deep love he felt for God and His Messenger, a drunk suddenly shook himself free and attained companionship of the Prophet. In another example, with the smallest of Divine favors, a bloody murderer was saved from his monstrous psychosis and headed toward the highest rank; a rank that far surpassed his natural ability and, one that in the end he actually reached.

We all want everyone to see us through this lens and we expect the breezes of forgiveness and pardon to constantly blow in our surroundings. All of us want to refer our past and present to the climate of tolerance and forbearance that melts, transforms, cleans, and purifies and then to walk toward the future securely, without feeling any anxiety. We do not want our past to be criticized or our future to be darkened because of our present. All of us expect love and respect for a whole lifetime, hope for tolerance and forgiveness, and want to be embraced with feelings of liberality and affection. We expect tolerance and forgiveness from our parents in response to mischievousness at home, from our teachers in response to our misbehavior at school, from those innocent victims toward whom we have acted unjustly and oppressed, from the judge and prosecutor in court, from our army commanders, from police officers and from the Judge of Judges in the Highest Tribunal.

However, deserving what we expect is very important. Anyone who does not forgive has no right to expect forgiveness. Everyone will receive disrespect to the degree that he has been disrespectful. Anyone who does not love is not worthy of being loved. Those who do not embrace all of humankind with tolerance and forgiveness have lost their worthiness to receive forgiveness and pardon. An unfortunate one who curses others does not have the right to expect respect from others. Those who curse will be cursed and those who beat will be beaten. If true Muslims observed such Qur’anic principles as the following and were to go on their way and tolerate curses deep in their breasts, then others would appear in order to implement the justice of Destiny on those who cursed us.

When they meet hollow words or unseemly behavior, they pass them by with dignity.(Furqan 25:72)

If you behave tolerantly, overlook, and forgive (their faults) . . . (Taghabun 64:14)

In countries rife with corruption, intolerance, and mercilessness, such things as freedom of thought, polite criticism, and the exchange of ideas according to norms of equity and fairminded debate are absent; it would be meaningless to talk of the results of logic and inspiration. In my opinion, this must be the real reason that for years no progress has been made, in spite of plenty of empty boasting.

For years, there have been numerous examples of immorality-my values do not allow me to speak about them openly-although their perpetrators have received their share of tolerance. Despite this, attempts continue to be made to label innocent people as “backward fanatics who support theocratic regimes.” “Fundamentalism” is another fashionable term with which to smear them. Moreover, Islam has been accused of not keeping up with the times. We frequently observe with sorrow today that those who did nothing more than express their religious feelings have been branded as reactionaries, fanatics, and fundamentalists. Unfortunately some people do not distinguish between being truly religious and blind fanaticism.

It is not possible to talk about common ideas or a collective consciousness in communities where individuals do not look upon one another with tolerance or in countries where the spirit of forbearance has not become fully entrenched. In such countries, ideas will devour one another in the web of conflict. The work of thinkers will be futile, and in such countries it will not be possible to establish sound thought or freedom of belief or thought. These things will not be allowed to flourish. In fact, it cannot be said that in such a country the state has been based on a true system of justice; even if this appears to be the case, it is nothing more than a sham. Actually, in a place where there is no tolerance, it is not possible to talk about a healthy media, scholarly thought, or pertinent cultural activities either. What we see when we look at the things that carry such names are only some fruitless, one-sided efforts made according to certain thoughts and a certain philosophy; expecting something fresh, beneficial and promising for the future from these is futile.

At this point, it is important to note that the motives for Muslims to engage in dialogue with non-Muslims have their roots embedded not in the recent past, but date back to the seventh century. Dialogue is not a civilized virtue of modern times, but rather a duty upon every Muslim, who is following the footsteps of the Prophet of Islam. Dialogue is not a temporary activity, but a way of living that spans a lifetime. In the very first days of his mission, the Prophet sought every possible means of communication with his fellow townsmen; despite fierce opposition and in the face of all kinds of dangers and threats, he was the one who took the first step and initiated “dialogue.” This attitude was not only limited to the Mecca period when Muslims were few in number and powerless to defend themselves. The Blessed Prophet sent aid to Mecca when his hometown was suffering a deadly famine; this happened when Muslims had won battles against Meccan pagans and the city state of Islam was laying its foundations more strongly than any other establishment in the Arabian Peninsula. It is also well known that the Prophet’s shield was in the custody of a Jew when he passed away; he never stopped making peaceful contacts with non Muslims.

Some of the articles in this issue focus on some significant concepts like tolerance, jihad, and dialogue between Muslims and Christians. The lead article shows believers how to respond to “. . . the coarsest thoughts and the crudest ideas, without losing our temper.” “Mildness is reminded in such situations we cannot tolerate, a kind of mildness presented in the Qur’an as “gentle words” which “is the result of a tender heart, a gentle approach, and mild behavior.”

Galymzhan Kirbassov analyzes Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theory.

Studying interstate disputes during the post-Cold War period, his analysis proposes a qualitative result that conflicts occur more because of other reasons than civilizational differences. Evan Radford’s piece explores the Islamic concept of “jihad” that is highly unpopular in the West. Radford thinks this unpopularity is a result of misinformation; Westerners and some extremists have misinterpreted jihad and use this concept as a veil and as a means to legitimatize their politically motivated violent activities.