When Qaabeel killed Haabeel, Qaabeel was worried that what to do with the corpse of his dead brother as no one had ever died prior to this. Therefore, Qaabeel kept on wandering around carrying the corpse of his brother on his back for many days. Then he saw two crows quarrelling and one killing the other. Then the living crow dug a pit with its beak and paws and after placing the dead crow in it, filled it with the soil. From this scene, Qaabeel learnt that the corpse should be buried in the ground. Therefore, he dug a grave and buried the corpse of his brother in it.
(Madarik-ut-Tanzeel, vol. 1, pp. 486; part 6, Surah Al-Mai’dah, Ayah 31)
The Holy Quran has described this event in the following words:
(Madarik-ut-Tanzeel, vol. 1, pp. 486; part 6, Surah Al-Mai’dah, Ayah 31)
The Holy Quran has described this event in the following words:
فَبَعَثَ اللہُ غُرَابًا یَّبْحَثُ فِی الۡاَرْضِ لِیُرِیَہٗ کَیۡفَ یُوَارِیۡ سَوْاَۃَ اَخِیۡہِ ؕ قَالَ یٰوَیۡلَتٰۤی اَعَجَزْتُ اَنْ اَکُوۡنَ مِثْلَ ہٰذَا الْغُرَابِ فَاُوَارِیَ سَوْاَۃَ اَخِیۡ ۚ فَاَصْبَحَ مِنَ النّٰدِمِیۡنَ ﴿ۚۛۙ31﴾ (پ6،المائدۃ:31)
So Allah sent a crow, scratching
the ground, to show him
(Qaabeel, the killer) how to bury his brother’s corpse. He (the killer) said, ‘Woe to me! I was not even able to be like this crow that I could bury my brother’s corpse.’ And he remained regretful.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 6, Surah Al-Mai’dah, Ayah 31)
Moral:
1. We get a moral lesson from this event that in order to acquire knowledge, a human being is dependent even on the help of small creatures like a crow.
2. We have also come to know that whenever someone is confronted by the worldly problems, Allah is so Gracious and Compassionate unto us that He shows the path that leads us towards the remedy of problems through different means, even through birds or animals.
