Selected story
Cain and Abel
Read the cited context and compare 9 documented textual points.
Comparison 20 of 34
Cain and Abel
The two accounts at a glance
Bible
World English BibleCain kills Abel after God regards Abel's offering; Cain is confronted and marked.
Qur'an
Sahih InternationalTwo sons of Adam offer sacrifices; one kills the other, then a raven shows him how to conceal the body. The passage follows with a maxim about killing a soul.
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9 documented comparison points
The comparison reads the complete first-murder account and the Qur'anic account of Adam's two sons, including the raven and the legal reflection that follows. Labels use one standard: agreement means both texts state the point; additional detail means one adds a non-conflicting detail; omission means one is silent; ambiguity means an identity or meaning is not explicit; contradiction means both texts state mutually exclusive claims. Stylistic wording alone is not counted.
The brothers' names
The brothers are named Cain and Abel.
They are called the two sons of Adam and are not named in the Qur'anic text; Qabil and Habil come from later interpretation.
The brothers' occupations
Abel keeps sheep and Cain works the ground.
No occupations are given.
What each brother offers
Cain brings produce from the ground; Abel brings firstborn animals and their fat portions.
Both offer a sacrifice, but the contents are not identified.
Why one offering is accepted
Genesis says God regards Abel and his offering but not Cain and his; Hebrews associates Abel's offering with faith.
The accepted brother says that God accepts only from the righteous who fear Him.
The dialogue before the murder
God warns Cain that sin is crouching at the door and must be ruled over. Cain then tells Abel, "Let's go into the field."
The threatening brother says he will kill the other; the victim replies that he will not retaliate, fears God, and warns that the murderer will bear sin.
Where and how the murder occurs
Cain attacks Abel in the field; no weapon or exact method is named.
The soul of one brother leads him to murder the other, but no field or weapon is identified.
God confronts the murderer
God asks where Abel is, exposes the blood crying from the ground, curses Cain from the soil, and marks him for protection.
No divine interrogation, blood crying from the ground, agricultural curse, exile to Nod, or protective mark is narrated.
The raven teaches burial
Genesis does not say how Abel's body is buried and includes no raven in the episode.
God sends a raven scratching the ground to show the murderer how to hide his brother's body, and he expresses remorse.
The legal teaching attached to the story
Genesis continues with Cain's descendants and later Seth; it does not attach a rule equating one murder with killing all humanity.
The account is followed by a decree to the Children of Israel that unjustly killing one person is like killing all people, and saving one is like saving all.
What do both texts share?
- Two brothers bring offerings to God.
- One brother murders the other and faces divine judgment.