۞ (Muhammad) tell them the true story of the two sons of Adam (Abel and Cain). Each one of them offered a sacrifice. God accepted the sacrifice of one of them (Abel) but not that of the other (Cain) who then said to his brother, "I shall certainly kill you." (Abel) replied, "God only accepts the offerings of the pious ones. 27 "If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear Allah, the cherisher of the worlds. 28 Surely I wish that you should bear the sin committed against me and your own sin, and so you would be of the inmates of the fire, and this is the recompense of the unjust. 29 His soul made it seem fair to him to slay his brother; he killed him and became one of the lost. 30 Then God sent a raven which scratched the ground in order to show him how to hide the nakedness of his brother. "Alas, the woe," said he, "that I could not be even like the raven and hide the nakedness of my brother," and was filled with remorse. 31 Because of that We Prescribed unto the Children of Isra'il: whosoever slayeth a person, except for a person, or for corruption in the land, it shall be as though he had slain all mankind, and whosoever bringeth life to one it shall be as though he had brought life to all mankind. And assuredly there came unto them Our apostles with evidences, yet even thereafter many of them are acting on the earth extravagantly. 32 Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment, 33 except for those who repent before you gain power over them: for you must know that God is forgiving and merciful. 34