۞ Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to Allah): It was accepted from one, but not from the other. Said the latter: "Be sure I will slay thee." "Surely," said the former, "Allah doth accept of the sacrifice of those who are righteous. 27 If you stretch your hand to kill me, I shall not stretch mine to kill you; for I fear Allah, the Lord 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 Then his soul made the slaying of his brother agreeable to him, so he slew him, and he became of the losers. 30 Then Allah sent a crow digging up the earth so that he might show him how he should cover the dead body of his brother. He said: Woe me! do I lack the strength that I should be like this crow and cover the dead body of my brother? So he became of those who regret. 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 This is the recompense of those who fight against God and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth, to do corruption there: they shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall alternately be struck off; or they shall be banished from the land. That is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come awaits them a mighty chastisement, 33 save for such [of them] as repent ere you [O believers] become more powerful than they: for you must know that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace. 34