The Cave of Blood in Damascus: How Did Cain Kill His Brother Abel?

On the rackets of Damascus, the shrine of the forty with its green dome, the highest peaks of Mount Qasioun, overlooks the city in its basin as a fascinating painting. What is the story of this building revered by the Damascenes, which is believed to have been built at the site of the first crime, when Cain, the son of Adam, killed his brother Abel?

Nine hundred meters separate the shrine from the center of Damascus, but it takes about an hour of time and effort to reach the shrine through about 750 degrees of varying length and width, starting from the “Sheikh Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi” area near the Maysat neighborhood, and this rugged road has always prevented most of the people from visiting The Damascenes of this shrine, which houses 40 mihrabs, are said to belong to forty Pious who succeeded in managing the site, and they are called al-Abadal.

Despite the many accounts of the reason for naming the shrine, and the story of the “Cave of Blood” adjacent to it. However, all the narrations revolve around the story of the two sons of the grandfather of mankind Adam, which says according to the books that Cain killed his brother, Abel, while the legend says that this site is the place of the crime and that Cain carried his brother’s body and walked with it towards the west for days until he learned from the crow how to bury his brother, In the Zabadani area, the Syrians sanctify another shrine, which is believed to be the tomb of our pious master, Abel. It should be noted here that some ignorant people believe in the credibility of Darrin’s theory, which says that the Prophet of God Adam was a monkey and evolved as is the case with humans, and this saying is corrupt and contradictory to religion. Our master Adam is the father of humans, and he was glorious in shape and had a good voice, and he was not a monkey nor resembled monkeys.

Al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker mentioned it in the translation of Ahmed bin Katheer. And he said that he was among the righteous that he saw the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abel, and that [p. 220] Abel swore that this was his blood, and he mentioned that he asked Allah to make this place in which duaa is expected, so he swore to him. And the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, believed him. And he said: He, Abu Bakr, and Umar visit this place every Thursday.

What is the story of Cain and Abel?

We mention here a summary of what the imams of the Salaf mentioned in this regard, so he mentioned Al-Suddi, on the accordance of Abu Malik, on the accordance of Abu Salih, on the accordance of Ibn Abbas, on the accordance of Murrah, the accordance of Ibn Masoud, and on the accordance of some of the Companions, that Adam used to marry the male of each belly to the female of the other, and that Abel wanted to marriy the sister of Cain, who was older than Abel, and the sister of Cain was better, so Cain wanted to have her over his brother, and Adam, peace be upon him, commanded him to marry him to her, but he refused, so he commanded them to offer a sacrificee and went to Macca for Hajj. And the two lands and the mountains, but he refused, so Cain accepted to preserve that, and when he went, they offered their sacrifice, so Abel approached a fat stump, and he was a sheep-othe owner, and Cain brought a bundle of the seed of poor seed, and fire came down and ate Abel’s offering, and left Cain’s offering, and he became angry. And he said: I will kill you so that you do not marry my sister. He said: God only accepts the righteous. It was narrated on the authority of Abbas from other sources and the authority of Abdullah bin Amr. And Abdullah bin Amr said, “I swear to God that the murdered man was the toughest of the two men, but he was not embarrassed to extend his hand to him.”

And Abu Jaafar al-Baqir mentioned: Adam was direct to offer them the offering, and the acceptance was from Abel, not Cain, so he said: Cain to Adam: You only accepted from him because you prayed for him, and you did not pray for me. And he threatened his brother between him and him, and when one night he was slower Abel in herding, so he sent Adam his brother Cain to see what he had slowed down, and when he went, if he was with him, he said to him: Accept from you, but he did not accept from me. He said: God only accepts the righteous. Qabil became angry and he hit him with a metal bar he had and killed him. It was said that he killed him with a rock that he threw on his head while he was sleeping, and it fractured him. And it was said: Rather, he strangled him severely and bit him, as wild beasts do, and he died, and God knows best.

And he said to him when he threatened to kill him: If you extend your hand to me to kill me, I will not extend my hand to you to kill you, for I fear God, Lord of the worlds. It indicates good manners, fear of God Almighty, and fear of Him, and apprehension that he would meet his brother with the evil that he wanted his brother like from him, and this is why it is proven in the two Sahihs, [p.: 218] that the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: If two Muslims confront each other with their swords, then the killer and the slain ar the killer and the slain. in hell. They said: O Messenger of God, this is the killer, so what about the one who was killed? He said: He was eager to kill his companion. And he said: I want you to bear my sin and your sin so that you will be among the companions of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the unjust. i.e., I want to quit fighting you, even if I am stronger than you, and stronger since you have resolved to do what you resolved to do, that you will carry out my sin and your sin. i.e., you will bear the sin of killing me in addition to the previous sins you had before that. It was said by Mujahid, Al-Suddi, Ibn Jarir, and more than one, and it is not meant that the sins of the slain are transformed by killing him into the murderer, as some people have imagined him, for Ibn Jarir reported consensus on the contrary.

As for the hadith that some of those who do not know narrate, on the authority of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, that he said: The murderer did not leave any sin upon the one who was killed. There is no basis for it, and it is not known in any of the hadith books with an authentic, good or weak chain of narrators as well, but it may be agreed in some people on the Day of Resurrection that the person killed will demand the killer so that the good deeds of the killer do not meet this darkness, so they are transferred from the bad deeds of the killed to the killer, as proven by the authentic hadith In all other grievances, killing is one of the greatest, and God knows best.