فَبَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُۥ كَيْفَ يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ ۚ قَالَ يَـٰوَيْلَتَىٰٓ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْغُرَابِ فَأُوَٰرِىَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى ۖ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلنَّـٰدِمِينَ
Faba'asal laahu ghuraabai yabhasu fil ardi liyuriyahoo kaifa yuwaaree sawata akheeh; qaala yaa wailataaa a'ajaztu an akoona misla haazal ghuraabi fa uwaariya saw ata akhee fa asbaha minan naadimeen
Allah, kardeşinin ölüsünü nasıl gömeceğini göstermek üzere, ona yeri eşeleyen bir karga gönderdi. "Bana yazıklar olsun! Kardeşimin ölüsünü örtmek için bu karga kadar olmaktan aciz kaldım" dedi de ettiğine yananlardan oldu.
Then God sent a raven scratching at the ground to show him how to bury his brother's body. He said, "Woe to me! Am I unable to be like this raven and bury my brother's body?" And he became filled with regret.
The word for the body here, saw'a, is the same one used for exposed nakedness earlier in the Qur'an: what should be covered, and what shames the one who sees it. A bird does the teaching, and the first human death arrives with no inherited practice for what follows it. Commentators noticed that his regret is stated over his own helplessness, and the text stops short of calling it repentance.