Islam critiqued find old murder archives; the value of a soul in Islam?

In answer to the video "Muhammad and Merkabah Mysticism"

The ordinance relating to unjust manslaughter in the Quran clearly has a universal connotation both for unjustly murdering or preserving a soul. Anyone familiar even on a most basic level with the Quran knows that among its most pervasive themes is the fact that to God, the value of a human, regardless of social status, gender or race only depends on righteousness in deeds and God-consciousness/taqwa 2:221,4:1,135,5:48,25:77,34:37,42:23,49:13. The Quran appeals to the believers' taqwa/God-consciousness in maintaining indiscriminate justice

"though it may be against your own selves or (your) parents or near relatives"

or even

"against a hated people"  

5:2"and let not hatred of a people..incite you to exceed the limits, and help one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression".

These verses came down at a time where Muslims were living in Medina under the constant threat of war, in an unceasing atmosphere of plotting and suspicions between all parties, including the Jews. Yet the Quran tells the Muslims not to give up justice for scapegoating, and baseless stereotypes. There are many examples to corroborate from the prophet's life and early companions. For instance the prophet once ruled in favor of a Jew to whom a companion owed money, on the Jew's own terms despite having full authority to give a more lenient ruling in favor of his close companion. The disregard for justice, or the abuse of power from a dominant position towards any human being was an attitude severely reprimanded by the prophet to the point he said

"If anyone wrongs a person protected by a covenant, violates his rights, burdens him with more work than he is able to do, or takes something from him without his consent, then I will plead for him on the Day of Resurrection".

Once a case of theft was brought before him by a close companion for a lenient verdict

 "When Usama spoke to Allah's Messenger about that matter, Allah's Messenger said, "Do you intercede (with me) to violate one of the legal punishment of Allah?" Then he got up and addressed the people, saying, "O people! The nations before you went astray because if a noble person committed theft, they used to leave him, but if a weak person among them committed theft, they used to inflict the legal punishment on him. By Allah, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad committed theft, Muhammad will cut off her hand".

The corruption of the justice system to gain favors in a society or usurp other people's rights is forbidden 2:188. The verse 4:105 is cited in a historical context where the prophet judged a matter in favor of a Jew against the Muslim despite the tense situation between the 2 groups at the time. This is in contrast with the attitude of the Jewish elite who moulded their religious system so as to allow differentiation between Israelites and non-Israelites in their dealings Deut15,23,24,etc. Allah is Rabbul Alamin, the sustainer of all that exists everywhere. His presence in all that exists means that even the smallest degree of injustice displeases the Just Lord of the worlds 22:10. Rabbinic conjecture on the other hand has discriminated between Jews and non-Jews, in the value of a life as well as in moral obligations. In that particular issue of value of a human life, they modified the universality of the principle to make it apply solely to a Jewish soul, that consequently takes on a more sacred character

"whosoever destroys a single soul of Israel, Scripture imputes [guilt] to him as though he had destroyed a complete world; and whosoever preserves a single soul of Israel, Scripture ascribes [merit] to him as though he had preserved a complete world".

 This tradition is derived from the peculiar wording of the story in Genesis. The text could have originally more obviously represented that notion, but due to negligence, loss and corruption overtime the dimly remembered and reconstructed wording was altered, obscuring the correct interpretation, until revived much later through deep study of the text. The rabbis thus understood the implicit principle of sanctity of human life from it, but went on to modify it with their ethno centric worldview.  The Quran reveals the original story, and although concise in its descriptions, brings to light all important aspects of it that naturally lead the audience/reader to the principle discussed later in the Talmud. Eliminating a soul innocent of any wrongdoings, those who do not engage in the spread of evil is as if one destroys all humanity. The murderer has eliminated a soul that may benefit humanity as a whole, and increased the presence of evil in the world. 

The Quran further adds a clause of self-defence and application of justice to the moral principle, a clause which is present in the law of and teachings of every prophet of God

"unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land".

The passage 5:27-32 is a direct address to the Bani Israel of the prophet Muhammad's time who, like their forefathers to whom the ordinance was forcefully "written upon" because of their complete disregard for the sanctity of human life to the point they even murdered the prophets sent to them, planned time after time to kill their innocent Ishmaelite brother out of pure jealousy that God had now raised a prophet outside of their line. They subconsciously know about their unworthiness, which is time and again pointed in their own books. Like Cain, they could not see that all this, their removal as being the torch bearers of truth in favor of a new nation, was due to their persistence in transgression and lack of God-consciousness, as their own history bears testimony to.

The passage is meant at opening their eyes to their spiritual condition, and warning them of the severity of the sin they were planning on committing and how remorseful and helpless they would then become.

For a lapse of time following his crime, a murderer stays in bewilderment and shock, even denial, before something either from within or outside of him triggers back his consciousness and brings him back to reality, after which most often than not, he becomes filled with sorrow and remorse. That psychological dimension is unknown to the transmitters of the story in the HB who describe Cain as unconcerned with his brother's murder until the surrealistic and naive intervention of God and his dialogue with Cain Gen4:9-12.

In Cain's case, that trigger was the sight of a crow digging the earth to show him how to cover "sawata akheehi"/the shamefulness of his brother (ie his nakedness). The word sawata stems from S-Y-Hamza or S-W-Hamza meaning a shameful thing. That thing is determined by the context. That sight took him out of his state of shock and plunged him in regrets, seeing that besides the injustice he had just committed towards his own brother, he had in addition left him exposed in a shameful, disgraceful way 5:31. In fact in the Quran, one of the graces of Allah to human beings is the very burial of corpses

80:21"Then He causes him to die, then assigns to him a grave".

If the manner to dispose of corpses was unknown, they would humiliatingly remain putrid on the ground, and the beasts and birds would feast on them, which would be a horrible debasement. On a more general note, besides this passage indicating the importance of disposing of the dead in a dignified way, the Quran is completely silent on funerary rites and burial preparation. Cain thus proceeded to dispose properly of his dead brother's corpse, while regretting his crime.

The HB, though it implies that Cain buried his brother by speaking of the ground's "concealment" of the effects of the murder that was only known to Cain Gen4:10-11, does not speak of the encounter with the crow, and nor does Cain appear to be regretful at anytime. He even attempts to fool God who questioned him on his brother's whereabouts, minimizing the severity of his sin Gen4:9,13 and finaly God as a consequence of the murder absurdly gives him a prolonged time of respite under divine protection, allowing him to be fruitful and prosperous in a new location to which he was "banished" Gen4:15-24.