17. Al-Isra’/The Night Journey

I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah

The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.

17:01
All Glory is to The One WHO took HIS Servant Muhammad for a journey by night,
from the Grand Sacred Masjid in Holy Makkah to the Distant Masjid in Blessed Jerusalem;
the environs of which WE have especially blessed,
so that WE make him see some of OUR Wonders of Almightiness.
Truly HE - HE is All-Listening, and HE is All-Watching.

17:02
And WE granted the Scripture - the Torah - to Moses, and
made it a source of guidance for Descendants of Jacob.
Saying:
‘Do not take anyone - metaphorically or hypothetically - for a guardian other than ME!

17:03
You are all descendants of those whom WE carried in the Ark with Noah.
He was truly a grateful servant!’

17:04
And WE warned Descendants of Jacob about OUR Decision in their Scripture:
‘You will definitely create and promote corruption in the land twice, and
you will indeed exalt yourselves’ with haughtiness and become grossly overbearing.
And thus you will be punished twice.

17:05
So when the first of these two warnings came true - as the Descendants of Jacob were tuned to sinful disobedience;
WE raised against you OUR servants, people of great power - the Babylonians.
And they ravaged your homes and caused havoc throughout the land.
And it was thus a warning fulfilled!

17:06
Then WE returned to you another chance of victory against them after you had repented,
and strengthened you with wealth/prosperity and sons/manpower,
and made you even more numerous in soldiery than ever.

17:07
And WE said:
‘If you do good, you would be doing good to yourselves;
but if you do evil, it would be likewise against yourselves.’
And so when the second warning came true after you had become sinful and disobedient once again,
WE once again raised against you OUR servants - the Romans - to disgrace your faces,
and they entered the Temple of Prayer, just as their predecessors Babylonians had entered
it the first time,
and they destroyed with utter destruction all they had conquered.

17:08
And WE said in the Scripture:
‘It may be that your Rabb - The Lord will show mercy upon you after the second time if you were to repent;
but if you revert to disobedience and sin, WE too will revert to punishment, a third time.
And remember WE have made Hell a prison for the disbelievers.’

17:09
Surely this Qur’an guides people to the way which is most upright.
And it gives the good news to the believers who practice righteousness,
that for them will be a great reward.

17:10
And the Qur’an declares that those who do not believe in the Hereafter,
WE have prepared a grievous punishment for them.

17:11
Yet the human being prays and calls for evil as eagerly as he should pray and call for good.
Truly the human being is ever hasty.

17:12
And WE have made the nighttime and the daytime as two great Wonders of OUR Creative
Power and Beneficence.
Then WE have darkened the sign of the nighttime, and set up in its place the illuminating sign of the daytime,
so that you may go out to look for the grace and livelihood from your Rabb - The Lord,
and also be able to compute the number of the years, and calculate the timing of months.
And everything - WE have explained with full explanation.

17:13
And WE have fastened every person’s fate to his neck.
And at the Time of Final Judgment, WE are going to produce for him a record book – fate
- which he will find spread out in details.

17:14
And he will be told:
‘Read your record book!
Today you are sufficient as a reckoner against yourself’ -
to decide by yourself whether you deserve a reward or a punishment: self-assessment process!

17:15
Whoever is guided aright then he is guided only for his own benefit,
while whoever goes astray likewise he goes astray only for his own loss.
And no one will be made to bear the sinful burden of another person.
And WE never punished anyone unless WE first assigned them a Messenger so that they fully understand the meaning of right and wrong, belief and disbelief.

17:16
And when this has been done, and WE finally decide to destroy a community for its sinful disobedience,
WE first command its affluent ones to reform,
if they persist in disobedience and sin, thereby becoming the primary cause of OUR Punishment,
then OUR Word of punishment is irrevocably passed against them as well as the whole community,
and WE destroy it with complete destruction - leaving everything in ruins.

17:17
And how many generations have WE thus destroyed after Noah’s time for their religious corruption and transgression!
It is a fact that your Rabb - The Lord is Sufficient as HE is Aware of HIS servants’ impieties and sins,
and watching them all - all the time.

17:18
Whoever desires only the immediate gains of this world,
WE readily grant of it whatever WE want, to whoever WE want.
But in the end, WE are going to assign him to Hell, where he will burn, condemned, and
rejected.

17:19
But whoever desires the Hereafter,
and strives for it with best striving of efforts,
and he is a believer,
those - their striving will be appreciated and well rewarded.

17:20
To each one WE increase - both these believers as well as those disbelievers - the bounties of your Rabb - The Lord.
And the bounties of your Rabb - The Lord can never be confined to any one group – regardless of their faith.

17:21
Notice how WE have favored some of them in provision and renown over others in this life.
But the Hereafter will certainly be greater in ranking of honor and greater in favor.

17:22
Do not set up any entity for worship apart from Allah - The One and Only God of everyone and everything,
lest you find yourself condemned, disgraced, and forsaken.

17:23
And your Rabb - The Lord has decreed that you worship no one else but HIM alone.
And that you be kind to your parents -
whether one of them, or both of them, reach old age in your lifetime,
never say even ‘Uff’ to them –
and do not shout at them, or repulse them,
but rather speak to them with respectful words: gently and graciously.

17:24
And conduct yourself humbly toward them, out of your affection for them, and say:
O ‘My Rabb - The Lord!
Have compassion on both of them -
just as they had it on me when they nurtured me up when I was little.’

17:25
Your Rabb - The Lord Knows exactly what is in your hearts.
So if you are righteous in your intentions, speech, and dealings with your parents,
then, certainly, HE will forgive you your oversights in this respect,
as HE is Forgiving for those who turn to HIM in repentance and seek forgiveness.

17:26
And give the poor members of your family their right – to meet their essential expenses,
and
the needy, and the traveler in need, as well.
But do not squander your money wastefully - by being excessive in generosity.

17:27
In fact, squanderers are like the brethren of Satan,
and Satan has indeed been extremely ungrateful to his Rabb - The Lord: likewise his brethren, the squanderers.

17:28
If people needing help come to you and you have nothing to give, and
only for that reason, you are forced to turn away from them, while seeking mercy you hope to receive from your Rabb - The Lord,
that you can later share with them,
then at the very least speak to them gentle words to put them at ease.

17:29
And do not keep your hand tied to your neck -
as also do not extend it all the way,
lest you find yourself blamed by your dependents and reduced to impoverishment.

17:30
Indeed, your Rabb - The Lord expands HIS provisions to whoever HE likes, and
restricts it to whoever HE likes.
HE is certainly Fully-Aware and Watchful over the needs of HIS servants.

17:31
And do not kill your children for fear of impoverishment by burying them alive or selling them for money.

It is WE, WHO provides sustenance for them, and for you too.
Killing/selling them is certainly an enormous crime.

17:32
And do not even draw anywhere near to committing adultery.
It is definitely an immoral act, and
grossly evil a way leading to individual as well as societal moral corruption and spiritual degradation.

17:33
And do not slay any person which Allah has forbidden, except in the pursuit of justice.
And whoever is slain wrongfully, WE have empowered his legal heir of the right to seek retribution against the slayer.
But even then the legal heir should not be excessive in retributive killing, i.e., do not avenge injustice by counter injustice.
Indeed, he is already being supported by the Divine Law.

17:34
And do not draw anywhere near the property of the orphan and tamper it before he reaches his maturity unless you want to improve it.
And fulfill every agreement – whether with Allah or with HIS people.
Surely, fulfillment of every agreement will be asked about.

17:35
And fill up the measure to your customers whenever you measure for them, and
weigh with accurate scales;
That is only fair and better in the end for success in the Hereafter.

17:36
And do not get involved with matters about which you have no or little knowledge.
Surely, every person’s hearing and sight and heart/mind - all these will be called to account
during the Time of Final Judgment.

17:37
And do not walk about the earth exultantly - with an air of self-conceit so as to show arrogance, pride, and self-eminence.
Surely you can neither rip apart the earth, nor ever attain a stature like the mountains in height.

17:38
All these practices - their sinful aspects - like those above -
are detestable in the Sight of your Rabb - The Lord.

17:39
These injunctions are a part of the wisdom your Rabb - The Lord is revealing on to you - O The Prophet.
Do not set up any entity for worship apart from Allah,
lest you will be cast into Hell, blamed by yourself, and rejected by HIM.

17:40
Has your Rabb - The Lord chosen to give you sons while taking for HIMSELF females/
daughters from amongst the angels?

In fact, by saying so you are definitely uttering a monstrous statement of blasphemy!

17:41
While WE have certainly explained things in various ways in this Qur’an,
so that they - the disbelievers - may understand,
but it increases them in nothing but aversion to it.

17:42
Say to them:
‘If there were other entities worthy of worship apart from HIM, as they assert,
then they would have certainly been seeking a way to dethrone the Lord of the Throne.

17:43
Glory be to HIM!
And Exalted be HE - high above what they allege against HIM – in HIS Unshared Unity, Divinity, and Worship!

17:44
The seven celestial realms glorify HIM, and so do the terrestrial world, and whatever is within them.
And there is not a single thing within them that does not glorify HIM with HIS Praise.
But you cannot comprehend their glorifying as it is beyond your comprehension.
HE is indeed Magnanimous, HE is indeed Forgiving.

17:45
And whenever you recite The Qur’an,
WE place an obscuring veil between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter,

17:46
And WE put a covering over their hearts so as to disable their grasp of its meaning,
and also a heaviness in their ears so as to disable them not to listen to it.
And so, when you mention your Rabb - The Lord in the Qur’an as the One and Only Allah for everyone and everything,
they turn their backs in extreme aversion to it.

17:47
WE Know what they are really listening to when they listen to you - to find faults with the Message of the Qur’an,
and when they are in private talk, the evildoers say to one another:
If you are to follow Muhammad, ‘then you would be following no one but only a person
who is bewitched,’

17:48
See how they make comparisons about you - O The Prophet
In any case, they have certainly gone astray,
and they can never find a way out of their flawed beliefs.

17:49
And they - skeptics, ancient and contemporary, say in disbelief of the Resurrection:
What!
‘Once we are bones and fragments, are we really going to be resurrected in a new dimension of existence?’

17:50
Say to them:
Yes indeed!
You will be resurrected even if ‘you be as hard as rock-stones or iron,

17:51
or some other form of substance which, to your mind, appears even harder’ or less susceptible to bring to life.
And then they ask:
‘Who is it that is going to bring us back’ to life?
Say to them:
‘The One WHO created you the first time’ when you had not been anything in existence.
Thereupon, they shake their heads at you in amazement and disbelief, and ask mockingly:
So ‘when will that be?’
Say:
‘It may well be very soon.’

17:52
The Time when HE will call you all from your graves while the Resurrection is in progress,
and you will respond to the call with words of HIS Praise -
thinking that you remained on earth only for a little while.’

17:53
And tell MY servants that they should always speak which is best in faith, speech, and expression,
Surely, Satan tries to provoke discord among them.
Satan is indeed people’s obvious enemy.

17:54
Your Rabb - The Lord Knows about you and what you believe, do, and deserve.
So if HE wants, HE will have Compassion on you out of HIS Grace;
or if HE wants, HE will punish you - which will be pure justice.
And WE have not assigned you - O The Prophet - as a guardian over them.

17:55
And your Rabb - The Lord Knows exactly whatever is within the celestial realm and within
the terrestrial world.
And, indeed, WE have favored some of the Prophets over others,
and to David, WE granted the Psalms.

17:56
Say to them:
‘Call upon those entities whom you worship apart from HIM.
They will not be able to remove any hardship/misfortune from you nor divert it.

17:57
Those entities whom they call upon themselves seek nearness to their Rabb - The Lord,
each trying to be near to HIM -
hoping for HIS Mercy and fearing HIS Punishment just like you and others.
Indeed, the Punishment of your Rabb - The Lord is to be feared.

17:58
And bear in mind that there will not be a single community that WE are not going to destroy before the Time of Resurrection through ordinary or terrifying modes of destruction,
or are not going to punish it with a severe punishment -
all this is written in the Book.

17:59
And nothing prevents US from sending the miracles, except that the people of ancient times belied them- so WE had to destroy them.
And to the tribe of Thamud, WE gave the she-camel as a visible miracle - but they maltreated her.
What purpose then would these miracles achieve?
In fact, WE never send such miracles for any purpose but to warn the disbelievers and enable them to believe – before the punishment reaches them.

17:60
And recall when WE said to you O The Prophet,
that your Rabb - The Lord certainly encompasses all people and they are within HIS Grasp.
And WE did not make the vision which WE showed you,
but only a test and trial for people, and in the same way, WE also mentioned the Accursed Tree in this Qur’an.
And use such symbols only to deter them, but it increases them in greater defiance.

17:61
And the time when WE commanded the angels:
‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam!’
So they all prostrated themselves, except Iblees.
He said:
‘How can I prostrate before the one whom YOU have created of clay?’

17:62
And he added:
‘YOU see this being whom YOU are honoring over me!
If only YOU grant me respite till the Time of Resurrection,
I will definitely mislead his descendants - all but a few.’

17:63
Thereupon, HE said:
‘Go away – and whoever of them follows you.
Surely the Hell will be your reward - an ample reward!

17:64
And incite with your seductive voice whoever you are able to from among them, and
assault on them with all your might,
and associate with them in their wealth and children, and make promises to them’ -
even though Satan promises them nothing but delusion and falsehood.

17:65
As for MY servants – people with firm faith - however, you will certainly have no influence
or control over them.
And your Rabb - The Lord will always be Sufficient for them as a Guardian’ against your incitement.

17:66
Your Rabb - The Lord is the one, WHO makes the ships cruise through the sea for you,
so that you may seek HIS Favors through fishing and trade.
Surely, HE is Ever-Merciful towards you.

17: 67
And when you experience distress on the sea, all those entities whom you call upon apart from Allah abandon you, except HIM.
Yet once HE brings you back safe on to the shore, you turn away from HIM in aversion.
And, indeed, the human being is so ungrateful!

17:68
Will you, then, feel secure that HE will not make a part of the shore swallow you,
or unleash a deadly storm against you?
Then you will not find a protector for yourself – apart from HIM.

17:69
Or, will you feel secure that HE will not take you back to the sea once again,
and then unleash a shattering hurricane against you, and drown you for your disbelief and
ingratitude?
Even then you will have no protector against US.

17:70
And certainly, WE have honored the Descendants of Adam – the human species with many distinctions:
WE carried them over the land and over the sea,
and provided them with good things of life,
and favored them greatly over many of those whom WE have created.

17:71
Think of the upcoming Time of Resurrection when WE are going to call people with their record of deeds, speech, and dealings.
Then whoever is given the record in his right hand – those will read their records with contentment.
And they will not be treated unfairly even by as much as a fiber on a date seed.

17:72
And whoever is spiritually blind to the truth in this world will be blind to it in the Hereafter,
for they had even farther strayed from the Path of Truth.

17:73
And indeed they sought to tempt you away from that which WE were revealing on to you
O The Prophet,
hoping that you might fabricate something other than it in OUR Name,
and in that case - had you done so - they would certainly have taken you as a best friend!

17:74
And had WE not made you stand firm in what WE were revealing to you,
supposing the impossible, you might have inclined toward them a little.

17:75
In that case, WE would have made you experience the double of punishment in this life, and the double of punishment in the Hereafter,
and then you would not have found any helper for yourself against US.

17:76
And they almost sought to estrange you from the land - Makkah, so that they could expel you from it.
And in that case, they too would not have remained there, after you, except for a little
while.

17:77
That had been the case with all of OUR Messengers whom WE assigned to various communities during different times in ancient history before you.
And you will never find any change in OUR Manner of disposing of such situations.

17:78
Ensure that you establish the Salat/Prayer after the sun begins to decline at noontime until the darkness of the night,
and make arrangements for the Recital of the Qur’an at the dawn.
Indeed, the Recital of the Qur’an at the dawn is witnessed.

17:79
And in some part of the night – awaken for prayer of Tahajjud - as a gift for you,
It is very likely that your Rabb - The Lord will elevate you to a highly praised position.

17:80
And recite these words in prayer while you prepare to relocate yourself from Makkah to Madeenah:
O ‘My Rabb - The Lord!
Make me enter Madeenah in a truthful manner, and likewise make me exit Makkah in a truthful manner,
and grant me from YOURSELF an authority to enable me to establish the Religion of Islam.

17:81
And also declare:
‘The Truth has come, and
the falsehood has passed away.
Surely, the falsehood is bound to pass away!’

17:82
And whatever WE send down of the Qur’an is a source of healing of hearts and spiritual ailments,
and a blessing for the believers,
though it only increases the unfair/evildoers in loss - because of their disbelief in it.

17:83
Yet whenever WE bless a person with favors, he turns away and distances himself from OUR obedience,
but whenever he is afflicted by some hardship, he is ever despairing - despondent of OUR Mercy.

17:84
Say:
‘Everyone acts according to one’s disposition/nature.
But your Rabb - The Lord Knows exactly who is best guided along the Path.’

17:85
And they ask you - O The Prophet - about the spirit - the source of human life.
Tell them:
‘The human spirit is by the command of my Rabb - The Lord.
And you have not been given of its real knowledge, but a little.’

17:86
O The Prophet!
You are not, as the disbelievers allege, the author of the Qur’an.
It is only WE, WHO reveal it on to you.
And if WE ever wanted, WE could certainly take away what WE have revealed on to you
by erasing it from your memory.
Then you would not find for yourself any guardian to plead with US in this matter,

17:87
- except as a Mercy from your Rabb - The Lord.
Indeed, HIS Favors towards you have been ever great.

17:88
If disbelievers and polytheists do not take the Qur’an to be the Word of Allah, then,
challenge them:
‘If the humankind and the jinn were joined together to produce something the like of this Qur’an,
they would never be able to produce anything the like of it -
even if they were supporters of one another’ as best as they could.

17:89
And, indeed, WE have explained to the people in this Qur’an every subject of wisdom in various ways,
to help them understand the truth of it,
yet most of the people refuse to accept anything but disbelief.

17:90
And they say:
‘We are not going to believe in your Mission until you make a spring gush forth for us from the barren rocky land’ of Makkah.

17:91
‘Or until you have an orchard of date palms and grapevines,
and make rivers/streams flowing through it in abundance.’

17:92
‘Or until you make the sky fall down upon us in pieces, as you have threatened us,
or until you bring Allah and the angels in front of us.’

17:93
‘Or until you have a house made of gold,
or until you ascend into the higher realm.

And we will still not believe even in your ascent unless you bring down to us a book to read’ confirming the truthfulness of your Mission.
Say to them O The Prophet:
‘Glory be to my Rabb - The Lord!
Am I anything but a human being like you - assigned to you and others as a Messenger?’

17:94
And nothing ever prevented the former people from believing,
whenever Guidance came to them, except that they would say:
‘Can it be that Allah has really assigned a human being as HIS Messenger’ instead of an angel?

17:95
Say to them:
‘If there were angels living and walking about in peace on the earth as their natural abode instead of humans,
then WE would certainly have assigned them an angel messenger from the higher realm.’

17:96
Then say:
‘Allah is Sufficient as a Witness between me and you of the truth of my Mission.
Surely, HE is All-Aware and All-Watchful of HIS servants.’

17:97
And whoever Allah guides, he is truly guided aright;
whereas whoever HE leaves to go astray, you will never find them any guardian other than
HIM.
And WE are going to resurrect them and gather them together at the Time of Resurrection,
flat on their faces – without sight, and without speech, and without hearing.
Their abode will be the Hellfire -
every time the heat of the fire subsides, WE will increase its blazing intensity for them.

17:98
That would be their payback for having disbelieved in OUR Messages,
and they would say:
What!
‘Is it that after we have become bones and fragments, we are really going to be resurrected in a new dimension of existence?’
17:99
Do they never consider that Allah, WHO created the celestial realm and the terrestrial world, is also Able to create them anew in their own likeness?
And for this, HE has set a time for them – without any doubt about it.
Yet the unjust/evildoers refuse to accept anything but disbelief.

17:100
Tell them:
‘Even if you possessed the limit-less and end-less treasures of my Rabb’s - The Lord
Mercy,
you would still hold it back out of a fear of spending it in the Cause of Allah lest these be depleted.
Indeed, humankind is ever miserly.’

17:101
And certainly, WE granted nine clear miracles to Moses -
so ask Descendants of Jacob what happened to Moses despite these miracles.
When he came to them and asked Pharaoh to release the Descendants of Jacob from bondage, and even after he showed them these miracles,
Pharaoh said to him:
‘O Moses!
In fact, I think you are definitely bewitched!’

17:102
Moses said:
‘You know very well that no one else has sent down these miracles other than Rabb - The Lord of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
O Pharaoh!
In fact, I think you are definitely doomed!’

17:103
So he - Pharaoh - intended to turn them out of the land of Egypt.
But WE drowned him and those who were with him – all of them.

17:104
And, thereafter, WE said to Descendants of Jacob:
‘Live in the land which Allah has decreed for you.
And when the Final Promise of the Last Hour will become a reality,
WE are going to bring you all together to the assembly of all people’ - for judgment and awards.

17:105
And it is with the truth WE have sent this Qur’an down on to you O The Prophet, and
it is with the truth it has come down.
And WE have not assigned you - O The Prophet - except as a herald of good news for those who accept your Message, and as a warner to those who deny and belie it.

17:106
And this is the Qur’an - WE have divided into parts so that you may recite it to the people at intervals.
And WE have sent it down by piecemeal/gradually so that they are able to comprehend and enact it in their lives.

17:107
Say:
Whether ‘you believe in it - the Qur’an, or do not believe in it.
Surely those who were given the knowledge before it -
when it is - the Qur’an, recited to them,
they fall down on their faces in prostration.

17:108
And they say:
‘Glory be to our Rabb - The Lord!
In all truth, our Rabb - The Lord’s Promise is sure to be fulfilled.’

17:110
Say:
‘Call upon HIM by the Name of Allah, or
call upon HIM by the Name of The Immensely Merciful -
regardless by whichever Name you call upon HIM – it is just the same,
because for HIM are the Names, the Most Beautiful.’
And do not raise your voice too loud in your Salat/Prayer,
nor too soft a tone in it,
but follow a way in between.

17:111
And say:
‘The Praise and Gratitude be to Allah - WHO has not taken a son or a daughter!
And HE has no partner in the Sovereignty and Divinity,
nor has HE any need of a helper to help HIM from any weakness.’
And Exalt HIM with immeasurable exaltation’ – Allah-o Akbar Kabeera!