surah 17 night journey

(In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful)

 

Exalted is God who sent his Servant by nightfall

from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Holy Place in Jerusalem,

which place We blessed, to illustrate Our Signs to him.

And, without a doubt, God is the All Hearing, All Seeing.

And, We descended to Moses Our Holy Word

and made it a Guidance for the Hebrews,

that you do not take other than God as a judge of all affairs,

all you successors of those We carried with Noah.

And, undoubtedly, he was a faithful Servant.

And, We conveyed the message that,

“You will cause corruption on the other earth more than once,

and you will reach a state of great arrogance in matters of Faith.”

So, when the time came for the first punishment for corruption,

We sent against you Our Servants – of great military strength,

and they came into peoples’ homes, and it was a fulfilled covenant.

Then, We gave back to you a triumph over them.

And, We provided you with riches, and progeny,

and made you greater in manpower, saying,

“If you do good in life, it will be for your own benefit;

and, if you commit evil;

then those deeds will be accounted for against you.”

Then, when the second punishment came,

your faces became saddened as you entered the masjid.

They entered it for the first time, and they came to destroy it.

And, God said to them, “It is expected that you should do this,

if you repent, your Sovereign Lord God will have Mercy upon you.

But, if you continue, We will return punishment upon you.

And, We have made for the DisBelievers a cell bed of Hellfire.”

And, without a doubt, this Qur’an is a Guide to that which is acceptable,

and gives good news to the Believers who do righteous good deeds

that they will have an immense reward in Paradise.

And, those people who do not Believe in the Hereafter –

We have prepared for them an enormous punishment.

And, man implores upon God when he is angry,

as he does when he wants something good from Him,

and man is ever impatient.

And, We created the night and day as Two Signs,

and We removed the Sign of the Night,

and made the Sign of the Day visible to you

so that you might seek of your Sovereign Lord’s Bounty,

and so you may know how many years have passed,

and to count time.

And, everything We describe in full detail.

And, for every person is his own fate about his neck,

and We will provide for him on the Day of Judgment

an accounting of his deeds which will be revealed to him.

It will be said, “Read the record of your deeds,

and sufficient enough are you as an accountant against yourself.”

Whoever is Guided, is Guided for the betterment of his own soul.

And, whoever turns away, turns away to his own detriment.

And, no one will bear the burdens of sins for another.

And, never would We give the punishment,

 without first sending a Messenger.

And, when a civilization is ruined for DisBelief,

We direct its wealthy to listen, but they perversely disobey therein;

so God’s Decree comes into effect against the civilization,

and it is destroyed in utter ruin.

And, how many civilizations have been destroyed after

Noah for their DisBelief?

And, sufficient enough is your Sovereign Lord God

concerning the sins of mankind,

and He is Well Acquainted, and all Seeing of all things.

Whoever should demand immediate fulfillment  –

We will hasten it for him what We will, and to whom We desire.

Then, We created for him Hellfire, which he will enter to burn,

banished and condemned.

But, whoever wishes Paradise of the Hereafter,

and is willing to put out the effort in life towards it,

while Believing in God –

it is they whose efforts are pleasing to Allah.

To all of his followers We confer this blessing –

to those people, and to these people,

as a gift from your Lord God.

And, never has the gift of Allah been held back.

But, We have conferred more on some over others as a trial.

But, the Hereafter is greatest in degrees of achievement.

Do not take others as equals to God (Allah),

and thereby become condemned and forsaken.

And, your Lord God has commanded that you worship Him.

And, to your parents, He commands that you be good to them.

Whether one or both of them reach old age with you,

don’t scoff them off,

and do not push them away but speak to them respectfully.

And, lower to them the wing of humbleness,

out of mercy saying, “My Sovereign Lord, have Mercy upon

them because they brought me up when I was young.”

Your God is most Knowledgeable of what is in your hearts.

If you should be righteous in your intentions –

then, He is ever the Most Forgiving.

And, give to your needy relative, and help the poor,

and the traveler, and do not spend excessively or wastefully.

For, indeed, the wasteful are the brethren of Satan,

and ever has Satan been unthankful to his Lord God.

And, if you cannot help those in need,

and still expect mercy from your Lord,

then at the very least, show them a kind word.

And, do not chain your hands to your neck,

or extend it out irresponsibly,

and become insolvent and guilty of sin.

And, undeniably, your Sovereign Lord God gives of

His sustenance to whom He Wills, and restricts it at Will.

And, He is, without a doubt, ever acquainted and Seeing

of His followers.

And, He commands that you do not kill your children out of poverty.

We provide for them and for you.

And, indeed, killing is always a great sin.

And, do not engage in unlawful intercourse.

It is indeed immoral and evil in intent.

And, do not kill someone, Allah has forbidden it.

And, whoever is a martyr, We have made him an heir to Paradise.

And, do not violate God’s command regarding the taking of a life.

Indeed, this is supported by God’s Holy Law.

And, do not take the property of orphans,

unless it is to improve or increase it, until he reaches the age of majority.

And, fulfill the promises you make to people.

Indeed, you will be asked on the Day about your commitments.

And, give people their just due in business commerce,

That is the best way and the best outcome.

And, do not speak about what you have no knowledge.

For, reality, in the End, what you saw and heard,

and what you felt in your head and heart,

all will be asked of you on Judgment Day.

And, walk upon the earth with gentleness.

In reality, you will never be able to pull the earth apart with your hands,

nor will you ever be as tall as the mountains in height.

And, to have this disregard and arrogance,

is ever in the sight of your Sovereign Lord God abhorred.

O Muhammad, that is what your Lord Revealed to you of Wisdom.

And, do not take other idols and deities as equals to Allah,

lest you be thrown into Hellfire, condemned and banished.

So, do you think that He has given to you sons, and He will have

angels who are daughters?  No, He is exalted above having progeny,

and to think that He is not is a grave misunderstanding.

And, We have certainly clarified the contents of this Qur’an

so that mankind would be reminded of Faith,

but it does not help the DisBelievers, but rather distracts them.

Say, “If there had been other gods besides God,

as they indicate, they would have sought a way to the

Supreme Throne of Authority.”

Exalted is Allah far above what they say out of disrespect to Him.

The Seven Heavens and the earth, and everything in between

exalt and give praise to Him, but yet,

 some do not understand this exaltation.

But, without a doubt, God is still ever patient and the Most Forgiving.

And, when you recite the Qur’an, we put between you and the

DisBelievers, a hidden partition.

And, We have sealed over their hearts, lest they understand the Truth,

and in their ears they are UnHearing to it.

And, when you mention the Sovereign Lord God alone in the Qur’an,

they turn away in aversion.

We are very knowledgeable to how they listen to it,

when they listen to you,

 and when they are holding private conversations,

saying, “You are following nothing but a man

who is effected by some kind of magic.”

Look how they strike comparisons for you;

but they have strayed from the Right Path,

so they will not find a way.

And, they say, “When we perish and are nothing but bones and dust,

will we really be resurrected to a new life?”

Say, “Even if you should be stones or iron,

or any creature in the heavens and the earth.”

And, they will reply, “Who will restore us to life?”

Reply, “He who created you for the first time.”

Then, they will nod their heads in agreement toward you,

saying, “When exactly will that be?”

Reply, “Maybe it will be soon –

On Judgment Day He will call to you and you will respond

with praise and thankfulness of Him,

and you feel as though you had not remained on earth but a second.”

And, tell My followers to say that what is best.

Without a doubt, Satan causes dissension among them.

And, indeed, Satan is to mankind an avowed enemy.

Your Sovereign Lord God is most Knowledgeable about you.

If He Wills, He wills bestow His Mercy upon you;

And, if it is His Will, He will befall the punishment upon you.

And, We did not send you, O Muhammad, as a judge

over the people.

And, your Sovereign Lord God is all Knowing of what is in the Heavens

and the Earth.

And, We have made some of the Prophets

 exceed others in various ways.

And, to David, we gave the Book of Psalms.

Say to the DisBelievers, “Beckon those others you call upon

other than God, but they will not help to remove adversity from you,

nor transfer it someone else.”

Those they beckon seek means of egress to God,

whichever of them is nearest, and they hope for His clemency

and fear His punishment.

For, without a doubt, the punishment of your Lord God is always feared.

And, there is no civilization, but that it could be destroyed

before the Day of Judgment,

 or it could be punished with a harsh punishment.

That has always resided in the inscribed, Preserved Slate of Allah.

And, nothing has prevented Us from sending miracles,

but that the formers peoples rejected and denied them.

And, We brought to Thamud the she-camel as a visible Sign,

but they harmed her.

And, We sent the Signs as a warning to the people.

And, when We told you, “Without a doubt, your Lord God

has taken in the people.”

And, We did not make the Signs We demonstrated to you,

but as a trial to the people,

as was the Cursed Tree mentioned in the Qur’an.

And, We warned them, but it increased nothing in them except sin.

And, mention when We said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam,”

and they bowed down, except for Satan.

Satan said, “Why should I bow down to a creature

 You created from clay?

Satan continued, “Do you see this one You have set above me?

If you delay my death for a time until the Day of Judgment,

I will surely lead his ancestors astray, except for a few of them.”

And God said, “Go, and whoever follows you, Hellfire

will be their recompense, an immense punishment.”

And, implore among them whoever you can to listen to you,

but, Satan promises them nothing but illusions.

And, over God’s followers Satan has no authority.

And, sufficient enough is God as a resolver of all matters.

It is your Lord who compels the ships in the sea so

you may seek of His Bounty.

And, without a doubt, He is always to you, the Most Merciful.

And, when adversity overcomes you at sea,

lost are those you call upon except God.

But, when He delivers you safely to land, you turn away from Him.

And, ever is mankind unthankful to Him.

Then, do you feel assured

that He will not cause a part of the earth to swallow you,

or descend against you a shower of clay stones?

Then, you would not be able to find for yourselves any supporter.

Or, do you feel confident that He will not send you back into

another time period, and descend upon you a hurricane,

or drown you for what you refused to Believe in?

Then, you would not be able to locate for yourselves any avenger.

And, We most assuredly have honored the descendants of Adam,

and carried them about on the land and sea,

and provided them of the good things in life,

and favored them over many of what We created, with fondness.

On the Day of Judgment,

We will draw forth all people with a record

of their deeds in life.

 And, whoever is given the accounting in his right hand,

(for having done many righteous good deeds),

they will read their accounting and

injustice will not be done to them, not as much as a thread.

And, whoever is Unseeing to the Truth in this life,

will also be blind to the Truth in the Hereafter, and even more astray.

And, in reality, they were trying to tempt you away from what

We Revealed to you so that you would invent lies about us;

and they would take you as a friend.

And, if We had not strengthened you in Faith,

you would have almost fallen to them.

Then, We would have made you taste double the punishment

in this life and in the Hereafter.

And, you would not find against Us any help or support.

And, in reality, they were about to drive you from Mecca to evict

you from it.  And, they will not remain after you,

except a short time.

That is the established way for those

 We sent before you of God’s Messengers;

and you will not find any change in Our ways.

Establish regular prayer at the setting of the sun,

and in the darkness of the night,

and recite the Qur’an at dawn.

And, without a doubt, the recitation at dawn

is always witnessed by the angels.

And, in the night, pray with the Qur’an as additional

worship for you; it is anticipated that your Sovereign Lord God

will raise you to an honored place.

And say, “O Lord, cause me to enter this life as a Believer,

and leave life a Believer.

And, grant to me sustaining Faith from Yourself.”

And, say, “The Truth has come, and falsehood has disappeared.

In reality, falsehood, by nature, is ever bound to dissipate.”

And, We descended down the Qur’an within which is healing

and Mercy for those who Believe.

But, it does not help the evildoers at all, except in loss.

And, when We bestow Our blessings upon man,

he turns away in DisBelief and distances himself from God;

and when evil overcomes him, he always despairs.

Say, “Every person does good deeds for his own benefit in the End.

And, your Sovereign Lord God is Most Knowledgeable

 of who is Guided to the Right Path.

And, they ask you about one’s soul.

Say to them, “The soul is the domain of my Sovereign Lord God.

And, you have not been given Knowledge, but little compared to Him.”

And, if We so willed, We could have destroyed that what We Revealed.

Then, you would not find for yourself any protector against Us,

except as Mercy from your Sovereign Lord.

And, really, without a doubt, His blessings

and favor upon you have been enormous.

Say, “If man and jinn came together to try and create

something like this Qur’an, they could not create anything like it,

even if they assisted each other.”

And, We have undoubtedly provided diverse examples

in this Qur’an for mankind of every kind of example,

but most of the people refused everything but DisBelief.

And, they said, “We will not believe in what you say,

unless you spurn forth a spring from the ground.

Or, until you make a garden of palm trees and grapes appear,

making gushing rivers flow within them with great force.

Or, can you make the skies fall upon us in pieces as you have claimed,

or bring God and the angels before us?

Or, do you have a golden dwelling within the Heavens?

And, even then, we will not believe in it until you bring us a book

we can read and understand.”

Say, O Muhammad, “Exalted is My Lord God!

Was I ever anything but a human Messenger?”

Say, “If there were angels who walked the earth like mankind,

We would have descended down to them an angel from the Heavens

as a Messenger.”

Say, “God is sufficient between you and me as a Witness.

And, without a doubt, He is always well acquainted

and observant of His followers.”

And, whomever God Guides – He is of those who are Rightly Guided;

and, whomever He sends astray from the Right Path –

you will find no protectors for them except Him –

and We will gather them altogether on the Day of Resurrection

on their stomachs with their faces down

 – Unseeing to the Light, UnBelieving,

and UnHearing to the Truth.

Their eternal refuge will be Hellfire; and every time it subdues,

We will increase the Scorching Fire.

That is their just recompense because they rejected Our Verses,

and said, “When we are bones and dust, will we

really be resurrected into a new life?”

Don’t they understand that God, who created the Heavens

and the earth, created the likes of them in the beginning?

And, He selected an appointed term for each of His creations,

about which there is no rebuttal.

But, the evildoers reject everything but UnBelief.

Say, “If you owned the banks of Mercy of My Sovereign Lord,

then would you withhold of that Mercy for fearing of spending it?”

And, ever has mankind been miserly.

And, We gave to Moses ten Clear Signs,

so ask the Hebrews about when he came to them,

and Pharaoh said, “In reality, Moses, I think that you are affected by

some kind of magic.”

And, Moses replied, “You are already know that no one has

descended these Signs except the Lord God,

Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, as proof to you.

And, Pharaoh, I think, without a doubt, that you are ruined.”

So, he intended to drive them out of Egypt,

but We destroyed him, and those with him, altogether.

And, We said to the Hebrews after Pharaoh’s ruin,

to, “Dwell in this promised land,

 and when the time for the Hereafter comes,

We will draw all of them forth in a gathering.”

And, We descended the Qur’an in Truth,

and the Truth has descended upon mankind.

And, We did not send you, O Muhammad, but as

a bearer of good news, as well as a warner to mankind.

And, the Qur’an We descended in separate Verses,

so you might recite it to the people over an extended period.

And, We descended it down progressively.

Say, “Believe in it, or do not.  And, without a doubt,

those who were provided knowledge

about Belief in God before the Qur’an,

when the Word is recited to them, they fall down in worship of Him,

saying, “Exalted is our Lord God!

  Undoubtedly, Our Sovereign Lord’s promise has been fulfilled.”

And, they will fall down upon their faces crying,

and God’s Holy Word will foster in them humble submission.

Say, “Invoke him by Allah, or by the Most Merciful One,

or whatever Righteous name you may select –

and, to Him belong the best of names.”

And, do not recite your prayers too loudly, nor too quietly,

but seek something moderate in nature.

And, say, “Praise be to God, who has no progeny,

nor has no partner in His Ultimate Power,

nor no need for a protector out of frailty;

and Glorify and give Praise to Him with great exaltation.”