Surah Isra
Contents
Glory to the One who transported a devotee one night from the Sacred Mosque to the Furthest Mosque, whose precincts We blessed so We might show him some of Our signs. For God is the all-hearing, the all-seeing. [17:1]
And We gave Moses scripture, and We made it guidance for the Israelites, that they should take none for a guardian other than Me. [17:2]
Descendants of those We carried with Noah; who was a most grateful devotee. [17:3]
And We decreed to the Israelites in the scripture, “You will create disorder on earth twice, and you will become inflated with arrogance.” [17:4]
Now when the first prediction of the two came about, We sent servants of Ours capable of violent force, and they searched through the homes. And so one prediction was fulfilled. [17:5]
Then We gave back to you a turn of fortune against them, and We enriched you with property and children, and We made you greater in manpower. [17:6]
If you did good, you did good for yourselves; and if you did wrong, it was to yourselves. And when the latter prediction came about, they were able to discountenance you and enter the temple as they had entered it the first time, and demolish what they took over. [17:7]
Your Lord may have mercy on you. But if you are hostile, We will be hostile: And We have made hell a prison for the ungrateful. [17:8]
This Recital guides to what is more sound, and gives the good news to the believers who do good deeds that there is a great reward for them, [17:9]
and that for those who do not believe in the hereafter, We have prepared a painful penalty. [17:10]
Man prays his prayer for good for the wrong ends; and man is hasty. [17:11]
We have made the night and the day two signs: We made the sign of the night invisible, while We made the sign of the day revealing, that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the number of the years, and the count. And We have explained everything in detail. [17:12]
We have fastened the fate of every human being to his neck; and We will produce a record for him on the day of resurrection, set forth before him unrolled: [17:13]
“Read your record: your own soul suffices today to take account against you.” [17:14]
Whoever accepts guidance is guided for his own soul alone, and whoever goes wrong only wrongs his own soul. For no responsible person can bear the burden of another. But We do not inflict punishment until We have sent a messenger. [17:15]
When We intend to let a community perish, We command its prosperous ones who lead dissolute lives there, so the Word is proven true against it and so We annihilate it. [17:16]
And how many communities have We allowed to perish since Noah! For your Lord, all seeing, is well enough aware of the sins of mortals. [17:17]
If any want the transitory, We will hasten for them what We will of it, to whomever We wish: then We will give them hell, where they will burn, condemned and rejected. [17:18]
And if any want the hereafter and strive for it with effort, as a believer, their effort is appreciated. [17:19]
To everyone We give, to this one and that one, from the gift of your Lord. And the gift of your Lord is not restricted. [17:20]
See how We have favored some of them over others; yet the hereafter is certainly greater in ranks and greater in favor. [17:21]
Do not invent another deity besides God, or you will sit condemned and deserted. [17:22]
Your Lord has decreed that you should worship only God, and be good to your parents. Whether one or both of them reaches old age with you, never speak to them harshly, and do not rebuff them, but speak to them in kindly terms. [17:23]
And lower the wing of humility to them out of compassion, and say, “My Lord, have mercy on them as they nurtured me when I was small.” [17:24]
Your Lord knows best what is in your souls: if you act with integrity, God is most forgiving to those who keep returning. [17:25]
And give relatives their due, and the poor and the wayfarer, but do not squander wastefully. [17:26]
For squanderers are brothers of the devils; and the devil is ungrateful to his Lord. [17:27]
Even if you avoid them, seeking mercy from your Lord, for which you hope, still speak to them in an easy way. [17:28]
And don’t keep your hand bound to your neck, nor yet stretch it as far as it extends, lest you become reprehensible and destitute. [17:29]
For your Lord expands the provision of anyone at will, and measures proportionately; for God knows and sees all creatures. [17:30]
Do not kill your children out of fear of poverty; We will provide for them, and for you. Indeed, killing them is a great sin. [17:31]
And do not approach adultery, for it is an obscenity and an evil way. [17:32]
And do not take a life that God has made sacred, except for just cause. And if anyone is killed unjustly, We have given his next of kin a certain authority; but he should not be excessive in killing, for he is supported. [17:33]
And do not approach the property of the orphan, except with what is better, until he reaches maturity; and fulfill promises, for the promise will be questioned. [17:34]
And give full measure when you measure out, and weigh with an accurate balance. That is fair, and the best determination. [17:35]
And do not occupy yourself with what you have no knowledge of; for listening, looking, and the impulse of the heart will all be questioned. [17:36]
And do not walk on earth insolently, for you cannot circle the earth and you cannot reach the mountains in height. [17:37]
Of all of that, it is the evil of it that is repugnant to your Lord. [17:38]
That is some of the wisdom your Lord revealed to you by inspiration. Do not invent another deity beside God, or you will be thrown into hell, condemned and banished. [17:39]
What? Has your Lord chosen sons for you while adopting daughters from among the angels? You are certainly saying something horrendous! [17:40]
We have varied presentations in this Recital, that they may bear in mind, but it only increases their aversion. [17:41]
Say: “Were there deities beside God as they say, then they would have sought a way to the Lord of the Throne.” [17:42]
Glory be to God, exalted beyond whatever they say in loftiness and greatness. [17:43]
The seven heavens and the earth and all beings therein praise God. There is not a single thing that does not extol the praise of God, but you do not understand their praise. God is truly gracious, most forgiving. [17:44]
And when you read the Recital, We place a hidden barrier between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter. [17:45]
And We put a cover over their hearts, lest they understand it, and deafness in their ears. And when you mention God in the Recital as One, they turn their backs in aversion. [17:46]
We know best what they listen to when they listen to you, and when they speak in private, when the oppressors say, “You are following a mere man, who is bewitched.” [17:47]
See how they make similes for you, but they are wrong, and in no way capable. [17:48]
And they say, “What! When we have become bones and dust, will we really be resurrected in a new creation?” [17:49]
Say, “Be you stones or iron, [17:50]
“Or some created thing that seems hard to you.” Then they will say, “Who will restore us?” Say, “The One who created you the first time.” Then they will shake their heads at you and say, “When will that be?” Say, “It may be soon: [17:51]
“one day God will call you, and you will answer with praise of God; and you will think you stayed only a little while.” [17:52]
Tell My servants to say what is best, for Satan sows dissension among them; indeed Satan is an open enemy to man. [17:53]
Your Lord knows you best, being merciful to you at will and punishing you at will. And We did not send you to them to be manager of their affairs. [17:54]
And your Lord knows best all beings in the heavens and the earth. And We have favored some of the prophets more than others; and We gave David the Book of Psalms. [17:55]
Say, “Pray to those you speak of besides God: they are incapable of removing affliction from you, or diverting it.” [17:56]
Those to whom they pray seek closeness to their Lord, even the nearest; and they hope for divine mercy and fear divine punishment: for the punishment of your Lord is something to beware of. [17:57]
And there is no community but We will annihilate it before the day of resurrection, or punish it with a severe torment. That is written in the Book. [17:58]
We only refused to send signs because the ancients called them lies: We gave Thamud the she-camel as a demonstration, but they mistreated her. So We only send signs as an alarm. [17:59]
We have told you your Lord surrounds humanity, and We only granted the vision We showed you as a test for humankind, as also the cursed tree in the Recital. Though We alarm them, yet it only increases their tremendous excess. [17:60]
When We said to the angels, “Bow to Adam,” they bowed, except Iblis the desperate one, who said, “What? Shall I bow to one You’ve made from clay?” [17:61]
He said, “Do you see this one whom You have honored over me? If you let me stay until the day of resurrection, I will bring his descendants into subjection, except for a few.” [17:62]
[God] said, “Go: and if any of them follow you, hell is your reward, an ample reward. [17:63]
“And inflame any of them you can with your voice, and attack them with your cavalry and your infantry; and share with them in properties and children, and make promises to them.” —But Satan promises them nothing but deception— [17:64]
“As for My devotees, you have no authority over them.” And your Lord is an adequate guardian. [17:65]
Your Lord is the one who propels the ships for you on the sea, that you may seek some of the divine bounty; for God is most merciful to you. [17:66]
And when adversity befalls you at sea, whoever you pray to other than God vanishes, forgotten. Yet when God delivers you onto dry land, you turn away; man is most ungrateful! [17:67]
Are you sure God will not bury you somewhere on land, or send a violent storm against you, so you would find yourselves no protector? [17:68]
Or are you sure God will not send you back to sea another time around, and send a gale force wind against you and drown you for your ingratitude, so you would find no one to help you against Us in that? [17:69]
We have indeed honored the descendants of Adam, carrying them on land and sea and providing for them from the good things; We have favored them in blessings over most of the beings We created. [17:70]
One day We will call all human beings with their leaders: those who are given their record in their right hand will read their record and will not be wronged at all. [17:71]
And those who were blind in the here and now will be blind in the hereafter, and more deviant in their way. [17:72]
And when they contrived to tempt you away from what We revealed to you, that you might forge something else, attributed to Us, in that case they would have taken you for a friend. [17:73]
And had We not given you stability, you would almost have inclined to them a little bit. [17:74]
In that case We would have punished you, part in life and part in death: and you would have found no helper against Us. [17:75]
And when they contrived to have you withdraw from the land in order to eject you from it, in that case, they would not have remained long after you. [17:76]
Thus the prescription of those of Our messengers We sent before you; you will find no change in Our prescription. [17:77]
Set prayer for the sun’s decline, until the darkening of night, and the dawn recitation: for the recitation at dawn is witnessed. [17:78]
And keep a vigil part of the night, as an extra devotion for you; perhaps your Lord may raise you to an honored station. [17:79]
And say, “My Lord, let me enter by the entry of truth, and let me exit by the exit of truth; and give me authority from You to help.” [17:80]
And say, “The truth has come, and falsehood has perished; for falsehood is bound to perish.” [17:81]
And We reveal from the Recital what is a cure and a mercy for believers. But it only increases the wrongdoers in deviation. [17:82]
And when We confer favors on man, he turns and withdraws on his own; and when calamity strikes him, he despairs. [17:83]
Say, “Everyone acts according to his type; and your Lord knows better who is best guided in a way. [17:84]
They ask you about the spirit. Say, “The spirit is from the command of my Lord; and you are given but little knowledge.” [17:85]
If We wished, We would take away what We have revealed to you by inspiration; then you would not find yourself an agent against Us in this, [17:86]
except as mercy from your Lord, whose generosity to you is immense. [17:87]
Say, “Even if humans and sprites all gathered together to produce something like this Recital, they could not produce anything like it, even if they helped each other.” [17:88]
We have set forth every ideal to humanity in this Recital, but most people refuse, except with ingratitude. [17:89]
And they say, “We will not believe in you until you cause water to flow from the earth for us as a fountain; [17:90]
“or you have a garden of dates and grapes, and you cause streams to flow among them; [17:91]
“or you cause the sky to fall, as you say will happen to us; or you bring God and the angels before us; [17:92]
“or you have a house of gold, or you ascend into the sky. And we will not believe in your ascent until you send us down a scripture to read.” Say, “Glory be to my Lord! Am I anything but a human, a messenger?” [17:93]
And what prevented people from believing when guidance came to them, except that they said, “Has God sent a human being as a messenger?” [17:94]
Say, “If there were angels on earth going about tranquilly, We would have sent them an angel from heaven as a messenger.” [17:95]
Say, “God is sufficient as a witness between me and you— for God, all-seeing, is well-informed about all mortals.” [17:96]
So whoever God guides is the one who is guided; and whoever God leaves astray, you will not find them any other helpers. And We will gather them on the day of resurrection, on their faces, blind, mute and deaf. Their abode will be hell, where We will increase the fire on them each time it dies down. [17:97]
That is their recompense for having repudiated Our signs and having said, “What? When we are bones and dust, are we really to be resurrected as a new creation?” [17:98]
Don’t they see that God, who created the heavens and the earth, is able to create their like, and has set them a term in which there is no doubt? But those in error refuse, except ungratefully. [17:99]
Say, “If you controlled the treasuries of the mercy of my Lord, you would surely withhold them for fear of spending; for man is very stingy.” [17:100]
We gave Moses nine signs as evidence. Ask the Children of Israel: when he came to them, Pharaoh said to him, “Moses, I think you are bewitched.” [17:101]
He said, “Surely you realize no one sent these down but the Lord of the heavens and the earth, as demonstrations. And I think you, Pharaoh, are ruined.” [17:102]
So he wished to unsettle them from the land; but We drowned him, and those with him, all of them. [17:103]
And We said to the Children of Israel after that, “Inhabit the land,” but when the promise of the hereafter comes, We will bring you forth a motley crowd. [17:104]
And We sent down revelation truthfully, and the revelation came down truthfully. And We only sent you as a herald and a warner. [17:105]
And We have divided the Recital so you could recite it to people in segments, with logical stops: We have discharged it by sending down inspirations. [17:106]
Say, “Whether you believe in it or not, those to whom knowledge was given before you fall on their faces humbly when it is recited to them: [17:107]
and they say, “Glory to our Lord! Behold—the promise of our Lord is fulfilled!” [17:108]
They fall on their faces weeping, and it increases their humility. [17:109]
Say, “Invoke God, or invoke the Benevolent: however you invoke the deity, the most beautiful names are appropriate. And do not pray too loudly, or too softly, but seek a way between them.” [17:110]
And say, “Praise be to God, who has not begotten a son and has no partner in dominion, and needs no protector from abasement: extol the greatness of God!” [17:111]