Al-Isra
Sura 17 الإسراءThe
Night Journey MKJuz 15 v 111/12 Saj V
10 Hizb 25-30
This surah takes its name
from the first verse
Verse [Section]
Complete [12]
1-10 [10 ]11-22 [2] 23-30 [3] 31-40 [4]
41-52 [5 ]53-60 [6] 61-70 [7] 71-77 [8]
78-84 [9 ]85-93 [10 ]94-100 [11] 101-111 [12]
1-1 Allah took Muhammad (pbuh) on a
tour of the universe
(17:4) Then We clearly declared to the
Children of Israel in the Book:5 "Twice you will make mischief in the land and
will commit transgression."6
5. The original Arabic word
Al-kitab does not stand here for the Torah but for all the divine Books.
6.
Such warnings have been given in different Books of the Bible.
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(17:15)
He who follows the Right Way shall do so to his own advantage; and he who
strays shall incur his own loss.15 No one shall bear another's burden.16 And never do We
punish any people until We send a Messenger17 (to make the Truth distinct from falsehood).
(17:16)
When We decide to destroy a town We command the affluent among them, whereupon
they commit sins in it, then the decree (of chastisement) becomes due against
them and thereafter We destroy that town utterl
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(17:23) Your Lord has decreed:25 (i) Do not worship
any but Him;26 (ii) Be
good to your parents; and should both or any one of them attain old age with
you, do not say to them even "fie" neither chide them, but speak to
them with respect,
(17:24) and be humble and tender to them and say:
"Lord, show mercy to them as they nurtured me when I was small
(17:25) Your Lord is best aware of what is in
your hearts. If you are righteous, He will indeed forgive those who relent and
revert27 (to
serving Allah).
27. This verse enjoins that
after Allah’s right, the greatest of all the human rights is the right of
parents
(17:27) for those who squander wastefully are
Satan's brothers, and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord.
(17:28) (v) And when you must turn away from
them - (that is, from the destitute, the near of kin, the needy, and the
wayfarer) - in pursuit of God's Mercy which you expect to receive, then speak
to them kindly.28
28. These three articles
are meant to impress that a man should not reserve his earnings and his wealth
exclusively for his own person. He should do his utmost to fulfill his own
necessities of life in a moderate way and render the rights of his relatives,
neighbors and other needy persons as well. This attitude will help create the
spirit of cooperation, sympathy and justice in the collective Islamic life.
Thus every relative will cooperate with the other and every rich person will
help the needy in his neighborhood and a wayfarer would find himself an
honorable guest among generous hosts. The conception of rights should be so
extensive that every person should consider that all other human beings have
rights on his person and his property so that he should serve them with the
idea that he is rendering their rights and is not doing any favor to them. In
that case one would beg pardon of the other if he was unable to serve him and
would pray to God to send his blessings upon him to enable him to serve His
servants.
These
articles of the Islamic manifesto were not merely confined to moral teachings
but these formed the basis of the commandments of Zakat and voluntary charity.
The laws of inheritance and of making will and endowments were based on these
articles. The rights of the orphans were determined by these and it was made
obligatory on every habitation to entertain a wayfarer gratis for at least
three days. Subsequently the whole moral system was formed so as to create the
feelings of generosity, sympathy and cooperation. So much so that the people
began to realize the importance of and observe voluntarily the moral rights
which could neither be demanded legally nor enforced by law.
(17:29) (vi) Do not keep your hand fastened
to your neck nor outspread it, altogether outspread, for you will be left
sitting rebuked, destitute.29
29. “And do not keep your
hand fastened to your neck”, means: Do not be parsimonious. “Nor outspread it
altogether widespread” means: Do not be extravagant. The Quran desires the
people to follow the golden mean, i.e. they should neither be so parsimonious
as to prevent the circulation of wealth nor so extravagant as to destroy their
own economy. On the contrary, they should learn to behave in a balanced manner
so that they should spend money wherever it should be spent and refrain from
becoming spendthrifts so as to involve themselves into trouble.
These clauses too, are not merely meant to be
moral instructions for individuals. They are intended to safeguard the Islamic
society against extravagance by moral instruction, collective pressure and
legal restrictions. Accordingly, in the Islamic state of Al-Madinah, practical
steps were taken to safeguard the community against extravagance. First, many
forms of extravagance and luxury were forbidden by law. Secondly, legal
measures were taken against it. Thirdly, social reforms were introduced to put
an end to those customs which involved extravagance. The government was
empowered to prevent people from the obvious forms of extravagance. Above all,
Zakat and voluntary charity helped to break parsimony and the lust of hoarding
money..
(17:30) Certainly Your Lord makes plentiful
the provision of whomsoever He wills and straitens it for whomsoever He wills.
He is well-aware and is fully observant of all that relates to His servants.30
30. That is, man cannot
realize the wisdom of the disparity of wealth among the people. Therefore, man
should not try to interfere by artificial means with the natural distribution
of wealth. It is wrong to level down natural inequality or to aggravate it by
artificial means so as to make it unjust. Both the extremes are wrong. The best
economic system is that which is established on the divine Way of the division
of wealth.
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(17:31) (vii) Do not kill your children for
fear of want. We will provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a
great sin.31
31. This verse cuts at the very root of the movement of birth
control, which has been going on from ancient times
to our present age. It was the fear of want that induced people to kill their
children or resort to abortion. In our age another plan has been added to
these, i.e. contraception. This article of the Islamic manifesto prohibits the people from reducing the
number of mouths by artificial means but exhorts them to increase the means of
production according to the natural methods enjoined by Allah. According to this article, it is one of the biggest
mistakes of man to check birth rate as a solution to the want and scarcity of
provisions. Therefore, it warns him, as if to say: O man, it is not you who
make arrangement for food, but Allah, Who settled you in the land and has been
providing for you and will provide for those who will come after you. History
tells us that the food resources have always expanded in proportion to the
number of inhabitants of a country. Nay, often they have exceeded far more than
the needs of the inhabitants. Thus it is a folly on the part of man to
interfere with the arrangements of Allah.
It is
very significant that as a result of this teaching, no movement has ever been
started to control birth nor has there been any inclination to infanticide
among the Muslims ever since the revelation of the Quran.
(17:32) (viii) Do not even approach
fornication for it is an outrageous act, and an evil way.32
32. “And do not come near
to adultery”. This commandment is meant both for individuals and society as a
whole.
(17:33) (ix) Do not kill
any person whom Allah has forbidden to kill,33 except with right.34 We have granted the heir of him who has been wrongfully
killed the authority to35 (claim retribution);so let him not exceed in slaying.36 He shall be helped.37
(17:34) (x) And do not
even go near the property of the orphan - except that it be in the best manner
- till he attains his maturity
3And fulfill [every] commitment. Indeed, the commitment is
ever [that about which one will be] questioned.
(17:35) (xii) Give full
measure when you measure, and weigh with even scales.40 That is fair and
better in consequence40
. This instruction was not
confined to individuals only but it has been made a part of the duties of an
Islamic government to supervise transactions in the markets and streets to see
that exact measures and weights are being observed, and prevent their breach
and violation by the force of law. Afterwards it was made one of the duties of
the government to eradicate dishonesty in all commercial dealings and economic
transactions.
(17:36) (xiii) Do not follow that of which
you have no knowledge. Surely the hearing, the sight, the heart - each of these
shall be called to account.42
42. The meanings of “Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge” are very comprehensive. It demands that both in individual and collective life,
one should not follow mere guess work and presumption instead of knowledge. This instruction covers all aspects of Islamic life,
moral, legal, political, administrative and applies to science, arts and
education. It has thus saved the society from numerous
evils which are produced in human life by following guesswork instead of
knowledge. The Islamic moral code demands: Guard against suspicion and do not accuse any individual or group without proper
investigation. In law, it has been made a permanent principle that no action
should be taken against anyone without proper investigation. It has been made
unlawful to arrest, beat or imprison anyone on mere suspicion during
investigation. In regards to foreign relations, the definite
policy has been laid down that no action should be taken without investigation,
nor should rumors be set afloat. Likewise in education the so called sciences
based on mere guess work, presumptions and irrational theories have been
disapproved. Above all, it cuts at the very root of superstitions, for this
instruction teaches the believers to accept only that which is based on the
knowledge imparted by Allah and His Messenger.
(17:37) (xiv) Do not strut about in the land
arrogantly. Surely you cannot cleave the earth, nor reach the heights of the
mountains in stature.43
43. This instruction warns
against the ways of tyrants and vain people and is not merely meant for the
individual but also for the collective conduct of the Muslim community
(17:38) The wickedness of
each of that is hateful to your Lord
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41-44 If there were other gods besides Allah, they
would have tried to dethrone Him
45-52 Belief in the hereafter is necessary to
understand Al-Quran and Hereafter is Life after death
(17:44)The seven
heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a
thing except that it exalts [Allah] by His praise, but you do not understand
their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing1 and Forgiving
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(17:53) Tell My servants,57 (O Muhammad), to say
always that which is best.58 Verily it is Satan who sows discord among people.
Satan indeed is an open enemy to mankind.59
57. The believers.
58.
The believers have been enjoined to say only the best things even in their
discussion with the disbelievers and other opponents of their faith. They
should neither use harsh words nor make exaggerated statements. They should be
cool in their conversation and say only what is true and dignified in spite of
the provoking behavior of the opponents.
59.
The believers have been forewarned to guard against the provocations of Satan,
as if to say: While answering your opponents, if you feel that you are being
aroused to anger, you should at once understand that it is Satan who is
exciting you in order to do harm to your dispute, in which he wants to engage
human beings for sowing discord between them.
(17:55) Your Lord knows
all who dwell in the heavens and the earth. We have exalted some Prophets over
others,62 and We
gave the
Psalms to David
(17:57) Those whom they call upon are
themselves seeking the means of access to their Lord, each trying to be nearer
to Him. They crave for His Mercy and dread His chastisement.65 Surely your Lord's
punishment is to be feared.
65. The words of the text
are a clear proof that the deities and the
helpers referred to in this verse were not idols of stone but were either
angels or dead saints. It is clearly implied in
this that no prophet, no saint and no angel, whom the
people invoke for help, has the power to hear prayers and help anyone. They
themselves hope for mercy from Allah and
dread His punishment and vie with one another in seeking means for nearness to
Him.
(17:58) There is not a town but We shall destroy it or upon which We shall inflict severe
chastisement66 before the Day of Resurrection. This is written down in the Eternal Book (of Allah). The Preserved Slate (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ), which is with
Allah.
66. This is to remove the
delusion of the disbelievers that their habitations were immune from danger or
chastisement. This verse warns that every habitation will be destroyed as a
matter of course or by Allah’s chastisement.
(17:60) And recall when We
said to you, (O Muhammad), that your Lord encompasses these people;70 and that We have
made that vision that We have shown you,71 and the tree accursed in the Qur'an,72 but as a trial for
people. We go about warning them, but each warning leads them to greater
transgression
71. This refers to Miraj
(Ascension) for here word ruya does not mean “seeing things in a dream” but seeing things actually with physical
eyes. It is quite obvious that if it had been a mere dream and the Prophet
(peace be upon him) had presented it as a dream to the disbelievers, there was
no reason why it should have become a trial for them
72. This cursed tree,
Az-zaqqum which has been mentioned in (Ayat 43-44 of Surah
Ad-Dukhan), grows at the bottom of Hell and its dwellers
shall have to eat from it. This has been called a cursed tree because it is not
given to people to eat as a mercy from Allah but as a symbol of His curse so
that the accursed people should eat it and get more sore, for this will, so to
speak, burn in their bellies like the boiling water.
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(17:69) Or do you feel secure that He will
not cause you to revert to the sea, and let a tempest loose upon you and then
drown you for your ingratitude whereupon you will find none even to inquire of
Us what happened to you?
(17:70) Indeed, We honoured the progeny of
Adam, and bore them across land and sea and provided them with good things for
their sustenance, and exalted them above many of Our creatures
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(17:73) (O Muhammad), they had all but
tempted you away from what We have revealed to you that you may invent something else in Our Name.87 Had
you done so, they would have taken you as their trusted friend.
(17:74) Indeed, had We not strengthened you, you might
have inclined to them a little,
(17:75)
whereupon We would have made you taste double (the chastisement) in the world and double (the
chastisement) after death, and then you would have
found none to help you against Us
87. In order to understand the
significance of this verse, we should keep in view the circumstances through
which the Prophet (peace be upon him) had been passing at Makkah during the
preceding decade or so. The disbelievers of Makkah were exerting their utmost
to turn the Prophet (peace be upon him) away, somehow or other, from his
message of Tauhid, which he was presenting, and to force him to make a
compromise with shirk and the customs of ignorance. In order to achieve this
end, they tempted him in several ways. They practiced deception upon him, and
tempted him with greed, held out threats, and raised a storm of false
propaganda against him, and persecuted him and applied economic pressure and
social boycott against him. In short, they did all that could be done to defeat
his resolve.
(17:76) They were bent upon uprooting you
from this land and driving you away from it. But were they to succeed, they
would not be able to remain after you more than a little while.89
89. This was a clear prophecy which
was made at the time when it appeared to be no more than a mere threat, but it
was fulfilled literally in a decade or so. A year after the revelation of this
Surah, the disbelievers of Makkah compelled the Prophet (peace be upon him) to
leave his home. Then within eight years he entered Makkah as a conqueror, and
within two years after this, the entire Arabia was totally freed from mushriks.
Then whosoever stayed in that country, he remained there as a Muslim and not as
a mushrik.
17:77
سُنَّةَ Sunnata way
لِسُنَّتِنَا lisunnatina our way
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(17:78) Establish Prayer91 from the declining
of the sun92 to the
darkness of the night;93 and hold fast to the recitation of the Qur'an at dawn,94 for the recitation
of the Qur'an at dawn is witnessed
Here
the “recital of the Quran in the morning” stands for the salatul-fajr, the
morning prayer.
95. The
recital of the Quran at dawn is witnessed by the angels of Allah to testify it
as has been explained in the traditions. Though the angels witness each prayer
and each good deed, the special mention of their being witnesses at the time of
the recital of the Quran during the salatul-fajr gives it a particular
importance. That is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to recite long passages
from the Quran during the salatul-fajr.
The
Quran has also pointed to these five
times of Salat on different
occasions:
(1)
And listen; establish salat at the two ends of the day and in the early parts
of the night (Surah At-Tauba,
Ayat 114).
(2)
And glorify your Lord with His praise before the sunrise (Fajr) and before
sunset (Asr) and then glorify Him during the night (Isha) and then at the ends
of the day (Fajr, Dhuhr and Maghrib). (Surah Taaha,
Ayat 130).
(3) So
glorify Allah when it is evening for you (Maghrib), and when it is morning
(Fajr). Praise is only for Him in the heavens and the earth and glorify him in
the later part of the afternoon (Asr) and in the afternoon (Dhuhr). (Surah Ar-Room,
Ayats 17-18).
There is great wisdom in
this system of the timings of salat. One of these is to avoid the timings of
the worship of the sun worshipers. This is because the sun has always been in
every age one of the greatest deities of the mushriks, who worshiped it
especially at the time of sunrise and sunset. Therefore, these two times have
totally been forbidden for salat. Besides this, they worshiped the sun at the
time of its zenith.
After Asr prayer, refrain from any prayer until
the sunset, for during that time the sun sets between the horns of Satan and
the unbelievers fall prostrate before it.
17:79) And rise from sleep during the night96 as well- this is an
additional Prayer for you.97 Possibly your Lord will raise you to an honoured
position.98
96. The literal meaning of tahajjud is to rise up by breaking
sleep. Therefore, it means: Rise up from sleep
after the passing of a part of night and then offer your prayer.
97.
Nafl literally means: Something done in addition to an obligatory duty. This
shows that the tahajjud prayer is in addition to the five
prescribed prayers.
98. “Will raise you to an honored position”. You may attain
such a high position in this world and in the next world
(17:82) What We are sending down in the course of
revealing the
Qur'an is a healing and a grace for those who have faith; but it adds only to the
ruin of the wrong-doers
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(17:88) Say: "Surely, if mankind and
jinn were to get together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they will never
be able to produce the like of it, howsoever they might help one another."105
105. This challenge occurs
at several other places in the Quran: (Surah
Al-Baqarah, Ayat 23); (Surah Younus,
Ayats 38-39); (Surah Al-Momin,
Ayats 13-14); (Surah At-Toor,
Ayats 33-34)
(1) The Quran is such a miracle in regard to its
language, style, arguments, themes, topics, teachings and prophecies that it is
beyond any human power to produce the like of it, as if to say, "You say
that a man has invented this but We challenge that even the whole of mankind
combined cannot produce a Book like this: nay, even if the jinns, whom the
mushriks worship as deities and whom this Book openly attacks, should come to
the help of the disbelievers, they cannot produce a Book like this to refute
this challenge.
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(17:95) Say: "Had angels been walking about
in peace on the earth, We would surely have sent to them an angel from the
heavens as Messenger
(17:100) Tell them, (O Prophet): "Even
if you owned the treasures of my Lord's Mercy you would have held them back for
fear of spending them." Man is indeed ever niggardly.112
112. This verse also
suggests the same thing that has already been mentioned in Ayat 55. This hints
at the real psychological reason why the disbelievers of Makkah were not
inclined to accept Muhammad (peace be upon him), their contemporary, as a
Prophet. For thus they would have to acknowledge his superiority and one does
not easily acknowledge the superiority of his contemporary. This verse may be
expanded like this: Those people who are so narrow minded that they are
unwilling even to acknowledge the real superiority of another, cannot be
expected to be generous in spending on others, if they possessed the keys of
the treasures of Allah’s blessings.
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(17:101) We granted Moses nine clear signs.113 Ask the Children of
Israel about that: when these signs came forth, Pharaoh said to him:
"Moses, I think that you are bewitched."114
113. It should be noted
that this is the third answer to the demand of the disbelievers of Makkah for
signs.
The nine signs mentioned here have also been mentioned in (Surah Al-Aaraf,
Ayat 133). These
were: (1) The staff which turned into a monster snake. (2) Moses’ bright hand
which shone like the sun. (3) The public defeat of the sorcery of the
magicians. (4) Universal famine. (5) Storm. (6) Locusts. (7) Lice. (8) Frogs.
(9) Rain of blood.
(17:103) At last Pharaoh decided to uproot Moses and the
Children of Israel from the land, but We drowned him together with all who were with him;
(17:106) We have revealed the Qur'an in parts
that you may recite it to people slowly and with deliberation; and (for that
reason) We have revealed it gradually119 (to suit particular occasions).
119. This is an answer to
this objection: Why has not Allah sent down His message as
a whole? Why is He sending it piecemeal? Has Allah any need to
think deliberately what to send down? As the answer to this objection has been
given in (Surah An-Nahal,
Ayats 101-102) and in the Explanatory Notes 104-106 added
to them
17:110.111.MANZIL
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