The Night Journey (Al-Isra)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Purity is to Him Who took His bondman in a part of the night from the Sacred Mosque to the Aqsa Mosque around which We have placed blessings, in order that We may show him Our great signs; indeed he is the listener, the beholder. (This verse refers to the physical journey of Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him – to Al Aqsa Mosque and from there to the heavens and beyond. The entire journey back to Mecca was completed within a small part of the night.) 1 We gave Moses the Book, and made it a source of guidance for the Children of Israel, commanding: "Take no other Guardian beside Me." 2 (We made it a guide for) the offspring of those whom We carried in the Ark with Noah, a thankful servant (of God). 3 And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture: Ye verily will work corruption in the earth twice, and ye will become great tyrants. 4 (We told them) during your first uprising of evil We shall send to you Our mighty servants, who will chase you from house to house. This is a decree already ordained. 5 And after a time We allowed you to prevail against them once again, and aided you with wealth and offspring, and made you more numerous [than ever]. 6 (And We said): "If you do good, you do good for your ownselves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves." Then, when the second promise came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to make your faces sorrowful and to enter the mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and to destroy with utter destruction all that fell in their hands. 7 We said, "Your Lord may yet have mercy on you, but if you do the same again, so shall We: We have made Hell a prison for those who deny the truth." 8 Surely this Quran guides to that which is most upright and gives good news to the believers who do good that they shall have a great reward. 9 And that those who believe not in the Hereafter, for them We have prepared a painful doom. 10