The Night Journey (Al-Isra)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most 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 guidance for the children of Israel that they should not take another protector apart from Me. 2 (They were) the seed of those whom We carried (in the ship) along with Noah. Lo! he was a grateful slave. 3 And We had made known to the children of Israel in the Book: Most certainly you will make mischief in the land twice, and most certainly you will behave insolently with great insolence. 4 So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might who ravaged (your) country, and it was a threat performed. 5 and after a time We allowed you to prevail over them once again and aided you with wealth and offspring and made you greater in number. 6 If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves. So when the second of the warnings came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to disfigure your faces, and to enter your Temple as they had entered it before, and to visit with destruction all that fell into their power. 7 Belike your Lord may yet have mercy on you; and if ye still revert, We will revert. And We have appointed Hell for the infidels a prison. 8 Indeed this Qur’an guides to the most Straight Path, and gives glad tidings to the believers who do good deeds, that for them is a great reward. 9 And that those who believe not in the Hereafter (i.e. they disbelieve that they will be recompensed for what they did in this world, good or bad, etc.), for them We have prepared a painful torment (Hell). 10