The Night Journey (Al-Isra)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ 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 And We vouchsafed unto Musa the Book and We appointed it as a guidance to the Children of Isra'il: take not beside Me a trustee. 2 "O offspring of those whom We carried (in the ship) with Nuh (Noah)! Verily, he was a grateful slave." 3 And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: 'You shall do corruption in the earth twice, and you shall ascend exceeding high.' 4 So when the [time of] promise came for the first of them, We sent against you servants of Ours - those of great military might, and they probed [even] into the homes, and it was a promise fulfilled. 5 We, then, gave you a chance to defeat your enemies with the help of increasing your wealth and offspring. 6 If ye will do well ye will do well for yourselves, and if ye will do evil it will be against the same. Then when the promise of the second came, We raised up a people that they may disgrace your faces and may enter the Mosque even as they entered it the first time, and that they may destroy with utter destruction whatsoever may fall under their power. 7 Perhaps Allah will have mercy on you. But if you return, We will return. We have made Gehenna (Hell) a prison for the unbelievers. 8 This Koran guides to the straightest way. It gives glad tidings of a great wage to the believers who do good deeds, 9 and warns those who do not believe in the Hereafter that We have prepared for them a grievous chastisement. 10