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 unto Moses the Scripture, and We appointed it a guidance for the children of Israel, saying: Choose no guardian beside Me. 2 O you, the offspring of those We bore (in the ark) with Noah, he was indeed a grateful votary. 3 And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: 'You shall corrupt the land twice, and you shall ascend exceedingly high' 4 So, when the promise of the first of these came to pass, We sent against you servants of Ours, men of great might, and they went through the habitations, and it was a promise performed. 5 Then did We grant you the Return as against them: We gave you increase in resources and sons, and made you the more numerous in man-power. 6 [We said], "If you persevere in doing good, you will be doing good to yourselves; but if you do evil, it will go against you." When the time of the second warning came, [We roused against you others] to disgrace you utterly and to enter the place of worship as they had entered it before, utterly destroying all that they laid their hands on. 7 Your Lord may haply be merciful to you. But if you repeat it, We shall do the same. We have constituted Hell as prison for unbelievers. 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 (It also declares) that for the disbelievers We have prepared a painful torment in the life to come. 10