Surah Al-Isra 17:11-22 - Quran Translation Commentary

12. And we made the night and the day two signs. Then We made the sign of the night dark, and made the sign of the day bright, so that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and so that you may know the calculation of the years, and the reckoning.¹⁴ And We have expounded everything in detail.¹⁵

13. And every man’s fate We have attached to his own neck, and on the Day of Resurrection We will bring forth for him a book which he will find wide open.¹⁶

14. Read your book (of deeds)! Today, enough you are to take your own account.¹⁷

15. Whoever takes guidance, it is for the good of himself, and whoever goes astray, does so to his own disadvantage. No burdenbearer will bear another’s burden.¹⁸ And We do not punish (a people) until We have sent a messenger.¹⁹

16. When we intend to annihilate a people, We command those among them who live in comfort, then they transgress therein, so the word (of punishment) becomes applicable to them, and We annihilate it with complete annihilation.²⁰

17. How many generations have We destroyed after Nooh ! And Allah suffices as Knower and Beholder of the sins of His slaves.

18. Whoever desires the quick-passing world, We will give him therein whatever We will and to whomsoever We will, thereafter We have prepared for him, Hell wherein he will burn, condemned, rejected.²¹

19. And whoever desires the (life of) Hereafter and strives for it with the necessary effort, and he be a believer, their effort shall be appreciated.²²

20. To every one We Supply provisions (for living), both these and those, from the bounty of your Lord. And the bounty of your Lord is not denied to anyone.²³

21. See how have we exalted one (group) over another (group),²⁴ and verily there are higher ranks in the Hereafter and greater exaltations. ²⁵

22. Do not make with Allah any other god, lest you sit down reproved, forsaken.²⁶

Commentary

13. That is: Man’s behaviour is strange. He should pray to God for his good, but in unhelpful circumstance and in haste he prays to his Lord for his own evil. This is a common weakness of a human being, in which men and women are equal participants. Besides this general meaning or the verse, it particularly refers to the infidels of Makkah who were demanding of the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) that he should hasten the Divine punishment about which he was warning them. They are being told that for them good has come down from their Lord in the form of Qur’an and their reaction should have been that they would pray for this good for themselves from their Lord, but instead of rushing to this good fortune they are demanding for punishment, which if it came down would be an evil consequence for them.

14.That is: These signs of the night and day, which you observe daily, are, if you ponder, sufficient to change your point or view. If the day were not be made bright, the work of seeking Allah,s favours i.e. economic striving could not have been taken up, but the occurrence of the night and the day provided both the advantages to you, and another advantage is that by counting both these man can calculate the years and other relevant reckoning, e.g. the events of the past as to when did they occur, or that how many hour of the day have passed and how many hours of the night are remaining, etc. Thus it became easier for man to prepare his time table.

These clear signs or Allah’s Lordship invite man to follow his Lord’s path—and Qur’an invites man to this only.

15. The things which were necessary for the guidance of man have been clearly mentioned in detail in the Qur’an. Now there is no chance for man to say that the signs of path of truth have not been manifested to him clearly.

16. Man’s good fortune or bad fate is hidden in his own acts, and the record of every man’s acts has been made a necklace around his neck. This record will come to his view as an open register before his eyes on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, the adversity or fate does not depend on any external augury but is connected with his own acts.

The good or bad effect of what a man does is felt by him in his own heart, and its memory is preserved in his conscious or subconscious mind. This is the indication of the fact that none of his acts is without an effect or result, and that his record is being preserved.

With regard to the question that when our record of acts is hanging around our necks, then why is it that we are unable to see it, the answer is: if we were to see it with our physical eyes, where would the trial remain, when Allah has created this world to test mankind, and our examination and test lie in our using our intellect and commonsense in the light of the Divine revelations and accepting those Unseen realities and in adjusting our conduct and acts in accordance with them.

17. In view of this reality, an intelligent man takes the account of his deeds in the world itself so that he may not be regretful on the Day of Resurrection.

18. On the Day of judgment every person will bear the burden of his or her sin, he or she will not bear the burden of any other person. On that day you cannot lighten your burden of sins by saying that you were misguided by a particular chief, sardar or leader or saint, or that Satan is responsible for your straying, therefore, those who misguided you should bear the burden of your sins. Nay, they will bear their own burden and you will bear your own.

19. Means that punishment which obliterates nations from the page of existence, and which is a touchstone for the right and falsehood. The punishment, which obliterated the nations A’d, Thamud, nations of loot and of Firaun, etc., came down on them after the messengers of Allah convincingly conveyed Allah’s message to them. That very divine tradition has been mentioned here.

Therefore, to conclude from this that those people to whom the message of the Prophet did not reach are neither answerable before God, nor would they receive any punishment for their evil acts is not only against the clear teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah but is also an unreasonable stand. Qur’an says that there are a number of evil acts, and awareness of their evil is ingrained in the human nature. If a man commits an evil act, he is a sinner and he is answerable before God. From the ahadith also it is learnt that before the coming of the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) those who spread idolatry and obscenity, like ‘Amar bin Lahy, Umraul Qais, etc., have become liable to be sent to Hell.

And so far as the intellect is concerned, it considers any one who commits an obvious evil act e.g. a tyrant or an unjust murderer as a criminal and a sinner irrespective of whether the message of Allah’s messenger has reached him or not. However, in the case of the message of the Prophet not reaching them, what is the limit of their responsibility and to what extent they deserve to be forgiven, is known to Allah only. These matters will be decided on the Day of Judgment, therefore, for us it is sufficient to understand the principle only without indulging in unnecessary debates and discussions, sufficient it would be for us to worry about what we are doing for our own salvation after the message of Allah’s messenger has reached us, and what steps we are taking to convey this message to other slaves of God.

20. In the foregoing ayah, the Divine tradition was clarified in the matter of punishment to the nations. In this ayah this aspect is being brought into focus that a township is subjected to destruction when sinning becomes common and rampant. The form it takes is like this: the well-to-do people of the township including the ruling class, the rich and the leaders are commanded to obey Allah. Accordingly, Allah’s messengers specifically address this section of the populace, so that Allah’s message may be said to have been convincingly conveyed to them, and through them to the common people. But these people are so much absorbed in their love of material world and are so intoxicated in their luxuries that they do not care for Allah’s commands. They themselves indulge in sinning, in disobeying Allah’s commands, they also promote sinning and crimes against Allah by propagating false philosophical ideas and arguments. In this way the whole township becomes liable to receive divine punishment, and Allah completely destroys such a township by sending one or the other natural calamity. In the following verse those nations have been pointed out to whom such a treatment was meted out.

Some commentators have taken great pains in trying to explain the meaning of the words ‘Amarna’ (We command). Someone has taken it to mean the command that fixes the destiny at the time of creation, i.e. We command that your destiny will be that you will indulge in sinning, etc, and someone has interpreted it in some other way. But literally as well as with reference to the context it means the same thing which has been stated above. In Arabic when the word’ Amarna’ is used independently, without any qualification, it means general command to obey. Accordingly, Ibn Jarir Tabari has preferred’ this meaning, and Allama Shaukani writes: “

Any person who knows Arabic language would understand only this meaning for the wording that the thing which was commanded was different from sinning; because sinning is negative of ‘amr’ (command to do good) and is its contradictory term. Therefore, the words ‘amartuhu fafasaqa’ (I commanded him but he sinned) these words show that the thing which he was commanded to do has not been done, for ‘fisq’ means the commitment of a thing which is the opposite of what is commanded,” -( Fathul Qadeer, Vol. III, page 214).

21. In the text the word used is’ Ajilah,’ which means that which hastens, which means the world, that gives its benefits quickly, and to be desirous of it means to be desirous of world’s temporary and quickly-achieved benefits. A person who makes the world as his goal, it is not necessary that he should always get many worldly benefits quickly and immediately, but this depends on the will of Allah. He may decide how much and when to give to anybody. This pertains to the achievement of the worldly benefits. After this there is no share for such a man in the benefits of the Hereafter, on the contrary he will have to face very bad conditions, and deprived of Allah’s mercy will have to enter the Hell. This severe punishment will be given to him, because he was sent to the world for keeping the benefits of the Hereafter in view and to act in the world in such a way that the result of his acts should give good rewards in the Hereafter, but he did not care for the Hereafter and engaged himself for his whole life in gathering the benefits of the world. In this way he lived as transgressor against his Lord and so his whole life was a great mistake.

22. Man in reality has been created by his Lord not for this world but for the next world. The world is only a stage in man’s life, after passing from which he has to dwell permanently in the realm of the Hereafter. Therefore, to consider the Hereafter as objective of life and to make it a center and axis of all activities is in consonance with this reality which is active not only in the creation of man but also of the whole universe. This ayah clarifies that for Allah the efforts of only those people are acceptable and appreciable who have made the Hereafter as their objective, their goal, and made efforts to achieve it as it deserved,— such efforts which are made by a man who believes in the Hereafter and the method for which has been shown by the Qur’an. There is also a condition that such a person should be a momin, a Muslim, a believer, i.e. he believes in all those things, which Qur’an has declared necessary to believe in.

23. That is: They may either be the seekers of this world or the next world, whether faithful or infidel, everybody in the world is being provided the necessary provisions for living by their Lord, and nobody is denied His bounty. This bounty is common, exactly according to that wisdom according to which this world was created.

24. That is: Those who have made success in the Hereafter as their goal in this life have superiority over others, and this can be observed in this world itself. Their attachment to their Lord, their fear of Him, timely paying the dues of others, sense of responsibility, trustworthiness and honesty, lawful earning, avoidance of unlawful things, expenditure in good cause, sacrifice for truth, patience, forbearance love for justice and other moral qualities and good conduct speak for their exalted position and superiority, even if they are insignificant and unimportant from the standpoint of wealth.

25. In the Hereafter the people of faith will have manifest superiority over the infidels. Accordingly, the infidels will be in lower section of the Hell, while the people of faith in the high and exalted Paradise. Then the people of faith will be the recipients of high ranks according to their degrees of faith and acts, and in proportion to this they will gain superiority.

26.That is: If you would believe in any other god in association with Allah, then your condition will be such as you will receive reproaches and rebukes from every quarter and you will be totally helpless.