Surah 17. Al-Isra

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Verses [Section]: 1-10[1], 11-22 [2], 23-30 [3], 31-40 [4], 41-52 [5], 53-60 [6], 61-70 [7], 71-77 [8], 78-84 [9], 85-93 [10], 94-100 [11], 101-111 [12]

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Quran Text of Verse 53-60وَ قُلْAnd sayلِّعِبَادِیْto My slavesیَقُوْلُوا(to) sayالَّتِیْthatهِیَwhichاَحْسَنُ ؕ(is) bestاِنَّIndeedالشَّیْطٰنَthe Shaitaanیَنْزَغُsows discordبَیْنَهُمْ ؕbetween themاِنَّIndeedالشَّیْطٰنَthe Shaitaanكَانَisلِلْاِنْسَانِto the manعَدُوًّاan enemyمُّبِیْنًا clear رَبُّكُمْYour Lordاَعْلَمُ(is) most knowingبِكُمْ ؕof youاِنْIfیَّشَاْHe willsیَرْحَمْكُمْHe will have mercy on youاَوْorاِنْifیَّشَاْHe willsیُعَذِّبْكُمْ ؕHe will punish youوَ مَاۤAnd notاَرْسَلْنٰكَWe have sent youعَلَیْهِمْover themوَكِیْلًا (as) a guardian وَ رَبُّكَAnd your Lordاَعْلَمُ(is) most knowingبِمَنْof whoeverفِی(is) inالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضِ ؕand the earthوَ لَقَدْAnd verilyفَضَّلْنَاWe have preferredبَعْضَsomeالنَّبِیّٖنَ(of) the Prophetsعَلٰیtoبَعْضٍothersوَّ اٰتَیْنَاAnd We gaveدَاوٗدَDawoodزَبُوْرًا Zaboor قُلِSayادْعُواCallالَّذِیْنَthose whomزَعَمْتُمْyou claimedمِّنْbesides Himدُوْنِهٖbesides Himفَلَا[then] notیَمْلِكُوْنَthey have powerكَشْفَ(to) removeالضُّرِّthe misfortunesعَنْكُمْfrom youوَ لَاand notتَحْوِیْلًا (to) transfer (it) اُولٰٓىِٕكَThoseالَّذِیْنَwhomیَدْعُوْنَthey callیَبْتَغُوْنَseekاِلٰیtoرَبِّهِمُtheir Lordالْوَسِیْلَةَthe means of accessاَیُّهُمْwhich of themاَقْرَبُ(is) nearestوَ یَرْجُوْنَand they hopeرَحْمَتَهٗ(for) His mercyوَ یَخَافُوْنَand fearعَذَابَهٗ ؕHis punishmentاِنَّIndeedعَذَابَ(the) punishmentرَبِّكَ(of) your Lordكَانَisمَحْذُوْرًا (ever) feared وَ اِنْAnd notمِّنْ(is) anyقَرْیَةٍtownاِلَّاbutنَحْنُWeمُهْلِكُوْهَا(will) destroy itقَبْلَbeforeیَوْمِ(the) Dayالْقِیٰمَةِ(of) the Resurrectionاَوْorمُعَذِّبُوْهَاpunish itعَذَابًاwith a punishmentشَدِیْدًا ؕsevereكَانَThat isذٰلِكَThat isفِیinالْكِتٰبِthe Bookمَسْطُوْرًا written 17. Al-Isra Page 288وَ مَاAnd notمَنَعَنَاۤstopped UsاَنْthatنُّرْسِلَWe sendبِالْاٰیٰتِthe Signsاِلَّاۤexceptاَنْthatكَذَّبَdeniedبِهَاthemالْاَوَّلُوْنَ ؕthe former (people)وَ اٰتَیْنَاAnd We gaveثَمُوْدَThamudالنَّاقَةَthe she-camelمُبْصِرَةً(as) a visible signفَظَلَمُوْاbut they wrongedبِهَا ؕherوَ مَاAnd notنُرْسِلُWe sendبِالْاٰیٰتِthe Signsاِلَّاexceptتَخْوِیْفًا (as) a warning وَ اِذْAnd whenقُلْنَاWe saidلَكَto youاِنَّIndeedرَبَّكَyour Lordاَحَاطَhas encompassedبِالنَّاسِ ؕthe mankindوَ مَاAnd notجَعَلْنَاWe madeالرُّءْیَاthe visionالَّتِیْۤwhichاَرَیْنٰكَWe showed youاِلَّاexceptفِتْنَةً(as) a trialلِّلنَّاسِfor mankindوَ الشَّجَرَةَand the treeالْمَلْعُوْنَةَthe accursedفِیinالْقُرْاٰنِ ؕthe Quranوَ نُخَوِّفُهُمْ ۙAnd We threaten themفَمَاbut notیَزِیْدُهُمْit increases themاِلَّاexceptطُغْیَانًا(in) transgressionكَبِیْرًا۠great

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Translation of Verse 53-60

(17:53) Tell My servants,⁵⁷ (O Muhammad), to say always that which is best.⁵⁸ Verily it is Satan who sows discord among people. Satan indeed is an open enemy to mankind.⁵⁹

(17:54) Your Lord knows you best. He will have mercy on you if He wills and chastise you if He wills.⁶⁰ We have not sent you, (O Muhammad), as an overseer over them.⁶¹

(17:55) Your Lord knows all who dwell in the heavens and the earth. We have exalted some Prophets over others,⁶² and We gave the Psalms to David.⁶³

(17:56) Tell them: "Call upon those whom you fancy to be (your helpers) instead of Him! They have no power to remove any affliction from you, nor can they shift it (to any other)."⁶⁴

(17:57) Those whom they call upon are themselves seeking the means of access to their Lord, each trying to be nearer to Him. They crave for His Mercy and dread His chastisement.⁶⁵ Surely your Lord's punishment is to be feared.

(17:58) There is not a town but We shall destroy it or upon which We shall inflict severe chastisement⁶⁶ before the Day of Resurrection. This is written down in the Eternal Book (of Allah).

(17:59) Nothing hindered Us from sending Our Signs⁶⁷ except that the people of olden times rejected them as lies. We publicly sent the she-camel to the Thamud to open their eyes but they wronged her.⁶⁸ We never send Our Signs except to cause people to fear.⁶⁹

(17:60) And recall when We said to you, (O Muhammad), that your Lord encompasses these people;⁷⁰ and that We have made that vision that We have shown you,⁷¹ and the tree accursed in the Qur'an,⁷² but as a trial for people. We go about warning them, but each warning leads them to greater transgression.

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Commentary

57. That is, the believers.

58. In their discussions with the unbelievers and polytheists, in fact with all opponents of their faith, Muslims should refrain from losing their temper.

Additionally, they should not resort to exaggerated and extremist statements.

Even in the face of provocation from their opponents, Muslims should not utter even a word that is contrary to the truth; nor should they lose their temper at the vulgarities which are flung at them by their opponents, nor should they be provoked to the point of paying back their opponents in the latter’s own coins.

Instead, they should keep their composure and say only that which is balanced and true, and is in keeping with the grace and dignity of the faith which they ‘seek to uphold.

59. The Qur’an tells believers that whenever in the course of their discussions on contentious issues with unbelievers, they feel overly provoked and overwhelmed with rage, they should immediately realize that such reactions are instigated by Satan who is keen to hurt the cause of their faith.

Satan will certainly try to prompt the believers to give up, as their opponents had done, all efforts of reform, and to become entangled in futile wrangling and strife. For it is Satan’s aim that all mankind remains perpetually enmeshed in such controversies.

60. The believers should never go about bragging that they are going to - enter Paradise, or cockily name other persons or groups as the ones destined to enter Hell. For it is God Alone Who has the authority to decide such matters. It "is He Alone Who fully knows about all human beings, about all things both apparent and hidden, which took place before or which will take place in the future. It is He Alone Who will judge, He alone Who will decide to whom He should show mercy and whom He should punish. All that a human being can say, enunciating the teachings of the Qur’an, is what kind of people deserve mercy, and what kind deserve punishment. No one has the right to categorically say that a particular person will be either chastised or pardoned by God.

Presumably this directive was occasioned by the constant oppression to which the Muslims were subjected by the unbelievers. For some of the former may have been tempted to say of their more cruel opponents that they would be consigned to Hell or that God would chastise them for their behavior.

61. A Messenger’s mission is simply to invite people to the right way. The destinies of people have not been placed in his hands, nor has he been empowered to sit in judgement over them, deciding who should be cast into Hell and who should be shown mercy.

The observation made here does not imply that the Prophet (peace be on him) had committed such a lapse and that this needed to be pointed out to him.

The purpose of the statement is rather to warn the generality of Muslims against adopting such an attitude. For if even the Prophet (peace be on him) does not have the authority to judge who deserves Hell and who deserves Heaven, then how can ordinary Muslims be justified in making these decisions.

62. Although the above statement is apparently addressed to the Prophet (peace be on him), it is in fact meant for the unbelievers. The Prophet's contemporaries — in keeping with the wont of contemporaries — could not recognize his true worth nor appreciate his intrinsic greatness. They looked upon him as someone not much different from the common run of people who lived in their town. Greatness was conceived to have been the exclusive prerogative of those who had lived in some bygone age, several centuries previously. Hence when the Prophet (peace be on him) claimed that he had been designated by God, they decried the claim as sheer boastfulness. They simply could not believe how he could be a peer of those great Prophets of yore whose holiness was universally recognized.

In response, God succinctly points out that He fully knows all His creatures wherever they may be whereas men are in no position to know accurately about.

others, nor can they know the true merit of others. God alone selected those creatures on whom to bestow His special grace — prophethood. It was for this reason that He had as a result raised a whole series of great Prophets in the past.

63. The reference to bestowing the Psalms on David is probably prompted by the fact that David was a king and, generally speaking, kings are disposed towards some remoteness from God.

Contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) did not accept his claim to be God’s Messenger basically because he lived a normal conjugal life, like others he married and had children, ate and drank as they did and went to the market-place as any other mortal would do. For the Makkan unbelievers, _ if someone lived abnormal worldly life, this rendered him incapable of reaching the high level of spirituality required of a Prophet. They believed that only those who renounced this worldly life, who spent their time in a monastery devoting themselves wholly to God’s remembrance, and who had no worldly: concerns, could be truly close to God. The Qur’an counters this suggestion by citing the example of the Prophet David (peace be on him) who combined the roles of Messenger and king. A king is obviously a worldly person and yet David (peace be on him) was endowed with prophethood and was granted Scripture.

64. This clearly shows that not only prostrating oneself before someone other than God, but also that praying to and invoking anyone other than God amounts to associating others in His Divinity, i.e. to polytheism. Prayer and invocation are modes of worship and anyone who invokes someone other than God is as guilty of polytheism as an idol-worshipper. Nor can anyone other than God avert a calamity or alter anyone’s plight. If someone entertains such beliefs about anyone other than God, then such beliefs are false and betray the fact that he associates others with God in His Divinity.

65. The actual words used in the verse make it clear that the polytheists’ deities and objects of prayer were angels and saints of the past rather than idols made of stone. The Qur’an candidly states that no one — whether Messenger, saint or angel — has the power to hear and answer man’s prayers or to come to his help. How ironic that those whom the polytheists invoked and whom they sought to intercede with God on their behalf were themselves in need of God’s mercy, dreaded His punishment, and were constantly on the look-out for the means which would bring them close to Him.

66. No one is immortal. Every habitation will either perish in the course of time by the natural death of its inhabitants, or will be destroyed by God’s scourge. There is no basis whatsoever for the misconception that the towns and so on where people live will remain forever.

67. This refers to those tangible miracles which provided evidence in support of the Prophet’s claim to be designated by God. It may be recalled that the Quraysh unbelievers had repeatedly asked the Prophet (peace be on him) to _ produce such signs.

68. Once people witness such a miracle and still refuse to believe it, they inevitably invite God’s chastisement upon themselves. Such people are not spared from destruction. This is borne out by mankind's past record; for several nations witnessed clear miracles in the past and yet did not shrink from ‘decrying them as false. As a result, they were destroyed. If, in certain periods of history, God has not confronted a people with miracles, this was by dint of His mercy; it meant that He provided them with a respite such that they might mend their ways. Was it not then sheer folly for people to continuously ask God for miracles? For if they did not care to accept the truth even after witnessing miracles, then they were bound to meet the calamitous end of nations like the Thamud.

69. Miracles are never performed to entertain people. Their underlying purpose has always been to make people realize that the Prophets enjoyed the support of God’s infinite power. Additionally, they served to warn people of the dire consequences of disobeying Him.

70. Even in the early phase of Muhammad’s prophethood, when the Makkan unbelievers had set out on a course of opposition to him, God had declared, unequivocally, that He encompassed the unbelievers: Regardless of the extent of the unbelievers’ resistance, it would simply be impossible for them to prevent the Prophet’s call from spreading. The task assigned to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was bound to be accomplished, and in the teeth of their opposition. If the unbelievers truly needed a miracle in order -to mend their ways, they should reflect upon what they had already witnessed, i.e. that which-had been foretold in the very early days of Islam had already come to pass and that their opposition and hostility towards the Prophet (peace be on him) had proved to be of no avail in preventing the spread of Islam. Nor had they been able to bring about any harm upon the Prophet (peace be on him).

So for all those who had eyes to see, it was quite obvious that the Prophet’s mission enjoyed God’s support.

The statement that Allah encompassed the Prophet’s enemies and that his mission enjoyed God’s support is a recurrent theme in the Qur’an and occurs many times in the early Makkan surahs. For example, consider the following verse: ‘And yet the unbelievers persist in rejecting the truth. But Allah does encompass them from behind’ (al-Buruj 85: 19-20).

71. This is an allusion to the Ascension. The word ruya is not used here as a synonym of a dream, rather it signifies seeing something with one’s own eyes. Obviously, if the Ascension had been merely a dream and the Prophet (peace be on him) had narrated it to the unbelievers as such, then they would not have had any difficulty in believing in it. People experience all kinds of strange dreams and narrate them to others. There is nothing particularly unusual about dreams that would prompt people to deride the person narrating a strange experience, or lead them to accuse the person of making false claims, or to brand him as mad.

72. According to the Qur’an, zaqqum is the name of the tree that will grow in the depths of Hell and the inmates of Hell will be obliged to eat of it. To describe zaqqum as an accursed tree suggests its remoteness from God’s mercy. To put it differently, this tree does in no way manifest God’s mercy for it is not meant to provide sustenance for people. On the contrary, it is a sign of God’s wrath for the inmates of Hell. We are told (see al-Dukhan 44: 43-6) that whoever eats of this tree will experience an intense buming in their bellies as if they were boiling away.