The Night Journey

Exalted is He who carried His worshiper (Prophet Muhammad) to travel in the night from the Sacred Mosque to the Furthest Mosque which We have blessed around it so that We might show him some of Our signs. He is the Hearer, the Seer.

We gave Moses the Book and made it a guide for the Children of Israel. 'Take no guardian other than Me.

(You are) the descendants of those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah. He was a truly thankful worshiper'

And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: 'You shall corrupt the land twice, and you shall ascend exceedingly high'

And when the promise of the first came, We sent against you Our worshipers, those of great might, and they went through the habitations, and the promise was accomplished.

Then, We gave the turn back to you to prevail over them, and We helped you with wealth and children, and made you the greater host.

(We said): 'If you do good, it shall be for your own souls; but if you do evil it is likewise' And when the second promise came (We sent them against you), to sadden your faces and to enter the Mosque as they entered it the first time, they utterly destroyed whatever they came across.

Perhaps Allah will have mercy on you. But if you return, We will return. We have made Gehenna (Hell) a prison for the unbelievers.

This Koran guides to the straightest way. It gives glad tidings of a great wage to the believers who do good deeds,

and for those who do not believe in the Everlasting Life We have prepared for them a painful punishment.

Yet the human prays for evil as he prays for good mankind is always hasty.

We appointed the night and the day as two signs. Then, We blotted out the sign of the night and made the sign of the day to see, so that you seek the bounty of your Lord and that you know the number of years and the reckoning. And We have clearly distinguished everything.

And to every human? We have fastened to him his bird of deeds upon his neck; and on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring forth to him a book spread open wide.

'Read your book. Your self suffices you this Day as a reckoner against you'

Whosoever is guided is only guided for his own self, and whosoever goes astray it is only against it. No soul shall bear another's burden. Nor do We punish until we have sent a Messenger.

When We desire to annihilate a village, We command those who live in ease, but they commit evil therein, then the Word is realized against it and it is utterly annihilated.

How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! Your Lord suffices as One who is Aware of and sees the sins of His worshipers.

For whosoever desires this fleeting life We hasten for him whatever We will and to whom We want. Then, We have prepared Gehenna for him where he will be roasted, condemned and rejected.

Whosoever, being a believer, desires the Everlasting Life and strives for it as he should those their striving will be thanked.

We help these and those, a gift from your Lord; and your Lord's gift is not restricted.

See how We have preferred some above others. Yet the Everlasting Life is greater in rank and greater in preferment.

Do not set up with Allah another god, or you will sit condemned and forsaken.

Your Lord has ordered you to worship none except Him, and to be good to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age with you, do not say: "Fieon you", nor rebuke them, but speak to them with words of respect.

And lower to them the wing of humbleness out of mercy and say: 'My Lord, be merciful to them, as they raised me since I was little'

Your Lord knows very well what is in your hearts. If you are good, He is forgiving to those who are penitent.

Give to the near of kin, the needy and the destitute traveler their rights and do not squander,

for the wasteful are the brothers of satan; and satan is ungrateful to his Lord.

But if you turn away from them to seek the Mercy of your Lord, hoping to attain it, then speak to them with gentle words.

And do not keep your hand chained to your neck (when spending), nor open it completely, so that you will sit blamed and destitute.

Your Lord gives to whom He will His provisions both abundantly and sparingly. He is aware and sees His worshipers.

Do not kill your children because you fear poverty. We will provide for you and them. Killing them is a great sin.

Do not draw near to fornication, for it is an indecency, and its way is evil.

Do not kill the soul whom Allah has forbidden except by right. If he is slain unjustly, We have given his heir authority. But let him not exceed the limit in slaying, for he will be helped.

Do not draw near the wealth of the orphan except in the best manner, until he reaches maturity. And keep your promise. Surely, the promise will be questioned.

Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with even scales. That is better, and fairer in the end.

Do not follow what you do not know. The hearing, sight and heart about all these you shall be questioned.

Do not walk proudly in the earth. Indeed, you will never tear open the earth, nor attain the height of mountains.

The wickedness of all this is hateful with your Lord.

That is of the wisdom your Lord has revealed to you. Do not set up with Allah another god, or you will be cast into Gehenna, condemned and rejected.

What! Has your Lord favored you with sons and taken to Himself females from among the angels? Indeed, you utter a monstrous thing!

In this Koran We have clarified so that they may remember; but it has only increased their aversion.

Say: 'If there had been other gods with Him, as they say, they would surely have sought a way to the Lord of the Throne'

Exaltations be to Him! High indeed be He exalted above what they say!

The seven heavens, the earth, and whosoever in them, exalt Him. There is nothing that does not exalt with His praise, but you do not understand their exaltation. Surely, He is Clement, Forgiving.

When you recite the Koran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the Everlasting Life an obstructing barrier.

We lay veils upon their hearts and heaviness in their ears, lest they understand it. When you (Prophet Muhammad) mention your Lord alone in the Koran, they turn their backs in aversion.

When they listen to you, We know very well how they listen. When they conspire, when the evildoers declare: 'You are only following a man who is bewitched'

See what they compared you to. They have surely gone astray and cannot find a Path.

'What' they say. 'When we are (turned to) bones and broken bits, shall we be raised again in a new creation'

Say: 'Let you be stones or iron,

or any other creation yet more monstrous in your minds' They will ask: 'Who will restore us' Say: 'He who originated you at first' They will shake theirheads and ask: 'When will this be' Say: 'Maybe it is near,

on that Day, He will summon you, and you shall answer Him with praise and you shall think you have stayed but for a little'

Tell My worshipers, that they should say words that are the finest, satan would arouse discord among them; he is the clear enemy of mankind.

Your Lord knows you very well. He will have mercy on you if He will, or punish you if He will. We have not sent you to be their guardian.

Your Lord knows very well all who are in the heavens and the earth. We have preferred some Prophets above others, and to David We gave the Psalms.

Say: 'Call to those whom you assert, other than Him. They have neither the power to remove your affliction nor to transfer it'

Those, they call upon are themselves seeking a means to come to their Lord, competing with each other to be nearer; they hope for His Mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is the subject of caution.

There is no village except that it shall be destroyed or that We will punish it with a stern punishment before the Day of Resurrection. That is inscribed in theBook.

Nothing prevented Us from sending the signs but that the ancients belied them. To Thamood, We brought the shecamel as a visible (sign), yet they wronged her. We do not send signs except to frighten.

When We said to you: 'Indeed, your Lord encompasses all people' We did not make the vision which We showed to you, and the tree cursed in the Koran except to be a trial for people, and We frighten them, but it only increases them in great insolence.

When We said to the angels: 'Prostrate yourselves before Adam' they all prostrated themselves, except iblis (father of the jinn), who said: 'Shall I prostrate to him whom You have created from clay?

What do You think' he said: 'This whom You have honored above me, if You defer me until the Day of Resurrection, I will root out all but a few of his seed (by misleading them)'

'Begone' said He. 'Indeed, Gehenna is your recompense, and the reward of those who follow you, an ample recompense.

Rouse with your voice whoever you are able from among them. Rally against them your cavalry and those on foot. Share their wealth and children with them, and promise them' But satan promises them nothing except delusion.

'Over My worshipers you shall have no authority' Your Lord is their Sufficing Guardian.

It is your Lord who drives your ships at sea so that you may seek His bounty. He is indeed the Most Merciful towards you.

When misfortune befalls you at sea, all except He of those to whom you supplicate forsake you; yet when He delivers you safely to the land, you turn away. The human is unthankful.

Do you feel secure that He will not cause the shore to swallow you, or let loose a squall of pebbles upon you? Then you shall find no guardian for yourself.

Or, do you feel secure that He will not send you back into it a second time, and send against you a violent tempest and drown you because of disbelief? Then you shall find no prosecutor (to help) you against Us.

We have honored the children of Adam and carried them on both land and sea. We have provided them with good things and greatly preferred them above much of Our creation.

On the Day when We call all the people with their record, whosoever is given his book in his right hand shall read their book, and they shall not be wronged by as much as a single datefiber.

But he who is blind in this life, shall be blind in the Everlasting Life and will be further astray from the Path.

Indeed, they were near to seducing you from that We revealed to you, so that you might forge against Us another, and then they would surely have taken you as a friend;

and if We had not fortified you, you would have been very slightly inclining towards them;

then We would have let you taste the double of life and death; and you would have found none to help you against Us.

They very nearly provoked you to drive you out of the land, but they would have only lingered for a little while after you.

Such was Our way with those whom We sent before you. You shall find no change in Our way.

Establish the prayer at the decline of the sun till the darkening of the night and the Koran recital at dawn. Surely, the Koran recital at dawn is witnessed.

As for the night there is a voluntary deed for you to keep vigil in part it. Perhaps your Lord will raise you to a praiseworthy station.

Say: 'Lord, grant me an entrance of sincerity and an exit of sincerity, and give me from Yours a victorious power'

Say: 'Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Indeed, falsehood will certainly vanish'

We sent down of the Koran that which is a healing and a mercy to believers, but to the harmdoers it does not increase them, except in loss.

Yet when We bestow favors upon mankind he turns his back and withdraws to one side. But when evil befalls him, he despairs.

Say: 'Each human works in his own manner. But your Lord knows very well who is best guided on the way'

They question you about the spirit. Say: 'The spirit is from the command of my Lord. Except for a little knowledge you have been given nothing'

If We pleased We could take away that which We have revealed to you then you should find none to guard you against Us,

except for Mercy from your Lord; for His favor to you is great indeed.

Say: 'If mankind and jinn combined together to produce the like of this Koran, they would never be able to produce one like it, not even if they were to help one another'

Indeed, We have set forth for mankind in this Koran every kind of parable, yet most people refuse all except disbelief.

They say: 'We will not believe in you until you make a spring gush from the earth for us,

or, until you own a garden of palms and vines and cause rivers to gush forth with abundant water in them;

or, until you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have claimed, or, as a surety bring Allah with the angels in front;

or, until you possess an ornate house of gold, or ascend into the heavens; and we will not believe in your ascension until you have brought down for us a book which we can read' Say: 'Exaltations to my Lord! Am I anything except a human Messenger'

Nothing prevented people from believing when guidance came to them but (the excuse): 'Has Allah sent a human as a Messenger'

Say: 'Had there been angels walking at peace in the earth, We would have sent down an angel from heaven to them as a Messenger'

Say: 'Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you. He knows and observes His worshipers'

Those whom Allah guides are rightly guided; but for those whom He leads astray you shall find no guardian, other than Him. On the Day of Resurrection We shall gather all of them upon their faces, blind, dumb, deaf. Gehenna shall be their refuge, whenever it dwindles, We will increase the Blaze for them.

That will be their recompense because they disbelieved Our verses and said: 'When we are turned to bones and broken bits, shall we really be raised up once more as a new creation'

Have they not seen that Allah, who has created the heavens and the earth, has power to create their like? There is no doubt that He has appointed for them aterm, yet the unbelievers refuse all but disbelief.

Say: 'If you possessed the treasuries of my Lord's Mercy, you would hold them back for fear of spending and mankind is ever grudging!

To Moses We gave nine clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel about how he came to them. When Pharaoh said to him: 'Moses, I think you are bewitched.'

'You know' he replied, 'that none except the Lord of the heavens and the earth has sent down these as clear proofs. Pharaoh, I believe you are destroyed.'

Pharaoh sought to provoke them so that they would leave the land, but We drowned him, together with all who were with him.

And thereafter We said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell in the land. When the promise of the Everlasting Life comes We shall bring you all together'

We have sent it down with the truth, and with the truth it has come down. We have not sent you except a bearer of glad tidings and a warner,

and We have divided the Koran for you to recite at intervals to mankind and We have sent it down successively.

Say: 'Believe in it, or do not believe. When it is recited to those to whom knowledge was given before they fall prostrate upon their faces

and say, "Exaltations be to our Lord! The promise of our Lord is done.'

They fall down upon their chin, weeping and it increases them in humility.

Say: 'Call upon Allah, or call upon the Merciful; whichever (Name) you call upon, to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names' Pray neither loudly nor to quietly, rather, seek a middle course between them.

Say: 'Praise be to Allah who has not taken a son; who has no associate in the Kingdom; nor out of humility any guardian' And exalt Him repeatedly with exaltations.