الإسراء
The Night Journey
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
waqul jāa l-ḥaqu wazahaqa l-bāṭilu inna l-bāṭila kāna zahūqan
And say, "Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed is falsehood, [by nature], ever bound to depart."
wanunazzilu mina l-qur'āni mā huwa shifāon waraḥmatun lil'mu'minīna walā yazīdu l-ẓālimīna illā khasāran
And We send down of the Qur’ān that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss.
wa-idhā anʿamnā ʿalā l-insāni aʿraḍa wanaā bijānibihi wa-idhā massahu l-sharu kāna yaūsan
And when We bestow favor upon man [i.e., the disbeliever], he turns away and distances himself; and when evil touches him, he is ever despairing.
qul kullun yaʿmalu ʿalā shākilatihi farabbukum aʿlamu biman huwa ahdā sabīlan
Say, "Each works according to his manner, but your Lord is most knowing of who is best guided in way."
wayasalūnaka ʿani l-rūḥi quli l-rūḥu min amri rabbī wamā ūtītum mina l-ʿil'mi illā qalīlan
And they ask you, [O Muḥammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair [i.e., concern] of my Lord. And you [i.e., mankind] have not been given of knowledge except a little."
wala-in shi'nā lanadhhabanna bi-alladhī awḥaynā ilayka thumma lā tajidu laka bihi ʿalaynā wakīlan
And if We willed, We could surely do away with that which We revealed to you. Then you would not find for yourself concerning it an advocate against Us.
illā raḥmatan min rabbika inna faḍlahu kāna ʿalayka kabīran
Except [We have left it with you] as a mercy from your Lord. Indeed, His favor upon you has ever been great.
qul la-ini ij'tamaʿati l-insu wal-jinu ʿalā an yatū bimith'li hādhā l-qur'āni lā yatūna bimith'lihi walaw kāna baʿḍuhum libaʿḍin ẓahīran
Say, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."
walaqad ṣarrafnā lilnnāsi fī hādhā l-qur'āni min kulli mathalin fa-abā aktharu l-nāsi illā kufūran
And We have certainly diversified for the people in this Qur’ān from every [kind of] example, but most of the people refused except disbelief.
waqālū lan nu'mina laka ḥattā tafjura lanā mina l-arḍi yanbūʿan
And they say, "We will not believe you until you break open for us from the ground a spring
aw takūna laka jannatun min nakhīlin waʿinabin fatufajjira l-anhāra khilālahā tafjīran
Or [until] you have a garden of palm trees and grapes and make rivers gush forth within them in force [and abundance]
aw tus'qiṭa l-samāa kamā zaʿamta ʿalaynā kisafan aw tatiya bil-lahi wal-malāikati qabīlan
Or you make the heaven fall upon us in fragments as you have claimed or you bring Allāh and the angels before [us]
aw yakūna laka baytun min zukh'rufin aw tarqā fī l-samāi walan nu'mina liruqiyyika ḥattā tunazzila ʿalaynā kitāban naqra-uhu qul sub'ḥāna rabbī hal kuntu illā basharan rasūlan
Or you have a house of ornament [i.e., gold] or you ascend into the sky. And [even then], we will not believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book we may read." Say, "Exalted is my Lord! Was I ever but a human messenger?"
wamā manaʿa l-nāsa an yu'minū idh jāahumu l-hudā illā an qālū abaʿatha l-lahu basharan rasūlan
And what prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them except that they said, "Has Allāh sent a human messenger?"
qul law kāna fī l-arḍi malāikatun yamshūna muṭ'ma-innīna lanazzalnā ʿalayhim mina l-samāi malakan rasūlan
Say, "If there were upon the earth angels walking securely, We would have sent down to them from the heaven an angel [as a] messenger."
qul kafā bil-lahi shahīdan baynī wabaynakum innahu kāna biʿibādihi khabīran baṣīran
Say, "Sufficient is Allāh as Witness between me and you. Indeed He is ever, concerning His servants, Aware and Seeing."
waman yahdi l-lahu fahuwa l-muh'tadi waman yuḍ'lil falan tajida lahum awliyāa min dūnihi wanaḥshuruhum yawma l-qiyāmati ʿalā wujūhihim ʿum'yan wabuk'man waṣumman mawāhum jahannamu kullamā khabat zid'nāhum saʿīran
And whoever Allāh guides - he is the [rightly] guided; and whoever He sends astray - you will never find for them protectors besides Him, and We will gather them on the Day of Resurrection [fallen] on their faces - blind, dumb and deaf. Their refuge is Hell; every time it subsides, We increase [for] them blazing fire.
dhālika jazāuhum bi-annahum kafarū biāyātinā waqālū a-idhā kunnā ʿiẓāman warufātan a-innā lamabʿūthūna khalqan jadīdan
That is their recompense because they disbelieved in Our verses and said, "When we are bones and crumbled particles, will we [truly] be resurrected [in] a new creation?"
awalam yaraw anna l-laha alladhī khalaqa l-samāwāti wal-arḍa qādirun ʿalā an yakhluqa mith'lahum wajaʿala lahum ajalan lā rayba fīhi fa-abā l-ẓālimūna illā kufūran
Do they not see that Allāh, who created the heavens and earth, is [the one] Able to create the likes of them? And He has appointed for them a term, about which there is no doubt. But the wrongdoers refuse except disbelief.
qul law antum tamlikūna khazāina raḥmati rabbī idhan la-amsaktum khashyata l-infāqi wakāna l-insānu qatūran
Say [to them], "If you possessed the depositories of the mercy of my Lord, then you would withhold out of fear of spending." And ever has man been stingy.