In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Conclusion from Al-Tabari’s interpretation It was summarized by Dr. Aqeel bin Salem Al-Shammari Surah Al-Isra In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Say, “Be stones or iron.” Or a creation that grows in your chests They will say who will bring us back? Say: Who created you the first time? They will shake their heads at you and say, "It's a maze." Say it will be soon Say, O Muhammad, to those who deny the resurrection Be amazed by God's creation Stones or iron Or a creation that grows in your chests if you are able to do that As if you were death Or be the sky, the earth, and the mountains Or be whatever you want I revive you and resurrect you as a new creation after your fate as well As I started with you the first time They will say: Who will bring us back a new creation? So tell them Bring you back as you were Who created you from nothing the first time They will shake their heads at you, up and down, in denial and mockery And they say when is the resurrection? Tell them, O Muhammad, it may be soon The Day He will call you and you will respond with His praise and you will think That is the day your Lord will call you to come out of your graves So you will respond to God from your graves with His power and His supplication for you Praise be to God in every case When you die, you will think of the resurrection because of the horror of what you will witness therein You only stayed on earth for a short time And tell My servant to say that which is best Satan is swaying among them Satan is a clear enemy to man And say, O Muhammad, to my servants They say to each other that it is better than dialogue and address Satan makes it difficult for people to communicate with each other and causes corruption between them Satan was an enemy to Adam and his descendants He made clear to them his enmity by showing envy And he deceived him until he expelled him from Paradise Your Lord knows best about you If He wills, He will have mercy on you, or if He wills, He will have mercy on you And We have not sent you as a guardian over them And your Lord knows best who is in the heavens and the earth We have preferred some prophets over others And We gave David the Psalms And your Lord, O Muhammad, knows best who is in the heavens and the earth And what works for them He knows best who we work in creativity We will work, God willing And He knows best who is worthy of repentance and who is worthy of torment. Let this not become too difficult for you This is because of my action towards them, to give preference to some prophets over others. By sending some of them to some of the creation. And some of them to everyone, and to raise one another in degrees. And We gave David the Psalms Say, “Leave those whom you have claimed besides Him, for they will not have the power to avert harm from you or to protect you.” Those are those whom they call upon, seeking the way to their Lord as to which of them is nearest, and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is Forbidden Say, O Muhammad, to the polytheists of your people Pray, O people, whom you claimed to be gods instead of God, when harm befalls you So see if they can pay that for you Or transfer it from you to others Those whom these polytheists call lords Those who call upon their Lord seek closeness and companionship Because they are people of faith in Him Whoever has good deeds and diligence in worshiping Him is closer to him By their actions, they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment Indeed, the punishment of your Lord, O Muhammad, was one who feared And there is not a city but We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment That was hidden in the book There is not a single village except that We will destroy its people So they were completely annihilated before the Day of Resurrection Or they tortured her with a severe torment This was hidden in the preserved tablet Nothing prevented us from sending signs except that the ancients denied them And We brought Thamud the she-camel with sight, but they wronged her We do not send signs except in fear What prevented us, O Muhammad, from sending the signs that your people asked for? Unless those before them were among the lying nations, they asked that like their question When what they asked for came to them, they denied their Messenger We did not send signs to your people Because if We sent the signs, they would deny them In hastening their torment, We followed the path of nations before them The signs, O Muhammad, were asked by your people, Thamud So we gave her what she asked for We made that camel a shining example for all who see it It was their injustice This is because they killed her and mutilated her So their injustice was by stripping her and killing her We do not send lessons and reminders except to intimidate our servants And when we told you that your Lord surrounds people We did not make the vision that we showed you anything but a test for people Except as a trial for people and the cursed tree in the Qur’an We fear them, but it only increases their tyranny And remember, O Muhammad, when we told you that your Lord encompasses people with power They are in his grasp Do not fear anyone from them We did not make your vision that we showed you on the Night of the Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem Except a calamity for people Those who apostatized from Islam when they were told of the vision that the Prophet saw So they became more and more persistent in their wrongdoing We did not make the cursed tree in the Qur’an It is the Zaqqum tree Except as a temptation for people Their temptation was in the tree The saying of Abu Jahl and the polytheists with him Muhammad tells us that there is a growing tree in Hell And fire eats trees How do you grow in it? We frighten these polytheists with the punishments we threaten them with Their fear of us increases only by a great extent of their disbelief And when we said to the angels: They prostrated to Adam, so they prostrated except for Iblis So they prostrated, except for Iblis He said: Should I prostrate to Him whom I created from clay? And remember when we said to the angels: They prostrated to Adam, so they prostrated except for Iblis He was arrogant and said Do I prostrate to Him whom I created from clay? He said: Have you seen this person whom you honored? Because you delay me until the Day of Resurrection Because you delay me until the Day of Resurrection I will only be touched by his vow for a little while Satan said Did you see this person whom you honored? So she ordered me to prostrate to him Because I delay my destruction until the Day of Resurrection To seize them I will eradicate them and I will win them over He said: Go, whoever follows you Hell is your reward, a generous reward God said to Satan Go, I have delayed you Whoever follows you from the descendants of Adam, peace be upon him So he obeyed you Hell is your reward and their reward is an abundant and perfect reward And provoke whomever you can with your voice And bring upon them your horses and your foot He shared the money and children with them and promised them Satan promises them nothing but delusion Be dismissive and ignorant of anyone you can provoke with your voice And gather your soldiers and infantry against them Who brings her prayers to your obedience And turn away from my obedience Share the money with them By spending their money in disobedience to God And acquired without solving it The children shared with them It includes every child who disobeys God by calling him something that God hates Or by introducing him to a religion other than that which God has approved Or by adultery with his mother or by killing or infanticide Promise your companions from the descendants of Adam to help against those who wish them harm Satan promises them nothing but delusion Because it does not avail them of God’s punishment if He inflicts anything upon them My servants, you have no authority over them Your Lord is sufficient as a disposer of affairs My servants who obeyed me followed my command and disobeyed you, O Satan You have no argument against them O Muhammad, your Lord is sufficient to protect you So obey his command and convey his messages And do not fear anyone Your Lord is the one who launches the ships into the sea for you so that you may seek of His bounty. Indeed, He is Most Merciful to you Your Lord, O people He is the one who guides ships for you on the sea He will carry you therein so that you may seek His bounty So that you can ride on it to your places of trade God was merciful to you when he put the ship to sea for you To facilitate seeking His favor in remote countries And when harm befalls you at sea, whomever you call upon will go astray except Him When he rescued you to land, you turned away The person was ungrateful If hardship and effort get to you at sea You have lost those whom you call upon other than God, among equals And you did not find anyone but God to help you When he helped you and saved you You turned away from what your Lord called you to do, of removing your peers And singling him out as a divinity Unbelief on your part in His grace Man was ungrateful for the blessings of his Lord Are you safe from being swallowed up by the side of righteousness? Or he will send you a judge Then you will not find an agent for you Have you believed, O people, from your Lord? And you have denied His grace To cause you to be swallowed up by land Or rain stones from the sky that will kill you Then you will not find anything to defend you from his torment And what prevents you from doing so? Or do you believe that He will return you to it another time? Then He will send upon you a gust of wind And He will drown you because you disbelieved Then you will not find anything for you to sell to us Or have you believed, O people, from your Lord while you have disbelieved in Him? To return you to the sea another time Then He will send upon you a gust of wind She is bombarded by what she went through So you smash it and knock it over May God drown you with this harsh wind because of your disbelief in Him Then you will not find any follower against us who will follow us for what we have done to you There is no rebel who will take revenge on us by destroying you