Conclusion from Al-Tabari’s interpretation | Episode (17-1) | Surah Al-Isra

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:05 A summary of the Tafsir of al-Tabari.

0:08 Abridged by Dr. Aqil ibn Salim al-Shammari.

0:14 Surah al-Isra’.

0:18 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:22 “Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.” (17:1)

0:29 To the Farthest Mosque.

0:32 “Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.” (17:1)

0:40 Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.

0:47 Exalting the One who took His servant by night.

0:50 And declaring Him free from the polytheists' claim that He has a partner.

0:56 He took His servant, Muhammad, peace be upon him, by night.

0:59 From the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque.

1:03 Which We have blessed in its surroundings for its inhabitants in their livelihoods and provisions.

1:09 So that We might show Our servant, Muhammad, some of Our signs and proofs.

1:14 “Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.” (17:1)

1:16 He is the All-Hearing of what these polytheists say.

1:20 The All-Seeing of the deeds they perform.

1:23 So that He may recompense them all according to what they deserve.

1:46 And We gave Moses the Torah.

1:49 And We made the Torah a clarification of the truth.

1:52 And a guide for them to the path of righteousness.

1:55 Saying: "Do not take any protector other than Me."

2:11 “(They were) the seed of those whom We carried (in the ship) along with Noah. Lo! he was a grateful slave.” (17:3)

2:14 Indeed, he was a servant grateful to Allah for His blessings.

2:18 And the descendants.

2:20 Everyone whom Allah, whose praise is exalted, has used this Qur’an as a proof against, from all types of nations.

2:26 Both Arabs and non-Arabs.

2:28 From the Children of Israel and others.

2:31 This is because everyone on earth from the children of Adam.

2:35 They are from the descendants of those whom Allah carried with Noah in the Ark.

2:51 “And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture: Ye verily will work corruption in the earth twice, and ye will become great tyrants.” (17:4)

2:54 And you will surely be exalted to a great height.

3:00 And We decreed for the Children of Israel.

3:04 In what He revealed of His Book to Moses, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

3:09 By informing them.

3:11 "You will surely disobey Allah, O assembly of the Children of Israel."

3:15 "And you will surely violate His command in His land twice."

3:19 "And you will surely act arrogantly toward Allah with extreme insolence."

3:25 “So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might who ravaged (your) country, and it was a threat performed.” (17:5)

3:30 “So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might who ravaged (your) country, and it was a threat performed.” (17:5)

3:37 Possessors of great military might.

3:40 So they searched through the homes.

3:44 And it was a promise fulfilled.

3:48 So when the first of the two promises came.

3:52 The two times in which you cause corruption on earth.

3:55 We directed against you and sent upon you servants of Ours.

3:59 Possessors of great violence in war.

4:02 So they roamed between the houses and dwellings.

4:05 Going back and forth.

4:07 And the roaming of the people whom We sent against them through their homes.

4:12 Was a promise from Allah that was inevitably fulfilled.

4:16 “Then we gave you once again your turn against them, and We aided you with wealth and children and made you more in soldiery.” (17:6)

4:21 And We reinforced you with wealth and children.

4:32 And made you more numerous in manpower.

4:36 Then We gave you the turn, O Children of Israel.

4:39 Over those people whom He, whose praise is exalted, described.

4:43 That He would send against them.

4:45 And that victory and turn was for you over them.

4:49 And We increased you in the wealth and children We gave you.

4:54 And We made you more numerous in fighting force than them.

4:58 “(Saying): If ye do good, ye do good for your own souls, and if ye do evil, it is for them (in like manner). So, when the time for the second (of the judgments) came (We roused against you others of Our slaves) to ravage you, and to enter the Temple even as they entered it the first time, and to lay waste all that they conquered with an utter wasting.” (17:7)

5:05 And if you do evil, it is against yourselves.

5:08 So when the promise of the latter comes.

5:13 To sadden your faces.

5:20 “(Saying): If ye do good, ye do good for your own souls, and if ye do evil, it is for them (in like manner). So, when the time for the second (of the judgments) came (We roused against you others of Our slaves) to ravage you, and to enter the Temple even as they entered it the first time, and to lay waste all that they conquered with an utter wasting.” (17:7)

5:31 And to destroy what they had conquered with total destruction.

5:35 If you do good, O Children of Israel.

5:39 And you obey Allah and rectify your affairs.

5:42 You do good and act as you have done for your own benefit.

5:47 Because you only benefit yourselves in this world and the Hereafter.

5:52 As for the world, Allah defends you and increases your wealth.

5:58 And adds strength to your strength.

6:01 And as for the Hereafter, He rewards you with His Paradise.

6:05 And if you disobey Allah, you do evil to yourselves.

6:10 Because you thereby incur the wrath of your Lord.

6:13 So He empowers your enemy against you in this world.

6:17 And He will make you abide eternally in the humiliating punishment in the Hereafter.

6:21 So when the promise of the second of your two corruptions on earth comes, O Children of Israel.

6:28 The arrival of that second promise will sadden your faces and make them ugly.

6:35 And your enemy, whom I send against you, will enter the Mosque of Jerusalem.

6:40 By force and conquest over you.

6:43 Just as they entered the first time when you committed the first corruption on earth.

6:49 And they will destroy whatever they conquered of your lands with total destruction.

6:54 “It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you, but if ye repeat (the crime) We shall repeat (the punishment), and We have appointed hell a dungeon for the disbelievers.” (17:8)

6:59 But if you return, We will return.

7:02 And We have made Hell a prison for the disbelievers.

7:08 Perhaps your Lord, O Children of Israel, will have mercy on you.

7:13 After His retribution upon you through the people He sends against you.

7:19 So He will rescue you from their hands and honor you after that.

7:24 And Allah did that for them, so their numbers increased and He raised their status.

7:30 And He made kings and prophets among them.

7:33 But if you return, O assembly of the Children of Israel, to disobeying Me and violating My command.

7:38 We will return against you with killing and captivity.

7:42 And We have made Hell a bed and a resting place for the disbelievers, from which they shall not depart.

7:48 “Lo! this Qur'an guideth unto that which is straightest, and giveth tidings unto the believers who do good works that theirs will be a great reward.” (17:9)

7:54 And gives good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds.

8:02 “Lo! this Qur'an guideth unto that which is straightest, and giveth tidings unto the believers who do good works that theirs will be a great reward.” (17:9)

8:07 Indeed, this Qur’an guides and directs those who are guided by it.

8:12 To the path that is more upright than any other path.

8:16 And it also gives good tidings to those who believe in Allah and His Messenger.

8:21 And act in their worldly life according to what Allah has commanded them.

8:25 That they will have a great reward.

8:28 “And that those who believe not in the Hereafter, for them We have prepared a painful doom.” (17:10)

8:38 And that those who do not believe in the Resurrection.

8:43 We have prepared for their arrival before their Lord on the Day of Resurrection a painful punishment.

8:49 “Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good; for man was ever hasty.” (17:11)

9:01 And man prays for evil for himself, his children, and his wealth.

9:07 Saying, "O Allah, destroy him and curse him."

9:11 In his distress and anger.

9:13 Just as he prays to his Lord to grant him well-being.

9:17 And provide him safety in his person, wealth, and children.

9:21 He says: If his prayer for evil against himself, his wealth, and his children were answered.

9:28 Just as his prayer for good is answered, he would perish.

9:32 And man is ever hasty.

9:35 This refers to man’s prayer for evil against his children and his wife.

9:40 He hastens to pray against them, yet he does not like for it to befall them.

9:45 And We have made the night and the day two signs.

9:51 “And We appoint the night and the day two portents. Then We make dark the portent of the night, and We make the portent of the day sight-giving, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and that ye may know the computation of the years, and the reckoning; and everything have We expounded with a clear expounding.” (17:12)

10:01 “And We appoint the night and the day two portents. Then We make dark the portent of the night, and We make the portent of the day sight-giving, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and that ye may know the computation of the years, and the reckoning; and everything have We expounded with a clear expounding.” (17:12)

10:09 “And We appoint the night and the day two portents. Then We make dark the portent of the night, and We make the portent of the day sight-giving, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and that ye may know the computation of the years, and the reckoning; and everything have We expounded with a clear expounding.” (17:12)

10:15 And among His blessings upon you, O people.

10:18 Is His differentiation between the sign of the night and the sign of the day.

10:23 By making darkness the sign of the night and light the sign of the day.

10:28 So that you may rest in the former and move about seeking Allah’s provision in the latter.

10:34 And so that you may know by their alternation the number of years.

10:38 Their end and their beginning.

10:41 And the calculation of the hours of the day and night and their times.

10:45 And everything We have explained with a clear explanation for you, O people.

10:52 So that you may thank Allah for what He has bestowed upon you and devote your worship to Him alone.

10:58 “And every man's augury have We fastened to his own neck, and We shall bring forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open.” (17:13)

11:06 “And every man's augury have We fastened to his own neck, and We shall bring forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open.” (17:13)

11:15 And every human among you, O assembly of the children of Adam.

11:19 We have fastened his fate, his misery, and his happiness.

11:24 According to what has preceded in Our knowledge that he will become.

11:28 And the good and evil he will perform, tied to his neck.

11:32 So he will not exceed in any of his deeds what We have decreed he will do.

11:38 And what We have written that he will become.

11:42 And We will bring forth for him when he meets Us.

11:45 A record that he will find spread open, containing the deeds he performed in the world.

11:50 And his fate which We have written for him.

11:53 And We have fastened it to his neck.

11:56 His Lord has recorded in it everything he did in the world.

12:01 “(And it will be said unto him): Read thy Book. Thy soul sufficeth as reckoner against thee this day.” (17:14)

12:09 "Read your record of deeds that you performed in the world."

12:14 "Sufficient is yourself today as an accountant against you, calculating your deeds."

12:19 So it counts them against you; We do not seek any witness against you other than it.

12:25 Whoever is guided, is only guided for his own soul.

12:30 And whoever goes astray, only goes astray against it.

12:36 And no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another.

12:41 “Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.” (17:15)

12:49 Whoever remains steadfast on the path of truth and follows it.

12:52 Does not benefit anyone but himself.

12:55 And whoever deviates from the intended path and takes a way without guidance.

13:00 Does not harm anyone by his misguidance but himself.

13:03 And no sinful soul shall bear the sin of another.

13:07 And We never destroyed a people except after.

13:10 Giving them excuses through the messengers and establishing the proof.

13:14 “And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation.” (17:16)

13:20 They lived in it, then they acted defiantly within it.

13:25 “And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation.” (17:16)

13:30 Destruction.

13:34 And when We intend to destroy a city, We command its people.

13:38 To obey, but they disobey and act defiantly.

13:41 So they violate the command of Allah therein.

13:44 Then the threat of Allah which He promised becomes due upon them.

13:47 Whoever disbelieves in Him, so We destroy it at that time with total destruction.

13:52 “How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! And Allah sufficeth as Knower and Beholder of the sins of His slaves.” (17:17)

13:58 “How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! And Allah sufficeth as Knower and Beholder of the sins of His slaves.” (17:17)

14:05 And We have destroyed, O people, before you.

14:09 From after Noah until your time.

14:12 Many generations.

14:14 They were, in their denial of Allah’s signs and disbelief in Him.

14:17 Like what you are upon.

14:20 And sufficient is Allah, O Muhammad.

14:22 As an All-Knowing of the sins of His creation.

14:24 Seeing all of that.

14:26 Nothing of it is hidden from Him.

14:53 Whoever desires the immediate worldly life.

14:55 And works and strives for it.

14:57 And does not believe in a Resurrection.

14:59 And does not hope for a reward.

15:01 Allah hastens for him in this world what He wills.

15:05 Of the expansion of worldly provision or its restriction.

15:08 Or destroying him with whatever He wills of His punishments.

15:12 Then We will make him burn in the Hereafter in Hell.

15:15 Blamed for his lack of gratitude to Us.

15:19 Banished and cast out into the Fire.

15:28 And whoever desires the Hereafter and seeks it.

15:32 And strives for it with the necessary striving, while being a believer.

15:35 In the reward of Allah.

15:37 Whoever does that, their work.

15:40 In obedience to Allah will be appreciated.

15:42 And Allah’s appreciation of them for that striving of theirs.

15:46 Is the goodness of His reward for their deeds.

15:49 And His gratitude.

15:51 And whoever desires the Hereafter and seeks it.

15:54 And strives for it with the necessary striving, while being a believer.

15:57 For them for their righteous deeds.

16:00 And His overlooking their evil deeds out of His mercy.

16:06 “Each do We supply, both these and those, from the bounty of thy Lord. And the bounty of thy Lord can never be walled up.” (17:20)

16:12 From the gift of your Lord.

16:16 “Each do We supply, both these and those, from the bounty of thy Lord. And the bounty of thy Lord can never be walled up.” (17:20)

16:23 Your Lord extends, O Muhammad.

16:25 Both groups.

16:27 Those who desire the immediate life and those who desire the Hereafter.

16:29 From His gift.

16:31 And the gift of your Lord, which He gives.

16:34 To whom He wills of His creation.

16:36 Is not withheld from those upon whom He has bestowed it.

16:39 No one of His creation is able.

16:41 To prevent Him from that.

16:44 “See how We prefer one of them above another, and verily the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in preferment.” (17:21)

16:49 And the Hereafter is greater in degrees.

16:53 And greater in distinction.

16:56 Look, O Muhammad.

16:58 With the eye of your heart at these two groups.

17:02 One of whom desires the immediate life.

17:05 And the other desires the Hereafter.

17:08 How We have favored one group over the other.

17:12 By granting this one insight into guidance.

17:15 And forsaking this other one.

17:17 So We led him astray from the path of truth.

17:20 And the group desiring the Hereafter is greater in the Hereafter in degrees.

17:25 Some above others.

17:27 Due to the difference in their stations in Paradise according to their deeds.

17:31 And greater in distinction by Allah favoring some of them over others.

17:37 Do not set up any other deity alongside Allah.

17:41 Lest you find yourself disgraced and forsaken.

17:47 Do not, O Muhammad, set up any partner alongside Allah.

17:50 In His divinity and in His worship.

17:53 For if you were to set up another deity alongside Him,

17:56 You would find yourself blamed for having neglected the gratitude due to Allah,

18:00 And forsaken, for your Lord would have abandoned you to those who wish you harm.

Conclusion from Al-Tabari’s interpretation | Episode (17-1) | Surah Al-Isra | Verses from (1) to (22)

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