Surah Al Isra (17) Summary

• Allah SWT took prophet Muhammed SAW in night journey from Makka to Masjid Al Aqsa (Isra) to show the His signs. (1)
• Allah SWT gave scriptures to Moses for guidance of Children of Israel. (2)
• Noah AS was grateful servant of Allah SWT so should be the descendants of Noah. (3)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 1 to 3
• Scripture had predictions of two incidents when Children of Israel will reach to great haughtiness (attitude of superiority and contempt for people, extremely arrogant). (4)
• Punishment of Bani Israel after the first corruption. (5)
  — Rise of Jews after killing of Jaloot (Goliath) by Daud AS under Taloot and later after Suleman AS their sins, disobedience reached to extreme. Nebuchadnezzar (Bakhtenazar), the King of Babylon (Iraq) ransacked Baytul-maqdis (600BC). He conquered the city, looted property and took back a lot of people as prisoners of war. When he left, he had a member of the family of the former king appointed a ruler of the city as his deputy. a ruler of the city as his deputy. When this new king, who worshipped idols and was corrupt, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar he returned, killed people, destroyed property en masse and burned the city razing it to rubbles.)
• After repent of Bani Israel Allah SWT gave them kingdom back, gave them wealth and increased them in numbers. (6)
  – (the King of Iran attacked the King of Babylon and conquered it. Then the King of Iran showed mercy to the Jewish expatriates and ordered that they should be sent back to Syria along with things looted from them.)
• Return of good will be good and evil of evil. Second punishment to Bani Israel as promised. (7)
  – Bani Israel Killed Zakaria AS and tried to crucify Isa AS and after that Second punishment came through Titus the Roman king who destroyed the city and the Masjid once again (70 AD).
• – Urdu Tafseer – 4 to 7
• Allah SWT will mercy in case of repentance and obedience and same punishment for the same evil deed. Hell will be the prison for disbelievers. (8)
• Quran guides towards straight path and gives glad tidings to believers who do righteous deeds and who do not believe in Hereafter will have painful punishment. (9, 10)
• Man is hasty and man would, on occasions, pray for something in a haste, something that spells out destruction for him. (11)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 8 to 11
• Allah SWT made night and day two signs. Count of years and time can be measured and we may seek bounties in day. (12)
• Person deed good or bad stays with the person and on the Day of Judgment these will be shown and It will be said, “Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as accountant.” (13, 14)
• Whoever is guided and follows the truth, will gain the good consequences for himself and whoever goes astray, he is wronging himself. No one will have to bear the sins of another, Allah SWT does not punish anyone until He has established proof against him by sending a Messenger to him, (15)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 12 to 15
• One of the principal of how the punishment of Allah SWT comes, when the affluent and rich of the society disobey and becomes the reason to spread evil and ultimately justifies the reason to destroy them as punishment. (16)
• Warning the disbelievers of the Quraysh for rejecting His Messenger Muhammad, Allah says that He destroyed other nations who sin and rejected the Messengers after Nuh. (17)
• Everyone who desires this world and its luxuries gets, Allah SWT will make it easy for them and give only what Allah SWT intend and in hereafter they will be in fire of Hell. But Allah SWT appreciates the effort of the believer who desires the Hereafter and makes effort for it. Allah SWT punishment and rewards are not restricted for the both the groups. (18, 19, 20)
• Just like this world there are differences that some are rich and some are poor, and others are in between; differences between them in the Hereafter will be greater than the differences between them in this world. Some of them will be in varying levels of Hell, while others will be in the lofty degrees of Paradise. (21)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 16 to 20
• Don’t Associate partners with Allah SWT so you are not left alone in reprove, forsaken (in the hell fire). (22)
• Allah SWT decreed that He must be worshipped without any association and be good to your parents and when both or any of them reaches to old age, don’t say to them “uff” and do not repel/disrespect them but speak to them in honored/noble word. And lower your shoulders in humility with mercy and say “Oh Allah, have mercy upon them as they brought me up when I was small”. Allah SWT knows the intentions and He is forgiving. (23, 24, 25)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 21 to 25
• And give the relative, poor and the traveler their rights, and don’t be extravagant and wasteful are brothers of the devils, just as he was ungrateful to Allah. (26, 27)
• And if you are not able to help the needy then speak to them a gentle word. (28)
• Allah SWT enjoins moderation in living. He condemns miserliness and forbids extravagance. (29)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 26 to 29
• Allah is the One Who provides or withholds, the Bestower Who is running the affairs of His creation as He wills. (30)
• Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. Allah SWT is the provided for them and for you. Indeed, killing is great sin and killing children is greater sin. (31)
• Allah SWT commands to avoid Zina (Unlawful Sex) and everything that leads to it. It is immoral and evil. (32)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 30 to 32
• Killing any human being has been forbidden unless for the right reason. In case somebody killed unjustly than their heir has the authority to take blood money or let killer be killed. Limits shouldn’t be exceeded by torturing, mutilating the killer. (33)
• Orphan’s property should be handled in best, honest way until he is mature and promises should be fulfilled as everybody will be questioned about the covenants. Give full measures with even balance that is best in here and gives best results in hereafter. (34, 35)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 33 to 35
• Allah forbids being false witness, accuse and speak without knowledge and only based on suspicion, which is mere imagination and illusions. Person will be questioned about the hearing, sight and the heart the person. (36)
• Walking boastfully and exultantly on earth are not allowed in a way that you will tear the earth apart and be high like mountains as you will be not able to that. All are these bad aspects and detested in the sight of Allah SWT. (37, 38)
• Reaffirming that these commandments are from Allah SWT the Wise and addressing to Ummah through Prophet Muahmmed SAW to not to equal partners with Allah SWT otherwise you will be banished in Hell. (39)
• Associating partners with Allah SWT by saying that He has taken Angels as His daughters is grave sin. Though you don’t like daughters for yourself(40)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 36 to 40
• Quran explains things in different ways, by exhortation, by admonition, by arguments, and by proofs. People who disbelieve they get nothing but an increase in their dislike. (41)
• If there were other deities as disbelievers say, they would have competed with Allah. Allah SWT is above what they say. Seven heavens and earth glorify Him. All the existing things of the universe are obedient and submissive to Allah, each hymning His praise in its own peculiar way that we don’t understand. (42, 43, 44)
• There is an invisible barrier between people and guidance who don’t believe in Hereafter. Their hearts fail to understand the Quran and their ears refuse to hear. They are averse to anything which calls them to believe in One God. Because of their obstinacy (stubbornness), Allah has punished them, putting a cover over their hearts. (45, 46)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 41 to 46
• Pagans didn’t hear Quran with the intention of getting guidance but rather believed and alleged that Prophet Muhammed SAW was a man bewitched. They used to call him magician, a man under spell, a mad man, a soothsayer, because of this there is no way they could be guided aright. (47, 48)
• Reply to polytheist to Makka for their disbelief in resurrection. Days of Judgment is near, When Allah will call and all humans will be raised from dead glorifying Him and His praises or recognize Him. Then on that day, this life of the world will look like a brief stay. (49, 50, 51, 52)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 47 to 52
• Guidance to Servants of Allah SWT is to say that is best. Satan tries dissension as he is the enemy of mankind. (53)
• Allah SWT may punish or have mercy, He knows people. Prophet Muhammed SAW was not sent as warden over them. (54)
• Allah SWT is all knowing whoever is in heavens and earth. He gave some prophets excellence over others and He gave David the book of Psalms (Zabur). (55)
• Nobody beside Allah SWT can remove the adversities. Those whom people seek / invoke intermediary, who themselves hope for His mercy and fear of His punishment. Allah’s punishment must be feared. (56, 57)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 53 to 57
• It has been destined that Allah shall destroy the townships their inhabitants (disbelievers) before the day of judgment because of their disbelief. (58)
• It was mercy of Allah SWT to polytheist that he showed them miracle but didn’t provide miracles as per their idiotic demands sighting that like previous nations once they will be provided to miracle and if they still deny than their end is eminent. (59)
• Allah SWT controls and rules all of mankind absolutely. Prophet Journey to Isra wal meraj became trial for the people of weak faith and they turned apostate due to it. Zaqqun is the tree in hell and sinners will eat fruits from it. When disbelievers shown the signs because of their hatred in their hearts they oppose the truth more. (60)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 57 to 60
• When Allah SWT ask Angels to prostrate to Adam they prostrated themselves except Iblis and He gave the reason He will not prostrate because Adam was made of clay and because of that He was superior to Adam. (61)
• Iblis asked Allah SWT respite until the Day of Resurrection and promised to mislead the progeny of Adam AS. Allah SWT granted his wish and gave warning to mankind that whoever will follow Iblis, his recompense will be Hell. (62, 63)
• And befool them whom you can with the voice i.e. haram music and songs etc., and with your helpers and mixing haram in wealth and in children by committing adultery and promise them to live like worldly life is the only life there is no hereafter. But the promise of Satan is nothing but the delusion. (64)
• Fore sure Satan will have no authority on believing servant. Allah is sufficient for them to take care of their affairs. (65)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 61 to 65
• Allah’s mercy on mankind that He subdued the seas for them and they sail the seas, carrying goods and passengers from one place to another. (66)
• In adversity in sea you invoke nothing but Allah SWT but when He delivers to the land safely you turn away from Allah in ungrateful manner. Though they don’t understand that if Allah wills He can sink them in earth or they may hit by storm and then there will no helper or guardian for them. Allah may seize them next time when they are in sea and they will not find any avenger against Allah SWT. (67, 68, 69)
• Allah SWT honored mankind by providing them intelligence, advantageous appearance, form, and status. Mankind can invent, and, also distinguish between gainful and harmful. Allah SWT has provided lawful good food and preferred Mankind over much of what He has created. (70)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 66 to 70
• All mankind will be called forth with their record on the Day of Judgment. Whoever will have record in his right hand will read their records and there will not be any injustice. Whoever fails to see the truth in this life will be deprived of Allah’s blessings and grace in Hereafter. (71, 72)
• We learn from this verse that the Messengers of Allah are infallible. The pagans tried hard to make him incline towards them but they failed, because he was protected by Allah SWT. Double punishment to prophet shows punishment in proportion to rank. There is no helper against Allah SWT. (73, 74, 75)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 71 to 75
• The chiefs of Quresh made secret plan to drive the Messenger of Allah out of Makkah, but Allah SWT thwarted their plan. If they were successful in their plan then Allah would not have let them live for long but He would have doomed them to destruction. (76)
• That is the way of Allah SWT when their people forced, or tried to force them out of their land, He destroyed them. (77)
• Establish prayer at the decline of the sun from its meridian until the darkness of the night (Dhuar, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha) and also the Qur’an of dawn (Fajr). This is the time when angels are present those of the daytime and the nighttime. (78)
• Allah SWT ask prophet Muhammed SAW to pray an additional optional (nafil) prayer in part of night (tahajjud) to raise his rank. Maqam Mahmud the Praised station is the venue of the Great Intercession (ash-shafa’ut-ul-‘azma). (79)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 76 to 79
• And say, “My Lord, cause me to enter a sound entrance and to exit a sound exit and grant me from Yourself a supporting authority.” (80)
• And say, “Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed, falsehood is by nature, ever bound to depart.” (81)
• Allah SWT sent Qur’an that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss. (82)
• When Allah bestows favor to disbeliever, he forgets Him and becomes arrogant. When hardship touches he suffers despair. (83)
• Say, “Each works according to his manner, but your Lord is most knowing of who is best guided in way.” (84)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 80 to 84
• Humans cannot comprehend the nature of the Ruh (spirit) because their knowledge is little compared to that of Allah and Allah SWT didn’t reveal the full extent of its nature but that Ruh is a command of Allah. (85)
• If Allah SWT Wills He may withdraw the revelation (Quran) and you will none who can give you back the revelation. It is Mercy of Allah SWT that He didn’t withdraw it. (86, 87)
• Allah SWT challenges that “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.” (88)
• Allah SWT explains in Quran things in different ways by exhortation, by admonition, by arguments and by proofs but still many people choose to disbelief. (89)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 85 to 89
• Quraish of Makkah set forth demands as a condition to accept faith, some of these demands mentioned here. Spring to gush forth from the earth; Or have a garden of date palms and grapes and cause rivers to gush forth in its midst abundantly; or you cause heaven to fall upon us in pieces, bring Allah and the angels before us; or you have house of silver and pure gold; or you ascend up into the sky and bring down for us a book that we would read. Allah SWT asked Prophet Muhammed to reply that he is but a man sent us as a Messenger. (90, 91, 92, 93)
• People couldn’t believe that a human being can ever be a Messenger and that kept hem away from faith. (94)
• Allah SWT explained, He would have sent angels if earth was inhabited by angels but guide to humankind must be one of them. (95)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 90 to 95
• Allah SWT is witness that prophet Muhammed SAW has conveyed the Message of Allah SWT. (96)
• And whoever Allah 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 them in blazing fire. (97)
• 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?” (98)
• Do they not see that Allah, 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 [anything] except disbelief. (99)
• 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. (100)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 96 to 100
• Allah SWT gave Moses AS Nine miracles: Hand turning brilliantly white, the staff changing into a serpent, famine, lack of fruits, the flood, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood. These were the miracles which Fir’awn and his people saw. Moses were given other miracles also like twelve springs of water gushing forth from a rock as he struck it with his staff, the clouds shading his people from the sun, also manna and Salwa. But Pharaoh said to him that you are affected by magic. (101)
• Moses AS argued with Pharaoh that “You know that these signs have been sent down none but by the Lord of the heavens and the earth as evidence, and indeed I think, O Pharaoh, that you are destroyed. (102)
• Pharaoh intended to drive Moses and his people from the land, but Allah SWT drowned Fir’awn and those with him all together. (103)
• And Allah SWT said after Pharaoh to the Children of Israel, “Dwell in the land (Wandered in Syria and Egypt for Forty years before they entered in Palestine), and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter (near the Day of Resurrection or the descent of Isa AS) that Allah will gather all of you out of various nations.” (104)
• Quran is truth from Allah SWT and has reached to us intact without any alteration. Prophet Muhammed SAW is bringer of good tiding and a warner. (105)
• Quran has come in stages (We have made it depart from Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz to Bayt Al-`Izzah in the lowest heaven, then it was revealed in stages to the Messenger of Allah, according to events, over a period of twenty-three years. (106)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 101 to 106
• Do not worry about the pagans whether they believe or not but scholars who have already read the books revealed before the Quran and know the nature of revelation and the distinguishing marks of a Messenger of Allah; They fall prostrate as they hear the Quran being recited, thanking their Lord for helping them to recognize the last Messenger of Allah and believing in him as such. (107)
• They glorify Allah SWT and Quran increases them in their humbleness and fall upon their faces weeping. First prostration was of thanksgiving and second one that of submissiveness and joy. (108, 109) [Sajda/Prostration]
• Say, “Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever [name] you call – to Him belong the best names.” And do not recite [too] loudly in your prayer or [too] quietly but seek between that an [intermediate] way. (110)
• And say, “Praise to Allah, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in [His] dominion and has no [need of a] protector out of weakness; and glorify Him with [great] glorification.” (111)
• – Urdu Tafseer – 107 to 111

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