Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
17. Sūrat al-Isrā’ 1
the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
1 Immaculate is He who
carried His servant on a journey by night
from the Sacred Mosque
to the Farthest Mosque
whose environs We have blessed,
that We might show him some of Our signs.
Indeed He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing.
2 We gave Moses the Book,
and made it a guide for the Children of Israel
— [saying,] ‘Do not take any trustee besides Me’ —
3 descendants of those whom We carried
[in the ark] with Noah.
Indeed he was a grateful servant.
4 We revealed to the Children of Israel
in the Book:
‘Twice you will cause corruption on the earth,
and you will perpetrate great tyranny.’
5 So when the first occasion of the two [prophecies] came,
We aroused against you
Our servants possessing great might,
1 The sūrah takes its name from the subject of verse 1, isrā’ (lit. ‘taking s.o. on a night journey’), relating to the celestial journey (mi‘rāj) of the Prophet (ṣ).
