A. J. Arberry - Sura 17: The Night Journey lyrics

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compa**ionate 17:1 Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque the precincts of which We have blessed, that We might show him some of Our signs. He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing. And We gave Moses the Book, and made it a guidance to the Children of Israel: 'Take not unto yourselves any guardian apart from Me.' The seed of those We bore with Noah; he was a thankful servant. And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: 'You shall do corruption in the earth twice, and you shall ascend exceeding high.' 17:5 So, when the promise of the first of these came to pa**, We sent against you servants of Ours, men of great might, and they went through the habitations, and it was a promise performed. Then We gave back to you the turn to prevail over them, and We succoured you with wealth and children, and We made you a greater host. 'If you do good, it is your own souls you do good to, and if you do evil it is to them likewise.' Then, when the promise of the second came to pa**, We sent against you Our servants to discountenance you, and to enter the Temple, as they entered it the first time, and to destroy utterly that which they ascended to. Perchance your Lord will have mercy upon you; but if you return, We shall return; and We have made Gehenna a prison for the unbelievers. Surely this Koran guides to the way that is straightest and gives good tidings to the believers 17:10 who do deeds of righteousness, that theirs shall be a great wage, and that those who do not believe in the world to come -- we have prepared for them a painful chastisement. Man prays for evil, as he prays for good; man is ever hasty. We have appointed the night and the day as two signs; then We have blotted out the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day to see, and that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the number of the years, and the reckoning; and everything We have distinguished very distinctly. And every man -- We have fastened to him his bird of omen upon his neck; and We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he shall find spread wide open. 17:15 'Read thy book! Thy soul suffices thee this day as a reckoner against thee.' Whosoever is guided, is only guided to his own gain, and whosoever goes astray, it is only to his own loss; no soul laden bears the load of another. We never chastise, until We send forth a Messenger. And when We desire to destroy a city, We command its men who live at ease, and they commit ungodliness therein, then the Word is realized against it, and We destroy it utterly. How many generations We have destroyed after Noah! Thy Lord suffices as one who is aware of and sees the sins of His servants. Whosoever desires this hasty world, We hasten for him therein what We will unto whomsoever We desire; then We appoint for him Gehenna wherein he shall roast, condemned and rejected. 17:20 And whosoever desires the world to come and strives after it as he should, being a believer -- those, their striving shall be thanked. Each We succour, these and those, from thy Lord's gift; and thy Lord's gift is not confined. Behold, how We prefer some of them over others! And surely the world to come is greater in ranks, greater in preferment. Set not up with God another god, or thou wilt sit condemned and forsaken. Thy Lord has decreed you shall not serve any but Him, and to be good to parents, whether one or both of them attains old age with thee; say not to them 'Fie' neither chide them, but speak unto them words respectful, 17:25 and lower to them the wing of humbleness out of mercy and say; 'My Lord, have mercy upon them, as they raised me up when I was little.' Your Lord knows very well what is in your hearts if you are righteous, for He is All-forgiving to those who are penitent. And give the kinsman his right, and the needy, and the traveller; and never squander; the squanderers are brothers of Satan, and Satan is unthankful to his Lord. 17:30 But if thou turnest from them, seeking mercy from thy Lord that thou hopest for, then speak unto them gentle words. And keep not thy hand chained to thy neck, nor outspread it widespread altogether, or thou wilt sit reproached and denuded. Surely thy Lord outspreads and straitens His provision unto whom He will; surely He is aware of and sees His servants. And slay not your children for fear of poverty; We will provide for you and them; surely the slaying of them is a grievous sin. And approach not fornication; surely it is an indecency, and evil as a way. 17:35 And slay not the soul God has forbidden, except by right. Whosoever is slain unjustly, We have appointed to his next-of-kin authority; but let him not exceed in slaying; he shall be helped. And do not approach the property of the orphan save in the fairest manner, until he is of age. And fulfil the covenant; surely the covenant shall be questioned of. And fill up the measure when you measure, and weigh with the straight balance; that is better and fairer in the issue. And pursue not that thou hast no knowledge of; the hearing, the sight, the heart -- all of those shall be questioned of. And walk not in the earth exultantly; certainly thou wilt never tear the earth open, nor attain the mountains in height. 17:40 All of that -- the wickedness of it is hateful in the sight of thy Lord has revealed to thee: That is of the wisdom thy Lord set not up with God another god, or thou wilt be cast into Gehenna, reproached and rejected. What, has your Lord favoured you with sons and taken to Himself from the angels females? Surely it is a monstrous thing you are saying! We have turned about in this Koran, that they may remember; and it increases them only in aversion. Say: 'If there had been other gods with Him, as they say, in that case a**uredly they would have sought a way unto the Lord of the Throne.' Glory be to Him! 45 High indeed be He exalted above that they say! The seven heavens and the earth, and whosoever in them is, extol Him; nothing is, that does not proclaim His praise, but you do not understand their extolling. Surely He is All-clement, All-forgiving. When thou recitest the Koran, We place between thee, and those who do not believe in the world to come, a curtain obstructing, and We lay veils upon their hearts lest they understand it, and in their ears heaviness. And when thou mentionest thy Lord only in the Koran, they turn in their traces in aversion. 17:50 We know very well how they listen when they listen to thee, and when they conspire, when the evildoers say, 'You are only following a man bewitched!' Behold, how they strike similitudes for thee, and go astray, and cannot find a way! They say, 'What, when we are bones and broken bits, shall we really be raised up again in a new creation?' Say: 'Let you be stones, or iron, or some creation yet more monstrous in your minds!' Then they will say, 'Who will bring us back?' Say: 'He who originated you the first time.' Then they will shake their heads at thee, and they will say, 'When will it be?' Say: 'It is possible that it may be nigh, on the day when He will call you, and you will answer praising Him, and you will think you have but tarried a little.' 17:55 And say to My servants, that they say words that are kindlier. For surely Satan provokes strife between them, and Satan is ever a manifest foe to man. Your Lord knows you very well; if He will, He will have mercy on you, or, if He will, He will chastise you. We sent thee not to be a guardian over them. And thy Lord knows very well all who are in the heavens and the earth; and We have preferred some Prophets over others; and We gave to David Psalms. Say: 'Call on those you a**erted apart from Him; they have no power to remove affliction from you, or to transfer it. Those they call upon are themselves seeking the means to come to their Lord, which of them shall be nearer; they hope for His mercy, and fear His chastisement. Surely thy Lord's chastisement is a thing to beware of. 17:60 No city is there, but We shall destroy it before the Day of Resurrection, or We shall chastise it with a terrible chastisement; that is in the Book inscribed. Naught prevented Us from sending the signs but that the ancients cried lies to them; and We brought Thamood the She-camel visible, but they did her wrong. And We do not send the signs, except to frighten. And when We said to thee, 'Surely thy Lord encompa**es men,' and We made the vision that We showed thee and the tree cursed in the Koran to be only a trial for men; and We frighten them, but it only increases them in great insolence. And when We said to the angels, 'Bow yourselves to Adam'; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he said,, 'Shall I bow myself unto one Thou hast created of clay?' He said, 'What thinkest Thou? This whom Thou hast honoured above me -- if Thou deferrest me to the Day of Resurrection I shall a**uredly master his seed, save a few.' 17:65 Said He, 'Depart! Those of them that follow thee -- surely Gehenna shall be your recompense, an ample recompense! And startle whomsoever of them thou canst with thy voice; and rally against them thy horsemen and thy foot, and share with them in their wealth and their children, and promise them!' But Satan promises them naught, except delusion. 'Surely over My servants thou shalt have no authority.' Thy Lord suffices as a guardian. Your Lord it is who drives for you the ships on the sea that you may seek His bounty; surely He is All-compa**ionate towards you. And when affliction visits you upon the sea, then there go astray those on whom you call except Him; and when He delivers you to land, you turn away; man is ever unthankful. 17:70 Do you feel secure that He will not cause the shore to swallow you up, or loose against you a squall of pebbles, then you will find no guardian for you? Or do you feel secure that He will not send you back into it a second time, and loose against you a hurricane of wind and drown you for your thanklessness, then you will find no prosecutor for you against Us? We have honoured the Children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, and provided them with good things, and preferred them greatly over many of those We created. On the day when We shall call all men with their record, and whoso is given his book in his right hand -- those shall read their book, and they shall not be wronged a single date-thread. And whosoever is blind in this world shall be blind in the world to come, and he shall be even further astray from the way. 17:75 Indeed they were near to seducing thee from that We revealed to thee, that thou mightest forge against Us another, and then they would surely have taken thee as a friend; and had We not confirmed thee, surely thou wert near to inclining unto them a very little; then would We have let thee taste the double of life and the double of d**h; and then thou wouldst have found none to help thee against Us. Indeed they were near to startling thee from the land, to expel thee from it, and then they would have tarried after thee only a little -- the won't of those We sent before thee of Our Messengers; thou wilt find no change to Our won't. 17:80 Perform the prayer at the sinking of the sun to the darkening of the night and the recital of dawn; surely the recital of dawn is witnessed. And as for the night, keep vigil a part of it, as a work of supererogation for thee; it may be that thy Lord will raise thee up to a laudable station. And say: 'My Lord, lead me in with a just ingoing, and lead me out with a just outgoing; grant me authority from Thee, to help me.' And say: 'The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away; surely falsehood is ever certain to vanish.' And We send down, of the Koran, that which is a healing and a mercy to the believers; and the unbelievers it increases not, except in loss. 17:85 And when We bless man, he turns away, and withdraws aside; but when evil visits him, he is in despair. Say: 'Every man works according to his own manner; but your Lord knows very well what man is best guided as to the way.' They will question thee concerning the Spirit. Say: 'The Spirit is of the bidding of my Lord. You have been given of knowledge nothing except a little.' If We willed, We could take away that We have revealed to thee, then thou wouldst find none thereover to guard thee against Us, excepting by some mercy of thy Lord; surly His favour to thee is great. 17:90 Say: 'If men and jinn banded together to produce the like of this Koran, they would never produce its like, not though they backed one another.' We have indeed turned about for men in this Koran every manner of similitude; yet most men refuse all but unbelief. They say, 'We will not believe thee till thou makest a spring to gush forth from the earth for us, 17:95 or till thou possessest a garden of plants and vines, and thou makest rivers to gush forth abundantly all amongst it, or till thou makest heaven to fall, as thou a**ertest, on us in fragments, or thou bringest God and the angels as a surety, or till thou possessest a house of gold ornament, or till thou goest up into heaven; and we will not believe thy going up till thou bringest down on us a book that we may read. Say: 'Glory be to my Lord. Am I aught but a mortal, a Messenger?' And naught prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, but that they said, 'Has God sent forth a mortal as Messenger?' Say: 'Had there been in the earth angels walking at peace, We would have sent down upon them out of heaven an angel as Messenger.' Say: 'God suffices as a witness between me and you; surely He is aware of and sees His servants.' Whomsoever God guides, he is rightly guided; and whom He leads astray -- thou wilt not find for them protectors, apart from Him. And We shall muster them on the Resurrection Day upon their faces, blind, dumb, deaf; their refuge shall be Gehenna, and whensoever it abates We shall increase for them the Blaze. 17:100 That is their recompense because they disbelieved in Our signs and said, 'What, when we are bones and broken bits, shall we really be raised up again in a new creation?' Have they not seen that God, who created the heavens and earth, is powerful to create the like of them? He has appointed for them a term, no doubt of it; yet the unbelievers refuse all but unbelief. Say: 'If you possessed the treasuries of my Lord's mercy, yet would you hold back for fear of expending; and man is ever n***ardly.' And We gave Moses nine signs, clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel when he came to them, and Pharaoh said to him, 'Moses, I think thou art bewitched.' 17:105 He said, 'Indeed thou knowest that none sent these down, except the Lord of the heavens and earth, as clear proofs; and, Pharaoh, I think thou art accursed.' He desired to startle them from the land; and We drowned him and those with him, all together. And We said to the Children of Israel after him, 'Dwell in the land; and when the promise of the world to come comes to pa**, We shall bring you a rabble.' With the truth We have sent it down, and with the truth it has come down; and We have sent thee not, except good tidings to bear, and warning; and a Koran We have divided, for thee to recite it to mankind at intervals, and We have sent it down successively. Say: 'Believe in it, or believe not; those who were given the knowledge before it when it is recited to them, fall down upon their faces prostrating, and say, "Glory be to our Lord! Our Lord's promise is performed." And they fall down upon their faces weeping; and it increases them in humility.' 17:110 Say: 'Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful; whichsoever you call upon, to Him belong the Names Most Beautiful.' And be thou not loud in thy prayer, nor hushed therein, but seek thou for a way between that. And say: 'Praise belongs to God, who has not taken to Him a son, and who has not any a**ociate in the Kingdom, nor any protector out of humbleness.' And magnify Him with repeated magnificats.