17.Surah Al Isra

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version

إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا...   

17: 7.     If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves;

if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves;

C2177. This is a parenthetical sentence. If anyone follows Allah's Law, the benefit goes to himself: he does not bestow a favour on anyone else.

Similarly evil brings its own recompense on the doer of evil.

...فَإِذَا جَاء وَعْدُ الآخِرَةِ لِيَسُوؤُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ ...

so when the second of the warnings came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to disfigure your faces,

C2178. The second doom was due to the rejection of the Message of Jesus.

"To disfigure your faces" means to destroy any credit or power you may have got:

the face shows the personality of the man.

... وَلِيَدْخُلُواْ الْمَسْجِدَ...

and to enter your Temple

C2179. Titus's destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was complete. He was a son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, and at the date of the destruction of Jerusalem, had the title of Caesar as heir to throne.

He ruled as Roman Emperor from 79 to 81 A.C.

...كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَلِيُتَبِّرُواْ مَا عَلَوْاْ تَتْبِيرًا ﴿٧﴾

as they had entered it before,

and to visit with destruction all that fell into their power.

C2180. Merivale in his Romans Under the Empire gives a graphic account of the siege and final destruction (ed. 1890, 7:221-255).

The population of Jerusalem was then 200,000. According to the Latin historian Tacitus it was as much as 600,000.

There was a famine and there were massacres. There was much fanaticism. The judgment of Merivale is:

"They" (the Jews) "were judicially abandoned to their own passions and the punishment which naturally awaited them". (7:221).

عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَن يَرْحَمَكُمْ...   

17: 8.     It may be that your Lord may (yet) show Mercy unto you;

C2181. Now we come to the time of our holy Prophet.

In spite of all the past, the Jews could still have obtained Allah's forgiveness if they had not obstinately rejected the greatest of the Prophets also.

If they were to continue in their sins, Allah's punishment would also continue to visit them.

...وَإِنْ عُدتُّمْ عُدْنَا...

but if ye revert (to your sins), We shall revert (to Our punishments):

...وَجَعَلْنَا جَهَنَّمَ لِلْكَافِرِينَ حَصِيرًا ﴿٨﴾

and We have made Hell a prison for those who reject (all Faith).

C2182. There is such a thing as disgrace in this life, but the final disgrace is in the Hereafter, and that will be irretrievable.

Notice that the allegorical reference to Jewish history, when brought into relation with the true meaning of Mi’raj, refers to the constant struggle of the individual soul against evil. It has its setbacks and its punishments. But if it is true to itself and is true to the Faith in Allah, Allah will give it strength and make it successful in its fight against evil. For Allah's Mercy is unbounded and comes to suffering humanity again and again. (R).

Others version:

17: 7

Pickthall (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.

Yuksel If you do good, then it will be good for you, and if you do bad, then so be it. But when the promise of the second time comes, they will make your faces filled with sorrow and they will enter the Temple as they did the first time, and they will strike down all that was raised up.

Transliteration In ahsantum ahsantum li anfusikum, wa in asa'tum falaha_, fa iza_ ja_'a wa'dul a_khirati liyasu_'u wuju_hakum wa liyadkhulul masjida kama_ dakhalu_hu awwala marratiw wa liyutabbiru_ ma_ 'alau tatbira_(n).

17: 8

Pickthall 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.

Yuksel 17:8 Perhaps your Lord will have mercy on you, and if you revert then so will We. We made hell a prison for the ingrates.

Transliteration 'Asa_ rabbukum ay yarhamakum, wa in 'uttum 'udna_, wa ja'alna_ jahannama lil ka_firin