This is a Meccan chapter of 111 verses.  It is named for the miraculous night journey, from Mecca to Jerusalem, which Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, undertook in the space of a single night.  This journey is mentioned in the first verse and again in verse 60.  Chapter 17 contains an articulate and easy to understand set of God’s commandments.  The bulk of the Night Journey deals with two things, the Quran and Prophet Muhammad and the nature of his prophecy.  The Children of Israel are also mentioned.

Verses 1- 8 A journey by night

Glory be to God.  He took Prophet Muhammad on a journey, over one night, from the sacred House in Mecca to the blessed area in Jerusalem surrounding the mosque.  This was in order to show him some signs.  God also gave Moses, who was a thankful servant, a book as a guide for the Children of Israel.  They are the descendants of Noah, and were warned not to take any Protector other than Him.

God warned the Children of Israel that twice they would become arrogant transgressors and that twice they would be punished.  After the promised punishment for the first transgression, God allowed them to prosper.  When the second transgression came, God allowed their enemies to destroy the temple as punishment.  God wants to be merciful but if the behaviour is repeated the punishment will be repeated, and Hell will become their prison in the Hereafter.

Verses 9 – 21 God sees everything

The Quran guides us on a straight path.  It leads those who do well to a magnificent reward and warns those who do not believe in the Hereafter of a painful punishment awaiting them.  Humankind prays fervently for things that will lead him to evil as easily as he prays for that which is good.  Humankind is impatient and acts without thinking things through. 

God made night and day as two signs.  The night is enshrouded in darkness and is followed by the light of day in order that humankind might seek his bounty; and to count the years in order to calculate time.  Every person is responsible for his own destiny and on the Day of Judgment he will be confronted by his book of deeds.  Read this record, he will be told, and know what your destiny will be.

Everyone who is guided does so for his own benefit but if he sins he harms nothing but himself.   No person bears the burden of another person and no one will be punished until a Messenger has come to show the true path.  If the corrupted persist in disobedience they will be utterly destroyed.  Many past generations have been destroyed because God sees everything.  Those who wish only for this worldly life, are granted their wish but in the end they will be condemned to Hell.  The person who strives for a good life in the Hereafter will be accepted.  Both parties receive their Lord’s bounties and some are given more than others, but the final reward is the one that counts.

Verses 22 – 40 Some commandments

Do not associate anything with God or you will be disgraced and forsaken.  God commands that you worship nothing but Him, and that you are kind to your parents.  As they grow older, do not be impatient or harsh rather be humble towards them and pray that God treats them mercifully as they treated you when you were young.  God knows exactly what is in your heart and He is most forgiving towards those who turn to Him in repentance. 

Give your relatives their rights but also spend on the needy and the travellers.  Do not be wasteful, squandering your money.  If you cannot assist needy people then at least be courteous to them.  Do not be miserly or extravagant, instead take a middle path.  God gives abundantly to some and sparingly to others, He knows and observes everyone.

Do not kill your children because you think you cannot provide for them, it is a great sin.  It is God who provides for them; they cannot cause poverty; that is the will of God.  Do not even come near to committing adultery; do not take a life, except within the laws of God.  If anyone is killed unjustly, God has granted a right of retribution but do not be vengeful and take things too far.  Do not deal with the property of orphans except with good intentions.

Honour your commitments because you will be questioned about them.  Conduct your business fairly, give full measure and do not balance your scales incorrectly.  Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge - use your heart, eyes and ears to confirm the things you hear.  Do not walk about the earth arrogantly.  A human being is just a small and weak creature; don’t act as if you are something more than that. 

The evil deeds mentioned above are hateful to God and He knows the wisdom in their prohibition.  Again, do not set up something other than God to be worshipped or you will be thrown into Hell.  Do not say that God has taken the angels as daughters.  That is a monstrous statement with grave consequences.

Verses 41 – 52 Explanations

The Quran explains things in many different ways but that makes some people turn even further away.  If there really was some other deity, why does it not dethrone the Master of the Throne?! He is exalted and far above what they say about Him.  Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him, but you do not understand how they glorify.

When you recite the Quran there is a barrier between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter.  They do not understand it and when God’s Oneness is mentioned they turn away.  God is aware of what they (the unbelievers of Mecca) want to hear (from Prophet Muhammad), and He knows that privately they call Prophet Muhammad a man bewitched.  They dispute that they will be raised up after they become bones and dust.  God says, even if they were stones and iron they would be bought back and tells Prophet Muhammad to say that.  When they ask who will do this, say, the One who created you in the first place, and when they ask when this will take place remind them that this might well be very soon.  On the Day you are raised up you will imagine that you had been dead for only a very short time.

Verses 53 – 60 God advises Prophet Muhammad

God directs Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.  Tell the believers to speak in the best way and remind them that Satan is their sworn enemy.  God knows everything about them and will be merciful or punish them according to His will.  Prophet Muhammad is not supposed to be in charge of everybody.  Some Prophets were given more than others.  Prophet David was given the book of Psalms.  The deities the unbelievers call upon have no power whatsoever to help or remove harm.  Have hope in His Mercy and fear His punishment, for it is terrible indeed.  There is no community of evildoers that will not be destroyed or severely punished before the Day of Resurrection.

God does not send signs for those who demand them because previously His signs were denied.  The people of Thamud were given the she-camel but they mistreated her.  God made the Night Journey and the accursed tree mentioned in the Quran as tests.  Humankind is warned but it does nothing except increase their transgressions. 

Verses 61 – 65 Adam & Iblees

Remember and mention the time when God told the angels to prostrate before Adam.  They all obeyed except Iblees.[1]  He was arrogant and asked why he should worship someone made from clay.  Iblees said that if God delayed his death until the Day of Resurrection he would lead most of the descendants of Adam astray.  God told him to go away because Hell would be the reward for him and any that follow him.  Iblees was told to do whatever he could to tempt and destroy humankind but to be aware that he would never have power over the true believers.

Verses 66 – 70 Humanity is ungrateful

It is God who allows humankind to sail ships across the ocean in order to seek their bounty.  And when adversity strikes, whatever they worship besides God disappears from their hearts and minds and they call only Him for help.  And when God brings them safely to land, they turn their backs on Him.  Humankind is ungrateful; what makes them so sure that they will not fall victim to natural disasters? Who do you think protects you? Humankind has been honoured and favoured above many of God’s creations.

Verses 71 – 84 The truth

On the Day of Resurrection, when every community is gathered with their leader, those who receive their book in their right hand will read it with pleasure.   Those who pretended to be blind to the Hereafter will be worse than blind in the Hereafter.   People tried to entice Prophet Muhammad to fabricate revelations but God strengthened his heart.  If he had inclined even a little towards them, he would have received a double punishment in this life and in the Hereafter.  It was that way with all the Messengers.  So establish the prayer from when the sun is at its zenith until the darkness of the night (four obligatory prayers fall during this time) and recite the Quran at the time of the Morning Prayer.  The recitation at the time of dawn is always witnessed by the angels.  Truth has come and falsehood has departed.   The Quran was sent as a healing and a mercy for the believers but the disbelievers gain nothing from it except loss.  Humankind can be strange; when God bestows favours upon him, he turns away instead of coming towards Him, and then when things go wrong he falls into despair.  Everyone does things in their own way but God knows who is following the best way.

Verses 85- 96 A man with a message

If people ask about the soul, Prophet Muhammad must say that is the concern of God and that we (humankind) have been given very little knowledge about it.  If God wanted He could take away that which has been revealed and then humankind would never be able to get it back.  The revelations are a mercy.  Even if all of humankind and the jinn came together they could not produce anything like the Quran no matter how much they helped each other.  The Quran is full of different examples to help people understand the message but still most people persist in their disbelief. 

Many say to Prophet Muhammad that they will not believe until he performs miracles to their demands such as making water rush from the ground or causing rivers to appear in gardens or making pieces of the sky fall down or bringing God and the angels down in front of them.  Even then, they say, we will not believe in your ascension[2] unless you bring down for us a book that we can read.  God says to tell them that you (Prophet Muhammad) have never claimed to be anything other than a human being with a message.

They didn’t believe because they queried why God would send a human being.   Thus they should be told that if there had been angels walking about on earth then an angel would have been sent.  God is witness to what we say to each other and He knows and understands everybody well. 

Verses 97 – 100 Resurrection

Anyone guided by God is truly guided but the ones He leads astray will never find a protector.  On the Day of Resurrection the disbelievers will be gathered together.  They will be lying on their faces blind, dumb and deaf.  Their home will be Hell and if ever the fire dies down it will be made to blaze fiercely again.  This is their reward for rejecting the revelations.  They would not believe that God could raise them again from dust and bones but of course the One who created them in the first place can do it a second time.  There is a written time for their lives to end yet the wrongdoers refuse to do anything about it except continue in their disbelief.  If humankind was in charge of God’s mercy he would withhold it because human beings have always been stingy.

Verses 100 – 111 Truth in the form of the Quran

Prophet Moses was sent nine clear signs but Pharaoh believed it was magic.   When Moses told him he was doomed, Pharaoh intended to drive him and the Israelites off the face of the earth.  God drowned Pharaoh and those with him.  The Children of Israel were told to settle down and when the appointment of the Hereafter comes they will all be resurrected in one gathering.

The truth has been sent down in the form of the Quran.   Prophet Muhammad was sent only as a bearer of good news that comes with a warning.  The Quran has been sent down little by little and the righteous people who were given knowledge before the Quran recognise the truth of it and weep falling down in prostration.  Tell them to call on God by his best names.   Do not speak too loudly nor too softly, but seek a middle way.  Praise God, the One with no son or partner.  He has no need of protection, so glorify Him greatly.