Surah Al-'Isrā (The Night Journey) in English

1. عسى ربكم أن يرحمكم وإن عدتم عدنا وجعلنا جهنم للكافرين حصيرا

   8

   Maybe your Lord will have mercy on you, but if you revert, We [too] will revert, and We have made hell a prison for the faithless.

   ʿasā rabbukum ʾan yarḥamakum wa-ʾin ʿudtum ʿudnā wa-jaʿalnā jahannama li-l-kāfirīna ḥaṣīran

2. إن هذا القرآن يهدي للتي هي أقوم ويبشر المؤمنين الذين يعملون الصالحات أن لهم أجرا كبيرا

   9

   Indeed this Quran guides to what is most upright, and gives the good news to the faithful who do righteous deeds that there is a great reward for them.

   ʾinna hādhā l-qurʾāna yahdī li-llatī hiya ʾaqwamu wa-yubashshiru l-muʾminīna lladhīna yaʿmalūna ṣ-ṣāliḥāti ʾanna lahum ʾajran kabīran

3. وأن الذين لا يؤمنون بالآخرة أعتدنا لهم عذابا أليما

   10

   As for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, We have prepared a painful punishment for them.

   wa-ʾanna lladhīna lā yuʾminūna bi-l-ʾākhirati ʾaʿtadnā lahum ʿadhāban ʾalīman

4. ويدع الإنسان بالشر دعاءه بالخير وكان الإنسان عجولا

   11

   Man prays for ill as [avidly as] he prays for good, and man is overhasty.

   wa-yadʿu l-ʾinsānu bi-sh-sharri duʿāʾahū bi-l-khayri wa-kāna l-ʾinsānu ʿajūlan

5. وجعلنا الليل والنهار آيتين فمحونا آية الليل وجعلنا آية النهار مبصرة لتبتغوا فضلا من ربكم ولتعلموا عدد السنين والحساب وكل شيء فصلناه تفصيلا

   12

   We made the night and the day two signs. Then We faded out the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day lightsome, so that you may seek from your Lord’s bounty and that you may know the number of years and calculation [of time], and We have elaborated everything in detail.

   wa-jaʿalnā l-layla wa-n-nahāra ʾāyatayni fa-maḥawnā ʾāyata l-layli wa-jaʿalnā ʾāyata n-nahāri mubṣiratan li-tabtaghū faḍlan min rabbikum wa-li-taʿlamū ʿadada s-sinīna wa-l-ḥisāba wa-kulla shayʾin faṣṣalnāhu tafṣīlan

6. وكل إنسان ألزمناه طائره في عنقه ونخرج له يوم القيامة كتابا يلقاه منشورا

   13

   We have attached every person’s omen to his neck, and We shall bring it out for him on the Day of Resurrection as a book that he will find wide open.

   wa-kulla ʾinsānin ʾalzamnāhu ṭāʾirahū fī ʿunuqihī wa-nukhriju lahū yawma l-qiyāmati kitāban yalqāhu manshūran-i

7. اقرأ كتابك كفى بنفسك اليوم عليك حسيبا

   14

   ‘Read your book! Today your soul suffices as your own reckoner.’

   iqraʾ kitābaka kafā bi-nafsika l-yawma ʿalayka ḥasīban

8. من اهتدى فإنما يهتدي لنفسه ومن ضل فإنما يضل عليها ولا تزر وازرة وزر أخرى وما كنا معذبين حتى نبعث رسولا

   15

   Whoever is guided is guided only for [the good of] his own soul, and whoever goes astray, goes astray only to its detriment. No bearer shall bear another’s burden. We do not punish [any community] until We have sent [it] an apostle.

   mani htadā fa-ʾinnamā yahtadī li-nafsihī wa-man ḍalla fa-ʾinnamā yaḍillu ʿalayhā wa-lā taziru wāziratun wizra ʾukhrā wa-mā kunnā muʿadhdhibīna ḥattā nabʿatha rasūlan

9. وإذا أردنا أن نهلك قرية أمرنا مترفيها ففسقوا فيها فحق عليها القول فدمرناها تدميرا

   16

   And when We desire to destroy a town We command its affluent ones [to obey Allah]. But they commit transgression in it, and so the word becomes due against it, and We destroy it utterly.

   wa-ʾidhā ʾaradnā ʾan nuhlika qaryatan ʾamarnā mutrafīhā fa-fasaqū fīhā fa-ḥaqqa ʿalayhā l-qawlu fa-dammarnāhā tadmīran

10. وكم أهلكنا من القرون من بعد نوح وكفى بربك بذنوب عباده خبيرا بصيرا

    17

    How many generations We have destroyed since Noah! Your Lord is sufficient as [a witness who is] well aware and percipient of His servants’ sins.

    wa-kam ʾahlaknā mina l-qurūni min baʿdi nūḥin wa-kafā bi-rabbika bi-dhunūbi ʿibādihī khabīran baṣīran