Surah 17: The Night Journey, The Children of Israel - Overview

Introduction

In the gradation of spiritual teaching (see Introduction to Surah 8), we saw that the first seven Surahs sketched the early spiritual history of man, and led up to the formation of the new Ummah of Islam. Surahs 8 to 16 formed another series dealing with the formation of the new Ummah and its consolidation, and God's dealing with man taken as an Ummah and considered in his social relations in organised communities (See Introduction to Surahs 8, 10, and 16). We now come to a new series (Surahs 17-29), which may be considered in three parts:

(1) Surahs 17-21 begin with an allusion to the Mi'raj (of which more later), and proceed to spiritual history as touching individuals rather than nations. The old prophets and stories of the past are now referred to from this point of view.

(2) Surahs 22-25 refer to Hajj (pilgrimage), worship and prayer, chastity, privacy, etc., as related to a man's individual spiritual growth. 

(3) Surahs 26-29 go back to the old prophets and stories of the past, as illustrating the growth of the individual soul in its reactions against the lives of the communities and the reactions of the communities to the lives of its great individual souls.

Let us now consider Surah 17 by itself. It opens with the mystic Vision of the Ascension of the Holy Prophet: he was transported from the Sacred Mosque (of Makkah) to the Farthest Mosque (of Jerusalem) in a night and shown some of the Signs of God. The majority of Commentators take this Night Journey literally, but allow that there were other occasions on which a spiritual Journey or Vision occurred. Even on the supposition of a miraculous bodily Journey, it is conceded that the body was almost transformed into spiritual fineness. 

The Hadith literature gives details of this Journey and its study helps to elucidate its meaning. The Holy Prophet was first transported to the seat of the earlier revelations in Jerusalem, and then taken through the seven heavens even to the Sublime Throne, and initiated into the spiritual mysteries of the human soul struggling in Space and Time. The Spaniard, Miguel Asin, Arabic Professor in the University of Madrid, has shown that this Mi'raj literature had a great influence on the Mediaeval literature of Europe, and especially on the great Italian poem, the Divine Comedy (or Drama) of Dante, which towers like a landmark in mediaeval European literature.

The reference to this great mystic story of the Mi'raj is a fitting prelude to the journey of the human soul in its spiritual growth in life. The first steps in such growth must be through moral conduct -- the reciprocal rights of parents and children, kindness to our fellow men, courage and firmness in the hour of danger, and sense of personal responsibility, and a sense of God's Presence through prayer and praise.

The Mi'raj is usually dated to 27th night of the month of Rajab (though other dates, e.g., 17th of Rabi' I, are also given) in the year before the Hijrah. This fixes the date of the opening verse of the Surah, though portions of the Surah may have been a little earlier.

Summary

1- The spiritual experiences of the Prophets of God are given in order that God's Signs may be made clear to men: man is misled into evil, and must be guided to a sense of personal responsibility. (17:1-22)

2- Our service to God is shown also in our human relations, goodness to parents and kinsmen and strangers in want, as well as kindness to children, purity in sex relations, justice and respect for human life, protection of orphans, probity in all dealings, and avoidance of arrogance. (17:23-40)

3- God's glory is above all comparison, and the reception of His revelation marks off the man of faith from those who do not believe. But the Believers should speak fair and avoid dissensions, for God doth encompass all men. (17:41-60)

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