(Revealed before Hijrah)
This Chapter is known as Bani Isra’il because it deals with some important incidents in the history of the Israelites and with the experiences through which they had to pass. It also bears the title of Isra’ because it opens with the Holy Prophet’s great Vision about his spiritual Night Journey to Jerusalem which forms one of the most outstanding topics of this Chapter. According to Ibn Mas‘ud, one of the earliest Companions of the Holy Prophet, the revelation of this Surah was completed between the 4th and 11th year of the Call. Christian writers assign this period between the 6th and the 12th year. Towards the end of the previous Surah Muslims were warned that very soon they would meet with opposition from 'the People of the Book' as severe as they had already experienced at the hands of Meccan idolaters, but that they should bear it with patience and fortitude till God should give them victory over their opponents. In the present Surah their attention is drawn to the fact that this opposition will start at Medina and will end in the total defeat and discomfiture of 'the People of the Book'; their sacred places falling into the hands of Muslims.
The Surah, as its title shows, deals with the history of the Jewish people, with a pointed reference to two outstanding occasions when they openly disobeyed and defied the two great Prophets of God—David and Jesus. As a result of this defiance they suffered the destruction of their national life, first at the hands of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar and then at those of the Roman Emperor Titus. This special reference to the twofold destruction of Jews implied a warning to Muslims that their wrongdoings and transgressions would also result in the double eclipse of their national life. The warning, however, was also accompanied with a word of hope and good cheer for them. It was to this effect that since the Holy Prophet was the last Law-giving Prophet, his Dispensation would not, like the Jewish Dispensation, suffer total extinction but after initial reverses would emerge triumphant with increased lustre and effulgence. Besides, some other subjects to which only an implied reference was made in the preceding Surah have also been dealt with at some length. The Surah opens with the subject of Isra’ (Spiritual Night Journey of the Holy Prophet) in order to show that as the successor and counterpart of Moses, his followers will conquer the lands which were promised to Moses, and that like Moses he will have to leave his native place. But his Emigration will lead to very rapid progress and advancement of his noble cause. Then it is briefly stated that the people of Moses acquired great power and prestige through their Prophet, though subsequently they came to grief by defying and ignoring Divine warning. But the Qur’an, being a much more complete code of Laws, is capable of bringing about a greater and a completer change in the lives of its followers than was the Book of Moses. This brief reference to the rise and decline of Jews is attended with a warning to Muslims that God would bestow upon them His favours and like the Jews they would also rise to great heights of material greatness and glory, but that after they had acquired wealth, power and influence, they should not forget God. Then some rules of conduct are mentioned by acting upon which a people could rise to a very high spiritual stature. But, instead of benefiting by these rules, disbelievers arrogantly turn away from them and give no thought to the dreadful end to which their conceit and pride are likely to lead them. They are warned that rejection of truth never produces wholesome results and that they will be visited with severe Divine punishment, particularly in the Latter Days, when the world will witness a fight to the finish between the forces of Light and Darkness and finally the forces of Satan shall be completely routed. The Surah then administers a severe rebuke to disbelievers that they seek to annihilate the Holy Prophet, but God has decreed a great and noble purpose for him and a mighty destiny awaits him. His name shall be known unto the remotest corners of the earth and shall be honoured to the end of time. The world shall recognize him as humanity’s greatest Guide and Leader and the Qur’an as a storehouse of limitless spiritual knowledge. The Surah closes with a brief description of the signs of the Latter Days and of the evils which will then prevail in the world and declares that it is prayer and true connection with God that can save man from sin.