{"collection":"Texts of Islam","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_sbe09_017_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_sbe09_017_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_isl_sbe09_017_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/sbe09/017.htm","summary":"This is an excerpt from Surah Al-Isra (Chapter 17) of the Qur'an, presented in E.H. Palmer's 1880 English translation as part of the Sacred Books of the East series \u2014 a Victorian scholarly effort to render non-Western religious texts into academic English. The passage opens with the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, then moves through a series of divine declarations addressed alternately to the Prophet, to humanity at large, and to the children of Israel, covering God's sovereignty, human accountability, and the inevitability of judgment. A dense ethical code is embedded mid-passage \u2014 prohibitions against killing children, fornication, and unjust homicide sit alongside commands to honor parents, give to the poor, keep fair weights and measures, and speak kindly \u2014 framed as wisdom God inspired in the Prophet. The surah takes a distinctively argumentative stance toward disbelievers, repeatedly dramatizing their skepticism about resurrection and responding with divine rebuttals, while also warning the Prophet against being seduced or expelled by opponents. A notable thread is the story of Iblis (Satan) refusing to bow to Adam and being granted a reprieve to tempt humanity until judgment \u2014 establishing the cosmic stakes behind human moral failure. The excerpt ends mid-sentence, but its overall thrust is that the Qur'an itself is a healing guidance for believers and a sealed path for those who reject it.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"The Qur'\u00e2n, ed. Palmer (SBE9): XVII. The Chapter of...","tradition":"Texts of Islam","translated_text":null,"word_count":3611}