||-The Neighbourhood Whereof We Have BLESSED.... -||

Dengan nama Allah yg Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Mengasihani.

"The Neighborhood Whereof We Have Blessed-The Farthest Mosque( in Jerusalem)"

"And We made the people who were considered weak to inherit the eastern parts of the land & the western parts there of which We have blessed. And the fair Word of yours Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel , because of their endurance.And We destroyed completely all the great works & buildings which Fir'aun(Pharaoh) & his people erected."

( Qu'ran 7:137)

"Glorified (and Exalted) is He(Allah) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] (tafsir qurtubi) Who took His slave (Muhammad s.a.w) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram (at Mekkah) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammad s.a.w) of Our Ayat (proofs,evidens,lessons,signs,etc.). Verily, He is the ALL-HEARER, the ALL-SEER.

( Qu'ran 17:1)


"We (Allah) said: "O fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim (Abraham)!" And they wanted to harm him, but We made them the worst losers.And We rescued him & Lut (Lot) to the land which We have blessed for the Alamin (mankind &jinn)"

(Qu'ran 21:69-71)

"And to Sulaiman (Solomon) (We subjected) the wind strongly raging, running by his command towards the land which We had blessed. And of everything We are ALL-KNOWER."

(Qu'ran 21:81)

Allah favored Jerusalem & neighboring lands with many blessings, both of the physical & spiritual kind.In regrads to "The neighborhood whereof We have blessed", neighborhood

refers to the land of Ash-Sham (Syria & surrounding regions). These lands were the dwelling places of the Prophets & the landing places of the pure angels.

To be sure, the Prophet s.a.w could have ascended to the Heavens directly from Makkah on the night of Al-Isra' & Mi'raj, but the Prophet's ascension to the Heavens was a heavenly event that could not be confirmed for the Quraish by any kind of material proof. What I mean is, who from the Quraish, for example, had already seen Sidratul-Muntaha & could test the Prophet s.a.w by asking him to describe it for him? Of course, the answer is NO ONE. But the earthbound journey of the Prophet s.a.w from the Makkah to Jerusalem could be CONFIRM by MIRACLE that it was.

For when the Prophet s.a.w returned to Makkah, he gave a precise and detailed description of Jerusalem to those disbelieving members of the Quraish who had already visited it, and of course, the Prophet s.a.w had never visited it prior to the previos evening. Then the Quraish inquired about a caravan that was returning to them.

Since the Prophet s.a.w had seen it on the way back to Makkah, he told them precisely the situation of caravan & the number of camels that were in it. He even told them when it was going to arrive. And he accurately described 1 of the camels in the caravan. When the caravan eventually arrived, people realized that everything that the Prophet s.a.w had said TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE .

-At-Tafsir Al-Munir : 15/11

-Safwatut-Tafasir : 2/151

From the book "Atlas of the Qur'an"

compiled by: Dr. Shauqi Abu Khalil

~ nasibah al-khansa'~