سورة الإسرَاء
Surah Al-Isrâ’ 17:90
The Night-Journey · Verse 90 of 111
وَقَالُوا لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا
Abdul Mannan Omar
And they say, `We will never believe unless you cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth,
Abdullah Yusuf Ali
They say: "We shall not believe in thee, until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth,
Ahmed Ali
And say: "We will not believe you until you make a spring of water gush forth from the earth for us;
12 more translations
Ali Unal
They say: "We will not believe in you (O Messenger), until you cause a spring to gush forth for us from this land (which is short of water);
Daryabadi
And they say: we shall by no means believe in thee until thou causest for us to gush forth from the earth a foun tain.
Faridul Haque
And they said, "We will not accept faith in you, until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us."
Maulana Muhammad Ali
And they say: We will be no means believe in thee, till thou cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us,
Maulvi Sher Ali
And they say, `We will not believe in thee until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth;
Muhammad Asad
and so they say: "[O Muhammad,] we shall not believe thee till thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth,
Muhammad Musin Khan
And they say: "We shall not believe in you (O Muhammad SAW), until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us;
Muhammad Pickthall
And they say: We will not put faith in thee till thou cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us;
Muhammad Sarwar
They have said, "We shall never believe you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth,
Muhammed ali Shakir
And they say: We will by no means believe in you until you cause a fountain to gush forth from the earth for us.
Rashad Khalifa
They said, "We will not believe you unless you cause a spring to gush out of the ground.
Shabbir Ahmed
(Instead of reflecting on it, they keep demanding physical miracles) and they say, “We will not believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth.”
Commentary 17:90 The miracles demanded by the disbelievers in this and the verses that follow (17:90-93) were derived from the claim of the Holy Book at various places…
وَقَالُوا لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنبُوعًا
17:90 The miracles demanded by the disbelievers in this and the verses that follow (17:90-93) were derived from the claim of the Holy Book at various places that this Divine Revelation is the clear exposition of all Truths, and is a complete and perfect Revelation and that it contains all information needed for the guidance of humankind (cf. 3:138). If this is so, the argument goes, and then the recipient of such a Book should be able to work miracles. The reply to such requests was simple: “Glory be to my Lord! I am not but a human being (sent as) a Messenger” (17:93). Despite this, the demands made were fulfiled in due course.
The believers were granted lands and countries with gardens and streams running in them in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, India and Spain. The demand of punishment was fulfiled through the defeat of the disbelievers. The angels descended on the pious people who followed the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and blessed them with revelations of Wahî, Ilhâm and Kashûf. Their demand for him to “ascend into heaven”, is denied as it is against the glory of Allâh for a mortal to ascend to heaven with his physical body. However, the spiritual ascension – the Isra, as mentioned and explained in the very first verse of this chapter should also be looked at in the context of this demand. Thus all the demands of the disbelievers of the time of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), though against human experience, and considered impossible were fulfiled to prove the truthfulness of the Holy Qur’ân and its claims. Even then, the disbelievers persisted in their disbelief (cf. 6:7-9).