REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA— Surah Al-Isra is the 17th chapter in the Quran. The letter that signifies tonight's journey has 111 verses.
According to the majority of scholars, this letter came down before the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina. Thus it is one of the letters of Makiyah.
This letter has several names, among which the most popular are Surah Al Isra and Surat Bani Israel. He was named Al Isra because the beginning of his verse speaks of al Isra which is a description not found explicitly in this letter.
Surah al-Isra in the Quran is also called Surat Bani Israel. The naming has been going on since the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
This can be seen from the hadiths narrated by the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), among them from Aisha. He said:
كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَا يَنَامُ حَتَّى يَقْرَأَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَالزُّمَرَ
“The Messenger of Allah is not He slept until he read al-Zumar and the Children of Israel. (H.R. Ahmad, Tirmizhi, al-Nasai, Ibn Khuzaimah, and al-Hakim).
Al-Hafidz ibn Hajar considered this hadith hasan in his book Nataij al-Afkar. Narrated from Ibn Abbas, he said, “The Book of the Children of Israel was sent down in Makkah. (H.R. Al-Baihaqi).
Then, narrated from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, he said that the Surah of the Children of Israel, al-Kahfi, Maryam, Thaha, and Anbiya were among the first Surat al-Itaq and also included Surat Tiladi. (H.R. Bukhari).
Al-Hafidz Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari explains that al-itaq is the plural form of atiq meaning long or he is everything that reaches the peak of its beauty. By the way, tiladi means something that has long been memorized. Al-Tilad means something that has been owned for a long time.
As for the intent of Ibn Mas'ud, the letter was among the first to be studied and has merit because it contains stories and stories of the prophets and previous people. Even scholars argue that the Children of Israel were more famous for the name of the letter in the days of the companions and tabiin because it only mentions at the beginning about Isra to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In the second verse, he directly talks about important stages of the history of the Children of Israel and tells about the damage they have done that is not mentioned in the rest of the Quran.
Shaykh Thahir ibn Assyria in his commentary al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir explains that in most mushafs this letter is called Surah al-Isra, and al-Alusi named it so because at the beginning of the letter it was mentioned about Isra and in the time of the Companions it was called the Banu of Israel because it discussed the Banu of Israel, which is not mentioned in the other letters.
It is about the conquest of the mighty nation of Assyria against the Children of Israel, and the subsequent conquest of them by the Romans. This letter is also called Subhana letter because it is prefixed with this sentence.
