Surah Al Isra Tafseer

إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لاَِنفُسِكُمْ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا

(And We said):"If you do good, you do good for your own selves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves."

As Allah says elsewhere:

مَّنْ عَمِلَ صَـلِحاً فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَأءَ فَعَلَيْهَا

Whosoever does a righteous good deed, it is for (the benefit of) himself; and whosoever does evil, it is against himself. (45:15)

The Second Episode of Mischief

Then Allah says:

فَإِذَا جَاء وَعْدُ الاخِرَةِ

Then, when the second promise came to pass,

meaning, the second episode of mischief, when your enemies came again,

لِيَسُووُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ

(We permitted your enemies) to disgrace your faces,

meaning, to humiliate you and subdue you,

وَلِيَدْخُلُواْ الْمَسْجِدَ

and to enter the Masjid,

meaning, Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem).

كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ

as they had entered it before,

when they entered the very innermost parts of your homes.

وَلِيُتَبِّرُواْ

and to destroy,

wrecking and inflicting ruin upon it.

مَا عَلَوْاْ

all that fell in their hands.

everything they could get their hands on.

تَتْبِيرًا