What is the meaning of al masjid al haram according to The Quran

    Note how ru'ya/vision is a foretelling of a future occurrence/event, and how the above fits with our chosen meaning of maSJD and AMAH. In other words, maSJD, AMAH and 'al masjid al aqsa' must be a reference to a time-period/event. So we can say the prophet Muhammad experienced the vision and relayed revelation of chapter 17 during AMAH. Note that AMAH (i.e. the term referring to the time-period/event of the inviolable months) would have been a regular, or semi-regular, occurrence, e.g. every year perhaps. This is also suggested by AQ, e.g. 9:28, 28:27.
    It is interesting to note how traditional commentators explain away some points, e.g. the vision referred to in 17:60 (which they link to 17:1) is described as a "trial/ordeal/fit'na for the people" so they say this is because: Al Jalalayn (altafsir.com) "since they denied it and some of them [even] apostatised when he [the Prophet] informed them of it", Ibn Kathir (qtafsir.com) implies that since the prophet saw it with his physical eyes, rather than a dream, that is why, but unfortunately for him this contradicts 17:93. In my view, their explanations are unsatisfactory and certainly not based on AQ. They also do not seem to explain why it is placed in the context of a warning. The traditional story of isra and miraj does not come across as a warning, hence perhaps the silence on this point. To make things clearer, a translation of the verses is now shown below:

17:1 Glory be to the One who took with/by His servant (at) night from the inviolable time of SJD/acknowledgement to the farthest/remotest time of SJD/acknowledgement which We have blessed around it that We may show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Listener, the Seer.

17:7 If you do good, you do good for yourselves, and if you do bad, then it is for it (i.e. yourselves). So when came the last/after promise, to sadden/distress your faces/wills and enter THE time of SJD/acknowledgement just as they* entered it** the first time, and to destroy what they had overcome/conquered (with) destruction.
*i.e. Our servants, but this time they would be the present believers and perhaps their allies.
** THE maSJD, i.e. al masjid al haram / the inviolable time of SJD/acknowledgement, which would occur regularly, e.g. yearly.

    Some may claim that this understanding contradicts several passages in AQ in which the prophet Muhammad clearly states he does not know the future. However there is no contradiction, as none knows the future, including Muhammad (5:109, 6:50, 7:188, 10:20, 11:31, 18:110, 27:65, 46:9, 81:24). Only God knows the future and this knowledge can be attained only through divine revelations/signs (3:44, 3:179, 11:49, 12:102, 30:2, 72:26-28). The messenger only follows what is inspired/revealed to him, and this particular vision is relayed in the revelation itself. This is also suggested when the vision is fulfilled in 48:27 "...He knew what you did not know...". Or some may claim the switch in addressee in 17:7 is problematic, however this is fairly common in AQ, i.e. switching from past to present audience etc, e.g. see 2:142. This is commonly known as "iltifaat" (see here).
    An interesting observation is that the traditional explanations of 48:27 follow a basic outline to what was found above, see Asad's note 38 on 48:27 (my insertion in bold): "Shortly before the expedition which ended at Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet had a dream in which he saw himself and his followers entering ~~Mecca~~ (i.e. during 'al masjid al haram') as pilgrims. This dream-vision was destined to be fulfilled a year later, in 7 H., when the Muslims were able to perform their first peaceful pilgrimage to the Holy City".
Bear in mind al hajj would take place in the inviolable time of acknowledgement. Interestingly, traditional Islamic history states that after the prophet's "farewell hajj" he passed away and at this time the believers had triumphed and were at their peak, which could explain the use of "aqsa/farthest/remotest time of acknowledgement" for the prophet as it would have been his last.
Surprisingly, most mainstream traditional commentators do not link the vision of 48:27 to chapter 17. To them, the vision of 48:27 is not explained in AQ. If my findings are correct, then this would imply somewhere along the way the chapter 17 vision was disassociated from the 48:27 vision, and the former distorted for their own ends. For example, in this case, a fixing of the 5-daily salat. For those who do not know, according to tradition, it was only after the alleged isra and miraj did a fix of 5-daily salat come into observance, as prior to this it was 2-daily for the mumineen/believers (click: further reading).
    It is strongly recommend to re-read the analysis above and ponder over the findings presented here. Also try to insert 'act/institution/etc of SJD' to see if it works. I personally could not make much sense of these possible understandings in this instance.

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