Mi`raj – A Celestial and Miraculous Night Journey

It was after [the extreme levels of trials and tribulations, distress and humiliation suffered preceding to] his emergence from the valley of Abu Talib and return from Ta`if that Allah, The Almighty, elevated the Prophet Muhammad (peace and salutations be upon him) to a lofty rank and “took His servant by [a short part of the] night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram [in Makkah] to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa [in Palestine]” [Qur`an, 17:11] and from there to above the seven heavens [to witness paradise and hell and other divine phenomena] and right up to the divine throne where even the most revered of the closest angels are barred from entering [Qur`an, 53]. The entire universe and creation terminates at the divine throne; similarly, the merits of prophethood terminated upon the existence of Khatam al-Nabiyyin (the seal of the prophets), Prophet Muhammad (peace and salutations be upon him). This all transpired in one night with the same soul and physical body in a state of complete wakefulness. This incident is widely known as Mi`raj (ascension) or Isra (night journey). The most accepted opinion is that this divine miracle occurred on the 27^th night of Rajab in the 11^th year of prophethood circa 16 months before migration (hijrah) to Madinah.

One night the Prophet Muhammad (peace and salutations be upon him) was lying down asleep in Umm Hani`s house when the roof of the house unexpectedly split open. A congregation of angels headed by the archangel Jibra`il (peace be upon him) entered and took him to Masjid al-Haram. They laid him down and his chest was cleft and his blessed heart was washed with the highest level of faith, wisdom, and with the Zam Zam water before it was restored and his chest was resealed. The angels then inscribed the seal of prophethood between his shoulder blades as a physical symbol of being the Khatam al-Nabiyyin (the seal of all the prophets). The Prophet (peace and salutations be upon him) then mounted a celestial animal called Buraq which was white in colour, smaller than a mule but bigger than a donkey in size, and so fast that his one stride was as far as the eye could see.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) arrived at Jerusalem in the company of Jibra`il (peace be upon him), dismounted from his celestial voyage and tethered it to the iron loop on which the previous prophets tied their animals.  The Prophet entered the al-Masjid al-Aqsa (Bait al-Muqaddas) and was led forward to lead all the prophets in prayer (who were already awaiting the arrival of the last Prophet PBUH). The prophet then met with the souls of all the prophets. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was presented with some gold vessels and he selected the vessel containing milk and drank it. This indicated an instinctive choice for good, innocence, purity and spirituality.

Subsequent to this, the Prophet (peace be upon him) embarked on his ascension to the heavens either on Buraq or a ladder studded with gems and emeralds. In this majestic manner, the Prophet PBUH was warmly welcomed by the angels at each heaven and greeted by different prophets at different heavens: Prophet Adam AS at the first heaven; Prophets Yahya AS and Isa AS at the second; Prophet Yusuf AS at the third; Prophet Idris AS at the fourth; Prophet Harun AS at the fifth; Prophet Musa AS at the sixth; and Prophet Ibrahim AS at the seventh heaven.

The Prophet PBUH thereafter was raised to sidrat al-muntaha – a lote tree towering above the seventh heaven. At this point, the Prophet PBUH beheld Jibra`il AS in his original form. Here he was also shown al-bait al-ma`mur which is directly above the ka`bah and is encompassed daily by 70,000 different angels, so that the angels who encompassed it once would not have their turn again ever. The Prophet Muhammad PBUH then ascended from sidrat al-muntaha to paradise after which hellfire was laid before him.  The Prophet PBUH also witnessed the various treatments afforded to different categories of dwellers of paradise and hell based on their previous doings. The ninth ascension was then to a location where he could perceive the sounds produced by pens of predestination recording all that is to transpire in the future known as sarif al-aqlam.

The Prophet Muhammad PBUH ascended even further on the silken seat and reached the point of the utmost divine proximity and of the celestial realms before the majesty of Allah, The Almighty. He caught a glimpse of the marvellous celestial radiance of Allah Ta`ala from beyond the divine screen and was honoured to converse directly with Allah without any intermediary between them. The Almighty Allah endowed him with the closing verses of Surah Baqarah, blessed him with the glad tidings of the eventual forgiveness of all believers and awarded him with the directive of observing fifty daily salahs.

As the Prophet PBUH descended to return to this earth, he passed Musa AS who appealed to Prophet PBUH to return to his Lord and to solicit a reduction in this obligation. Musa AS had previously found his people, Bani Isra`il, unable to cope with the divine injunction.  The Prophet PBUH returned to Allah Ta`ala and requested a reduction in the amount of salahs. Allah reduced it by five. When he passed Musa again, he was advised to seek for a remission in the number. Once more the Prophet PBUH requested from Allah and it was reduced by five. The Prophet PBUH went back and forth until the fifty salahs were reduced to five only. Even then, Musa AS urged the Prophet PBUH to return to Allah Ta`ala to implore for a reduction. Here, the Prophet PBUH replied, “I have requested many times already. Now I feel ashamed to approach Him for a further reduction. I accept and resign to His will.” A voice from the unseen proclaimed, “These are five but equivalent to fifty [in reward]”. During his journey to the heavens, the Prophet PBUH met angels engaged in different postures of worship (qiyam, ruku`, sajdah and qu`ud) which were later on drawn into a single rak`ah of salah so that the worship of the ummah of the Prophet is a consolidation of all various positions of worship of the angels and the things in the universe.

The Prophet PBUH then descended from the heavens to Jerusalem where he mounted the Buraq and retuned to Makkah al-Mukarramah prior to the break of dawn. That morning, he recounted this incident to the people of Makkah. Allah Ta`ala brought Masjid al-Aqsa right before his very eyes and thus he was able to respond to the questions pertaining to the description of the Masjid at Jerusalem jeered at him by the people of Makkah. To substantiate the authenticity of this miracle, the Prophet also informed them of a trade caravan led by a khaki-coloured camel laden with two sacks of goods at a particular place that was returning from Syria and was expected to reach Makkah within three days. It was almost sunset on the third day and the caravan had not reached yet. Upon the supplication of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Allah Ta`ala had stalled the sun from setting (habs al-shams) for a little while until that caravan made appearance in Makkah the evening of the third day before sunset. The people of Makkah in this way had witnessed the honesty of the Prophet PBUH once again.

Posted in General on 18th Apr 2016 by Our Imam | 3384 Views