The Night Journey
(Isra’) and the Ascension (Mi’raj) of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be
upon him) : A Study Based on Classical Sources
Abdel Latif Chalikandi
Introduction
Slightly over ten years into his Prophetic
mission, and three years prior to the Hijrah, the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) lost Khadija( may Allah be pleased with her) and Abu
Talib, two of his foremost supporters, when they died within a short
interval of time between their deaths.
Khadija ( may Allah be pleased with her), the
Prophet’s beloved wife, was the bedrock of his emotional and inner
security. She was the first woman who believed in the mission of the
Prophet (peace be upon him). Moreover, she stood by him, when he
received his first revelation and the thoughts of being appointed a
Prophet weighed highly on his mind[1].
Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle, though he did not believe[2]
in the Prophetic mission, supported the Prophet (peace be upon him)
unconditionally and prevented pagans of Mecca from harming the Prophet,
and above all, Abu Talib loved the Prophet (peace be upon him) like his
own son.
Now, these two pillars of the stability were
no longer there when the Prophet needed them most, as the severe
persecution of him and of his followers increased day after day. The
Prophet himself described this year of personal loss as the Year of
Sadness. However, inspired by his unshakeable faith in his mission, and
the boundless love he had for God, the Prophet went to Taif[3], a nearby town, to call the people there to Islam.
The Prophet had his close relatives in Taif
and hoping that at least some of them might accept his call; he met them
and after explaining to them his message, he invited them to follow
him. Their reaction, however, was a swift denial, accompanied by
sarcasm.
They did not stop there, they stirred their
slaves and common folks to chase away the Prophet and some of them threw
stones at the Prophet. Wounded and bleeding, the Prophet took refuge in
a nearby garden and poured his heart to God, in the form of the
following prayer
"O God, to you I do complain of my weakness,
of my helplessness, of my inability before the people. O the most
merciful of the merciful, You are the Lord of the weak. And, you are my
Lord. Into whose hand will you entrust me? To some far off stranger who
will mistreat me? Or to an enemy whom you have given power over me? If
you are not angry with me, I do not care. But your favouring help that
were for me the broader way and the wider scope. I seek refuge in light
of your countenance where by all darkness are illuminated and the things
of this world and the next are rightly ordered lest that you make your
anger descend upon me or lest your wrath fall upon me. Yet it is you to
be satisfied until you are well pleased. There is no power and might
except through Allah.[4]"
Indeed, God undoubtedly heard the Prophet’s
prayer, when he blessed him with the Miraj and Isra, slightly a year or
over, before the Hijrah. As Abul Hasan Al-Nadvi observed[5], the event was a bounteous hospitality from God, given to the Prophet.
There are different opinions among the
classical scholars about the year and the month of the Isra; Ibn Ishaq
does not specify the exact date of Isra, however, Muhammad Abu Zahra[6]
speaks about a consensus of the scholars that it was after the
Prophet’s well-documented visit to Taif. According to a report of
Baihaqi, on the authority Ibn Shihab, the Isra was in the year before
the Hijrah and there is another report that says that Isra was six
months before the Hijrah, scholars also differ on the month in which
Isra happened. Dhul Qaada, Rabi Al-Awwal and other months were reported
as the possible months in which Isra happened. However, the well-known
opinion is that it was on 27 of the month of Rajab that Isra happened.
The events of Miraj and Isra are described in
the Quran, and also in many extremely authentic Ahadith reported by
Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Baihaqi, etc. on the authority of the prominent
Companions of the Prophets such as Aisha, Ibn Masud, Anas ibn Malik, Abu
Hurayra and Abd Allah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with all of
them). The Quran succinctly mentions the events of Isra and Miraj,
whereas the Ahadith supplement them with detailed descriptions from
different angles, however, all complementing each other, thus giving us a
clear picture of this extra ordinary event.
I will first look at the Quranic verses that
tell the story of the Night Journey or having allusion to it, which will
then be supplemented by the descriptions of the Ascension as reported
by Bukhari in an important tradition, on the authority of Anas ibn
Malik.
The Quranic descriptions of the Night Journey
Let us look at a one of the good English
translations of the verse, by Muhammad Asad, and the explanations of a
few classical commentators such as Imam Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and
Zamakhshari.
“Limitless is in His glory is He who
transported His servant by night from the Inviolable House of Worship
[at Mecca] to the Remote House of Worship [at Jerusalem] – the environs
of which We had blessed – so that We might show him some of Our symbols:
for, verily, He alone is all-hearing, all-seeing.[7] [17:1]
The Quranic descriptions of the Night
Journey, as we can see (in the verse 1 of the Chapter 17), begin by the
glorification of God who transported His slave ( the Prophet Muhammad)
from the Sacred or Inviolable House of Worship ( at Mecca) to the
Farthest House of Worship ( Masjid Al-Aqsa) or the ancient site where
the Temple of Solomon existed. In addition, according to the Quran, God
blessed the surroundings of this ancient temple. The same verse further
says that God wanted to show his Prophet some of His signs.
According to his strict methodology of
interpreting the Quran more or less completely in the light of the Quran
and the Sunna, Ibn Kathir, after a brief explanation of the verse,
quotes, almost all Ahadith, reported by numerous authorities, dealing
with the Night Journey[8].
And, he makes brief comments on some of the quoted Ahadith while
discussing them in his efforts to look at the different Ahadith as a
totality, supplementing and complementing each other, thus giving a
vivid description of the nature and the true position of the Night
Journey.
Ibn Kathir’s brief explanation on the verse
is centred on God. He is the only God, who is capable of everything and
who sees everybody. In Ibn Kathir’s words, “(Verily, He is the
All-Hearer, the All-Seer.), means, "He hears all the words of His
servants, the believers and the disbelievers, the truthful and the
deniers, and He sees them and gives each of them what he (or she)
deserves in this world and the Hereafter.[9]”
The Farthest Mosque, of course, is the Masjid
Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, a place where most of the known Prophets, since
the time of Abraham, had been associated with, and the fact that the
Prophet Muhammad was taken there and chosen by God to lead all the
Prophets in prayer there is a proof that he is the greatest of all. The
blessings of the environs of the Mosque indicate, according to Ibn
Kathir, their agriculture and fruits (obviously great blessings).The
symbols mentioned are the experiences (vividly mentioned in the Ahadith)
that Prophet had throughout the journey, starting from Mecca to
Jerusalem, in the circle of the heavens, etc[10].
Imam Qurtubi comments on the verse within the
scope of an explanation split into six questions related to the verse.
Starting from a linguistic explanation of the meaning of the word
subhana in the first part of the verse that describes the Night Journey,
he moves to explain the Ahadith relating to the Journey. Then he gives a
detailed account of the different views on the Journey (whether it was
bodily or spiritual), the exact time of the occurrence of the Journey,
and the way in which laws of the institution of the Five-Time Prayers
were established, etc.
One significant point that sets him apart
from Ibn Kathir is that he quotes only part of a Hadith in Bukhari and
then two other non-Bukhari Ahadith and unlike him, Ibn Kathir, as I
observed, quotes almost all Ahadith regarding the subject. However,
Qurtubi too stresses the importance of the Hadith when he quotes an
opinion to the report that the Ahadith about the Isra are mutawatir in
their nature that they are traced back to 20 Companions of the Prophet
as the original reporters[11].
Another significant point of Qurtubi’s
explanation is that he emphasises the Quranic description of the Prophet
as God’s servant or slave and says that this title is perhaps the best
way to describe the Prophet that suits the occasion and the honour of
Isra. One of the reasons for the blessings of the environs of Jerusalem,
according to him is that it is here that many Prophets of the past
found their final resting place, a point Zamakshari[12] too stresses in his explanation of the verse.
The Isra and the Miraj in the Ahadith and the Prophetic History
The classical biographers of the Prophet such
as Ibn Hisham, Ibn Saad and Ibn Kathir, describe the events of the Isra
and the Miraj, along with the Hadith reporters such as Ahmad Ibn
Hanbal, Bukhari, Muslim, Baihaqi, etc. All these reports describe the
event very vividly, by looking it at from the different angles in which
they received the reports. In addition, certain reports, obviously, are
longer or contain certain facts that others do not contain. One of the
most important reports of the event comes as reported by Bukhari on the
authority of Malik ibn Anas from Malik ibn Sasaah[13].
The report describes the Prophet saying, as
he laid on the ground in the Hatim, someone came (obviously Gabriel) and
cut open his chest, took his heart and then a golden-basin, with full
of faith, was brought and then his heart was washed in it and it was
filled with faith and restored to its places. Then a white steed,
smaller than a mule and larger than an ass was brought unto him.
The white steeds stride was as long as the
eye could reach and he was mounted on it, and accompanied by Gabriel, he
was taken to the circle of heavens up to the seventh one and to the
Sidrat al-Muntaha and then he was shown Al-Bayt al-Mamur where he was
given the order for the institution of the five daily prayers.
According to this report of the Bukhari,
passing by each heaven the Prophet met some of the previous Prophets (
peace be upon all of them), starting from Adam in the first heaven,
Jesus and John in the second, Joseph in the third, Idris in the fourth,
Aaron in the fifth, Moses in the sixth and Abraham in the seventh. All
the Prophets that he met greeted him with peace and warmth, thus
stressing once again that the Prophet Muhammad was an integral part of
God’s mission on the earth.
As we can see these Prophets represent
symbolically all the Prophets who came before him. Two of them, Adam and
Abraham, called him their son while welcoming as the righteous Prophet.
And others, including Jesus and Moses called him their brother while
addressing him as the righteous Prophet. The Prophet, on his part,
marvelled at the beauty of Joseph and described the features of other
Prophets, as Abraham resembled him the most and Jesus with his long-wet
hair looked as if he just came out the shower.
By the Sidrath al-Muntaha where he was shown
two hidden rivers, Gabriel described these rivers as the rivers of
Paradise and the two manifest rivers who were the Nile and the
Euphrates. Then he was shown the Bayt al-Mamur, after that a vessel full
of wine, a vessel full of honey and a vessel full of milk were brought
to him; and he took the milk. About his choice Gabriel was reported to
have said to the Prophet, “this is the nature and it is this that you
and your community stand for”.
Following this, the Prayers were prescribed
on him. As it was very clear from report that it was fifty times a day,
and on his return, the Prophet met Moses and he persuaded him to seek
the reduction of the numbers as he felt from his experiences in leading
the Children of Israel that 50-times daily prayer was beyond the
capacity of the Muslims.
Finally, after the Prophet’s repeated pleas
to God it was reduced to five times (in fact, it was reduced to five
times on each request that Prophet made to God) with the promise of the
reward for 50 times for those who observe it sincerely and punctually.
Of course, this incident is a beautiful way of showing the easiness that
Islam is blessed with comparing to the more stringent laws of the
Mosaic religion.
.
The encounters with the Prophets both at
Jerusalem and in the circle of heavens once again stress the continuity
and the culmination of Islam as the final manifestation of the divine
mercy. The Prophet Muhammad did not bring anything new, and he only came
to complete the religion brought by all the Prophets and he or the
believers do not discriminate between any of the Prophets and believe in
all of the Prophets. This give supports to view of the certain scholars
that verse 285 of the chapter two of the Quran was revealed during this
time.
The Prophet’s vision of the Sidrat al-Muntaha
(the Lote-Tree of the Farthest Limit) was another significant event.
While seeing it, the Prophet was told that this was Sidrat al-Muntaha,
“its drupes were like the jars of Hajar, and its leaves were like
elephant-years.” Qurtubi, in his commentary, quotes, at least nine
opinions (including that of the Companions like Ali ibn Abi Talib,
Abdullah Ibn Masud, Abdullah ibn Abbas and the Tabiin like Adahak and
Qatada) to explain why it was called Sidrat al-Muntaha.
Though reasons given were different for it
was named as the Lot-Tree of the Farthest End (it was where the
knowledge of the Prophets’ end; it was up to this point the angles and
the Prophet could proceed; it was where that the souls of martyrs
proceed; it was where that everything that comes out of the Earth was
raised and completed), what is common to all these is that the Sidrat
seems to be the end of everything. From knowledge to the actions,
everything connected to creation finds its end in this Lot-Tree at the
Farthest Point. Moreover, Allah, the most merciful, showed His Prophet
this Farthest point and He even showed him further that is the Bait
al-Mamur, the Much-Frequented House.
As we noted before, beneath the Sidrat, the
Prophet saw four rivers, the two hidden and the two manifest, upon
asking Gabriel told the Prophet that the two hidden rivers were the
rivers of paradise and the two manifest were the Nile and the Euphrates.
Some of the modern scholars, for example, Muhammad Asad[14]
and Muhammad Al-Ghazzali, have interpreted, though perhaps without any
textual proof from the Quran or the Sunna, the Prophet’s vision of the
Nile and the Euphrates, the two manifest rivers, as the an
identification of the places, that is, between Iraq and Egypt. Their
justification for this interpretation, as well known, that it was there
that almost all of the Quranic and the Biblical prophets livid and
presented their messages to the people.
One of the key events happening during the
Miraj was the Prophet opting for the milk when along with it both the
honey and wine were offered to him. Gabriel was reported to have
commented on this the choice as the nature and the inner disposition of
the Prophet and his followers bound to follow. Of course, the word
Gabriel used was Fitarh , an extremely untranslatable word, perhaps
depicting the true nature and the inner-disposition of man. In other
words, the true nature of man, in its purity, is inclined towards
submitting before the one God, that is the very essence of Islam. Both
the Quran and the Hadith mention this.
We know from the description of the Miraj
that the Prophet’s journey did not stop at the Sidrath al-Muntaha, where
he saw the Bait al-Mamur. In his commentary of the Surah 52, verse 4,
Imam Qurtubi quotes a number of classical authorities and explains the
importance and the nature of the Al-Bayt al-Mamur, the Much Frequented
House. Qurtubi says, according to Ali, Ibn Abbas and others, everyday
seventy thousand angels enter the Al-Bayt al-Mamur to praise God and
never to return there the same batch. It is a heavenly prototype of the
Kabah. According to Ahadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim, Al-Bayt
al-Mamur is in the seventh heaven. Al-Bayt al-Mamur, truly is a symbol
of God’s glory and majesty and its presence stresses that not only
earthy creatures but also heavenly creatures praise the glory of God, as
He is the creator and master of the all.
The Question of the Nature of the Isra and the Miraj
The Companions of the Prophet, their
immediate followers and the later generations of Muslim scholars,
differed as to the nature of the Night Journey. The difference was about
whether it was bodily or spiritual. The difference persists, in spite
of the fact that Muslims universally accept the factual occurrence of
the Night Journey, as both the Quran and many extremely authentic
sayings of the Prophet attest it beyond any doubt.
The difference is due to diverse
interpretations of the texts of the authentic sources, and almost all
writers, from the classical to modern times have discussed the issue. I
will discuss the problem by looking at the discussions of a few
important scholars such as Qadi Iyad, Imam Qurtubi, Ibn Qayyim (all
representing the classical times), Muhammad Abu Zahra, and Muhammad Asad
(some of the modern scholars of Islam). I will also quote the views of
the Companions of the Prophet and some other important classical
scholars and the Quran commentators.
Most of the prominent Companions of the
Prophet, including the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, Abd Allah Ibn Masud,
Abd Allah Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayra, etc. believed that the Prophet’s
Night Journey happened bodily. This was also the views of prominent
Followers of the Companions like Adhahak, Said Ibn Jubair, Qatadah,
Ikhrimah, Mujahid, etc[15].
They believed that the Prophet was literally transported, in the
fullness of its sense, first to Jerusalem and from there to the heavens
and then to the farthest point of the Sidrath al-Muntaha, the Bayt
al-Mamur and then back to Mecca. All those experiences he had during the
journey shown to him directly and immediately just like any other
living experiences.
In contrast to this, Aisha (May Allah be
pleased with her), the Prophet’s wife and a very prominent Companion,
believed the Prophet’s Night Journey was spiritual. She was reported to
have said it was the Prophet’s soul that made the journey while his body
did not leave. Muawiya[16], another prominent Companion of the Prophet, and Hasan Al-Basri, a prominent follower of the Companions, held the same view.
The reported views of Aisha and others
mentioned, in spite of seemingly giving the impression that it was only
part of the Prophet’s self ( his soul) experienced the Night Journey,
such experience very much fall in the category of the revelation to the
Prophet and thus totally acceptable within the Shariah.
Moreover, as Ibn Qayyim observes in his Zaad
al-Maad, this view is not that it was a dream but a real experience in
which his soul actively participated. Ibn Qayyim observes, “Ibn Ishaq
reports say that both Aisha and Muawiya were reported to have said that
he (the Prophet) was taken to the Night Journey by his soul, while his
body did not leave. A similar view was also reported by Hasan Al-Basri;
however, it is important to take note of the differences between in
saying that the Night Journey was in sleep and it was by soul, without
the body accompanying it. There is a great difference between the two
views; Aisha and Muawia did not say that it was in sleep, what they said
was that it was by soul without body leaving; the difference between
the two : what the dreamer sees are nothing but already known images in
special forms. For example, he sees that he ascends into heaven or is
making a trip to Mecca or to the different regions of the world,
however, in reality his spirit neither ascends nor is transported.”
"Those who have reported to us the Ascension
of the Apostle of God can be divided into two groups - one group
maintaining that the Ascension was in spirit and in body, and the other
group maintaining that it was performed by his spirit, while his body
did not leave its place. But these latter [also] do not mean to say that
the Ascension took place in a dream: they merely mean that it was his
soul itself which actually went on the Night Journey and ascended to
heaven, and that the soul witnessed things which it [otherwise]
witnesses after death [lit., mufaraqah, "separation"].”
“Its condition on that occasion was similar
to the condition [of the soul] after death... However, that which the
Apostle of God experienced on his Night Journey was superior to the
[ordinary] experiences of the soul after death, and, of course, was far
above the dreams that one sees in sleep… As to the prophets [whom the
Apostle of God met in heaven], it was but their souls which had come to
dwell there after the separation from their bodies, while the soul of
the Apostle of God ascended there in his lifetime[17]."
This spirited defence of Ibn Al-Qayyim is
aimed at to show that the reported views of A'ishah and Muawiyah do not,
in any way make, the Night Journey a secondary experience but a reality
rooted in real experiences.
Two of the most spirited defences of the Nigh
Journey in its bodily form come from Imam Qurtubi and Qadi Iyad, who
unlike Ibn Qayyim, discount the views of both Aisha and Muawia without,
of course in any way, amounting to any personal criticism of them.
However, both Qurtubi and Qadi Iyad seem to believe that a spiritual
Ascension may not suite the majesty of such occasion. Where as Ibn
Al-Qayyim stress the fact that A'ishah and Muawiyah believed in
Ascension by soul and explicitly say that what they said did not amount
to Ascension in sleep, Qadi Iyad says that such a view amounts saying
that it was actually in sleep. According to him, if it was in the sleep
it would not have been a miracle, would the non-believers do not find it
farfetched nor would they deny it or the weakest of the faith among the
Muslims would have left the religion.
According to Qadi Iyad, the truth of the
matter is that the Night Journey, throughout, was by the body and the
soul ( in other words, the Prophet’s personality in its totality). And
it is this that verse of the Quran and the true Ahadith give evidence to
and if it was in sleep the relevant verse would have referring to the
soul of the servant ( instead of bi abdihi)[18].
In addition, everything that happened during
the journey like leading the Prophets in prayer, travelling on Buraq,
Gabriel holding the Prophet’s hand, asking permission at the entrance of
every circle of heaven, reaching at the Sidrath al-Muntaha, the
conversation with Moses about the prayer, etc. according to him, tell
unmistakably that it was bodily. And about, A'ishah’s opinion, he says
that she was not with the Prophet at that time and she started living
with the Prophet only in Medina.
Qurtubi, in his Tafsir, gives unconditional
backing to Qadi Iyad’s view and refer to Qadi’s book the Shifa for
further information. He also adds that A'ishah was a child at the time,
she did not witness the Night Journey, and there was no proof that the
Prophet talked to her about it. As far as Muawia was concerned, he was a
non-believer at the time of the occurrence of the Night Journey and the
Prophet did not communicate to him about it.
Both Qurtubi and Qadi Iyad dismiss the view
that Isra, that is, the journey until Jerusalem, was bodily and after
that, the Ascension was spiritual by saying that the wording asra bi
abdihi refers to the whole journey and if it were spiritual, it would
have been mentioned in the Quran.
The Modern View
One of the unequivocal defences of the
spiritual Isra and the Miraj came from Muhammad Asad. Both in his
translation of the Bukhari[19] and in The Message of the Quran[20],
he offers a strong defence for the spiritual view of the Journey.
According to him, the word abd occurring in the first verse of the
Chapter Isra of the Quran does not necessarily refer to the person of
the Prophet but his quality as an abd or slave of the God in its general
sense for which there are examples the Quran referring God’s creation
that way. .
The most convincing proof that the journey
was spiritual, Asad says, is the ones coming from the many of the
descriptions of the Prophet about his experiences during the Journey,
these, according to him, cannot be anything other than spiritual.
It is not all surprising that Muhammad Asad,
known for his allegoric interpretations of many of the Quranic verses
and miracles referred to in the Quran, supports the spiritual
interpretation of the Isra and Miraj. He, however, stresses that what he
has in mind is not a dream experience but a real journey in which the
Prophet fully participated. Moreover, such experience of the soul,
according to him, was far superior to what an ordinary bodily
experience. Asad also underlies Ibn Al-Qayyim’s view, as explained
before, that there is a real difference between the view that it was a
dream experience and that it was a spiritual journey.
Asad’s main argument for spiritual Isra are
the allegorical descriptions such as the Prophet’s encounter with the
long-deceased Prophets, filling of iman in his heart at the beginning of
the Journey, presentation of the mortal world as an old woman, the
Prophet’s vision of Moses praying in his grave, etc. According to him,
all these can be nothing but spiritual occurrences. In other words,
these can never be bodily, hence it follows that the Night Journey is
also spiritual. However, apart from his rational epistemology and an
obscure description of certain modern psychological insights, Asad does
not offer any solid proof either from the Quran or from the Sunna to
support his view. Indeed, if we pose a question as to if God is not
capable of giving Prophet’s to see with his own living eyes all those
events concretely or in their spiritual dimension, the answer will be,
of course, yes.
There is also another group of scholars who believe that ( one among them was the late
Imam Muhammad Abu Zahra ) that Isra was
bodily and the Miraj was spiritual. The main reason for their argument
is their view of the verse 1 of the Surah Isra into ( asra bi abdihi)
the abd in its total meaning only to the Journey of Isra as the verse
only refers to the Isra[21]. However, this view too is stated without any solid proof to support it, from the Quran and Sunna.
Finally, one can ask a few important
questions here about the various approaches to the nature of the Night
Journey. First, what caused the differences? Secondly, which one is
closer to the truth ?
Before discussing these questions, it is very
important to note that whatever their differences as to the nature of
the Night Journey and the Ascension, all of these proponents of their
views universally believe in the real occurrence of the both. In
addition, they universally acknowledge their importance, among other
things, due to many incidents that happened during the journey,
especially the institution of the Five-Time Prayers . Those who believe
in the spiritual journey do not look at the Journey less than real or
subjective as in the way it happened. For them too, the Journey was as
concrete and real as to those who believed in the physical journey.
Firstly, the difference is due to different
approaches of interpretation of the events or the way they looked at it.
A group of scholars, especially those modernists believe that,
extra-ordinary experience that Prophet encountered during the Night
Journey happened in a different world, in a different dimension. Notable
of such events such as that involve the meetings of the predeceased
Prophets and leading them in prayer, etc. cannot be nothing but
spiritual. However, majority of the early Quranic and the Hadith
commentators and scholars of Islamic law believed in the literal
understanding of the incidents as they were clearly explained without
any indication in the text warranting any allegorical interpretation.
Secondly, and more importantly, both the Quran and the Sunna speak about
the incident as they are without overtly indicating the incidents must
be understood literarily or figuratively, thus leaving room for
interpretation.
The Importance of the Night Journey and the Ascension
The Night Journey and the Ascension ( they
are actually two stages of a single journey) are of high importance in
Islam. First, the Quran, in a few important verses and in many
well-authenticated Ahadith, as quoted by Qurtubi on the authority of at
least 20 Companions, unequivocally testify occurrence of the Isra and
Miraj.
Secondly, it was unanimously accepted by all
the authorities (based on the unequivocal statements of the many of the
Ahadith) the Five-Time Daily Prayers were instituted during the Miraj.
As the Five-Time-Prayer is one of the pillars of Islam, the Journey
acquired further significance due to the institution of prayer during
the journey, thus in a way, the Daily Prayer reminds every practising
Muslim of the Isra and Miraj.
One of the important views of Islam is that
it is not a new religion but the culmination of the same divine truth
brought by the all the Prophets who came before the Prophet Muhammad,
from Adam to Jesus. This truth was underlined by the Journey when the
Prophet was taken to the Jerusalem (the place where many of the Prophets
lived and preached) and where the Prophet lead them in prayer, thus
very clearly underlying the connection between the message of the
Prophet Muhammad and those who came before of him. In addition, the
Prophet leading all of them in a prayer could be considered as a special
honour bestowed on the Prophet both as their leader and as the last of
all of them.
The Miraj and Isra also clearly demonstrated
the beauty and the strength of the faith, when Abu Bkr, the Prophet’s
most prominent Companion, believed in the reality of the events
unreservedly upon hearing it. When taunted by the Quraish about the
Prophet’s assertion about the Journey, Abu Bkr replied, “By God, if he
says so it is true. What is so surprising for in that? By God, he tells
me that communication to him, from heaven to earth comes in the hour of
the day or night and I believe him to be true. That is more surprising
that what you find it extraordinary from him.[22]”
It was then that the Prophet called Abu Bkr,
the Truthful. On the other hand, the Journey also exposed those weak of
faith when some of them left Islam as their faulty faith or hypocritical
mind prevented them from believing in occurrence of the journey.
[1] Bukhari, on the authority of Aishah ( may Allah be pleased with her)
[2] Bukhari, Ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of his father
[3] Ibn Hisham, Abd al-Malik, Sirat Annabawiya, Dar al-Fajar Lil-Turath, Cairo, 2004, ІІ,p.51
[4] Ibn Hisham, Abd al-Malik, Sirat Annabawiya, vol. ІІ, p. 52
[5] Nadvi, Abul Hasan, Sirat Annabawiya, Dar al-Shroukh, 1989, p. 148
[6] Abu Zahra, Muhammad, Khatam Annabiyyin, Religious Affairs, Qatar, 1979, p. 561,
[7] Asad, Muhammad, The Message of the Quran, Dar al-Andalus, Gibraltar, 1980
[8] Ibn Kathir, Ismail, Tafsir al-Quran al-Adheem, Dar al-Salam, Riyadh, 1998, III, pp.5-36
[9] Ibn Kathir, Ismail, Tafsir al-Quran al-Adheem,III,p.5
[10] Ibn Kathir, Ismail, Tafsir al-Quran al-Adheem,III,p.5
[11] Qurtubi, Abu Abdullah, Al Jami' li-ahkam al-Qur'an, commentary on the Quran, 17: 1
[12] al-Zamakhshari, Umar, Al-Kashshaaf, commentary on the Quran, 17: 1
[13] Bukhari, Imam, Sahih al-Bukhari, Book on the Merits of the Companions of the Prophet, the Chapter on the Miraj
[14] Asad, Muhammad, Sahih Al-Bukhari ( The Early Years of Islam), Islamic Book Trust, Selangor, 2002, p.191
[15] Iyad, Qadi, Kitab Ash-Shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa, Dar al-Jil, Beirut, 2005, pp.112-113
[16] Ibn Hisham, Abd al-Malik, Sirat Annabawiya, ІІ, p. 37
[17] Al Jauziyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Zaad al-Maad, vol. 3
[18] Iyad, Qadi, Kitab Ash-Shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa, p. 113
[19] Asad, Muhammad, Sahih Al-Bukhari ( The Early Years of Islam), Islamic Book Trust, pp.184-187
[20] Asad, Muhammad, The Message of the Quran, Dar al-Andalus, 1980, Appendix IV, The Night Journey
[21] Au Zahra, Muhammad, Khatam Annabiyyin, Religious Affairs, Qatar, 1979, pp.569-571
[22] Ibn Hisham, Abd al-Malik, Sirat Annabawiya, ІІ, p. 37
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