§Isra Wal Miraj
§(Night Journey)
§
The Prophet Muhammad
(sw) was now in the eleventh
year of his mission. He had strived through some very difficult and testing
times. In fact, this was a testing period for all the Muslims, especially since
they were suffering so many hardships from the Makkans. However, the Prophet (sw) remained steadfast to
Islam and his mission. He continued to preach the message of Tawheed in this hostile climate.
Now something amazing was about to happen, Muslims talk about this
event even now. It was a special
night, called the Night Journey ‘Isra-wal-Miraj’. It is also called
the ‘Ascension’. Isra means journey and Miraj means ascension.
He (sw) was lying down one night, and a man came to him, cut open his
chest and washed his heart. Just like when it happened to the Prophet (sw) as a child. There
was also a strange creature with the man.
It was called ‘Al-Buraq’. A white horse with
wings and a beautiful face, whose steps where very wide.
The man was Angel Jibrael.
The prophet (pbuh) was taken to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem, Bayt-ul-Maqdis.
This was no ordinary journey because normally the journey from Makkah to Jerusalem would
take a month if travelling by horse or camel. It would take another month to
travel back.
Here all the
prophets were assembled and they prayed Salaah behind Prophet Muhammad (sw). This was a unique event where the most noble of human beings
were gathered together in one place. All the prophets from the past were
together at the same point in time to offer Salaah behind the last and final messenger.
The Prophet (sw) then travelled through
the skies, ‘seven heavens’ and eventually went to the highest level where he
met Allah (swt)!
During his journey
there he had met prophets at each heaven and also spoke to them. He met
prophets such as Adam (as), Yahya (as), Isa (as), Yusuf (as), Harun (as),
Ibrahim (as) and Musa (as).
He had the
opportunity to speak to these prophets and they acknowledged their faith in the
final messenger.
When the prophet (sw) spoke with Allah, he was
given the command for the believers to pray fifty times a day. as the Prophet (sw) descended, he met Musa
(as) who advised him that this would be difficult for the believers and that he
should ask for a reduction in Salah.
It got reduced to 5
times, but Musa (as) knew people wouldn’t even pray 5 times a day, but the
Prophet (sw) was shy to ask again.
The five daily
prayers were thus made compulsory upon the believers by the command of Allah.
It was the will of Allah that the Salah should be reduced to five Salah in a
day but still the people who perform them will receive the full reward for the
fifty Salah. The prophet (sw) then continued his journey through heaven.
The Prophet (sw) was shown some amazing
sights including Heaven and Hell. He saw the people that were getting punished
for the bad actions they had done in their lives on Earth. In Hell, the
punishments were indeed very severe and different type of evil deeds had different
punishments.
The Prophet (sw) was also shown parts of
heaven where he saw some of the many delights and ease the good people would be
rewarded with. The prophet (sw) told his companions about paradise and some of the things in
store for the righteous people on Earth.
When the Prophet (sw) returned home, his bed was still warm and he realised he
was only gone for a few second. But it felt like a very long time.
He (sw) told all his followers
and the other Makkans. Only a few people believed him as it was such an unbelievable
event.
žThe Makkans taunted Muhammad (pbuh) and asked him many questions. They laughed at him and claimed
that he was making this whole experience up. They asked him many questions but
this did not satisfy their curiosity. In fact, they began to taunt Muhammad (pbuh) more - saying how
could he make a journey to Jerusalem in such a short time – it just wasn’t
possible.
