Significance of Mi`raj
- From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 08:20:39 -0400
Significance of Mi`raj
Allah says in the Holy Qur'an in Surah 17, verse 1:
*{Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred
Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that
We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the
Seeing.}*
There is no doubt that Isra' (the night journey) followed by Mi`raj (the
heavenly ascension) was one of the miracles in the life of our Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It happened on the 27th of
Rajab, the seventh month of the Hegira calendar, in the tenth year of
Muhammad's prophethood.
It is reported in Hadith literature, that The Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings be upon him) was carried from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the
"Farthest Mosque" (Masjid al-Aqsa) in Jerusalem on a creature called
Al-Buraq in the company of the archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him). There
he led a congregational prayer of the prophets of God. Then Gabriel took him
to the heavens where he met the prophets Adam, John, Jesus, Idris, Aaron and
Moses (peace be on them all). In the seventh heaven, he met Abraham (peace
be on him).
He was then brought to the Divine Presence. The details of this encounter
are beautifully detailed in the beginning of Surah al-Najm (Surah 52).
During this time, Allah ordered for his nation fifty daily Prayers. But on
the Prophet's return, he was told by the Prophet Moses (peace be on him)
that his followers could not perform fifty Prayers. Thus, he went back and
eventually it was reduced to five daily Prayers. After this, the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) returned to Mecca on the same night
itself.
The foregoing is a short account of the main events of Isra' and Mi`raj.
The implications of the night journey cannot be overstated. The miraculous
nature of the Prophet's journey established his divine-stated legitimacy as
the seal of all prophets. Allah brought him to Him to show us his true worth
in the sight of Allah.
All religious traditions share the concept of miracles, that is, something
that defies logic, nature, or the established constitution and course of
things; we will limit our discussion to legitimate miracles from Allah,
which are by definition the only true miracles. When the forces of disbelief
are strong, typically the prophetic miracles that oppose them are stronger.
Moses (peace be upon him) was given several miracles, which included his
staff that turned into a massive snake and culminated in his parting of the
Red Sea, as a divine response to the extreme infidelity of Pharaoh.
Similarly, Jesus (peace be upon him) was given even the power to raise the
dead, in order to establish his legitimacy before the Jews who would
ultimately condemn him to death for blasphemy. Nevertheless, his miracles
were undeniable by their nature, and it was only the obstinacy and arrogance
of the people to whom he was sent that enabled them to deny him.
Muhammad's (peace and blessings be upon him) night journey was obviously not
easy for the pagan Meccans to believe. Nevertheless, the Prophet proved it
logically by describing the approaching caravans that he overtook on his
miraculous return. Thus, this particular prophetic miracle not only
established the Prophet's eminence for Muslims as discussed above, but it
also helped to prove his prophethood to the non-believers of his time.
As far as the Muslims are concerned, there is no particular celebration,
fast or prayer to commemorate Isra' wal-Mi`raj. But in some places, the
Muslims themselves have started to have commemorative functions, where the
story of the night journey is told in poetry or lectures. While the Prophet
himself (peace be upon him) did not establish these practices, there are
scholars who maintain that gatherings meant to remind the Muslims of the
importance of Mi`raj in the history of Islam, or to remind us of the
importance of love for the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the significance
of the city of Jerusalem, are permissible.
And Allah knows best.
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