25. ISRĀ’ AND MI’RĀJ

On the 27th of Rajab every year Muslims all over the world commemorate Isrā’ (the night journey of the Prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem) and mi’rāj (the Prophet’s ascension to the heaven and beyond).
Before isrā’ and mi’rāj the Prophet had suffered much: after three years of boycott by the Quraysh, his wife Khadījah and his uncle Abū T.ālib died. After the death of Abū T.ālib, the pagan Quraysh tribe became bolder to torment the Prophet. They put a camel’s uterus on his shoulder while he was prostrating in prayer by the Ka‘bah. They threw dust on him. ‘Uqbah bin Mu‘īt. strangled him while he was praying; fortunately, Abū Bakr came to rescue, throwing down the man, saying, “Are you going to kill a man just because he says that Allah is his Lord?” When the Prophet went to T.ā’if, 60 km east of Mecca with Zayd bin H...ārithah to call people to Islam, they threw stones at him. His absence from Mecca was known by the Meccans, and they did not want him to come back to Mecca. Fortunately, a neighbour called Mut.‘im bin ‘Adī, one of the Meccan chiefs, wanted to protect him, so he and his man came to the Prophet outside the city and escorted him into the city. The Prophet stayed the night at his cousin’s house Ummu Hāni’ (the daughter of his uncle Abū T.ālib) who was also his nursing sister. The Prophet was so humiliated and annoyed on earth, yet he received the greatest honour a human being had ever had in heaven.
After all these miserable conditions, it was time for Allah to console the Prophet and to show his exalted position. One night, the angel Gabriel and Michael came to the Prophet, opened his breast and cleansed his heart with the water of Zamzam (the well-known well inside the Holy Mosque in Mecca), then made him ride on a mysterious animal called Burāq. They went to al-Masjid al-Aqs.ā (the Farthest Mosque) in Jerusalem where they had been awaited by the prophets before him, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus, peace be upon them. They had been sent by Allah to receive and to welcome the Prophet there.
After leading the prayer with those prophets and thanking them for their greetings, the Prophet said to them: “All of you praise your Lord and I also praise my Lord.” Then he said: “Praise be to Allah who has sent me as a blessing to the whole world and to the whole mankind as an announcer of good news (بَشِيْر) and as a warner (نَذِيْر), Who has revealed to me the Furqān (i.e., the Qur’ān which makes the distinction between right and wrong) wherein the explanation of everything, Who made my community the best one among the people, Who made my community the middle one, the first and the last, Who made me pleased, Who put away my burden, Who raised my esteem and Who made me a conqueror and a last prophet.” On hearing this, Prophet Abraham told other prophets, “Muhammad has the merits over you in these things.” Then the Prophet was given wine and milk, choosing milk. Gabriel told him, had he chosen wine, his followers would go astray.
Then the Prophet ascended with Gabriel to the seventh heaven and beyond. In he first heaven he met Adam, in the second John (Yah.yā) and Jesus (‘Īsā), in the third Joseph (Yūsuf), in the fourth Enoch (Idrīs), in the fifth Aaron (Hārūn), in the sixth Moses (Mūsā), and in the seventh Abraham (Ibrāhīm), peace be upon them. They went further up to Sidrat al-Muntahā (Lotus Tree Heaven) where Gabriel said to the Prophet: “O Muhammad, ascend alone. You are the one who is wanted. Every one of us has his own rank (position), and here is the end of my position. If I step further I will be burned.” This indicates that a human being can have higher position than the angel.
The Prophet came forward, greeted Allah and said:
التَّحِيَّاتُ المُبَارَكَاتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلّهِ
“All reference, all worship and all sanctity are due to Allah.”
Allah said:
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُه
“Peace be upon you, O Prophet, the mercy of Allah and His blessing.”
The Prophet joined his brothers among prophets in saying:
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلىَ عِبَادِ اللهِ الصَّالِحِيْنَ
“Peace be upon us, and upon he righteous servants of Allah.”
The angels said:
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إلاَّّ اللهُ و أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُوْلُ الله
“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.”
The whole world said:
اللّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلىَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ وَ صَحَابَتِهِ وَ ذُرَّيَتِهِ وَ التَّابِعِيْنَ لَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ مِنْ أُمَّتِهِ
“O Allah, give blessing upon Muhammad his
household, his companions, his descendants and those
who follow them well among his followers.”
This indicates that what we used to say in the tah.iyyāt (i.e., greetings we cite while sitting) in our prayer is the exchange greetings between Allah and the Prophet, the angels and others. The Prophet said that prayer is the mi‘rāj (ascension) of the believers. The Prophet’s heart was cleansed before mi‘rāj, while we perform wud.ū’ (ablution) before praying.
Allah enjoined fifty prayers, but following the advice of Prophet Moses, fifty prayers were reduced to five with the same merit and the reward of fifty prayers. If it were not for the advice of Prophet Moses, we would have to pray fifty times a day.
In his mi‘rāj the Prophet encountered many symbolic actions as warnings and lessons to us. For example, he saw people breaking their heads with rocks symbolizing those who neglect their obligatory prayers. In one tradition a man asked the Prophet what Allah loved most in Islam, he said:
الصَّلَاةُ لَوَقْتِهَا ، وَمَنْ تَرَكَ الصَّلاَةَ فَلَا دِيْنَ لَهُ ، وَالصَّلاَةُ عِمَادُ الدِّيْن
(رواه البيهقي)
“Prayer on its time, whoever leaves it (abstain from
doing it) he has no [practised] religion for him,
prayer is the pillar of religion.” 110
If we compare the meeting between Allah and the Prophet and between Allah and Prophet Moses, we find that:
1. In the mi‘rāj the Prophet met Allah in Sidrat al-Muntahā, beyond the seventh heaven, while Prophet Moses met Allah on the earth, in the Sacred Valley of T.uwā’ in Sinai. These two places do not imply fixing a place for Allah, because He is beyond the limitation of time and space. The places were fixed only for the two prophets, Muhammad and Moses respectively. Allah mentions the place where His signs appeared for Prophet Moses in a burning bush in the following verses:
وَهَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ مُوسَى. إِذْ رَأَى نَارًا فَقَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوا
إِنِّي آَنَسْتُ نَارًا لَعَلِّي آَتِيكُمْ مِنْهَا بِقَبَسٍ أَوْ أَجِدُ عَلَى النَّارِ هُدًى.
فَلَمَّا أَتَاهَا نُودِيَ يَا مُوسَى. إِنِّي أَنَا رَبُّكَ فَاخْلَعْ نَعْلَيْكَ إِنَّكَ بِالْوَادِ
الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى. وَأَنَا اخْتَرْتُكَ فَاسْتَمِعْ لِمَا يُوحَى. إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي.
(طه:٩-۱٤)
“Has the story of Moses reached thee: Behold, he saw a fire:
so he said to his family, ‘Tarry ye; I perceive a fire; perhaps I
can bring you some burning brand therefrom, or find some guidance
at the fire.’ But when he came to the fire, he was called: ‘O Moses!
Verily I am thy Lord! Therefore put off thy shoes: thou art in
the sacred valley of Tuwa’. I have chosen thee: Listen, then,
to the inspiration (given to thee). Verily, I am Allah:
there is no god but I: So serve thou Me (only)
and establish regular prayer
for My remembrance.”111
In other verses Allah specified the place more clearly, as follows:
فَلَمَّا قَضَى مُوسَى الْأَجَلَ وَسَارَ بِأَهْلِهِ آَنَسَ مِنْ جَانِبِ الطُّورِ
نَارًا قَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوا إِنِّي آَنَسْتُ نَارًا لَعَلِّي آَتِيكُمْ مِنْهَا بِخَبَرٍ أَوْ جَذْوَةٍ مِنَ
النَّارِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَصْطَلُونَ. فَلَمَّا أَتَاهَا نُودِيَ مِنْ شَاطِئِ الْوَادِ الْأَيْمَنِ فِي الْبُقْعَةِ
الْمُبَارَكَةِ مِنَ الشَّجَرَةِ أَنْ يَا مُوسَى إِنِّي أَنَا اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ
(القصص:۲٩-٣٠)
“Now when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was
travelling with his family, he perceived a fire in the direction of
Mount Tur. He said to his family: ‘Tarry ye; I perceive a fire; I
hope to bring you from there some information, or a burning
firebrand, that ye may warm yourselves. But when he came
to the (Fire), he was called from the right bank of the valley,
from a tree in hallowed ground: ‘O Moses! Verily
I am Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” 112
The meeting in mi‘rāj was with preparation. Allah sent Gabriel and Michael to accompany the Prophet to heaven, while Prophet Moses’ meeting with Allah was without preparation: he saw fire at night, told his wife to stay and went to the fire where Allah talked to him. He did not come to talk to Allah, but to take some fire or to find guidance at the fire. He might have lost his way, he wanted physical guidance, and instead, he got spiritual guidance.
2. Prophet Muhammad went to heaven on the Burāq, while Prophet Moses walked when he entered the sacred valley T.uwā’. He was ordered by Allah to take off his shoes when he entered the valley, according to some commentators, symbolizes leaving the material world behind when he entered the spiritual one.
3. Both meetings ended with the injunction of prayers, which indicates the importance of prayers.
The heaven that is spoken about here is not the outer space, the stars and galaxies, but far beyond. The Prophet was not sent to teach astronomy, but to give spiritual guidance, to show the right path, the way to salvation. Man discovered the universe later by himself. We know that the nearest star (sun) to us is Alpha Centauri which is 4.3 light years. Until the 1920s, man knew one galaxy only, the Milky Way, in which the sun is one of the stars. About fifty years later, the astronomers said that the universe contains about five billion galaxies, each with approximately 100 billion stars.
With regard to the isrā’, the mi’rāj, the seven heavens, and the Sidrat al-Muntahā, they are mysteries. We believe in them as we believe in the Resurrection, the Judgement Day, Paradise and Hell.

Footnotes:
110. Reported by al-Bayhaqī
111. Qur’ān, T.āhā [20]:9-14
112. Qur’ān, al-Qas.as. [28]:29-30