An event full of lessons
The greatest moment of Prophet’s (SAW) life was when on the commands of Allah, he was accompanied by Jibreel (AS), the archangel, on a journey to the heavens. This miraculous incident happened before 1415 years before on 27th of the Islamic month of Rajab during night. The holy Prophet was fifty two years of age at that time. It is this miraculous and amazing journey which is called as the Al-Mi-raj.
On 27th of Rajab when Gabriel, the archangel on the Commands of Allah visited Prophet (SAW) during night. At that time the Prophet was taking rest in the small house of Hazrat Umm e Hani. During rest also our beloved Prophet was remembering Allah in his heart and was praying to Allah for our forgiveness. Allah had commanded the angels to postpone all their engagements and be ready to receive His beloved Prophet (SAW), the last Prophet. And the angel Rizwan, the custodian of heavens had been commanded to open the doors of all heavens in honor of His beloved Prophet (SAW).
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) was carried from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the distant Mosque in Jerusalem on a horse called Al-Buraq in the company of Gabriel. There he alighted and in the mosque led the prophets in prayer. After that Gabriel took him to the heavens on the same Al-Buraq and when they reached the first heaven, Prophet saw Adam, the father of mankind. The Prophet saluted him and Adam expressed his faith in his Prophethood. Then Gabriel took the Prophet to the second heaven and there he saw John, the son of Zachariya (Yahya bin Zakariya) and Jesus, son of Mary. The prophet saluted them and they returned the salutation. On reaching the third heaven, they saw Joseph or Yusuf and saluted him. On reaching the fourth heaven, they met the prophet Enoch or Idris. In the fifth heaven they met the prophet Aaron (Harun). In the sixth heaven the prophet met Moses or Musa.
On meeting Mohammad (SAW), Musa (AS) wept and our prophet asked the reason and Moses answered that he was weeping because he could not take his people to the heaven as he (SAW) has been able to do. On the seventh heaven, he met Abraham or Ibrahim (AS) and both saluted each other. After the visit of the heavens, he (SAW) was taken to Sidrat-al-Muntaha (the remotest lote tree) and was shown Al-Bait-al-Ma’mur (the much frequented house) which is like the Kaba ( Sacred House) encompassed daily by 70 thousand angels; who once encompass it, would not get a chance again till the day of judgment.
Gabriel (AS) stopped his journey at this point and told the prophet to travel alone onwards because he would not be able to endure the Divine Presence of Allah. According to the Prophet (SAW), from this point onwards, he went ahead alone and passed through many Hijabs, the distance of which could be traveled in 500 years. He was then presented to The Divine Presence of Allah and experienced the joy of The Divine Glory and Manifestation at the closest distance. In the Holy Quran, Allah says,
“Then he approached and came closer.” (Surah, An- Najm---- The Star)
The significance of the miraculous journey was that Allah willed to show the prophet all the signs which He had revealed to him through the Holy Quran so that His beloved prophet would have faith with certainty. Allah says in the Holy Quran:
“… In order that We might show him (SAW) of our signs - Ayaat” .
The miraculous journey was a test for all those people who had accepted Islam as their way of life and it is a test for us also that we believe what our prophet saw and revealed to us from the experience of the great journey during that night. We should be proud of the fact that our prophet was exalted in the greatest way of which there has been no example.
We have the responsibility to abide by the sunnah of the prophet and we have the duty to love him more than our lives. We need to learn a lesson from the signs revealed to us by the messenger of Allah during the night journey and remain warned that violation of Allah’s commands is sure to home us into the hell.
If we study our Quran, we can fully understand that Allah had already willed to establish the Islam and it has been impressed upon us that the principles on which it has been based should not be defied so that we do not become like those dwellers of hell whom our prophet saw suffering during this journey. Our style of living and behaving renders the fact that we are estranged and disaffected by the real message of the Mi‘raj. Allah emphasizes upon us to make Islam as our way of life and strive to replace barbarity, tyranny, inequality and injustice with honesty, equality, justice, and good in this world.
The Mi ‘raj teaches us that there is no power excepting the power of Allah in this world and before Him we should prostrate.
The Prophet cautioned us about the future upheavals which would befall upon the Ummah mainly due to the wrongdoings. Due to the love for wealth and prosperity, the Muslim nations have compromised with their weaknesses, accepted slavery of the unjust powers. We have to work to repel these weaknesses, and not to be pleased with the evil forces.
The journey of Miraj teaches us to be steadfast and resolute.
