Mi'raj means Ascent.... what have we done this year that have improve (ascent) our status towards Allah and towards mankind ? Have we ? .. there is none ?... or worst, we have descend instead ? ...
... 'think & reflect' - deep in your hear, only you have the answer.... Wallahu'alam..
This might be a bit long.. but spare sometime, it's a good read.
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Notes Prepared By Dr Waffie Mohammed
The Mi'raj (Ascent) of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
The embodiment of Praise is for Him Who caused to descend on His Slave the Book and no imperfections can be found in it. (18:1)
Verily, you definitely have, in the Messenger of Allah, a beautiful pattern of conduct for him whose goad is to return to Allah, and to be successful on the Last Day, and who engages much in the remembrance of Allah. (33:21)
Brothers & sisters, we are here to celebrate a great achievement, a unique experience, an occasion when man was able on one hand, to realize his own capability to the fullest extent, and to be exposed to something of the Greatness of his Lord on the other.
We must always keep in mind two things, viz.
* The Ruh of man is a special creation of most refined light from Allah. It did not come into being along with the universe; it was with Allah. That is why even the angels did not know the full capacity of man, when Allah announced to them that man shall be His Khalifah on earth. They questioned the Lord about Adam's capability.
* The physical body has tremendous potentials, as Allah says in the Qur'an, Ahsanul taqweem the best of shapes. Also:
We have honored the children of Adam; and provided them with transport on land and sea; give them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favors above a great part of Our Creation. (17:70, Isra)
The working of the body is called nafs. It (i.e. the nafs) has the capacity to behave worse than animals, (Verily the nafs orders to commit sins, (12:53), or its desires can become so refined that it can be even more refined than the angels.
(As for him who fears his status with his Lord, and prohibits his nafs from material aspirations, verily, for him Paradise will be his abode. (78:42)
The goal of the nafs is called "hawa". This word means: ambition, purpose, aspiration, desire.
When the aspiration of a person is only to acquire & enjoy material things, he or she will not be able to experience Mi'raj. About such a person Allah says:
Have you not seen the one who takes as his god his own vain desire? Allah, knowing him as such, leaves him to go astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. (45:23, Jaathiya)
When ones heart & sight are sealed he will not be able to grasp something of the mysteries of the creation, and will not be able to behold the Glory of the Lord. Allah elaborates about this a little more in the following verse. He says:
Whoever desires the life of the Hereafter, We give increase in his tilth; and whoever desires the amenities of this world, We give him some of it but he will be getting nothing in the Hereafter. (42:20, Shura)
There are some people who are trying to get to their Lord, and so they control their worldly aspirations. About them Allah says:
As for him who entertains fear of standing before his Lord, and restrains his nafs from vain or low desires, their abode will be the Garden. (79:40)
The best example of the principle of such restraints was found in the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In this connection Allah says about him the following:
He never said anything of his own "hawa", i.e. aspiration, ambition, etc. (53:3)
When your desires of your nafs co-inside with the desires of the Ruh, you have reached the stage of Nafsul Mutmainnah. About such people Allah says:
O nafs that has reached the state of peace and tranquility return to your Lord, well pleased with yourself and well pleasing with Him. (81:27-28).
The question that can be asked here is: In such a condition of body mind & soul, can a person experience Mi'raj in this life? In answer to this it might be good to know that, when Abraham had declared:
Verily, my prayer and my service of sacrifice of sacrifice, my living and my dying are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. (6:162) then Allah gave him his Mi'raj. Allah says: Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and it was so that he might have certainty. ((6:75)
Mi'raj is an experience of the total personality, during the person's physical life on this earth. It can be experienced by any individual who is sincerely aspiring to please his Lord by submitting to Him & establishing restraint upon the desires of the nafs. When a person does such he will get a religious experience called al-Yaqeen i.e. certainty. Allah says:
Submit yourselves until you experience certainty. (15:99)
Some scholars are of the view that certainty here means death, as death is sure. But Hazrat Abu Bakr narrates that the Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said: "Ask Allah for forgiveness and health for after being granted certainty, one is given nothing better than health. (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah).
Mi'raj can be experienced in different ways, for example, it can be experienced in three basic ways, viz.
* Personal feeling, while awake. The best personal feeling one can have is while in Salaat; as in this position it is the worshipper standing before his Lord with nothing between them. It is in this context that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said that: Salaat is the Mi'raj of the true believer.
* True dreams: During sleep, the soul can travel and even visit Paradise by the leave of Allah; that is why some people dream something of the Garden of Bliss.
* Spiritual knowledge: In this state of physical condition the person will experience things which he will not be able to describe as they will be outside the realm of reason & logic.
Mi'raj is a Religious experience outside the realm of reason & logic. It is because of this Allah says about the Prophet's (pbuh) Mi'raj, that it will be a source of controversy to the people. He says: And We have not granted the vision which We have given to you, except that it will be a trial (or a source of controversy) for mankind. (17:60, Al-Isra)
Religious experience will always be a source of controversy. When Moses use to go up on the mountain to meet his Lord, the Jews argued about it, so much so that they requested Moses to take them with him let them verify that what he was saying was true. When they went up there, Allah caused all of them to die, and then He gave them back their lives.
Real Mi'raj is when the person, by Allah's Grace is able to ascend, in this lifetime to the heavens & view some of the creations of Paradise. That will only be possible when the nafs has attained the state of peace & tranquility. For such a person, Allah will open the gates of the skies (or heavens) & they will see something of His Signs. He says:
To those who reject Our Signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of the skies (for them) nor will they enter Jannah. (740:)
The gates of the skies are always open to the righteous, as their good deeds are recorded in the skies in a place called Illiyeen. In addition some of them can ascend beyond the barriers of the skies, as the Prophet (pbuh) did on the night of Mi'raj.
Everyday there are creatures ascending to the heavens and others descending. Allah says:
He (Allah) knows all that goes into the earth and all that comes out thereof, and all that comes down from the sky and all that ascend there to. (34:2)
Allah is the Lord of the many stairways of ascent. (70:3)
Some people believe that it is only the angels that ascend to the heavens, however that may not be so as many other things go up to the skies, for example the good deeds of the pious believers. Also, there are pious people, even in this age who are able to ascend beyond the first sky, as Allah, out of His Mercies, do open up the gates of the skies for some of them.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a special person amongst all humans, Jinns & angels. He had a special mission. This can be summarized as follows:
* To teach man to recognize that Allah is Lord of the worlds, and that there are no other gods besides Him.
* To invite man to Allah & to light up the Path of ascent for all those who are desirous of doing so. Allah tells us about his mission as follows:
O Prophet, truly We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad Tidings and a Warner; and as one who invites to Allah by His leave, and as a Lamp that gives light (on the way); and give Glad Tidings to the Believers, that they shall have from Allah a very great Bounty. (Ahzab,33:45-7)
So Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) went along the path through which he was supposed to lead the believers back to Allah. The complete journey back to Allah was experienced during the night of Mi'raj.
We must always keep in mind that Adam was a physical being in Jannah before he came down to earth. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who was the best among mankind, and the mercy to the worlds, was given the opportunity to retrace the journey upwards from where Adam came; because Adam traveled physically downwards, the blessed Messenger did so in a physical form as he journeyed upwards through the skies. It is because of this that Ibn Abbas said:
The things described by the Prophet (pbuh) were actual eye witness shown to him.
The beloved Prophet (pbuh) was invited to witness the things he was preaching about, such as Paradise, Hell, reward and punishment. More importantly, he was invited to witness the Divine existence of the Lord Himself. Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:
Allah bears witness that, verily, He, there is no god but He, and the angels bear witness, and those endued with knowledge standing firm with justice. (3:18)
So every time a believer declares that he bears witness that there is no god but Allah, he is saying so on the authority of the verification of this fact by the Prophet (pbuh) who witnessed the Divine presence alone, standing before the Throne.
In the Qur'an you will find support for some of the things that occurred on the journey of Mi'raj. One of these is the meeting with Moses. We all know how Moses pleaded with the Prophet (pbuh) to have the amount of Salaat reduced. But did he actually meet Moses? In the Qur'an we read the following verse:
And verily, We have given Moses the book, so do not doubt about the meeting with him (i.e. Moses). (Sajdah, 32:23)
The Qur'an also confirms that the Prophet (pbuh) went nearest to his Lord, nearer than any other created thing including Angel Gabriel. Allah says:
Verily, this is the word of a most honorable Messenger, endued with Power and Rank, standing before the Lord of the Throne, with authority there and faithful to his trust. (Tawkir, 81:19-21)
The majority of scholars interpret this verse in reference to Jibraeel, but it could not mean the angel, for the following reasons:
* The believers did not hear the message coming from the mouth of Jibraeel; but they know that the Prophet (pbuh) recited it.
* There is no record that Jibraeel ever stood before the Throne of Allah
* Angels do not have authority except what the Lord bestows on them
* Prophet (pbuh) had more rank than Jibraeel as he went where the angel could not have gone.
* Angels prostrated before Adam before, so that the cream of the creation of man certainly has more rank and authority than one who prostrated before a less important person.
We are all aware that on the night of the Mi'raj, there was a point of ascent above which Jibraeel could not have gone, it was only the Prophet (pbuh) who was able to ascend beyond it, and to stand before his Lord as is recorded in the verse mentioned above.
The Mi'raj of the Prophet (pbuh) was unique. It had three distinct phases, viz.
* The journey from Makkah to Jerusalem.
* The journey to the heavens.
* The journey after Jibraeel could not have gone further along with him.
The fact that he was able to go up to Allah is fulfillment of the Qur'anic verse in which Allah says:
To your Lord is your final destination. (Najm. 53:42)
The Mi'raj was the experience of the Prophet (pbuh) with his total personality, i.e. with his body, mind and soul. We know that he was physically transported to Jerusalem, that is why it is called "Israa" a night journey. On the way, he did some physical things, verified by those with whom he came into contact.
Then Allah speaks about his sight and heart in Surah Najm, meaning that he saw with his eyes and understood with his heart. This was easy for him as Allah says about the true believers that He Allah becomes the eyes with which they see, the ears with which they hear and the hearts with which they understand.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was blessed with the great experience of witnessing everything he preached. He also, through Allah's Grace established the Institution of Worship in which the believer stands in front of his Lord and speak to Him, in a way that no other creature has the opportunity to do. It is for us to make use of the opportunity and climb all the way to our Lord as our leader did.
May Allah bless us all.
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