mi'raj un nabi and sunni beliefs

Nabi Paak alayhisalam saw Allah Ta'ala with their eyes. Is the location known? Allah Ta'ala is free from place and space.

 

In this sacred month of Rajab, I want to share with you some lines of poetry from a Kalam (poem) I have recently been reading and listening to.
This Kalam speaks about the ultimate reality of one of the greatest miracles of the beloved Prophet ﷺ; 'al-Isra wal-miraj ' - The night journey and the ascension. And that reality is...

عرش کی عقل دنگ ہے چرخ میں آسمان ہے - جانِ مُراد اب کدھر ہائے تیرا مکان ہے


"Even the Throne’s own reason stands astonished, The heavens reel in wonder—where now is Your abode, O Essence of all Searches ﷺ?"

Explanation: The Prophet ﷺ has transcended all created realms in Miʿrāj; even the highest of created intellects cannot locate his station.

بزمِ ثنائے زلف میں میری عروسِ فکر کو - ساری بہارِ ہشت خُلد چھوٹا سا عطردان ہے


"In the gathering of praise for Your curls, All eight paradises are but a tiny vial of perfume for my thought’s bride."

Explanation: Even Jannah pales before the beauty and praise of the Prophet ﷺ; paradise becomes only an adornment to his remembrance.

عرش پہ جا کے مرغِ عقل تھک کے گرا غش آ گیا - اور ابھی منزلوں پرے پہلا ہی آستان ہے


"The bird of intellect collapsed in a faint upon the Throne, While this was only the first threshold—many stages still beyond."

Explanation: Reason reaches its limit at the Throne, but for the Prophet ﷺ this is merely the beginning, not the destination.

عرش پہ تازہ چھیڑ چھاڑ فرش میں طرفہ دھوم دھام - کان جدھر لگائیے تیری ہی داستان ہے


"Fresh converse unfolds upon the Throne, And on earth there is a celebration, wherever one listens, only Your story resounds."

Explanation: While divine intimate conversation occurs in the highest heavens, the entire creation celebrates and narrates the Prophet’s ﷺ glory. In the skies and on the earth, wherever you place your ear, you will hear His praise ﷺ .

اِک ترے رخ کی روشنی چین ہے دو جہان کی - اِنس کا اُنس اُسی سے ہے جان کی وہی جان ہے


"A single ray from Your face is peace for both worlds; All human comfort flows from You—You are the soul of every soul."

Explanation: The Prophet’s ﷺ light is the source of tranquility in this world and the next, and the essence of human meaning.

وہ جو نہ تھے تو کچھ نہ تھا وہ جو نہ ہوں تو کچھ نہ ہو - جان ہیں وہ جہان کی، جان ہے تو جہان ہے


"Had he not been, nothing would have been; He is the soul of the universe—when the soul remains, the world exists."

Explanation: This expresses the doctrine of Ḥaqīqat-e-Muḥammadiyyah: creation exists through and for Him ﷺ .

گود میں عالمِ شباب حالِ شباب کچھ نہ پوچھ! - گلبنِ باغِ نور کی اور ہی کچھ اٹھان ہے


"In the cradle of perfect youth—ask not His state; The rose of the Garden of Light rises with a bearing unlike all else."

Explanation: The Prophet ﷺ embodies a beauty and perfection beyond description, rooted in divine light.

تجھ سا سیاہ کار کون اُن سا شفیع ہے کہاں - پھر وہ تجھی کو بھول جائیں دل یہ تیرا گمان ہے


"Who is more sinful than you, and where an intercessor like Him ﷺ? O heart, to think he’d forget you—this is only your assumption."

Explanation: The poet humbles himself yet affirms complete hope in the Prophet’s ﷺ unmatched intercession.


(Maqtaʿ)- Concluding Couplet

خوف نہ رکھ رضؔا ذرا تو تو ہے عبدِ مصطفیٰ - تیرے لیے امان ہے تیرے لیے امان ہے


"Fear not, O Raza—not even a trace, You are the slave of al-Mustafa ﷺ; for you there is safety! for you there is safety!"

Explanation: Imam Ahmad Raza consoles himself—and all lovers—that servitude to the Prophet ﷺ is itself a guarantee of divine protection.

~Shaykh Anis ahmed

 

This^ I personally find it annoying when few scholars attempt to "connect the dots" by bridging Miraj and physics. There's so many other factors we have to explain before we try to give a scientific understanding. Just leave it as a miracle.

 

I don’t think this makes sense at all.

I’m not an expert in Physics so maybe someone with a degree in it can comment or correct me.

This is my understanding of it:

The speed of light has nothing to do with light. It just so happens that a photon travels at that speed. The speed of light is better explained as the speed of causality. Nothing can happen faster than the speed of causality.

Causality happens in space so if you’re moving from point A to point B in the fabric of space, you can’t move faster than the speed of light. One way would be to move the fabric itself, i.e space itself. For example, if you think of space as a carpet, if you run faster than a certain speed, you’ll slip. However, remaining stationary on the carpet whilst it is being pulled can allow you to go faster than the speed limit of ‘running on the carpet’.

We don’t know exactly how the Miraj happened nor do we have enough information to understand the physics of it. In truth this discussion will lead nowhere. We just have to accept it as a miracle.

 

Noor *only will be wrong. Noor and human both at the same time is correct. Only human and denying his Noor is what the heretics do.

 

If I am not mistaken it is wrong to say that he is a Noor. I believe we should rather say he was human but not like us.

 

RasulAllah ﷺ is himself Noor, and the normal light that we are talking about cannot be compared to his Noor. So I dont see an issue if one accepts that he travelled faster than light!

 

See this post for more books, specially the first book 'mi'raaj e habib e khuda' as it is a translation of a book by shaykh yousuf saleh al-shami 935H, who compiled and ordered all shahih ahadith of mi'raj sharif, plus there are answers to some objections on those ahadith and some nice conclusions.

 

also found this:
http://islamiccentre.org/presentations/IsraAndMiraj.pdf

 

according to the modern research the size of the universe (under the first sky to my understanding) is 160 billion light years, when RasullAllah alaihi afDalus salaat wattasleem went from masjid al-aqsah to the first sky, the other prophets had already reached there. i imagine that the travel of our holy prophet Muahmmed aliahi afDalus salaat wattasleem on burraq with angles on both sides was like of a prince, therefore it was at a slow pace (but faster than any known speed measures), whereas all the other Prophets reached there before him (alaihi afDalus salaat wattasleem) because they had to give him reception.

now, in ahadith and sayings of ulama we find that distance for the earth to the first sky is 500 years, to reconcile among various reports and scientific findings we can say that it either means

i) the duration is indeed 500 years but the speed certainly would be faster than the speed of light
ii) or the 'year' in ahadith doesn't mean the year of our earth.

and the awe doesn't end here when we read that RasulAllah went beyond the 7 skies, each having same distance from the previous one, and not only that but you'll find yourself speechless when you read ayaat al-Kursi that



and all this happend in a small part of a night

 

ma sha Allaah, it was an honour to read the initial post of sidi Aqdas. Beautiful.

 

English books on Isra & Mi'raj

Check the following books in English:

1. The Prophet's Night Journey & Heavenly Ascent
Author: Sayyid Alawi al-Maliki, transalted by Gibril Haddad
Publisher: Al Aqsa

This is a short account covering 60+ pages and is a very good read.


2. Muhammad - The Messenger of Islam
Author: Hajjah Amina Adil
see here for more details

This book has over 150 pages devoted only to Mi'raj. Some of the accounts are described in such detail that I (given my very limited knowledge) have never come across these elsewhere. Highly recommended (provided it is authentic).


3. Subtleties of the Ascension - Early Mystical sayings on The Prophet Muhammad’s Heavenly Journey The Isra wa Mi'raj
Compiler: Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman Sulami
Publisher: Fons Vitae

Translated by an orientalist, the book is otherwise fine, but for some strange reasons has dozen odd paintings of various prophets (alayhis salaam). I had posted my crib here.

 

how about this? however it's only available in hardcopy and a lot more pages than what you requested:
http://islam786books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=456

 

One of the miracles of Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) was his ascent to the Mi’râj; while he was in bed in al-Mekkat al-Mukarrama, he was awakened and his blessed body was taken to the Aqsâ Mosque in Jerusalem (Quds), thence to the heavens, and after the seventh heaven, to the places which Allâhu ta’âlâ determined.

We have to believe in the Mi’râj in this manner. How the Mi’râj happened is written in detail in many valuable books, particularly in Shifâ’-i sherîf. He went with Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi’s-salâm) from Mekka to Sidrat al-muntahâ, a tree in the sixth and seventh heavens. No knowledge, no ascent could go further than there. In Sidra, Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) saw Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) in his own shape with his six hundred wings. Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) remained in Sidra. From Mekka to Jerusalem, or to the seventh heaven, Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was taken on Burâq, which was a white, very fast, sexless and unworldly animal of Paradise and which is smaller than a mule and bigger than an ass. Each of its steps reached beyond eyeshot.

At the Aqsâ Mosque, Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) became the imâm for prophets in the night or morning prayer. Prophets’ souls were present there in their own human figures. From Jerusalem up to the seventh heaven, he was made to ascend in a moment with an unknown ladder named Mi’râj. On the way, angels lined up on the right and on the left, praised and lauded him. At each heaven, Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) announced the good news of Rasûlullah’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) arrival. In each heaven he saw a prophet and greeted him.

In Sidra, he saw many astonishing things, the blessings of Paradise and the tortures of Hell. He looked at none of the blessings of Paradies out of the desire for and the pleasure of seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Jamâl. Beyond Sidra, he went ahead alone, among nûrs (radiances). He heard the sounds of the angels’ pens. He went through seventy thousand curtains. The distance between two curtains was like a way of five hundred years. After this, on a bed named Rafraf, which was brighter than the sun, he went through the Kursî and reached the ’Arsh. He went out of the ’Arsh, out of the worlds of time, space and matter. He reached the stage to hear Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Speech.

He saw Allâhu ta’âlâ in a manner that cannot be understood or explained, like Allâhu ta’âlâ will be seen in the next world without time and space. He spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ without letters and sounds. He glorified, praised and lauded Him. He was given innumerable gifts and honours. Fifty times of performance of salât in a day were made fard for him and for his umma, but this was gradually reduced to five times a day with the mediation of Mûsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm). Before this, salât had been performed only in the mornings and in the afternoons or at nights.

After such a long journey, having attained gifts and blessings and having seen and heard so many bewildering things, he came back to his bed, which had not become cold yet. What we have written above was understood partly from âyats and partly from hadîths. It is not wâjib to believe all. Yet, since the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna communicated them, those who deny these facts will be separated from Ahl as-sunna. And he who does not believe an âyat or a hadîth becomes a disbeliever.

 

according to scholars they are alive in their grave but not like normal human
we could not know how it is...

 

Came across this today! Simply fantastic!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9703492/Divine-Vision