The night of 27 Rajab: Isra and Miraj
And
also, like you know, tonight is the 27 Rajab and thus before closing my sermon
I will say a few words on it. On the night of 27 Rajab, occurred what is known
as the Isra and Miraj (the spiritual journey and ascension to the heavens) which the
Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) experienced. And according to the Hadith
and other anecdotes of Islam it is a 27 Rajab that our beloved prophet (pbuh) made
a night journey to Mecca and Jerusalem and later on to the heavens. It is
baffling that many Muslims still think that the journey was a physical one,
when verily it was a spiritual one. This is one of the reasons why they still
believe that Jesus, Hazrat Isa (as) is still physically alive in the heavens
and can come down with his body of clay back on earth. This provides them a
consolation that this is possible as they believe that the journey of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a physical one.
Prophets
of Allah usually speak in parables. Parables are but ways of the chosen ones of
Allah to illustrate situations so that they may better understand them, but
rather than understanding them, and implement them as and when they apply,
people misunderstand those parables and take them literally rather than
metaphorically.
Someone
who really experienced the state of Kashaf
(vision) may better understand the state that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
was when Allah granted him the vision. Despite the fact that the degree of this
prophetic Kashaf was a much of a higher
level than any other Kashafs which other people may witness, including those of
the past prophets, but only what is clear in this case is that Allah only takes
the soul of His servants who are alive only by both the state of sleep and
consciousness which we call vision (Kashaf).
Compared with sleep which ordinarily is deep and resembles death, the state of Kashaf comes in the waking state where
the inner heart of the soul (the Sirr)
of this servant of God is awake. His Sirr
then is awake, his physical and spiritual eyes are awake and also his material
body is awake when he is conscious although he is in bed or in other positions of
Zikr-e-Ilaahi, and he also realizes that
Allah is trying to attract his soul (towards Him) and is somehow uprooting his
soul despite that his soul is still connected with his physical body.
So, what was the nature of this journey? Did it take place
when the Prophet (pbuh) was asleep or when he was awake? Did he actually
undertake a journey in the physical sense or did he have a spiritual vision
while remaining in his own place? In fact, it was neither one nor the
other, but really a mixture of the two truths, as he would have to have been in
the state of Zikrullah, been lying
down on his bed, or it may be that from deep sleep, Allah has awakened his
consciousness and thus his (physical) body also so that he may also experience
this vision by having all his physical and spiritual senses. And thus he saw
what he saw with his eyes, both physical and spiritual as a manifestation within
the limit of the hidden world (Ghayb)
which Allah has kindly shown him; as his physical eyes are aware (whether they
are closed or open), and it is likewise for his spiritual eyes too, but only
there was never any kind of levitation (where his entire body rises in the air,
rising to the sky physically) when he made such a journey and ascension. It is
his soul which Allah has in an extraordinary way disconnected from his body to
testify such a vision without making him lose his life.
Each
group of Muslims can come forward with arguments and Hadiths from several
sources to prove their point of view. But those who say that the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) made an ascension, in the air with his physical body do not
realize that when Allah establishes a law, namely that of gravity, He respects that
and therefore that which was created with the earth is connected with the earth
and shall die and buried in the ground, while the soul is of the essence of
Allah; and that (soul) of a prophet, especially that of the most perfect of
prophets is more connected, even closer to Allah. So Allah has this power and
established the law that He takes the soul of His servant or that of His
Prophet and returns him his soul like when He gives a temporary death to all
people and then gives them back life the next morning when we wake up from our
sleep. We all dream, and those dreams, we witness them with our spiritual eyes,
and we travel with our spiritual body, not with our body that resembles the death
which are found on the bed (i.e., when asleep).
May
Allah make us all understand this truth and I pray that Allah give me more
knowledge on this subject, so that we better understand all the more His
manifestations and signs. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
May Allah (swt) bless all of you, Ameen, Summa
Ameen, Ya Rabbul Aalameen.
(Extracts from the Friday Sermon of May 15, 2015 (26 Rajab 1436 Hijri) delivered by the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.