Mystical Journeying: 'Isra' and 'Mi'raj'

'..Before concluding my sermon, I would also like to say a few words about the Isra and Mi'raj of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It was indeed two of the most important visions and communications that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) received from God the Almighty, for it was during one of those spiritual - and not physical - journeys that Allah ordered Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and his Ummah (his community) to worship (Salat) five times a day.

Importance must be given to these blessed days, not because the Holy Prophet (pbuh) made “physical” journeys to heaven, but because all communication between Allah and His Messenger was and will always be special. These experiences were purely spiritual, lived by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in a state between awakening and sleep, called “Kashf” (vision). 

Keep in mind that man can never rise to the Pleiades physically, even if he tastes the final death. His corpse remains on earth, while the soul goes back where it is destined to go.

When the unbelievers had asked the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to go up to heaven and bring them a book, here is the answer he gave them: “Am I not only a human-messenger?” (Al-Isra 17: 94)

The “Kashf” is not a definitive death. The soul is spiritually awake and connected to God through His revelation and Divine Force that draws him to Him and to a world of temporary spiritual well-being. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) lived the most perfect “Kashf” because Allah made him cross the seven heavens to meet Him in an intimate and loving way.

In the authentic Hadiths, it is mentioned two important occasions when the Holy Prophet traveled in a state of vision until arriving in the Presence of Allah, without however perceiving it with his physical eyes, because Allah mentions in the Qur’an, that He grasps every sight, but no sight can grasp Him. (Al-Anam 6: 104).

Ibn Abbas (ra) recounts that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) saw Allah twice through his heart. (Muslim). These visions of Allah were only divine manifestations, but he did not see Allah in His true form. He saw Him through the eyes of his heart and not his physical eyes. According to Abu Dharr, the prophet (pbuh) had seen a blazing Light.

One of the visions occurred at the Ka’aba while the other in the house of his cousin, Umme Hani, and both visions were lived during a state between sleep and awakening. Although his eyes were resting, but his heart, his soul, the essence of his spiritual being saw what Allah intended for him to see and live, as if he lived it physically (but which of course was not really physical).

Insha-Allah, it is very important to understand this subject because man, even a prophet cannot defy the laws of nature. Allah has established certain regulations, which all humans, even the prophets must respect. The prophets can forget, sleep, eat, and even make mistakes from time to time, but in truth they do not remain long in error because Allah, through revelation corrects them and makes them advance further into life with Taqwa and trust in Allah and their abilities as representatives of Allah on earth.

May Allah bless our beloved prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and all of his Ummah in this era. Let us remember the sacrifices of our beloved prophet (pbuh) and try to imitate him in our daily lives in order to reap the pleasure of Allah. Insha-Allah, Ameen. 

---Extracts from the Friday Sermon of 05 April 2019~ 28 Rajab 1440 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hadhrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.