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| | The Night Journey and the Ascension |  |
| | | كاتب الموضوع | رسالة |
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أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:11 pm | |
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The Night Journey and the Ascension
Aisha Stacey
www.islamreligion.com website
2013 - 1434
The Night Journey and the Ascension
The Night Journey
Prologue
The journey of the Prophet and Messenger, Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, by night from the Holy Mosque in Mec-ca to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem was a miracle granted to Him by God.
It is the first part of a night of wonder and amazement, cul-minating in Prophet Muham-mad’s ascension through the heavens and into the presence of God.
“Glorified be He Who took His slave on a journey by night from Al-Masjid-al-Haram to the Masjid-al-Aqsa, the neigh-borhood whereof We have blessed, in order that We might show him of Our signs. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.” (Quran 17:1)
It was a physical journey and all the events about to be described took place in one night.
This series of articles will use the word masjid instead of its English translation, mosque. The reason for this is that the word masjid implies much more than the recognisable building where Muslims pray. The word masjid comes from the root “sa-ja-da” meaning to prostrate, therefore a masjid is any place of prostration. The Prophet Muhammad told us “this earth was made a Masjid for me.” This gift from God was given only to the nation of Muhammad.
A Muslim can pray in any place that is not impure (with a few exceptions). There are buildings specifically for prayer, but any place a Muslim prays is a masjid, in the literal sense – a place of prostration. The act of prostration is the most honourable part of the prayer. When a Muslim’s fore-head touches the ground, he or she is very close to God. Prayer establishes the connec-tion between the believer and his Lord, and it was on this mi-raculous night that the five dai-ly prayers were instated.
In the story to follow you will learn some more about this man called Muhammad and come to understand a little about why Muslims love him. You will also discover why Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem is one of the three Holy Masjids in Islam. God refers to Jerusa-lem in the Quran as “the neighbourhood we have blessed”.
The Dome of the Rock, part of the precinct of Masjid al-Aqsa, is the most recognizable symbol of Jerusalem and holds a special place in the hearts of every Muslim. On this journey we are about to undertake you will learn why. So let us travel back through time, to 7th century Arabia, to the city of Mecca and accompany Prophet Muhammad on his night jour-ney and ascension.
The Journey Commences
Approximately ten years after Prophet Muhammad received the first revelations of the Qu-ran, he suffered two grave losses. One was the death of his uncle Abu Talib, the man who had supported and loved him from the time he was a young orphan, and then only two months later, Muhammad’s beloved wife, Khadijah, died. This year became known as the Year of Sorrow.
In the years leading up to these sad events, the new Muslims, especially Prophet Muhammad, were persecuted, ridiculed and abused. The strength and loyalty of his un-cle combined with the love and compassion shown to him by Khadijah helped him to remain strong and continue spreading the message in the face of grave adversity. However, he now felt alone and extremely overwhelmed by his sadness.
When one has truly surren-dered to God, the pains and sorrows of this life form part of a test of faith, and these tests are always followed by relief. In chapter 94 of the Quran, called Solace, God assures Prophet Muhammad that with every hardship comes relief, and He repeats it a second time with emphasis - with every hardship comes relief. After this extremely difficult year, Prophet Muhammad felt his relief in the form of a major blessing, the Night Journey and Ascension.
“So verily, with hardship, there is relief. Verily, with hardship, there is relief.” (Qu-ran 94:4-6)
Even though it was danger-ous and he risked attack by the Pagans of Mecca, Prophet Mu-hammad often spent the night in prayer at the Holy Masjid in Mecca. On this particular night, he was lying close to the Ka’ba (the black cube in the middle of the Masjid) in a state between wakefulness and sleep. An angel came and cut open his chest from the throat to the below the stomach.
The angel removed Prophet Muhammad’s heart and placed it in a golden bowl filled with faith, the heart was purified, filled and returned to its place.
This was not the first time that an angel had come down and extracted Muhammad’s heart. As a small child, Mu-hammad lived in the deserts of Arabia with a foster family ac-cording to custom, for the desert environment was known to be much healthier and more suitable for proper cultivation than the cities. When he was four or five years old and play-ing in this wilderness with his young friends, the Angel Ga-briel appeared, removed Mu-hammad’s heart and extracted from it a portion, referring to it as “a part of Satan”.
The Angel Gabriel washed the heart with the water of zamzam (the well of Mecca which sprung to quench the thirst of Ishmael) and returned it to its place. The other child-ren ran away screaming, think-ing Muhammad was being murdered, but by the time they returned with help, he was alone, scared and white, but with only a small mark from the ordeal.
عدل سابقا من قبل أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn في الأربعاء 19 فبراير 2020, 5:33 pm عدل 1 مرات |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:17 pm | |
| Prophet Muhammad’s mis-sion was to guide all of humanity to the worship of the One True God, thus every aspect of his life formed part of God’s plan to prepare him for this great responsibility. As a child, the part of Satan was removed from his heart, and as an adult, about to undertake the building of the Muslim na-tion, his heart was purified and filled with pure faith. The next part of this miraculous night then commenced.
Prophet Muhammad was pre-sented with a white animal he described as being smaller than a horse but larger than a donkey, it was known as al-Buraq. This animal, he said, could take a stride as far as it could see. With one leap, al Buraq could cover an incredi-bly vast distance. The Angel Gabriel told Prophet Muham-mad to mount the animal, and together they travelled more than 1200 km. to the furthest masjid – Masjid al-Aqsa.
Prophet Muhammad was on the back of al-Buraq while the animal’s stride reached to-wards the horizon, and the stars glittered in the night sky over the deserts of Arabia and beyond. He must have felt the wind on his face and been aware of his newly filled heart thumping in his chest. Imagine what signs and wonders of God Prophet Muhammad must have seen on that miraculous journey by night!
Masjid Al-Aqsa
This was a difficult time in the life of Prophet Muhammad, and this journey was a great compliment to him. The deli-verance of the message was entering a new phase, and the establishment of the Muslim nation was about to begin. Prophet Muhammad was feeling overwhelmed and alone.
The vast majority of Meccans had refused to heed his call or accept his message. Both his beloved uncle and cherished wife had died, and this gift of God offered him support and opened his eyes to the signs and wonders of the universe. After travelling the enormous distance to Jerusalem on the back of al-Buraq, Prophet Mu-hammad reached the area known as Masjid al-Aqsa. He dismounted and tethered al-Buraq to a ring in the gate.
Another Miracle Occurs
Prophet Muhammad walked into the Masjid – the place of prostration - to be met by a group of the previous Proph-ets; he then had the great ho-nour of leading them in prayer. God rewarded His Messenger and caused him to understand that the Prophets before him also went through difficult times preaching to their people.
They stood behind Prophet Muhammad and acknowledged him as their leader. This was another indication of his im-portance and excellence as well as the nature of his mes-sage.
Before the advent of Prophet Muhammad, all the Prophets delivered their message of submission to One God to their own people; Muhammad, however, had come for all of mankind. God refers to him as a mercy.
God says in Quran:
“He listens to what is best for you; he believes in God; has faith in the believers; and is a mercy to those of you who be-lieve.” (Quran 9:61)
The message was interna-tional, and this communication distributed worldwide was Is-lam. The Prophets of God stood behind the newest and final Messenger of God and supported him when his need was greatest. Prophet Mu-hammad mentions in his say-ings that all of the Prophets are brothers. This congregation standing behind Prophet Muhammad was a sign of real and everlasting brotherhood.
The Significance of Al-Aqsa
The fact that this momentous occasion took place in Jerusa-lem is also of significance. This is the land of the Prophets of God; this is the land of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and Jesus. God was forging a link between his Holy House in Mecca and Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. God was also link-ing the so-called cradle of reli-gion, the Holy Land around Jerusalem, with the land of Arabia, the birthplace of the re-ligion designed by the Creator, for all of humanity - Islam.
God established Al-Aqsa as one of the three Holy Masjids in Islam. The Holy Masjid in Mecca, the Prophet Muham-mad’s Masjid, yet to be estab-lished in Medina, and this Masjid in this blessed neigh-bourhood of Jerusalem. It is only to these three Masjids to which Muslims can travel for the purpose of worship.
One prayer in Masjid Al-Aqsa is worth 250 prayers else-where, excluding the Prophet’s Masjid where one prayer is the equivalent of 1,000 prayers and the Holy Masjid in Mecca where one prayer contains the reward of 100,000 prayers. God emphasized the signific-ance and sacredness of Masjid Al-Aqsa, and for this reason it plays an important role in a Muslim’s life. Therefore it is guarded and protected zeal-ously.
Al-Aqsa was the first qiblah (the direction in which a Muslim turns to pray) in Islam, but this direction was later changed to Holy Masjid in Mecca. Establishing the exact date for this change is difficult, but from the evidence, we can discover approximately when this occurred because the mis-sion of Prophet Muhammad is divided into two distinct pe-riods.
The Meccan period, defined by calling the people to the re-ligion of Islam, and the Medi-nan period, defined by the es-tablishment of the Muslim state. Prophet Muhammad and the majority of his followers migrated to the city of Medina in the 14th year of Prophet-hood.
The Night Journey and As-cension took place late in the Meccan period, while the qib-lah changed to Mecca around 15 months after the Prophet’s migration to Medina. From this, we can infer that the Mus-lims faced Al-Aqsa when pray-ing for approximately three years before God changed the direction to Mecca.
This by no means diminished the significance of Jerusalem or Masjid Al-Aqsa, it merely represented another step in the establishment of the message for all of humanity. The Holy Masjid in Mecca was fixed as the central point in Islam. |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:19 pm | |
| The Journey and Miracle Con-tinues
While still in the sacred pre-cincts of Masjid Al-Aqsa, the Angel Gabriel presented Prophet Muhammad with two cups. One was filled with milk, the other with wine, and both offered to the Prophet. Proph-et Muhammad chose and drank the milk. Angel Gabriel then said to him “Thanks be to God, who guided you to the fitrah; if you had taken the wine, your followers would have gone astray”.
It is difficult to translate the Arabic word fitrah into English; it denotes the natural and pure state in which one is born, an innate feeling that guides one to do the “right” thing. Prophet Muhammad instinctively chose right over wrong, good over evil, and the Straight Path rather than the crooked path to Hell.
It was from the Holy city of Jerusalem, in the sacred pre-cincts of Masjid Al-Aqsa that Prophet Muhammad com-menced the next stage of his miraculous Night Journey.
Prophet Muhammad as-cended to the lowest heaven from a rock. This rock can be found inside the Dome of the Rock, the most famous symbol of Jerusalem. It should not be confused with the actual Mas-jid building, which is on the other side of the Al-Aqsa com-pound. The entire precinct is the masjid, but many separate buildings exist there.
It is important to remember that although the Dome of the Rock is inside the Masjid com-pound, it is not Masjid Al-Aqsa and it is not the place of pro-stration where Prophet Mu-hammad led the previous Prophets in prayer. From the rock, now covered by the familiar golden dome, Prophet Muhammad ascended to the lowest heaven in the company of Angel Gabriel.
The Ascension
The Night Journey and the Ascension was a great blessing bestowed upon Muhammad, the Prophet of God. It was a journey be-ginning at the Holy Masjid in Mecca, then moving overland to Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and finally continuing up through the seven heavens in-to the presence of God, the Almighty. As we travel up through the seven heavens with Prophet Muhammad, it is important to remember that the places he visits are not part of Paradise.
In the English language, we generally use the word heaven to mean the spiritual plane of eternal happiness, the reward for a righteous life and the op-posite of hell, the place of eternal punishment. However, this was not always the case; the word heaven comes from the Old English word heofon, used to denote the sky, which is the area above the earth where the celestial bodies are.
Eventually, heaven lost its original meaning and came to imply Paradise. In Arabic, however, there have always been two separate words used, sama and jennah. The word sama is used for the skies above us, and they are part of the temporary world which will be destroyed on the Day of Judgement. The word jennah, however, denotes Paradise, the land of eternal bliss, the per-manent home of the righteous believers, and the opposite of Hell.
“Then He completed and fi-nished from their creation as seven heavens in two Days and He made in each heaven its affair. And We adorned the nearest heaven with light sources to be an adornment, as well as to guard. Such is the Decree of Him the All-Mighty, the All-Knower.” (Qu-ran 41:12)
“Their Lord gives them glad tidings of a Mercy from Him, and that He is pleased, and of Gardens (jennah) for them wherein are everlasting de-lights. They will dwell therein forever. Verily, with God is a great reward.” (Quran 9:21-22)
The Wonders of God
Prophet Muhammad as-cended into the heavens from the rock now housed in the familiar golden dome that has become the symbol for Jerusa-lem. This is a journey that no other human had ever made or has made since. It demon-strates God’s ability to bring the seemingly impossible into being. Here, the concepts of time and space as we know them do not apply, and it is beyond our human capabilities to understand the true omnipo-tence of God.
In his sayings and traditions, Prophet Muhammad described the size of the heavens; the first heaven, as compared to the second, is similar to a small ring in the desert, and he continued this narrative until he described the sixth heaven as being the size of a ring in the desert compared to the se-venth heaven.
The magnitude of this is un-imaginable. Our earth, and what we call the universe, is contained within the first hea-ven. Even with the scientific knowledge of the 21st century, we have no idea how big this is, how far the universe ex-tends, or what wonders it con-tains.
Prophet Muhammad travelled with the Angel Gabriel up into the heights of the heavens. Together they came to the gate of the first heaven, where An-gel Gabriel sought permission to enter. The gatekeepers asked, “Who is it?” to which Gabriel replied, “It is I, Ga-briel”.
The gatekeepers then asked who was accompanying him; when they were told it was Mu-hammad, they asked if he had been given his mission to guide all of mankind to the worship of One God. Angel Gabriel answered in the affir-mative, so the angels wel-comed Prophet Muhammad, called his arrival a pleasure, and opened the gate.
عدل سابقا من قبل أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn في الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:29 pm عدل 1 مرات |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:21 pm | |
| Greeting the Prophets
Prophet Muhammad tells us that he saw his father Adam, the father of all of mankind. He greeted him with the greeting of all Muslims, - Assalamu alaikum (may peace be upon you). Adam returned the greeting and expressed his faith in Muhammad’s pro-phethood. He called him his pure son, the pure prophet. Imagine the pleasure that this meeting must have given to both men.
After thousands of years, Adam was able to see his son Muhammad, the greatest of his descendents. Muhammad was able to look into the eyes of the father of mankind. The wonders however were only just beginning. Angel Gabriel and Prophet Muhammad then ascended to the second heaven.
At the gate, Angel Gabriel again sought permission to en-ter. When the gatekeepers learned Prophet Muhammad had been given his mission and was trying to enter, they welcomed him and opened the gate. There Prophet Muham-mad saw the two cousins, Prophet John (known in Chris-tian traditions as the Baptist) and the Messenger of God, Prophet Jesus; Prophet Mu-hammad exchanged greetings with them.
Prophet Muhammad and An-gel Gabriel ascended once more to the gates of the third heaven. At each gate, the same exchange took place. When the gatekeepers had es-tablished that it was Angel Ga-briel in the company of Prophet Muhammad, who had indeed been given his mission, they gave permission to enter. Here, in the third heaven, Prophet Muhammad met Jo-seph and described him as an embodiment of half of all beau-ty.
As Prophet Muhammad met the Prophets in each heaven, he exchanged greetings with them, and this was always As-salamu alaikum, the greeting of peace used by all those in submission to the One True God.
In the fourth heaven, Prophet Muhammad met Prophet Idris, whom God described in Quran (19:57) as being elevated to a very high level. In the fifth heaven, he met Prophet Aaron, the brother of Moses. At each meeting, the Prophets ex-pressed their faith in Muham-mad’s prophethood. In the sixth heaven, Prophet Mu-hammad met Moses.
Whenever Prophet Moses is mentioned in the Quran or in the narrations of Prophet Mu-hammad, we know that some-thing important is about to be described. After the two Prophets had exchanged greet-ings and Prophet Moses had expressed his faith in Muham-mad’s prophethood, Moses started to weep. When he was asked why, he replied: “A young man has come after me, and more of his followers will enter paradise then my follow-ers”.
Until the advent of Islam, Prophet Moses had had the largest following of any Proph-et. Moses cried, and from this, we can understand that there was a type of rivalry between the Prophets; but it was not a competition filled with jealousy or envy. Rather, it was filled with compassion.
As we move further into the journey, we will see the love and compassion Prophet Mos-es had for Muhammad and his followers. Prophet Muhammad and Angel Gabriel then as-cended into the seventh hea-ven.
The Seventh Heaven
The Angel Gabriel and Prophet Muhammad continued their miraculous ascension through the heavens. This journey was far beyond the wildest imagining of any hu-man being. It began in the deserts of Arabia and spanned the reaches of the known un-iverse and beyond.
At the gate of the seventh heaven, they exchanged the same questions and answers as in the previous heavens, and the angels declared their pleasure at meeting Prophet Muhammad. Permission to en-ter was given and the Prophet of God, accompanied by Ga-briel, the angel trusted with the revelations of God, moved into the final heaven.
The seventh heaven is an ex-pression used by Christians to denote extreme happiness or bliss, as in “I am in the seventh heaven”. In Islam, the seventh heaven is where Prophet Mohammad met Prophet Abraham; and indeed, he (Muhammad) must have been extremely happy and in a state of bliss, having been ho-noured with this journey of wonders.
Both Prophets exchanged greetings by saying Assalamu alaikum (may peace be upon you) and, as every other prophet had done, Prophet Ab-raham expressed his belief and faith in Prophet Muhammad’s mission.
Through his son, Ishmael, Abraham is the father of the Arabs and the ancestor of Prophet Muhammad; he is an ancestor of the people who be-came the Children of Israel (followers of Prophet Moses) through his son Isaac.
In Jewish traditions, Abra-ham is called the father of the Jews. However, Islam rejects this idea, for the Quran clearly states that he was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a be-liever in pure monotheism (be-lief in One God).
“Why do you dispute about Abraham, while the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? Have you then no sense? Abraham was nei-ther a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a true Muslim Hanifa.” (Quran 3:65 & 67)
Muslims are required to be-lieve in all of the Prophets of God; Abraham, however, holds a special place as one of the important messengers of God and has the unique honour of being called, in both Islamic and Christian traditions, the beloved servant of God. To-gether, Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Kaaba (the black cubical building in the middle of the Holy Masjid in Mecca).
“And remember when Abra-ham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, saying, Our Lord! Accept this from us. Verily! You are the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.” (Quran 2:127)
Muslims turn their faces to-wards the Kaba many times every day whilst performing their prayers, and in every prayer, they ask God to bless Abraham and his family. |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:22 pm | |
| The World of Angels
While in the seventh heaven, Prophet Muhammad was shown the building known as the much-frequented house, or al Bayt al-Mamoor in Arabic. It is fitting that Prophet Abraham was here with this house, as it is the heavenly equivalent of the Kaaba in Mecca.
Each year at the time of pil-grimage (Hajj), more than 2 million Muslims from all over the world flock to Mecca to follow in the footsteps of Prophet Abraham and perform certain rites including circling the Kaaba.
Every day 70,000 angels visit this much-frequented house in the seventh heaven to worship God. Prophet Muhammad in-formed us that, once the an-gels have visited Bayt al-Mamoor, they never return. God swears by this house in the Quran. “And by the Bayt al-Mamoor.” (Quran 52:4)
Seventy thousand angels every day! What are the implications of this? Think about it and wonder for how many thousands or even millions of years has this been happening? How many of these beings, created by God from light, are there?
This was another wonder that Prophet Muhammad was privileged to see and made able to describe to us. In his traditions, he also informs us that the heavens above us are moaning, every space as big as the width of four fingers is occupied by an angel worship-ping God.
The Uppermost Boundary
Prophet Muhammad then moved through the seventh heaven to the uppermost boundary, to Sidrat al-Muntaha, a lote tree.
“Near Sidrat al-Muntaha (lote-tree of the utmost boundary. Near it is the Paradise of Ab-ode.” (Quran 53:14-15)
He described its fruits like jugs and its leaves as big as elephant ears. Four rivers ori-ginated from the lote tree’s roots. When he asked about them, Prophet Muhammad was told that two of the rivers ori-ginated in Paradise. Nothing has reached us about the names or significance of these two rivers from the narrative of the ascension.
However, he was told that the other two rivers were replicas of the Nile and the Euphrates, two rivers that are especially blessed in this world of man-kind.
Sidrat al-Muntaha is called the uttermost boundary be-cause everything that comes up from the earth or the hea-vens stops there, and every-thing that comes down stops there, and because the knowledge of the angels stops at that point. No one has gone beyond it except Prophet Mu-hammad.
Beyond this point, we leave the heavens and move into the realm of the hereafter, the realm that contains Paradise and the Throne of God. As Prophet Muhammad continues his miraculous journey, he moves into this realm and stands in the presence of God Almighty. |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:23 pm | |
| 
In the Presence of God
Beyond the lote tree, the up-most boundary is a place where, apart from one excep-tion, no human has ever been.
The night journey and ascen-sion through the heavens cul-minated in Prophet Muhammad moving past the upmost boundary and standing in the presence of Almighty God. Beyond the lote tree is the realm of the hereafter, Paradise, and the throne of God and God him-self.
The word miraculous does not go far enough in describ-ing what a wonder this must have been for Prophet Mu-hammad. It is beyond descrip-tion and beyond imagining. However, the Prophet Muham-mad did not see God with his eyes, as God tells us in the Qu-ran “No vision can grasp Him.” (Quran 6:103)
One of the companions asked Prophet Muhammad di-rectly if he saw God, to which he answered, “He is veiled by light, how could I see him.” (Saheeh Muslim)
The fact remains however, that Muhammad Prophet of God, stood in the presence of God.
The Importance of Prayer
God spoke to Prophet Mu-hammad and we have no de-tails of the exchange except that God enjoined the daily prayers upon Prophet Mu-hammad and his followers. From this, we immediately un-derstand the importance of prayer.
It is the only command which God ordained in the heavens; all other decrees ori-ginated on earth. Prayer is a gift from God to those who tru-ly believe in His Oneness. God bestowed this gift upon Proph-et Muhammad who in turn gave it to the followers of Islam.
It is a gift full of great bless-ings and bounties. It estab-lishes and maintains our connection to God. God has no need of our prayers but we, as helpless human beings, are in great need of feeling con-nected to Him. In fact, the Arabic word for the five daily prayers is salah, which come from the root word meaning “connection”.
“Guard strictly five obligatory prayers especially the middle prayer. And stand before God with obedience.” (Quran 2:238)
God enjoined 50 prayers on Prophet Muhammad and his followers. As Prophet Mu-hammad was descending he passed by Prophet Moses who requested to know what had been enjoined.
When Prophet Muhammad explained that he had been or-dered to prayer 50 times per day, Moses felt astonished and immediately said, “Go back to your Lord and ask for a reduc-tion”.
When God prescribed 50 prayers, Prophet Muhammad accepted it, Moses, having had been a great prophet himself, knew what from his followers what people could and could not handle in regards to reli-gious obligations. He was sure that the followers of Muham-mad would not be able to per-form that many prayers. Prophet Muhammad had know-ledge. but Prophet Moses at this time had more experience.
Prophet Muhammad accepted the advice of his older brother/prophet, went back into the presence of God, and asked for a reduction. God reduced them by ten to forty prayers. Prophet Muhammad descended again; Prophet Moses asked him what happened. When he heard that the reduction was only ten, Prophet Moses sent him back to ask again for a further reduction.
This exchange continued un-til the number of obligatory prayers became five. Prophet Moses suggested a further re-duction saying, “O Muham-mad, I know people, your na-tion will not be able to handle it, go back and ask for the bur-den on your people to be re-lieved.” Prophet Muhammad answered “No.”
He felt ashamed to ask for another reduction and said he was satisfied with five daily prayers. A voice rang out, say-ing, “The prayers have been reduced to five but they will be rewarded as though they were fifty.”
God makes it clear to us that even praying these five prayers can be difficult for some people, but that those who es-tablish the connection and trust that they will one day meet their Lord will find it easy.
“And seek help in patience and the prayer: and truly it is extremely heavy and hard ex-cept for the true believers in God. Those who obey God with full submission, fear much from His Punishment, and believe in His Promise (Paradise, etc.) and in His Warnings (Hell, etc.). (They are those) who are certain that they are going to meet their Lord, and that unto Him they are going to return.” (Quran 2:45–46)
عدل سابقا من قبل أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn في الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:27 pm عدل 1 مرات |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:24 pm | |
| Mercy, Love and Compassion
This miraculous night con-cluded with this sign of the mercy of God. Imagine how hard it would be to pray 50 times a day. Although we learned during this journey that Moses cried when he rea-lised Prophet Muhammad would have more followers then he on the Day of Judge-ment, we also learn how eager Prophet Moses was to give ad-vice to Prophet Muhammad, and how keen he was to make the practice of Islam easy upon the believers.
The competition between the Prophets was one of love and compassion, and from this we should learn how to treat each other. Although God tells us to compete with one another in doing deeds of righteousness, we should encourage and ena-ble one another to do this easi-ly.
“...so strive as in a race in good deeds. The return of you (all) is to God; then He will in-form you about that in which you used to differ.” (Quran 5:48)
Prophet Muhammad then descended back to the Holy Mosque in Mecca. The com-panions of the Prophet were now about to face the biggest test to their faith so far. Mu-hammad, the Prophet of God, was about to reveal that he had returned from an overnight journey to the farthest Masjid in Jerusalem, a journey that normally took more than one month.
He was also about to say he had travelled where no man had gone before, through the heavens and into the presence of God. This was a miraculous journey by night, but would his companions believe him and how would his enemies react?
The Return
Prophet Muhammad travelled on the back of Al-Buraq all the way to the farthest Mosque in Jerusalem. He ascended through the seven heavens and marvelled at wonders un-imaginable. He looked into the faces and exchanged greetings with many of his fellow Proph-ets, and the final slave and Messenger of God, Muham-mad, stood in the presence of God Himself. On the same night, only several hours after he had commenced his jour-ney, Prophet Muhammad re-turned to Mecca.
This miraculous journey was about to become a weapon against Prophet Muhammad and his followers by his ene-mies, and equally it would be an extreme test of faith for the believers. Upon his homecom-ing, Prophet Muhammad made his way to Umm Ayman and told her of his miraculous journey.
She responded, “O Messen-ger of God, do not tell anyone about this.” Umm Ayman had perfect faith in Prophet Mu-hammad and believed his ac-count of the journey, but she was afraid of how others would respond.
Prophet Muhammad de-scribed Umm Ayman as “my mother after my own mother”. She was the faithful servant of his mother Aminah and re-mained with Prophet Muham-mad through the deaths of his mother and grandfather.
Prophet Muhammad and Umm Ayman had always been very close, and at the comple-tion of this wondrous journey, he went to Umm Ayman’s home, perhaps for comfort and ease while he contemplated this miracle, and decided his next move.
Prophet Muhammad re-sponded by saying that he would tell the people about the wondrous night. He consi-dered it his responsibility be-fore God to convey the message, no matter the re-sponse or consequences; God was responsible for the out-come. He left the house quiet-ly with sombre contemplation, and made his way to the Holy Mosque. He met people along the way, and slowly the news of the night journey spread amongst the people. |
| | | | أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52575
العمر : 72
| | موضوع: رد: The Night Journey and the Ascension الإثنين 17 فبراير 2020, 9:26 pm | |
| The Response
While Prophet Mohammad was sitting silently in the Mosque, Abu Jahl approached him and asked casually, “O Muhammad is there anything new?” Known as one of the greatest enemies of Islam Abu Jahl was responsible for the torture, punishment, murder and harassment of the new Muslims throughout the early days of Islam. Even though he was aware of the animosity and hatred Abu Jahl felt to-wards him, Prophet Muham-mad answered truthfully and said, “This past night I have travelled to Jerusalem and back.”
Abu Jahl, being unable to contain his amusement, re-sponded by requesting Mu-hammad to repeat these words in front of the people of Mecca. Prophet Muhammad respond-ed in the affirmative, and Abu Jahl left the Mosque running, calling out to the people as he ran through the streets. When sufficient people had gathered in the Mosque, at Abu Jahl’s request Prophet Muhammad said, for all to hear, “I have been to Jerusalem and back.”
The crowd of people started to laugh, whistle, and clap. They treated it as a big joke and fell against one another laughing. This was the re-sponse expected by Abu Jahl and he was thrilled. The disbelievers in the crowd saw a chance to put an end to Islam. They ridiculed and belittled Prophet Muhammad’s claim.
Among the crowd were people who had travelled to Jerusalem and they asked Prophet Muhammad to de-scribe what he had seen .The Prophet of God began to describe his journey but he became irritated. He spent on-ly a brief amount of time in Je-rusalem, and the miraculous nature of this travels had meant that he did not remem-ber small details and descrip-tions.
Howe ver, Prophet Muham-mad tells us that God showed him the details “right in front of his eyes” and he described what he had seen “stone by stone, brick by brick”. The tra-vellers confirmed his descrip-tions. (Saheeh Bukhari)
There is another narration that says that whilst travelling back to Mecca, Prophet Mu-hammad passed over a cara-van. He was able to describe clearly. The caravan had lost a camel, and Prophet Muham-mad called from the sky telling them the whereabouts of the camel. He also drank from their water supply.
The people of Mecca imme-diately dispatched some one to meet the caravan before it en-tered the city to ask questions about the previous night. They confirmed that a strange voice called out the location of the lost camel and that part of their water supply had disappeared. Still these confirmations were not enough.
The people jeered and laugh-ed and disbelieved the words of the Prophet of God. This miraculous event was such a test of faith that even some of the new Muslims disbelieved and turned away from the faith of Islam.
The Sweetness of Faith
To those whose faith was strong and true, the Power of God was obvious. Some of those who found the whole story difficult to believe went to see Abu Bakr, the best friend and loyal supporter of Prophet Mohammad. They asked him if he believed Prophet Muhammad travelled overnight to Jerusalem, and back to Mecca.
Without hesitation Abu Bakr replied, “If the messenger of God said so, then it is true”. It was because of this occasion that Abu Bakr earned the title As-Siddeeq (the foremost be-liever).
This was a turning point for many Muslims; after already facing the physical torture and abuse of the disbelievers, they now had to grapple with a con-cept beyond their wildest im-aginings. Some failed, but many soared to new heights and were able to taste the sweetness of true submission to the One God.
The journey by night, from the Holy Mosque in Mecca to the farthest Mosque in Jerusa-lem, and the ascension through the heavens and into the presence of Almighty God was a miracle granted by God to His final slave and Prophet, Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, and one of the greatest of honours bestowed upon any human.
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