I have selected this ayah referring to the famous phenomenon of Mi’raaj f0r a purpose. While it will be regarded unanimously as kufr to deny the fact of this event, the nature and details remain controversial. Let us thrash that out. First, the translation of the ayah.

سُبحانَ is usually translated as glorified or exalted. It also means above and beyond any defect or deficiency; and this seems to more relevant here. The ayah continues الَّذي أَسرىٰبِعَبدِهِ لَيلًا “He who took His Servant by night”. His servant here is a reference to Prophet Muhammad. The temporal or horizontal part of this mystique experience extends مِنَالمَسجِدِ الحَرامِ إِلَى المَسجِدِ الأَقصَى from al-Masjid al-haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa. The former site obviously refers to the haram sharif at Makkah It  should be noted that the latter, al-Masjid al-Aqsa is not alluding to the present structure by this name in Jerusalem. This was built by Sayyedna Umer, the second caliph in a small and simple scale. Later, it was expanded to the present size and design in 30 A.H. Since then it has been refurbished time and again over the centuries. The other prominent structure at this site, the Dome of the Rock was built even later by Amir Abd al Malik in 68 A.H.  Aqsa literally means distant; the precincts of the ancient Jewish Temple of Solomon are referred to as the Farthest Mosque in this ayah because it was the outermost sacred place visited by the Prophet and the utmost place in which he prayed during his lifetime. To the Arabs of the seventh century CE Jerusalem was a very far flung land, taking about a month to reach.This Temple was built in 1004 BC by Sayyadna Sulaiman. It was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar about 586 B.C.  Within few years it was rebuilt by Ezra and Nehemiah about 515 B.C. This symbol of Jews was turned into a heathen idol-temple by one of Alexander’s successors, Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. Herod, appointed king by the Romans started a massive program of restoration and decoration in 17 B.C. completing it by 29 C.E. But a few years later, it was totally razed to the ground by the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 C.E. The “wailing wall”, a very well known structure after the Israeli occupation is the only remnant of the majestic great Temple of Solomon. So the ayah is referring to the precincts of this ruined temple, known as the temple mount at which stands today the Dome of the Rock. A rock under the dome is the launching pad for the departure of the Holy Prophet for the Heavens. The ayah then describes this spot of land as الَّذي بارَكنا حَولَهُ “whose surroundings We have blessed” because of the uninterrupted stream of prophets who sanctified this place right from Prophet Moosa to Prophet Issa. Apart from this spiritual grace, this blessing also has a worldly advantage: its fertile land is green, lush and verdant with streams, rivers, fruit farms and crops. The motivation for this episode is explained as لِنُرِيَهُ مِن آياتِنا  “to show him of Our signs”. The term ayah very often means the verses of the Quran but it primarily denotes “a sign or token by which a thing is known.  A reminder, as the ayah ends إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّميعُ البَصيرُ “He is the Hearing, the Seeing”.

So this mystic experience of the our Holy Prophet has two distinct segments: first, temporal travel called al-isra ie the ”Night Journey” to Jerusalem and second the subsequent Ascension to the heavens. The index ayah speaks only of the first part of the journey. The Mi’raaj is mentioned in another ayah in the same surah:5

“……..and so We have ordained that the vision which We have shown thee – as also the tree [of hell,] cursed in this Qur’an – shall be but a trial for men……..”

Most probably this event took place  a year or two prior to the migration to Madinah. The whole experience occurred outside the realm of ordinary time, because the Prophet is said to have made the journey and returned in a single or a part of night. This event is “foundational” in the life of the Prophet Muhammad and for Islamic spirituality pushing Jerusalem to the third most sacred site for Muslims.

Despite the importance and distinction of this expedition, the Quran’s submission on this subject is brief and elliptical. It clearly refers to the incident as “ar-ru’a” and leaves it there.  Our noble Prophet himself did not leave any clear-cut explanation of this experience.The majority of main stream ulama regard Mi’raaj as a physical journey because of narrations by a large number of sahaabaa to this effect. However none of this narrations reach the height of  marfoo’ that is, the Prophet himself did not describe it as such. Against this Umm al-Muaminin Sayyidah ‘A’ishah declared emphatically that “he was transported only in his spirit (bi-ruhihi), while his body did not leave its place” (confirmed by Tabari, Zamakhshari and Ibn Kathir in their commentaries on the ayah). The great Al-Hasan al-Basri, who belonged to the next generation, held uncompromisingly to the same view and again ratified by the three scholars mentioned above. Umm al-Muaminin and the great sahaabi are not labelling the event as a dream but as a journey of the soul (bi-ruhihi) which definitely has an objective connotation. It should be emphasized that spiritual experiences of the kind referred to above are as “real” and objective than anything which could be experienced in the body. There is no reason to doubt the objective reality of such an event produced by temporary independence of the soul from the body (which occurs to every soul during sleep), so the  soul appears to be able freely to traverse time and space. Since the human mind is restricted within the confines of time and space—and soul is not—human beings will never be in a position to fully comprehend spiritual experiences of this kind which defy our attempts at a clear-cut definition.

February 28, 2019