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The Night of Ascension

Syed Ashraf Ali
SHAB-e-Mi'raj (Night of Ascension) occupies a unique place in the annals of history. From the religious point of view, it bestowed the highest honour and distinction on a human being when he was granted the most coveted Audience with Benign Providence. The Holy Quran testifies to this Glorious Ascension : “Glory to Allah Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things)." (17:1).
On the Night of Ascension the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was at Makkah. Having said his night prayers, the Holy Prophet was asleep “with closed eyes but a wakeful Kalb." Hazrat Jibrail (Gabriel) (AS) roused him from his sleep and informed him that Allah, in His infinite Mercy, had graciously decided to show him the Wonders, to honour him in a manner as He had not done with anybody else before.
Accompanied by Hazrat Jibrail (AS), the Holy Prophet (PBUH) went to the holy Ka'ba, performed the Tauraf seven times and sat for a while in the Hatim of Ka'ba. Mounted on the Buraq, the heavenly animal sent by Allah for his nocturnal Journey, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was then carried to Masjid-ul-Aqsa in Jerusalem.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) led a two-rakat prayer at Masjid-ul-Aqsa in which all the one lac and twenty-four thousand prophets participated. A unique gathering indeed!
The Apostle of Allah (pbuh) then set out for the Heavens.While passing through various Heavens, he met many prophets and was also shown “Allah's Signs" in various shapes and forms. He reached Sidratul Muntaha, the glorious Lote-tree which has been specifically mentioned in the Holy Quran. Sura Najm testifies: “Near Sidratul Muntaha beyond which none may pass: near it is the Garden of Abode (Mawa). Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable). (His) Sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong. For truly did he see of the Signs of his Lord, the Greatest."
The Apostle of Allah then passed through many a screen of Noor and Zulomat, passed across “Arsh" and reached, in the words of Sura Najm, “the highest part of the horizon." “Then he approached and came closer and was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or even nearer.”
No other creation had ever been so close to the Creator. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) had indeed seen the Greatest Signs of Allah. According to Tirmizi, the holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "I saw my Rab with my eyes and Kalb." He then visited fannat (Paradise) and /ahannam (Hell) and returned to Makkah.
The Holy Prophet went to the mosque and told those whom he met there of his Journey to Jerusalem. His enemies were immediately triumphant, for they now felt they had an irrefutable cause for mockery. In the words of Martin Lings: “Every child of Quraysh knew that a caravan takes a month to go from Makkah to Syria and a month to return. And now Muhammad claimed to have gone there and back in one night. A group of men went to Abu Bakr (RA) and said: “What thinkest thou now of thy friend? He telleth us he went last night to Jerusalem and prayed there and then returned to Makkah.” “If so he saith,” said Abu Bakr, “then it is true. And where is the wonder of it? He telleth me that tidings come to him from Heaven to earth in one hour of the day or night, and 1 know him to be speaking the truth. And that is beyond what ye cavil at."
The glorious Mi'raj has always furnished “worlds of golden dreams" for the imaginative genius of poets and philosophers and traditionists, both Moslems and non-Moslems. Prof. Miguel Asin, the renowned Spanish scholar, very rightly claimed that the Mi'raj had a great influence on the Mediaeval literature of not only Asia and Africa but of Europe as well. According to this great scholar, even the sublime Italian poem, Divina Commedia of Dante, which had a tremendous impact on the development of Italian language and literature, was greatly influenced by the Divine Ascension of Muhammad (pbuh).
The Night of Ascension indeed occupies a very significant place in the history of Islam. It was on this Night of Excellence that Salat or 'Prayers' were instituted and divine injunction conveyed to the believers, through the Apostle of Islam: "Tell My servants, who believe, to establish Prayers." No wonder, the final words that the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) uttered when he shuffled off the mortal coil were: "Keep Prayers! Keep Prayers! You will ever keep your solidarity so long as you pray. Keep Prayers! Keep Prayers!"
The writer is a former Director General, Islamic Foundation Bangladesh.