Religions have always suffered from two extremes: either they become more and more dogmatic, ritualistic and formal, or their followers are oriented towards fake spiritual indoctrination in such a manner and extent as to turning them to ascetic life with negative impact on their own life but also on humanity at large. The tendency of escaping the practical realities and neglecting their social responsibilities and duties deprive humanity of their worth.
The Ascension of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad swallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam is a perfect example against the terrible odds and obstacles that lead humanity towards brutal opposition and rebellion. It has instilled dynamism in creating new values inherent in reconciliation of the opposites of various creeds and false ideologies transcending thesis and anti-thesis. It has transformed them into higher synthesis by retaining the values of both.
The miraculous event on the Blessed Night of Me’raaj, the night of ascension, has clearly demonstrated the demarcation between the religious belief and practice in the visible world, and the invisible side of the spiritual world. It has disclosed the non-spatial eternal world of Cosmic Consciousness.
This journey has pointed out that the Creator of the universe is the Supreme Source of all Truths and realities. He is the Absolute Eternity; Eternity without beginning and Eternity without end. He is hidden and manifested at the same time. He is First and Last. He is the outer and the inner. He can be approached through His manifestation in the physical nature, and in His inner through the realm of spirit. He is accessible through knowledge acquired by the general channels of common senses and reason as well through ultra-rational revelation.
Me’raaj, (Ascension) is the direct communion of the Beloved Prophet of Islaam swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam with His Lord. His physical existence merged in the reality of His Numinous Light (Nur–e-Muhammadi) swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam and the Reality of His Blessed Nur merged in the Reality of the Eternal. On one side the Brilliant Light had ascended the state of annihilation in the Light of the Eternal. On the other side the Supreme Light of the Eternal invaded the Light of the reality of the Beloved Prophet Swallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Having reached the stage of ultimate devotion, He is now in the presence of total annihilation and merged into the Existence of Divine Light which is termed as (Fanaa fillah) according to the Islamic sufistic terminology. It was the only time of drowning and witnessing the Eternal.
Allah Muhib (Lover) the Blessed and Exalted become manifest in the whole Being of one whom He selected as His Mehboob (Beloved). Prayer means manifestation if it comes from Allah and devotion if it comes from His Servants. It didn’t happened except to the Prophet of Islaam swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Allah declares: “Allah and His Angels send Blessings (prayer) on the Prophet: swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam “O Ye that believe! Send ye Blessings on Him, and salute Him with all respect”. (Surah 33 v 56).
We use to say “O Allah! Send Blessings and peace upon Muhammad swallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and upon his family”. Technically speaking we express our intense love to our Beloved Prophet Muhammad swallallahu ‘alahi wa sallam as such: “O Allah be manifest to Muhammad swallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and to His family and pour Peace and Blessing upon them”. This is the most intense moment in the whole Complex of Nur-e-Muhammadi swallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. It is stated in the tradition of the Beloved Muhammad swallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam that there is a time in which nothing satisfies Him except His Lord. And this time is the time when Allah sends His Blessing upon Him, meaning that the manifestation of Allah to Him. It is an eternal non-stop process.
Being back from Me’raaj, He announced his Ummah (followers) about the Swalaat, the Majestic gift awarded by the Lord of the universe by declaring the following: “As-swalaatu me’raj-ul-mu’mineen” means Swalaat is the ascension of believers.
One of the main objectives of the unprecedented event of Me’raaj was the establishment of a spiritual network linked with the Majestic spaceless and timeless Power Station. The Prophet of Islaam has drawn an asymmetric line linked from the bottom of believers’ heart to the top level of the hidden Treasure culminating in the infinite Brightness of Divine Light.
Man, as miniature kingdom, has been graced with Divinely computerized enormous faculties and countless energies which function harmoniously in connection with the terrestrial, celestial, atmospheric and aquatic world gathered in a special guidance network generated from the Divine Power Station. It is the Station where the spiritual response system is being ignited with synthesized vivid rays in the depth of man’s spiritual existence.
Literally Swalaat means “communication”. When Swalaat is being offered by a servant of Allah, it is called worship and when it comes from the Lord of the universe it means “manifestation”. When man communicates with his Creator through the Divine network, he is drowned in the witnessing of the Majestic and when Allah responds reciprocally to His servant by means of Divine network, his spirit is filled with power, the Divine Flames invade the man’s physical and spiritual complex. All his existence is being charged and re-charged through devotional voiceless and formless prayers.
Petty debates often appear to be on the desk by the so-called defenders of Faith. Some opine that the Ascension was a mere dream. For others it was just consumed in the imagination. And there are others who believe it as a vision and nothing else.
There are two categories of believers who claim to be unconditional lovers of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Swallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. One argues that the miraculous Journey of Me’raaj was neither physical nor spiritual. For this category The Prophet of Islaam swallalhu ‘alahi wa sallam did not travel through the skies or heavenly bodies and never saw His Creator with His naked eyes. The other is more emphatic: the Prophet has genuinely experienced the Miraculous Journey both physically and spiritually according the 1st verse of the 17th Chapter of the Holy Qur’aan. One has the strong conviction that the He saw His Creator with his physical eyes.
No believer can deny the Holy verse that indicates clearly that the incomprehensible Miraculous Journey was both physical and spiritual and even more than we speculate.
It is not true to say that He saw His Lord with His eyes. The notion of seeing goes beyond human understanding. Seeing the Creator of the universe Who is not a physical object but Pure and Absolute Light which cannot be understood with conventional level of comprehension and visualized with physical eyes, being given that we are not focusing in a material object with our sensual organism.
Ascension is a complex notion unless we make use of our inner faculties gifted to us by Allah, the All-knowing. The Beloved Prophet Muhammad Swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam declared that: “He who knows himself knows Allah”. He could have declared it as follows: “He who sees himself sees Allah”. But the reality of it, is quite ambiguous but not incomprehensible.
Seeing something and knowing something are two different things. We can see a man but we do not know his name; we can learn his name but do not know his marital status and his family and social background. Further we investigate about his residence, his level of education, his profession, his religion, his social group, his hobbies and his day to day activities, his favorite dishes, and the type of food he likes and consumes; if we come closer to him we can get more information about him specially if our intimacy grows stronger we may be able to know more about his details which will add more important affairs perhaps more deeply such as his desires, ambitions, feeling, amount of love or hatred, fears and hopes, thoughts and belief and even his secrets, but still after carrying out a lifetime investigation about him, we will never be able to reach at the bottom of his heart. Hence the act of seeing and penetrating at the depth of someone’s inner-self is quite different thing.
That is why we have strong belief and full conviction that the Prophet Muhammad Swallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam has surpassed all the horizon of universal existence and penetrated at the depth of the Cosmic Consciousness by crossing all the boundaries of the celestial bodies and merged in the colourless, transparent and brilliant Eternal Light of the Mighty and Majestic Station. Here, He came to know and recognize His Lord. This recognition cannot be compared to the so-called conventional notion of limited vision or sight that we experience with our naked eyes in our daily life. Ordinary categories of human sight and prophetic ultimate hallowed power which receive the Brightness from the Source of Divine Eternal Power station through ultra- rational revelation has no comparison at all. Single conventional sight and direct communication of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Swallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam with His Lord and the reciprocal response of the Lord of the Universe in the person of His Beloved is beyond ordinary level of comprehension.
The excitement of Nur-e-Muhammadi swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam as it approaches the Blessed and the Exalted and plunges into the Light of Allah, cannot be described in the language of sense. It’s only the moment of peace, peace and peace, moment of annihilation in the highest degree of worship. Mehboob ceases to exist and Muhib encompasses Him. Nothing remains except Allah. That is the reality of Me’raaj. The intensity of Divinely electrified Power pours its energy to recharge the Light of Muhammad Swallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.
The time extraction from the Source and the time of return to the lowest galaxy was so exciting. Meeting Musa ‘Alaihis salaam, he was told to go back again and again to reduce power supply of Swalaah to five times daily in order to lessen the burden of his Ummah.
Wallahu a’lamu bis swawaab.
ILMUDDIN KHAYRATTEE