all things a first ! Kheer from Burns Road :)

A Night of Ascension

 

When I was a child, Shab e Mairaj was one of the two nights when we, the kids, prayed extra. Not that we were praying the five prayers regularly but these two nights, we all prayed nawafil, the voluntary prayers. When I left home for the States to go to Oberlin, my mother would continue to call me for these two nights, tell me which one it was and say three words;

 

“Pray nafal tonight.”

 

I was stuck on 10 for years. I didn’t know much about it except that there was a meeting in the heavens. Allah brought His Beloved (peace be upon him) to Him to see Him. That’s what it was, a meeting sought. In a lecture I one heard someone ask why Allah did that when He was always with him anyway in the world.

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The clear as day example of His Presence being in the cave of Thaur when the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to his companion, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (ratu), who became afraid that they would be seen by the infidels who were looking for them fervently with the intent to kill;

 

لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا

 

Do not grieve. Indeed, Allah is with us.

Surah At-Taubah, Verse 40

 

This year as the Night of Ascension approached, actually two days before it to be exact, I decided to write about it. Get into the detail of what its significance means. For myself and those who might be interested in knowing why they celebrate something. I began by looking for lectures from my friend and most favoured scholar, Uzair, on the subject. Finally I found one I had in fact been physically present for in Lahore in 2019.

 

He was doing a stellar series then called The Grammar of Love where he would spend an hour analyzing a single word of the Quran in a verse and unveil its nuances through a variety of lenses; the Sufis, the scholars, the mufassareen. Always the mighty names in the scholarship of Islam. He had been instructed on all of them. Peeling each layer revealed the boundless love it held by Allah for His Last Messenger (peace be upon him). The lectures had a dizzying effect on my entire being.

 

I also called Qari Sahib. I had one day to research and one day to write the piece. The Night was falling at Maghrib, sunset, on March 11th, and I did not know the backdrop as to why it happened. Why was Nabi Kareem brought before His Creator in the first place? The incident happened in the last year before the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) migration to Medina. Two main events in his life had occurred then.

 

The first was the extremely hard living conditions imposed on his family and his followers by the infidels who had placed a three year blockade on him. “They drew up a pact to boycott and sever all social and commercial relations with the Muslims and the Banu Hashim and Banu Abdul Muttalib, who refused to abandon their tradition of protection of one of their own.”

 

The blockade was then lifted but as a result of the difficulties, both, his guardian and doting uncle, Hazrat Abi Talib (ratu) passed away soon after, followed by his beloved wife, both of whom he had cared for deeply. Both were a tremendous source of love and support. His pain after their loss was so intense, the year was given a title, Aam al Huzn, the Year of Grief.

 

That was followed by the incident of Taif.

 

Begin excerpt “The Softest Heart”

 

Ibn e Katheer describes the event as follows:

 

Taif is where the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) decided to first spread the faith outside Mecca. The main tribe of the area was Bani Thaqeef and they were well-off, their earnings coming from agriculture, predominantly fruit. Unlike the rest of the region, the people of Taif took great interest in sending their sons to Faris (Iran) to be educated. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also had some relatives in the area.

 

It was after ten years of the prophethood that Rasool Allah (peace be upon him) left Mecca for Taif to invite the people towards Islam. He took with his adopted son, Zaid Bin Harisa (ratu). They traveled by foot. It was a 120 km journey. As the car climbed up the mountains to arrive in just two hours, I wondered how many days it would have taken them.

 

Upon his arrival there, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) began meeting the chieftains of different tribes. He invited them to come see him so he could inform them about the tenets of the faith. On top of that, he also went door to door to speak to the locals. Sadly, not one person answered the call of his invitation. Finally, he went to the three main chiefs of the Bani Thaqeef who were all brothers.

 

He asked them for their help promising them the blessings of God as reward, in this world and the Hereafter, for their acceptance of the faith. But they were rude with him, demeaning him and rebuking his call. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was deeply saddened by their response. He had hoped that the people of Taif would be less vicious and full of enmity than the Meccans.

 

Yet he requested to the three brothers, “What you did (with me) you did. But don’t reveal what happened between us to others.”

 

He did not want the Meccans to revel in the behavior of the leaders of Taif and accelerate their attitude of extreme harshness towards the Muslims.

 

The leaders ignored his request and spread word of their rejection through the whole city. They ordered some young men to abuse him, call him names, and pelt him with rocks. Soon his feet, even his shins started to bleed. And when he sat down because he could not walk further, they forced him to stand and walk again, then continued to throw rocks.

 

Hazrat Zaid bin Harisa (ratu) tried to shield him from the rocks as much as he could, but soon he was covered in blood too.

It was in this deeply injured state that the Prophet (peace be upon him) reached the outskirts of the city and took refuge in an orchard of grapes. The Blessed Messenger (peace be upon him) prayed two nafal and then said to Allah:

 

اللَّهُمَّ إِلَيْكَ أَشْكُو ضَعْفَ قُوَّتِي, وَقِلَّةَ حِيلَتِي, وَهَوَانِي عَلَى النَّاسِ,

يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ, أَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ بِي مِنْ أَنْ تَكِلَنِي إِلَى عَدُوٍّ يَتَجَهَّمُنِي،

أَوْ إِلَى قَرِيبٍ مَلَّكْتَهُ أَمْرِي, إِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ عَلَيَّ غَضْبَانًا فَلَا أُبَالِي,

إِنَّ عَافِيَتَكَ هِيَ أَوْسَعُ لِي،

أَعُوذُ بِنُورِ وَجْهِكَ الَّذِي أَشْرَقَتْ لَهُ الظُّلُمَاتُ

وَصَلُحَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ أَنْ يَنْزِلَ بِي غَضَبُكَ،

أَوْ تُحِلَّ عَلَيَّ سُخْطَكَ، لَكَ الْعُتْبَى حَتَّى تَرْضَى وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِكَ

 

O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people.

 

O Most Merciful of those who are merciful, O Lord of the weak and my Lord too to whom have you entrusted me, to a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of a more expansive relief to me.

 

I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your Anger or Your Displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your Pleasure and Satisfaction until You are pleased.

 

And there is no Power and no Might except by You.

 

When the Prophet (peace be upon him) left Taif, he noticed a shade above him.

 

On looking up, he saw that it was the angel Gibrael (as), who said, “Allah has seen how you have been treated by the people of Taif and the Angel of Mountains has been sent to ask you that if you would like, he will crush them between his wings, obliterating from the Earth as if they never were.”

 

The Messenger of Mercy (peace be upon him) replied:

 

بل أرجو أن يخرجَ اللهُ من أصلابِهم من يعبدُ اللهَ وحدَه،

لا يشركُ به شيئًا

 

But I hope that Allah will produce from their lineage, those who will worship Allah and not associate anything else with him.

 

The Angel of Mountains responded, “The way that your Lord God has named you Ra’uf and Rahim, so are you the manifestation of those attributes.”

 

لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ

مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

 

Indeed, there has come unto you (O Mankind) an Apostle from among yourselves. Heavily weighs upon him (the thought) that you might suffer (in the life to come). Full of concern for you is he, and full of compassion (Rau’f) and mercy (Rahim) towards those who attained faith (Imaan).

Surab At-Tawbah, Verse 128

 

End Excerpt “The Softest Heart”

 

So the reason turned out to be the most sensitive of all. The one whom Allah created first, loved first, then created everything else for, was feeling sad and alone so He brought him to see Him. My morning started with a lot of weeping. I wasn’t even sure why. Mostly I couldn’t stop thinking of how I wished I could see the people I know to be sad.

 

Plunged into their inextricable grief for so long, that state had rendered them obstinate about it. It had become like quicksand. You could call out to them with concern or extend a hand as they went in deeper, yet they turned their face.

 

The night is called Al-Isra’ by the Arabs and Mairaj by the South Asian Muslims because that is what the Auliya, (Friends of God), here called it. The event is referenced in the Quran in multiple Surahs. Qari Sahib told me he had found 53 ayaat about it. For this piece I focus on one verse; the first verse of Surah Al-Isra’.

 

The first part of the journey, which is in this world up to Sidrat ul Muntaha, is physical. The second part of it which takes beyond is the metaphysical.

 

Uzair:

 

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِير

 

Exalted is the One Who took His Servant by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, which We blessed its surroundings, that We may show him of Our Signs.

 

Indeed He, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 1

 

“Let me begin by first saying that in the Quran, from a single verse sprout thousands of meanings that cannot be captured even till the Day of Judgement. A single ayat unveils several thousand paths to Ma’rifat, the Recognition of God. From each verse, thousands of fountains of knowledge gush forth.”

 

Then he started with the first three words;

 

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ

 

Exalted is the One Who took...

Subhan allazi asra’

 

“To be clear the verb means to travel, to do something relaxing, like a vacation. It is the form of the verb being used that is significant; Allah uses Asra’, ‘he was made to travel at night,’ as in it was Allah’s Intent and Wish to make him come, not that of the Blessed Prophet (peace be upon him).

 

The first part of that travel is from Masjid al Haram in Mecca to Masjid al Aqsa in Palestine. The first word is ‘Subhan,’ ‘glory be’. In our world, it is the expression of the heart when something beautiful is witnessed. It is uttered uncontrollably almost when one is blown away or bewildered by something. ‘Subhan Allah,’ is what we say when we are moved. Glory be to God!

 

The surahs of the Quran open in 10 different styles. One of those styles is hamd and tasbeeh. The first is the affirmation of Allah’s Beauty, Al-hamd. It is only and only attributed to Allah because hamd means that which derives its beauty from itself alone. Nothing about is borrowed. That is why the word is used only for God. For everything else derives its existence as a result of something else and eventually from Him.

 

The tasbeeh, from which is derived the word Subhan, is the nullification of anything negative from something. That is whatever a person might think or associate with Allah which is adverse as a result of one’s own mind, something harmful or contrary. Tasbeeh is the praise of God that states that Allah is free of anything which takes away from His Essence.

 

The most intense expression of that is the word Subhan and that is the word the surah begins with.”

 

In another place in the Quran, Allah explains it Himself.

 

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُون

 

Glory be to God, the Lord of Honour, above what people attribute by way of definition.

Surah As-Saffat, Verse 180

 

Uzair: “So, one might ask, if the journey is of the Prophet (peace be upon him), why begin with the word Subhan? This is because Allah knows that there will be people that will negate the possibility of such a journey, not only of it happening in the world but also the heavens and beyond. He knows there will those who will say ‘How can it be possible? It cannot be so.’ There were Sahaba, companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who insisted that the journey was a dream so why wouldn’t others.

 

So instead of using the word ‘Qul,’ ‘You tell them,’ which is one of Allah’s most Favoured Mode of transmitting the Quran, asking His Beloved (peace be upon him) to state something, He takes it entirely upon Himself so that those who wish to disbelieve do so knowing that they disbelieve Him directly. Which is not a small thing, being in a state of declared defiance of God.”

 

I looked at the time. 33 minutes into the lecture Uzair had only deconstructed two words.

 

“Let’s move on to the next word; ‘abd,’ ‘His Servant.’

 

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ

 

Subhan allazi asr’a bi-abdi-hi…

Glory be to Him Who took His Servant on a journey…

 

Before that let me clarify that in the line ‘I took My Servant on a journey,’ the second nuance the Arabic grammar is pointing to is this; He is saying that ‘only the one who accepts that I, Allah, took him on a journey, will be the one who will know Me, who will know My Essence that is pure of any defect, fault, shortcoming.” Alternatively, the one who doesn’t believe this will never gain recognition of His Being either.

 

Let’s move on. How do we know the ‘abd’ here is the Prophet (peace be upon him) and not someone else? There is much controversy about that. There are many Prophets who are abd. So are many Auliya. We are abd. But the rule of the Quran is that when Allah calls someone else an abd in the Book, he mentions them by their name.

 

The Prophet Dawood (as).

 

وَاذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَا دَاوُودَ ذَا الْأَيْدِ إِنَّهُ أَوَّاب

 

And remember Our Servant, Prophet Dawood (as), the possessor of strength.

Indeed, he was repeatedly turning to Us.

Surah As-Sad, Verse 17

 

The Prophet Zakariya (as).

 

ذِكْرُ رَحْمَتِ رَبِّكَ عَبْدَهُ زَكَرِيَّ

 

Recount your Lord’s Mercy upon His Servant Zakariya (as).

Surah Maryam, Verse 1

 

The Prophet Ayub (as).

 

وَاذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَا أَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ وَعَذَاب

 

And remember Our Servant, Prophet Ayub (as), when he called his Lord,

"Satan has touched me with distress and suffering."

Surah As- Sad, Verse 41

 

Why does Allah do that? Because when an attribute is shared, as it is among other Prophets, the name is used. But what happens when it comes to His Beloved (peace be upon him)? He never uses his name.

 

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجً

 

All Praise is for Allah, the One Who has revealed to His Servant the Book,

and not has made in it any twisting.

Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 1

 

No name!

 

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْفُرْقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَالَمِينَ نَذِيرً

 

Blessed is He Who sent down the Criterion upon His Servant that he may be to the worlds a warner.

Surah Al-Furqan, Verse 1

 

No name!

 

وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِّن مِّثْلِهِ

 

And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our Servant,

then produce a chapter of like it and call your witnesses from other than Allah if you are truthful.

 

No name!”

 

In my first book, Ali is to me as I am to God, I had pointed that Allah hardly ever used Nabi Kareem’s (peace be upon him) name.

 

“To illustrate His Love, in the entire Quran, Allah Al-Qudoos, The Most Sacred, Himself does not address His Beloved (peace be upon him) by even his name. Nowhere does He call him O Muhammad! (peace be upon you) as he does all his other prophets, O Moses! O Adam! O Lot! O Jesus! so on and so forth.

 

Always he uses a title or a term of endearment; O Mudassir! (the cloaked one), O Muzammil! (the one wrapped in piety), O Herald of the Hidden! O Messenger! His name, Muhammad (peace be upon him), is mentioned in the Quran but 4 times and in each of those times he is referred to in the third person.”

 

Uzair: “In the whole Quran, Allah calls Mustafa (peace be upon him) abd but for everyone else their names. So the ‘abdiyat,’ the state of being a Servant of God, for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), it is an exclusive status, one that is his alone, while for the rest it’s shared.”

 

The crowd burst into ‘Subhan Allahs!’ and Uzair beamed. “This is linguistics. Nothing beats the study of this knowledge.

 

He continued: "The other Prophets partake in the same attribute but Mustafa (peace be upon him) is being treated as especially unique. And let us understand that ‘abdiyat,’ in and of itself, is not even a huge attribute compared to Prophet-hood. It’s not even amongst the highest ranks before God.

 

Huzoor (peace be upon him) is also the Khatim un Nabiyeen, the Last Prophet. He is also Rahmat ul Alimeen, The Blessing for the Universe. He is the Imam ul Nabiyeen, The Leader of the Prophets. So just in the smallest of attributes, being an abd, the other Prophets are being excluded from his stature.”

 

Many have recognized this particular fact. Uzair then recited two of Iqbal's couplets marking that point exactly;

 

عبد دیگر، عبدہُ چیزے دگر

ما سراپا انتظار، او منتظَر

 

Abd, the servant, is one, Abdu-hu, His Servant, that is quite another.

We wait to meet our Lord while His Servant is awaited by Him.

 

عبدہُ چند و چگونِ کائنات

عبدہُ رازِ درونِ کائنات

 

Abdu-hu, His Servant, is the Totality of Creation,

Abdu-hu, His Servant, is the Secret of Creation.

 

‘You, me, anyone else,’ Iqbal says, ‘wait for Allah, to be accepted by Him, to see Him, and He, Allah, waits for Mustafa (peace be upon him). So the word abd encloses in itself the hidden and heavy implication that in the absence of recognizing the Prophet (peace be upon him), you can never recognize nor gain any understanding of God.

 

I will tell you a little something from Imam Ghazali’s Ahya ul Uloom, in the chapter on ‘The Hidden Secrets of the Salat (prayer).’ He quotes the sahih hadith;

 

الصَّلٰوةُ هِيَ مِعْرَاجُ الْمُؤْمِنِ

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The namaz is the ascension (Mairaj) of the Mo’min, the one who has attained to faith.”

 

You have been given the possibility of Mairaj (ascension) through prayer. But Ghazali asks, ‘Do you ever intend for a Mairaj? No! Your intention is all about counting rakats and establishing timings. Therefore you will never see God. You have to transcend space and time to see Him. You are tightly bound by your worldly states.’

 

So, he says, ‘I will give you a tip; When you sit in your prayer and say “Attahaytu lillah e…” and reach the part ‘As Salam o Alaika Ayyuha Nabiyyo, I send prayers upon you, O Prophet (peace be upon you), in that moment think of your heart, which is the purest masjid, or any place of worship, in the world, which is the most holy Khanqah, the place of a spiritual retreat, in this Universe. Think of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and you will find yourself opening the doors of reaching Mairaj too.’

 

For there were those, like Abul Abbas Mursi, whose way of prayer was famous. He writes in his book that when he would reach the part of “As Salam o Alaika Ayyuha Nabi,” he would start repeating the line endlessly.

 

Once a man sitting next to him looked at him with annoyance and said, “What are you doing? Saying it 500 times! Your prayer is not valid, re-read it.”

 

Abul Abbas Mursi responded, ‘I don’t know about mine but yours is surely broken. For when I say “As Salam o Alaika Ayyuha Nabi,” I keep saying it until my ears hear the words, ‘Wa alaikum as Salam Ya Ummati, ‘And Peace be upon you, O one of my nation! Your Rasool sends salam upon you.’”

 

The first time I had heard the lecture I too had started saying the verse in repeat when I prayed. But of course I only did it for a few days and then stopped. I also said it a lot in whole time in Medina on my last Umra. That was an joyously intense experience because I was so close to the Rauza Mubarik. I used to feel like he hears me, which he does anyway wherever I am but being in proximity to him was entirely different.

 

There was one difference that it made in my life that changed everything forever. I understood the depthless significance of the fact that whenever I do send a salam upon my Prophet (peace be upon him), he sends it back upon me. As a sheer result of that, I send salam upon him in all random times of the day. It makes me feel happy and my being relaxed.

 

Sometimes I think Pakistan survives the virus, and all other catastrophes that devastate many because not only tongues and hearts, but buildings send the salutation upon this most blessed person. Every few yards in every city and every wilderness I have been in there is a mosque in Pakistan. Makeshift or otherwise, it is there. And on almost every single one is the line ““As Salat o wa Salam o Alaika Ya Rasool Allah.” Bricks and mortar send salam on him here.

 

If exceptions are made amongst Prophets, all of whom are near and dear to their Creator, why wouldn’t special treatment be meted out to the ordinary, giving them distinction, protection, over each other. It seemed like Uzair was saying that without the Prophet (peace be upon him) being in one’s heart, the heart was just like a desolate space. It didn’t matter what else it held within it.

 

After I finished translating the first lecture, I moved on to a second one by Uzair also on the first verse of Surah Al-Isra.’ I wondered what he was going to say next.

 

The preface of his lecture was explaining the topic; The secrets of Isra’ according to Ilm e Qawaid, the Knowledge of Rules of the Quran. He made it clear that the technical side of exploring the linguistics of the Quran itself requires the possession of at a minimum, 14 uloom, the plural of knowledge. Each ilm reveals a different side of a word, or a verse.

 

Uzair: “That is why I am doing a second lecture on the same verse. The first was exploring the linguistics. Today I will discuss the words through Qawaid, the Knowledge of Rules. It is the hardest of the subjects. But once you learn the rule, the application of the rule is infinite. When a verse comes in the domain of a rule, anyone can apply it. The only thing to be mindful of is that the Qawaid, the rules, are the same for everyone.

 

They are tightly knit around a whole series of other things; mantaq (logic), grammar, which includes syntax (sarf) and morphology (nahw), bayan (analytics) etc. So when people think all kinds of perceptions are allowed that is incorrect. You cannot take out concepts of your choice. Ignoring the rules and devising one’s own interpretations can alter the status of the faith of the person and make them lose it, corrupt it.

 

So I choose the same ayat, verse, so you can see how a totally different dimension from it emerges.

 

So as you know, the verse beginning with 'Subhan,' Hazrat Abdul Haq Muhaddas Delhvai (ra), the only scholar of his kind in South Asia, says that whenever Allah starts a verse with Subhan, the use of the word is deliberate. Allah expects that what He is going to say next, people will be bewildered by and therefore not believe it. Coming from their own narrow definitions of rationality, their initial reaction will be of negation. The verse will not be grasped easily.

 

The verse thus begins;

 

Subhan allazi asra’ bi abdi-hi laylun

 

He highlighted the repetition of a single point from the previous lecture before moving on to the next word; laylun, by night.

 

“Asr’a: ‘was made to travel.’ So Allah clarifies that Mustafa (peace be upon him) did not do the Mairaj. Allah made him do it, thus taking it upon Himself as in, ‘We made Our Servant travel.’ The next word, laylun. Layl is night, the “un” sound is coming from the accent, tanween, on it.

 

Tanween is used for five reasons in Arabic. One of them is that it denotes the smallness of something. So Allah is saying He took His Servant for only one or two moments of the night. Meaning He needs but only a few moments to show whatever He wills of the entire Universe to whomever He wants.

 

Now Beit ul Maqdas, where the Masjid al Aqsa is located, is two thousand miles away from Mecca. But the Mairaj, as you all know, is not just the journey between two physical points. It is also the journey to the heavens and then to the Alim e La Makaan, the Realm where time and space do not exist.

 

However, Allah chooses to starts with that which has been seen by the people of the time. That again is deliberate. Allah begins with the place which is known to the people who will hear the verse and recognize the places, therefore know them as real.

 

For the last part of the Mairaj, the Quran goes to the La Makaan but it starts with the rule that is the rule of

Tableegh, the dissemination of the faith; speak in a manner which people will relate to.

 

Hence, since the places physically exist, circumstantial evidence can be asked of the Rasool (peace be upon him) by those who disbelieve him.

 

The next part of the verse is even stranger; He takes him from…

 

مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا

 

…from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, which We blessed its surroundings,

that We may show him of Our Signs.

 

Now the most blessed physical place in this world is always the mosque.”

 

I remembered I had a hadith about that fact in my book.

 

وَعَن أبي أُمَامَة قَالَ: إِنَّ حَبْرًا مِنَ الْيَهُودِ سَأَلَ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:

أَيُّ الْبِقَاعِ خَيْرٌ؟

فَسَكَتَ عَنْهُ وَقَالَ: أَسْكُتُ حَتَّى يَجِيءَ جِبْرِيلُ

فَسَكَتَ وَجَاءَ جِبْرِيلُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ فَسَأَلَ فَقَالَ:

مَا المسؤول عَنْهَا بِأَعْلَمَ مِنَ السَّائِلِ وَلَكِنْ أَسْأَلُ رَبِّيَ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى

ثُمَّ قَالَ جِبْرِيلُ: يَا مُحَمَّدُ إِنِّي دَنَوْتُ مِنَ اللَّهِ دُنُوًّا مَا دَنَوْتُ مِنْهُ قطّ

قَالَ: وَكَيف كَانَ ياجبريل؟ قَالَ: كَانَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ حِجَابٍ مِنْ نُورٍ

فَقَالَ: شَرُّ الْبِقَاعِ أَسْوَاقُهَا وَخَيْرُ الْبِقَاع مساجده

 

A scholar amongst the Jews asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) “Which is the best place?”

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was silent and said, “I will be quiet until Gibrael (as) comes.”

 

So he remained silent and Gibarel (as) came so he asked him and he said, “The one asked about this is not more knowledgeable than the asker but I will ask my Lord Exalted and Great.”

 

Then said Gibrael (as), “O Muhammad (peace be upon you)! I was close to Allah the closest I have ever been.”

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “And how was that Gibrael (as)?”

 

He said, “There were between me and him 70,000 veils of light and my Lord said, ‘The worst places are the markets and the best places the mosques.’”

 

Uzair: “Inside the mosque, the most blessed spot is the mehrab, the prayer niche of the Imam. In the mehrab, it is the place where the Imam prostrates. But here Allah Ta’ala is saying that He has blessed the ‘surroundings,’ thus making them, the surroundings, even more esteemed than the Masjid Al-Aqsa. Why does he do that? What surrounds Masjid Al-Aqsa?

 

In front of the gate of the Mosque is the biggest church of Jerusalem where, to celebrate the birth of Hazrat Isa, the Prophet Jesus (as), candles are lit every night. A little further away is the grave of the Prophet Younus (as), a little further that of the Prophet Ibrahim (as), a little further the Prophet Musa (as), a little further the Prophet Idrees (as). Almost all the Quranic Prophets are buried there. So what lies in the ‘surrounding’ are the graves of the Prophets.

 

The Sufis give a most beautiful explanation for why the surroundings are therefore named as blessed and not Al-Haram and not Al-Aqsa. They say that the places the beloveds inhabit are always more loved than one’s own. Therefore, Allah is not saying His Mosque in Mecca is dearer to Him. He is saying that where the mazar, the shrines of His Prophets are, that is what is more valued to Him.

 

By extension, the Sufis say that the most pure place, not only on this Earth, but also the Universe is not the Ka’aba and not any mosque. It is the earth that touches the kafan, the shroud, of the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) because the shroud touches his blessed body. That earth is more honoured than the heavens and the Tablet and the Pen and anything else in existence in any realm.”

 

I had heard stories about how Imam Maalik (ra) used to walk in Medina without shoes. In the streets, everywhere. When he was asked why he did that, he simply said, “Why would I not allow the earth of where my beloved (peace be upon him) lies always touch the soles of my feet?”

 

When I was on my first Umra, I was initially following the crowd. I was just walking with my shoes inside the courtyard of the Masjid e Nabawi, all the way, till the entrance to the building of the Mosque. I have inexplicable and strange hyper concerns around cleanliness, especially when it came to my feet. But after the first ziyarat I noticed that the very poor people took their shoes off outside the courtyard of the Blessed Mosque.

 

It had me recall all the shrines I went to in Pakistan where, no matter how large or small the courtyard, case in point Daata Sahib (ra), the shoes were removed at the very entrance. At Mian Mir Sahib’s (ra), shoes have to be taken off such that one has to walk in the street barefoot before reaching the entrance of the shrine. That had been a first for me!

 

But that was the adab, the regard of appearing there. It made me question why wasn’t I doing that there, by far The Holiest of holy shrines? I had thought to myself then that when I leave Medina everything I wore here would become special to me. I would never want anything to happen to those things.

 

Here I was worrying about my feet being unclean when this surface, its dust, touching my skin probably made it pure like nothing else would. The concept of earth as being blessed is prevalent in Islam. When I went to Iraq, I brought back little bags of earth from Karbala because people had asked me for them. And they weren’t Shia’.

 

Uzair: “Allah is saying, ‘I blessed this surrounding and brought him to Al-Aqsa, to see, a little, from amongst My Signs.’ Let’s quickly go down the list of what all there was that Huzoor (peace be upon him) saw that night; he met 124,000 prophets, he led them in prayer in Masjid Al-Aqsa.”

 

In another lecture I had heard that that prayer, where Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) stood in front of 124,000 prophets, revealed another aspect of his distinction. He was there in physical form, body and soul. They, having already passed away, were only souls. Generally the rule is that the soul is superior to the body. It is lateef, elegant, subtle.

 

124,000 souls stood behind his body and said the namaz. Therefore, the body of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was granted a higher honour than all the souls of all of the Prophets sent to the world.

 

But then it was also not an ordinary physical form.

 

عَنْ ذَکْوَانَ رضی الله عنه أَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اﷲِ صلی الله عليه وآله وسلم

لَمْ يَکُنْ يُرَی لَهُ ظِلٌّ فِي شَمْسٍ وَلَا قَمَرٍ

 

Hazrat Zakwaan Tabi'ee (ratu) narrates that no shadow could be seen for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in sunlight nor (could it be seen) in moonlight.

 

Uzair: “He led them in prayer in Masjid Al-Aqsa. He sat on Buraaq, the horse-like creature that transported him. He met all the angels. He roamed around the seven heavens. Then he reached Sidrat ul Muntaha, ‘the large enigmatic lote tree or Sidr tree that marks the end of the seventh heaven, the boundary which no creation can pass.’ This is where even Gibrael (as) has to leave him for he cannot cross the line without being burnt to ashes.’

 

Poets have written verse about this juncture when Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) was asked to continue alone. That Hazrat Gibrael (as) the Archangel felt a pang of envy in that moment where he could not traverse the boundary set upon him and all other angels. That he felt envy for the first time for not being created as a human.

 

Uzair: “Thus traversing through the 70,000 veils that veil Allah, he reaches the Arsh e Ilahi, the Throne of Allah and reaches the La Makaan.

 

This is where the philosophers become charged. ‘Don’t say he crossed into the Realm of no time and space,’ they say. ‘For the Quran itself called him an abd, which means he was in a body with a physical form. No body, no physical form, can exist there because it takes up space, by definition. Therefore he could not have been in the La Makaan.’

 

That is then countered by scholars with this hadith:

 

عن ابْن عَبَّاس يَقُول الله عز وَجل وَعِزَّتِي وَجَلَالِي لولاك مَا خلقت الْجنَّة ولولاك مَا خلقت الدُّنْيَا

 

As narrated by Ibn e Abbas (ratu) that Allah says, “I swear by my Honour and Majesty and Exaltedness,

if it were not for you (O Beloved (peace be upon you)), I would not have created the heavens

and if it were not for you, I would not have created the world.

 

They say to one who argues this point; ‘There is, in fact, one scenario in which a body can exist without space. The being for whom the world and everything in it is created. For it no rules of ordinary existence apply. This is the person of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Universe only exists because of him. Therefore he is not subject to the Universe and its laws. They are only there as a consequence of him.

 

In the grammar, there is a conditional, lau, 'if' and then a consequence of that ‘if.’

 

if it were not for you (O Beloved (peace be upon you)), I would not have created the heavens

and

if it were not for you, I would not have created the world.

 

The consequence, jaza’, is as a rule inferior to the condition. The heavens exist because of Mustafa (peace be upon him). He doesn’t exist to enter them. Similarly the world exists because of him. It does not hold any power over him.

 

The next part of the verse explains this by starting with the word inna-hu;

 

إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِير

 

Indeed He, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

 

Inna, Only and only. So no one else listens and sees. Now all translations turn the pronoun, in inna-hu, indeed he, to God. But the Sufis have another interpretation. They say, ‘pay attention to where it points. And the hu is there twice, ‘only he, he.’ They say the ‘hu’ can go both ways. So if it is talking about Allah what does it mean and if the ‘he’ is referring to Mustafa (peace be upon him), what does it mean.

 

Allama Badruddin Zarqashi (ra) gives this interpretation and only a Sufi can say this; ‘Mairaj is the meeting between Allah and the Rasool (peace be upon him) without any veils between them. Imam Qastalani also writes that Huzoor (peace be upon him) was himself sent in veils because his beauty could not have been borne by anything if revealed.

 

So when the hu turns to Allah, it means that Allah is saying, ‘I am the only one who can see you, O Beloved. No one else has the ability to even look at you in your true form because your beauty is overwhelming.

 

And when the hu turns to the Prophet (peace be upon him), it means that Allah is saying that only Huzoor (peace be upon you) can see Him without any veils. No one else! That point is already made clearly in the Quran with the incident of Hazrat Musa (as) who asked God to show Himself to him. And what happened? Allah told him to look at the mountain. When he showed but a tajalli, the appearance of God in a concrete form, the mountain turned to ashes and the Prophet Moses (as) fainted.

 

Allah is saying, ‘If there is one who can hear My Kalam, without the veils of words, when I remove the veils, it is only he, the Beloved (peace be upon him), who can see Me and hear Me.’

 

This, the Sufis say, is Mairaj!

 

And Zarqashi gives another interpretation. He says Allah is saying to those who doubt and debate the Mairaj as being a dream or real, the experience of a body or soul, its limitations of where it begins and ends, He is saying ‘I am listening to you and seeing you.’ As in this will be something you will be held accountable for.”

 

I knew from Surah An-Najm that part was also stated clearly in a verse.

 

أَفَتُمَارُونَهُ عَلَىٰ مَا يَرَى

 

Then will you dispute with him about what he saw?

Surah An-Najm, Verse 12

 

Uzair: “Now listen to the verse is full and understand the layering of what I have said today:

 

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِير

 

Exalted is the One Who took His Servant by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, which We blessed its surroundings, that We may show him of Our Signs.

Indeed He, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 1

 

Then Uzair went to the part of exactly that denial by the infidels. I had recorded that in my book.

 

Begin excerpt The Softest Heart

 

After the Mairaj, the next morning when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) awoke, he told his cousin Umm ul Baneen about the incident. She suggested to him that he not mention it to the Quraish as they would surely deny its happening.

 

The Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said, “I will surely speak the truth. My Lord God is The Truth and what I have seen, that is the Truth.”

 

Later in the day he went to the Ka’aba. Near it the elite of the Quraish were gathered. The Prophet (peace be upon him) sat near the Maqam e Hijr and started telling the people about the event of the Mairaj. The Kuffar upon hearing his words started laughing and mocking him.

 

Abu Jahal spoke first, “Are you willing to repeat that which you have said before all the tribes?”

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, “Undoubtedly I am.”

 

Abu Jahal sent for the Kuffar of Mecca and when all the tribes were gathered, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) repeated his experience. The Kuffar started clapping their hands and making fun of him. Amongst them were also present the traders of Syria who had seen the Beit ul Muqaddas many times.

 

They said to him, “We know you have never been to the Beit ul Muqaddas. Tell us! How many pillars and doors does it have?”

 

The Messenger of God said that just then, the whole building of the Beit ul Muqaddas appeared before his eyes and whatever questions they asked him, he kept answering. But still, they did not believe the event of Mairaj to be true.”

 

End excerpt The Softest Heart

 

Uzair: “When the Kuffar started asking the Prophet (peace be upon him) questions about the details of the arches and the windows of the Masjid Al-Aqsa, knowing that he had not been there, trying to corner him into making a mistake, and he answers all of them correctly, Allah is reminding them and eradicating doubt by the single word Asra’, “I, Allah, have made him take this journey.” Therefore nothing you will try to do will disprove that.

 

So when all the questions in painstaking detail are answered correctly, Abu Jahal goes a step further. He says he has a caravan traveling on the same route for trade. He asks the Prophet (peace be upon him) to tell him about the people in his caravan. “Where are they now?”

 

So now he’s asking for circumstantial evidence. This means he is in advertently admitting the Mairaj is real. There is no such thing as asking for evidence for a dream.

 

Abu Lahab excitedly joined him. “I, too have a caravan there.

Where is it?”

 

Now they want him to validate his physical presence.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) replies and tells them that when he passed Abu Jahal’s caravan, it had stopped because a camel had fallen and its ankle was hurt so it could not walk. They were trying to make the camel stand. He then told Abu Lahab that his caravan, because of this accident, had been lagging behind but then passed and went on ahead.

 

The second question from them was then about Ilm e Ghaib, the Knowledge of the Unseen. So basically saying, ‘If you are Prophet, prove it by giving evidence that you possess such knowledge.’

 

“When will they arrive then?” they asked him.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied to one that when the sun would set, his caravan would appear and to the other that when the sun would rise the next morning, his would appear. Now two sides became firmly established. Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab, Utba, Muhira, they went to their god Laat and prayed fervently that he be wrong.

 

On the other side, Hazrat Umar (ratu), Hazrat Bilal (ratu), Abu Bakr (ratu), they’re all praying for the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) prediction to be true. It’s a war of egos now. They want his Ilm e Ghaib to be correct.

 

At one point when the sun could no longer be seen, Abu Lahab exclaimed victoriously, “It has set!”

 

Hazrat Abu Bakr (ratu) ran to a higher vantage point and said, “No, I see it. It still remains.” Abu Lahab rushed to join him. As soon as the sun sets, Abu Lahab shouts, “Look! It has set.” In the same moment, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ratu) points in the other direction and say, “Look! There comes the caravan.”

 

So it is also then established that it is the Sunnah of the Kafir, the denier of Truth, to disclaim the Ilm e Ghaib of a Prophet and it is the Sunnah of the believer, the who has faith, to know he possesses it.’”

 

The last thing Uzair reiterated was this; “The heart is the greatest of the places, more so than anything physical place in the Universe. And the zikr of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is what makes that heart feel delight.”

 

Volumes have been written about the Mairaj by different Auliya and Mufassareen. Thousands of pages. Promises were made that were only between the two.

 

فَأَوْحَىٰ إِلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ مَا أَوْحَى

 

So He revealed to His Servant what he revealed.

Surah Al-Najm, Verse 10

 

I love that verse. The deliberate declaration of the sharing and then no hint as to what that sharing might have been.

 

There were gifts exchanged. The Prophet (peace be upon him) when asked by Allah what he brought for Him offered the one thing that Allah does not possess; humility.

 

As I have tried to attain that attribute in my nature, where it is not present naturally, I have discovered that for me it is only achievable as a function of control of the Free Will. If you are gentle, you are humble. If you are quiet, you are humble. If you are sensitive to the state of another’s heart, you are humble. For most of my life I was none of those things. I wasn’t loud but I was angry and cruelly insensitive.

 

I have only tread the waters of humility of late, pausing at every step, because my nafs of course directs me towards the opposite of where the goal lies. Being humble requires what is perceived in the world as weakness. For me it has to be opted for. Strength and power, that are my domain, have to be relinquished, abdicated. I have only started those practices. It’s a long way for me still.

 

I did have in my first book, an anthology called The Intercessor, a story about the Mairaj, when Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) reaches Allah. When I read it this time, I got something new from it. Holding the earth that surrounds the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the highest of honour is the Sunnah of God.

 

…Then said the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), “I tried to remove my sandals, but this time a call came to me from The Divine saying, “O My Beloved, do not remove your sandals so that My Throne might be honoured and blessed with the dust from the soles of your sandals.”

 

I then entreated my Lord saying, “When You called the Prophet Moses (as) to come to the mountain of Tur, you ordered him to remove his sandals.”

 

Again this word came to me from The Divine, “In My View, you are more cherished and honoured than he; Moses was My Word, Kalimullah, whereas you are My Beloved, Habibullah. Look ahead and see what you will see!”

 

I looked and I saw a great sea, so great that there was no end to it and no shore in sight. On its near side there was a tree, and upon that tree, there was a bird the size of a dove. In its beak this bird bore a piece of clay as big as a lentil.

 

“Do you know what that is?” I was asked.

 

I answered, “My Lord knows best.”

 

And The Almighty told me, “You are forever entreating Me to forgive your Ummah their sins. This sea is the likeness of the Sea of Mercy. That tree signifies the world, the dove-like bird is the likeness of your Ummah and that bit of clay is the likeness of their sins. Now you have seen the relation of your Ummah’s sins to the vastness of My Mercy, so let your heart be at rest.”

 

Let your heart be at rest.

 

Sigh!

 

The most special gift for Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) from Allah was intercession. He chose it because he knew without him, there were many of his Ummah who would never reach Heaven. When no one will own up anyone else in their lives, not parents their children, nor friends their friends, nor anyone anyone, only one voice will speak up:

 

عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏قَالَ:‏‏‏‏ شَفَاعَتِي لِأَهْلِ الْكَبَائِرِ مِنْ أُمَّتِي

 

“My intercession is for the grave sinners of my nation.”

 

Qari Sahib once told me the story that Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) said to Amma Ayesha (ratu), “Ask of me anything.”

In the few instances when he said that to someone, the person took their time to decide their query. It was their chance to literally know the answer to anything in the Universe. She went to her father, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (ratu) and told him what he had said.

 

He in turn told her to ask him about Mairaj, to disclose something that was in the conversation that he had with God.

And He revealed to His Servant what He revealed.

 

When Hazrat Bibi Ayesha (ratu) returned and put her request forward, he smiled.

 

“If I tell you then it would no longer be secret. But I will tell you anyway. Allah Subhan Ta’ala said to me, ‘The one who mends other’s broken hearts, I will let them into Heaven without asking them any question.’”

 

The softness of Allah Subhan Ta’ala, His Mercy encompassing all other things, as He says in the Quran is spellbinding to me. The other aspect about His Essence that blows me away is what He holds as most important; Hiding the flaws of others over even truth, justice and generosity.

 

Firstly because I find it is more doable, in the reach of anyone, than speaking the truth always, being fair always, giving away money always. Second because it is innately and intrinsically the kinder act. More so than being truthful, just and generous, all of which can be meted out but easily with harshness.

 

And thirdly because it injects the most coveted prize in one's character, humility, naturally without having to strive and struggle for it. In hiding another's flaws, one automatically becomes aware of one's own and wishes for the same. In that same hiding is a hidden forgiveness of the act as well. There is an absence of judgement of it. The effects are probably endless and all of them deepen the softness of one's heart.

 

It certainly gives an inkling as to why Maula Ali (ratu) said,

"90 percent of wisdom attained is bestowed upon a person as a result of their husn e akhlaq, excellence in behaviour, towards other people."

 

Begin excerpt “Ali is to me as I am to God”

 

The tradition of a kharqa (mantle) worn by the faithful was started by God. On the Night of Ascension (Mairaj), the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was given a kharqa as a gift and was told to give it to one of his companions. He was given a question to ask them as well as the answer to that question.

 

Upon his return, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) asked his closest companions to come to him and asked each of them the same thing, that if they were given this kharqa, what would they do with it. He first called upon Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (ra).

 

Said Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (ratu), " If I am bestowed it, I will use it to be the mark of truthfulness. I will be obedient to God and whatever wealth I have that remains, I will spend it in His name and His way."

 

Then the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) addressed the same question to Hazrat Omar Farouq (ratu).

 

Replied Hazrat Omar Farouq (ratu), "With this kharqa, I will endeavour to provide justice to all and rescue those caught in the hands of the cruel and the corrupt."

 

Hazrat Usman Ghani (ratu) reply to the same question was this; "I will use it to spread generosity and do what is right while working in unison with others."

 

Lastly, Hazrat Ali (ratu) responded, "If I am blessed with it, I will hide the flaws (weaknesses) of Mankind."

 

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave the kharqa to Hazrat Ali (ratu) saying, "I bestow this to you as I was told to give it to the one who gives me this answer."

 

The real gift for the Ummah for this world from Allah was the salat, the namaz, the 5 prayers of each day. It is a favourite incident amongst the Muslims that during Mairaj, The Night of Ascension, when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was returning from his meeting with Allah Al-Qadir, The Omnipotent One, he met the Prophet Moses (as) who asked him how many prayers were required of his people by their Lord.

 

قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:‏‏‏‏ فَفَرَضَ اللَّهُ عَلَى أُمَّتِي خَمْسِينَ صَلَاةً،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَجَعْتُ بِذَلِكَ حَتَّى مَرَرْتُ عَلَى مُوسَى،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقَالَ:‏‏‏‏ مَا فَرَضَ اللَّهُ لَكَ عَلَى أُمَّتِكَ؟

قُلْتُ:‏‏‏‏ فَرَضَ خَمْسِينَ صَلَاةً،

‏‏‏‏‏‏قَالَ:‏‏‏‏ فَارْجِعْ إِلَى رَبِّكَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكَ لَا تُطِيقُ ذَلِكَ،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَاجَعْتُ فَوَضَعَ شَطْرَهَا، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَجَعْتُ إِلَى مُوسَى،

‏‏‏‏‏‏قُلْتُ:‏‏‏‏ وَضَعَ شَطْرَهَا، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقَالَ:‏‏‏‏ رَاجِعْ رَبَّكَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكَ لَا تُطِيقُ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَاجَعْتُ:‏‏‏‏ فَوَضَعَ شَطْرَهَا،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَجَعْتُ إِلَيْهِ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقَالَ:‏‏‏‏ ارْجِعْ إِلَى رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكَ لَا تُطِيقُ ذَلِكَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَرَاجَعْتُهُ،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقَالَ:‏‏‏‏ هِيَ خَمْسٌ وَهِيَ خَمْسُونَ لَا يُبَدَّلُ الْقَوْلُ لَدَيَّ، ‏‏

‏‏‏‏فَرَجَعْتُ إِلَى مُوسَى، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقَالَ:‏‏‏‏ رَاجِعْ رَبَّكَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏فَقُلْتُ:‏‏‏‏ اسْتَحْيَيْتُ مِنْ رَبِّي،

 

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “My Lord dutied upon my Ummah 50 prayers (a day).”

 

I was returning with this when I passed by the Prophet Moses (as).

 

He said, “What did Allah duty upon your Ummah?”

 

I replied, “He dutied fifty prayers.”

 

Hazrat Musa (as) said, “Return to your Lord for verily, your Ummah does not have the strength for this.”

 

So I returned and He (Allah) reduced a part of it so I came back to Musa (as).

 

I said, “He reduced a part of it,” and Hazrat Musa (as) said,

 

““Return to your Lord for verily, your Ummah does not have the strength for this.”

 

So I returned and He (Allah) reduced a part of it so I came back to him (Hazrat Musa (as)).

 

He said, ““Return to your Lord for verily, your Ummah does not have the strength for this,” so I returned to Him.

 

Allah said, “It is five (and) in blessings fifty. My Word does not change.”

 

So I returned to Musa (as) and he said, Go back again to your Lord.”

 

And I said, “I feel embarrassed before my Lord.”

 

The blessings of 50 for reciting five! But that wasn’t really it. The Mairaj was for one, abdi-hi, His Servant. So what did the Mercy of the Universe do? He made is a possibility for every single one of those in his nation, his Ummati. It’s like every single time Allah would hand him a fruit from the heavens, he would take a bite and hold it out for everyone else; “Here, you try it too.”

 

So he said to the Muslims, “The Mairaj of the Momin is in the prayer, salat.” The he says to everyone alive, “The Momin is the house of love.” I say my prayer five times a day these days. I hear the Azaan and go to do it immediately, except if I have guests.

 

That too is a recent phenomenon, a lesson in grace, which I learnt from the Naqshbandi Master, Sheikh Nurjan; “Say your lengthy prayers when you are by yourself. So you can be safeguarded from showing off in front of others about how long you take in prayer.”

 

In that Mairaj of the salat, the possibility exists that one can see God. As Imam Ali (ratu) did in each prayer. No wonder the Ahl e Beit, the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and then the Auliya Allah prayed a 1,000 nafal every night. In Karbala, when the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was being brutally killed, day after day, till all of them were martyred, only a a single male member remained, no one missed a single raka’t of those nawafil.

 

In Shaam, Damascus, Bibi Zainab (ratu) was asked, mockingly, if she felt abandoned by her Lord God who had let Yazid’s army martyr her entire family. What did she think of Him now given her state of being alone without anything, without anyone to come to her aid.

 

She had answered, “Indeed, never have I seen my Lord to be so Beautiful.”

 

They were always seeing God!

 

Sadly, I am stuck in my worldly state. All I think of when I wonder about them praying a 1,000 nawafil, as deeply impressed as I am, is how could I ever be able to do that? Won’t I get tired? How will I wake up in the morning? And I don’t even have anything to do. Still, I love that it is within my reach if I do reach for it. That what was a miracle for one, The Beloved (peace be upon him), made a possibility for all.

 

I don’t know how many nawafil I will be praying tonight. What I do know is that at Maghrib, I will celebrate. For Allah said, “Rejoice! When Bounty is bestowed upon you, Rejoice!” And He made His Beloved (peace be upon him) be the one to announce the glad tiding.

 

قُلْ بِفَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُون

 

Say, "It is Bounty of Allah and His Mercy so let them rejoice."

It is better than what they accumulate (in wealth).

Surah Yunus, Verse 58

 

In turn I announce it to all I know, texting and emailing my friends and family everywhere. Even their kids who I know or even don’t know that well. For myself, I will drive around Karachi and distribute kheer, a rice pudding, I ordered from some special place on Burns Road. I will do it by my hand saying to each person, “Shab e Mairaj Mubarik!” I wish you happiness on this Night of Ascension.

 

Shab e Mairaj is like each word of the Quran, it cannot ever be described completely. Each person who celebrates it does it for a different reason, in a different way. For me the best part of it is the beginning. Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) was sad. To alleviate his sadness, Allah brought him before Himself.

 

That leads me to believe that knowing how deeply Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) feels the sadness of each of his Ummati, something the Quran testifies to, Allah will alleviate our sadness as well. Thus a thousand springs of hope gush forth and lift my heart.

 

لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ

مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

 

Certainly, there has come unto you, (O Mankind), an Apostle from among yourselves.

Heavily weighs upon him that you might suffer.

Full of concern for you is he,

and full of compassion (Rau’f) and mercy (Rahim) towards those who attained faith (Imaan).

Surab At-Tawbah, Verse 128

 

As someone who recently experienced the death of a parent with whom the relationship was far from normal, I know that anger, which in any case is the flip side of grief, becomes extinguished when the parent dies. The only thing that remains is pain, except it is now doubled. There is no more penduluming between the two states. Only one stands tall, overwhelming!

 

In that state, when the eternal hope of healing in a broken relationship has died along with the person, another hope still remains. One can’t descend into a grave and wake the dead but one can ascend from a state and at least try to leave it behind. Say goodbye to that as well.

 

The Auliya Karaam said the most hallowed ground is the heart. The only guarantee of experiencing joy in that heart lies for every single being in the Universe in remembering, thinking of, even just wondering about one person alone; the Beloved of God (peace be upon him). If just the existence of the possibility of loving him remains and nothing else and no one else does, that in itself, is cause enough for celebration!

 

جہاں روشن است از جمالِ محمد

دلم تازہ گشت از وصالِ محمد

 

The entire Universe is lit by the beauty of Muhammad (saw).

My heart becames renewed only when it loves him.

Maulana Jami (ra)

 

Uzair lecture – The Linguistic Miracles of Ayat e Isra’:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLzr-BtrcJs

 

Uzair lecture – Secrets of Isra’ according to Ilm e Qawaid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sH420Dqrg0

 

Done