The Magnificent Journey Part 1

This post will be about al-isra' wal mi-raj. It will be quite detailed so I intend to separate it into a few posts so as not to bore the readership. So what exactly is al-Isra' wal-mi'raj. The word isra' means journey by night. And this is the journey that Allah references in the first verse of surah al-isra', which is of course named after the journey too.

"Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing. " al-isra(17) verse 1.

Let us do a little bit of tafseer of this ayat. Allah begins the verse with 'subhan', a type of glorification that is used to praise Him for what He IS NOT. He is not deaf, not blind, not cruel, not oppressive, not nonchalant, does not tire, or need a partner to help Him in His affairs etc. He is free from all those deficiencies. In contrast, Hamd is used to praise Him for what He IS. He is most generous, most kind, most merciful, Oft giving, Oft forgiving etc. So why is it then Allah begins this verse with the glorification of purification, subhan?
Here's where we need a little bit of context to understand why. This magnificent journey and hence the surah, was revealed shortly after or during the Year of Sadness i.e. the 10th/11th year of prophethood. There is no evidence of which month specifically it took place, let alone date! The year is known as the Year of Sadness because the Prophet SAW lost his uncle Abu Talib and shortly after, within a month, his wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid r.a. Both of them were his pillar of support who helped him to get through all the difficulties he faced in his da'wah to the Quraisy. They fell ill and succumbed to their illness because they were malnourished as a result of the boycott that was imposed upon the the Bani Hasyim for 3 years by the oppressive chieftains of the Quraisy.

After the death of his uncle who was his main protector in Makkah, the abuse against the Muslims particularly the Prophet intensified, and so the Prophet SAW decided to go to a nearby city called Taif to spread the Message. Makkah was too dangerous for him already. Now what happened at Taif was a tragedy. This is not the place to go into the details of what happened, because it requires a whole separate post. However, suffice to say, it was probably the worst day of his life. How do we know this? Many years later, his wife Aisyah r.a. would ask him if there was any day that was worse then Uhud, and he would say the Day of Taif. He was taunted and thrown rocks at by kids and the mentally disabled, and this shattered his morale almost completely. And it is around this time that the beautiful Surah Yusuf was revealed and the magnificent journey took place. The isra' wal-mi'raj was a like a special gift from Allah to His most beloved slave, to persuade him to not lose heart in spreading the Message. It was a morale booster, and a privilege that no other human was given. He met his brothers in prophethood, the angels and finally Allah Himself, which was a way of telling him that, 'O prophet, even if the dwellers of the earth reject you, then know that the dwellers of the heavens are ever willing to see you and welcome you.'

Back to the tafseer, this is why Allah begins the verse with 'subhan'. To tell the prophet SAW and the muslims that Allah is not blind to the suffering they are undergoing, and neither is He deaf to their calls for help. He is letting things be for the moment for a wisdom which may not yet be apparent, but He certainly is well acquainted with what the oppressive disbelievers are doing. And that is why the verse ends with two of His attrbutes that show His awareness of all things, " Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing."

To be continued.....