The Magnificent Journey Part 4

So, the Prophet SAW ascends into the first heaven and before the door of the first heaven is opened, the angel guarding the door asks, "Who is there?" Jibril says it is himself and the Prophet, only then are the doors open. This happens before entering all of the heavens and one lesson we can learn here is that, regardless of how high one's status is with Allah, protocols cannot be bypassed! The Prophet did not demand angrily for the doors to be open just because he is the most beloved of all creation to Allah. Our dignitaries would do well to learn from his humility, for they are far less worthless in the sight of Allah than al-Mustafa. Ada hati nak berlagak hebat demand/marah-marah just because you are a menteri. Sedar diri sikit please!

Ok, at the first heaven, they meet Adam a.s and Jibril tells the Prophet to say Salaam to Adam a.s.. Adam a.s. replies the salam and says "Marhaban bi ibnissoleh wannabiyyissoleh" i.e. welcome O righteous son and Prophet. Perhaps they say a few things to each other, and then Jibril and the Prophet move up onto the 2nd heaven. Again permission is sought before entering. Here they meet Yahya and Isa a.s. known as 'ibnayn al-khal' which means cousins whose mothers were sisters. Maryam and Yahya's mother aka Zakariyya's wife, were sisters. Again Jibril tells the Prophet to say Salaam to them and they reply. Isa definitely had a long conversation with the Prophet about Dajjal, and Ya'juj and Ma'juj, about his 2nd coming etc, but it is likely this took place during the descent rather than now, for as I've said previously, the most important thing now is to meet Allah first.

They move onto the 3rd heaven, and as usual, permission is sought before entering. And it is here that the Prophet tells us that he met Yusof a.s. and "it was as if he was given half of beauty (shatral Husn)". No wonder then the ladies managed to cut themselves without realizing because they were so captivated at Yusof's beauty! They then move on to the fourth heaven and they meet Idris a.s. and after that Harun a.s. at the 5th heaven. In the 6th heaven they meet Musa a.s., the Prophet who will save us all from praying 50 times a day! When Musa sees the Prophet and after saying salaam, Musa says, "This ghulaam(young child), eventhough he has come after me, will have an ummah that is larger than mine." So Musa is a wee bit jealous about this, but it's a good kind of jealousy. Also, he calls Rasulullah ghulaam because Musa a.s. died when he was over 100 years old, and so the Prophet seems like a child to him, despite him being about 50 years old or so when the event took place.

Next they ascend up into the 7th heaven, and here they see the prophet who resembled Rasulullah SAW the most in character and visible features, Ibrahim a.s. They found him leaning against the Al-baitul Ma'mur, the Ka'bah of the heavens. It is said, that everyday, 70000 angels come to Baitul Ma'mur to do tawaf and pray, and they never return again. So since the beginning of creation, everyday a new batch of 70000 angels visit Baitul Ma'mur. Just imagine how many angles there are altogether then!

Here, the Prophet SAW sees two other great Signs of Allah which are Sidratul Muntaha (the Lote tree at the end) and Jibril in his true form with 600 wings! This is the 2nd time he is seeing Jibril in his true form, the first was very early on at the beginning of the revelation. And some scholars say, it is these three Magnificent Signs (baitul ma'mur, sidratul muntaha, and Jibril's true form) that Allah refers to in the ayaah in surah an-najm:

"He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord. " An-najm verse 18

Ok, more about the Sidratul Muntaha in the next post. Here let us just try to derive some wisdoms of why the Prophet met these prophets and not others. First, let me just clarify that the prophets do not reside in these heavens. Scholars tell us that they have been brought to the heavens specifically for the Mi'raj as welcoming parties, to welcome the Prophet. They are otherwise in the realm of the grave (barzakh). Ok, so why these particular Prophets were chosen? Below are some possible reasons scholars have come up with:

a) Adam a.s. - Just as Adam was expelled from Jannah, but will then return to it, so will the Prophet be expelled from Makkah but will then return to it. Also, Adam a.s. is the father of humanity, so it is perhaps only right that he makes up the welcoming party.
b) Yahya and Isa a.s. - They both were severely persecuted by their people. Yahya even died as a result of this persecution. So it was a motivation for the Prophet that what he is facing is not new, but his brothers before him have faced similar challenges. Another reason could be that Isa had many things to tell the Prophet about his 2nd coming.
c) Yusof a.s. - Yusof was betrayed and persecuted by his own blood brothers, but in the end he was victorious, and so shall be the case of the Prophet. It is no coincidence that surah Yusof was revealed around this time as well.
d) Idirs a.s. - perhaps becasue Allah says in surah Maryam "we raised him to a high station", and He said the same thing to the Prophet in surah al-insyirah "we have raised your name high in remembrance."
e) Harun a.s. - same general reason as the others i.e. persecuted by his people.
f) Musa a.s. - apart from the fact that he will help us get a discount on the number of prayers, Musa a.s. is the most similar to the Prophet in terms of experience with a large ummah.
g) Ibrahim a.s. - This is probably obvious. Both he and the Prophet are considered Khaleelullah, the intimate friends of Allah. And Ibrahim a.s. was given the privilege of leaning on Baitul Ma'mur because he was the first to properly establish the house of Allah on earth, the Ka'bah.

To be continued....