On his way back to Makkah on the buraq, according to some unauthentic reports, Rasulullah saw 3 caravans at different distances from Makkah, also on their way back. He would later describe these three caravans to Abu Jahl to prove his point. Then again, these reports are not authentic, so i'll just leave them be.
Upon arrival in Makkah, he fell asleep and awoke the next morning. Now this is why some people have claimed that the whole journey was only in his dream, because the prophet says, "when i woke up...." Well, what most scholars say is that he fell asleep after the journey, probably from exhaustion and the overwhelming Signs that he saw. The journey was without a doubt a journey of body and soul, for if it was only a journey of the soul/dream, then there is nothing miraculous about it, is it??
Rasullah tells us in the first person that when he awoke, he felt a great anxiety about telling the people what had happened the night before. He was sitting in front of the Ka'bah, looking very anxious when Abu Jahl passed by and asked him what was the problem, seeing his worry stricken face. Rasulullah of course told him that he had gone to Jerusalem and came back last night. He did not mention the mi'raj at all. The events of the mi'raj he only told the believers. Abu Jahl wanted to laugh at what he thought was something so absurd, but he held it in because he wanted everyone to laugh at Rasulullah. So he asked Rasulullah if he would tell everybody else about this, and of course Rasulullah agreed. So he gathered all the people of Makkah in front of the Prophet and asked him to tell them what he had told him. When he told them, they began clapping in jest and laughing at what the they had heard. Just imagine for one moment, how hard it must've been for the Prophet to speak about what he saw to a people who have mocked him since the da'wah begin, and how he must feel when they laughed at him like that. May Allah send His peace and blessings upon our Prophet and reward him with the best for all that he endured for the sake of the da'wah.
Some of them asked him to describe to Blessed Sanctuary (Masjidil Aqsa) to them to see if he did indeed go there last night. He began describing the sanctuary, but started to forget the details. Anybody would forget the details of a place if they were there for such a short time, especially at night when people can hardly see. But then Allah saved him by projecting a vision of the Sanctuary before his eyes, and he described everything in perfect detail. How astounded the people of Makkah were, but their hardened hearts would not accept the fact that he was indeed miraculously taken on a magnificent journey to Jerusalem and brought back in one night.
Some people rushed to Abu Bakr, who was not present at the time, to tell him about what the Prophet said. They went to Abu Bakr and said, "Have you heard what your comapanion is saying?? He said he went to Jerusalem last night and is back here this morning!" They of course reported this incident to Abu Bakr in a tone of mockery. But Abu Bakr r.a. responded with a response that would earn him the title As-Siddiq (the truthful), "If that is what he said, then it MUST be true. For Wallahi I believe him in something greater than this, that he receives revelation from above the seven heavens (Usaddiquhu fi ma huwa a'jaba min zalik!)." That was the iman of Abu Bakr, the khaleel of Rasulullah, the best of his companions.
In the seerah of Ibn Hisyam, there is a mention that some believers left Islam after hearing about this journey. This report contradicts authentic reports from Bukhari about the early Muslims being the most devoted of all, and that none of them had ever left Islam. The report I am speaking about is none other that the narration of Abu Sufyan before he became Muslim, when he went to see Heraclius in the 7th year of the hijrah, to bad mouth the Prophet, to no avail of course. One of the questions Heraclius asked him was, is there anybody amongst the muslims who have left the faith after embracing it, and Abu Sufyan denied this.We still hear some penceramahs saying that some early muslims became murtad because of this incident, relying on the story in Ibn Hisham which has no isnad(chain of narration) anyway. It is however almost impossible to believe this because we know, that the early muslims of Makkah were the ones with strongest iman of all.
With this, I conclude this little series about al-isra' wa al-mi'raj. There are many many more incidents and lessons to learn from this magnificent journey, but my knowledge of this topic is only as much as I have written. If the readership would like to read more about this, then they can refer to any seerah book and even the tafseer of the first verse of surah al-isra'. All the hadiths are also mentioned in detail in those places.
I hope this has been beneficial. May Allah continue to increase us all in knowledge that benefits, and help us to benefit from the knowledge that He has given us thus far. Ameen.
No comments:
Post a Comment