SubhanAllah a straight line runs from the centre of the Yemeni side of the Ka’abah (the side facing the empty section of the Mataf in this image) directly to the Abode of Peace in Masjid Nabawi to the Dome of the Rock in Al-Quds…the path our Blessed Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam flew on Buraq with Gibril Alaihis Salam, then through all the Heavens to the final destination of being with his Lord beyond the Furthest Lote Tree on the night of the 27th Rajab.

During the Journey Rasulullah

came to a valley in which he breathed a sweet, cool breeze fragrant with musk and he heard a voice. He said: “What is this O Gibril?” He replied: ” This is the voice of Paradise saying:

O my Lord, bring me what you have promised me!

Too abundant are my rooms, my gold-laced garments,

My silk, my brocades, my carpets, my pearls, my corals,

My silver, my gold, my goblets, my bowls, my pitchers,

My couches, my honey, my water, my milk, my wine!

And the Lord says:

You shall have every single Muslim man and woman,

Every believing man and woman,

Everyone who has believed in Me and My Messengers

And did excellent deeds

Without associating a partner with Me

Nor taking helpers without Me!

Anyone who fears Me shall be safe,

And whoever asks of Me, I shall give him,

And whoever loans Me something, I shall replay him,

And whoever relies upon Me, I shall suffice him!

I am Allah beside Whom there is no God.

I never fail in My promise.

Successful indeed are the believers (23:1)

So blessed be Allah, the best of Creators! (23:14)

From a must title to be read annually at this time, Sayyid Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki’s The Prophet’s Night Journey and Heavenly Ascent.

The Greatest Vision from The Subtleties of the Ascension

One of them said: “The Real severed the secret heart of Muhammad SallAllahu alaihi wasallam from all changes. he gazed at his Lord with the eye of certainty, and he became realized in the lights of the Real until the eye of certainty returned to him the real-truth of certainty. He summoned up the face-to-face address with His saying, He revealed to His servant what He revealed.

“When He caused him to approach, he descended. He showed him he-ness and eliminated from him his I-ness. He cast down His traces, and He adorned him with His lights. Thus he was able to witness that witnessing. He never saw a created light above His light. It occupied him. For that reason nothing awed him and nothing pleased him after what he had witnessed, which God (be He exalted) recounted in His saying ‘Indeed he saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord.’ (53:18) And ‘his vision did not stray nor was it excessive’ (53:17) out of the exaltedness of His light and the purity of His trace.”

The connection between the vision if the Divinity and Muhammad’s mystical experience serves as the theme of this anonymous saying. The opening sentence signals the idea that Muhammad’s created and contingent nature was left behind when he witnessed and thus partook in the essence of the uncreated and eternal Divinity. The vision moves him to the final stage in what elsewhere in this work is described as a three-stage progression: the knowledge of certainty (‘ ilm yaqin) the eye of certainty (‘ayn al-yaqin) and the real truth of certainty (haqq al-yaqin), the distinction between the divine Real (al-Haqq) and his lover is blurred as the latter becomes realized (tahaqqaqa) in the lights of the Real. This anonymous saying equates this powerful visionary experience with crucial verses from the Surah of the Star.

Initially the saying cites the mysterious verse He revealed to His servant what He revealed (53:10) which highlights the vague language with which the exchange is described while underscoring the dichotomy between master and servant. However turning next to an earlier verse in the same passage, he approached and descended (53:8) the anonymous exegete describes the stripping away of Muhammad’s individual identity as divine qualities replace human qualities. While no actual union is spoken of here, the process of Divine “infusion” or more precisely “investiture” is portrayed as a necessary  step that makes possible the visionary experience that follows.

The image of Divine lights appears throughout this saying, both as a garment worn by the visionary and as the content of the vision. To a certain degree, the lights become both the subject and the object of the visionary experience. All created lights pale in comparison with these Divine lights, the anonymous master states, and thus after his experience Muhammad was never impressed by worldly things.

This time last year, including links to six previous posts on Israa wa Miraaj.

Shaykh Faisal Abdur-Razak’s seven part series on Mi’raajun Nabi.

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.