Advice of Scholars - MI’RAJ NIGHT (II)

Rasûlullah smiled: “Stay with your masters for the time being! After a short while, you will hear of my name far and wide. Come to me then,” he stated. Resting for a while, they wiped off the remaining blood that was still on them and walked towards Mekka. It was already dark when they arrived in the city. The few months he spent in Mekka were troublesome. The enemy was everywhere. There was not a place to go. At last he went to the district of Abû Tâlib, where the house of Umm-i Hânî, his uncle’s daughter, was. Umm-i Hânî had not become Muslim yet. “Who is there?” she said. Rasûlullah said, “It is me, Muhammad, your uncle’s son. I have come here as a guest, if you will accept me.” Umm-i Hânî: “I will gladly sacrifice my life for such a true, trustworthy, honourable and noble guest as you are. But if you had said in advance that you would honour us, I would have prepared something. I have no food to give you now.” Rasûlullah: “I want nothing to eat and drink. I care for none. A place will suffice where I can worship, entreat my Allah.” Umm-i Hânî received Rasûlullah, gave him a mat, a bowl and an ewer. It was considered as the most honourable duty among the Arabs to do kindness to a visitor and to protect him against an enemy. Any harm given to a guest in a home would be a grave shame for the host. Umm-i Hânî thought, “He has a lot of enemies in Mekka. There are even those who want to kill him. I will be on the watch for him till morning in order to protect my honour.” Taking her father’s sword, she began to walk around the house. Rasûlullah was hurt very much during the day. Performing an ablution, he began to entreat his Allah, ask for forgiveness and pray so that people would have îmân and attain to happiness. Being very tired, hungry and aggrieved, he lay down on the mat and soon fell asleep. At that moment, Allâhu ta’âlâ commanded to Hadrat Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’: “I have afflicted My Beloved Prophet so much. I have hurt his blessed body, his tender heart so much. But he still entreats Me. He does not think of anything besides Me. Go! Bring Me My Beloved! Show him My Paradise and Hell. Let him see the blessings I have prepared for him and for those who love him. Let him see the torment I have prepared for those who disbelieve him, who hurt him with their words, writings and actions. I will console him. I will cure the wounds of his tender heart.” Within a moment Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’ was near Rasûlullah. He found him sound asleep. He did not have the heart to wake him up. He was in a man’s figure. He kissed under his blessed foot. Because he does not have a heart or blood, his cold lips woke Rasûlullah. At once he recognized Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’ and, fearing that Allâhu ta’âlâ might have gotten offended with him, he said, “O my Brother, Jabrâil! Why are you here at such an unusual time? Have I done something wrong, have I offended my Allah? Have you brought bad news for me?” Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’ said, “O You, the Highest of all creatures! O You, the Beloved of the Creator! O You, the Master of Prophets! O You, the Honourable Prophet, the source of goodness and superiorities! Your Allah sends His salâm to you. He bestows upon you the blessing which He has given to no other prophet, to no creature. He invites you to Himself. Please get up. Let us go.” They went to the Ka’ba, where someone came to them, cleaved open his chest, took out his heart and washed it with the water of Zemzem. Then he put it back in its place. Then, riding on a white animal named Burâq brought from Paradise, they went to the Masjid-i Aqsâ in Jerusalem in a moment. Making a hole in the rock with his finger, Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’ tied Burâq there. The souls of some past prophets, in their own figures, were present there. He offered Hadrat Adam, Hadrat Nûh (Noah) and Hadrat Ibrâhîm, respectively, to become the imâm so that they would perform the namâz in jamâ’at. Asking for an excuse and saying that they were defective, they all refused it. Hadrat Jabrâil suggested Rasûlullah. “When you are present, no one can be the imâm,” he said. After the namâz, they went out of the masjid and by some unknown ascent passed the seven layers of heavens in one moment. At each heaven he saw a great Prophet. Jabrâil ‘alaihissalâm’ remained in Sidra, saying, “If I go as farther as a hair’s breadth I will burn and perish.” Sidrat-ul-muntahâ is a tree in the sixth heaven. After seeing Paradise, Hell and innumerable things, Rasûlullah, on a carpet of Paradise named Rafraf, passed the Kursî, the ’Arsh, the world of souls, and reached the heights decreed by Allâhu ta’âlâ in an unknown, incomprehensible and unexampled manner. Without place, time, direction and manner, he saw Allâhu ta’âlâ. Without eyes, ears, means and place, he spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ. Attaining blessings that could be known or comprehended by no creature, he came back to Jerusalem and thence to Umm-i Hânî’s house in the blessed city of Mekka. The place where he had lain down had not become cold yet, nor had the motion of the water in the bowl come to a standstill. Umm-i Hânî, who had been walking about outside, had dozed off, unaware of everything. On his way from Jerusalem to Mekka he met a caravan of Quraish. A camel in the caravan was frightened and fell down. The next morning he went to Ka’ba and related his mi’râj. Hearing this, the disbelievers scoffed at him. “Muhammad’s gone crazy for good,” they said. And the ones who had been thinking of becoming Muslims grave up. Some of them, amused, went to Abû Bakr’s house. They knew he was a clever, experienced and calculating merchant. As soon as he came to the door, they asked him: “O Abâ Bakr! You went to Jerusalem many times. You must know well. How long does it take to go from Mekka to Jerusalem?”