Advice of Scholars - MI’RAJ NIGHT (I)

Mi'raj night is the twenty-seventh night of the month of Rajab. Mi’raj means ladder. It is the night on which Rasûlullah was made to ascend to heavens and was taken to unknown places. The inhabitants of Mekka would not have îmân. They had been persecuting Muslims very much. They had gone too far and had already begun torturing Muslims. Rasûlullah was very sorry. It was one year before the Hegira, and he was fifty-two years old. Taking Zayd bin Hârisa with him, he went to Tâif. He preached to the inhabitants of Tâif for one month. None would have îmân. They mocked him and tortured him, hooted and jeered at him. The children pelted him with stones. Hopeless, wearied, he was on his way back, his blessed legs wounded. Meanwhile, Zayd’s head had blood all over. During a very hot hour, they sat by the roadside, exhausted. The owners of a vineyard that happened to be there, two rich brothers named Utba and Shayba, who were sons of Rabî’a sent their servant Addâs with a bunch of grapes for each. Before eating the grapes Rasûlullah ‘sallallâhu alaihi wa sallam’ said the Basmala. Addâs, a Christian, was surprised to hear this. “I have been here for many years. I have never heard anybody say such a word. What kind of a word is that?” he said. Rasûlullah asked, “Where are you from?” Addâs: “I am from Ninawa.” Rasûlullah: “I see you are from the same place as Hadrat Yûnus ‘alaihissalâm’.” Addâs: “How do you know Yûnus? No one hereabouts knows him.” Rasûlullah: “He is my brother. He was a prophet like me.” Addâs: “The owner of this beautiful face and these sweet words cannot be a liar. I now believe that you are Allah’s Messenger.” So he became a Muslim and added, “O Rasûlallah. I have been serving these cruel people for many years. They have been depriving people of their rights. They have been cheating others. They have no goodness. They will commit any baseness to get what is worldly and to fulfill their sensuous desires. I hate them. I want to go with you, get honoured with your service, to be the target of the irreverence which the ignorant and the idiots will commit against you and to sacrifice myself to protect your blessed body.” 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.”