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Prologue
The journey of the Prophet and Messenger, Muhammad, may the
mercy and blessings of God be upon him, by night from the Holy Mosque in Mecca to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem was a miracle granted to Him by
God. It is the first part of a night of wonder and amazement, culminating
in Prophet Muhammad’s ascension through the heavens and into the presence of
God.
“Glorified be He Who took His slave on a journey by night
from Al-Masjid-al-Haram[1] to
the Masjid-al-Aqsa[2], the neighborhood whereof We have
blessed, in order that We might show him of Our signs[3].
Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.” (Quran 17:1)
It was a physical journey and all the events about to
be described took place in one night.
This series of articles will use the word masjid instead
of its English translation, mosque. The reason for this is that the word
masjid implies much more than the recognisable building where Muslims
pray. The word masjid comes from the root “sa-ja-da” meaning to prostrate, therefore
a masjid is any place of prostration. The Prophet Muhammad told us “this
earth was made a Masjid for me.”[4] This gift from God was
given only to the nation of Muhammad.
A Muslim can pray in any place that is not impure (with a
few exceptions). There are buildings specifically for prayer, but any
place a Muslim prays is a masjid, in the literal sense – a place of
prostration. The act of prostration is the most honourable part of the
prayer. When a Muslim’s forehead touches the ground, he or she is very
close to God. Prayer establishes the connection between the believer and
his Lord, and it was on this miraculous night that the five daily
prayers were instated.
In the story to follow you will learn some more about this
man called Muhammad and come to understand a little about why Muslims love
him. You will also discover why Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem is one of the
three Holy Masjids in Islam. God refers to Jerusalem in the Quran as “the
neighbourhood we have blessed”. The Dome of the Rock, part of the
precinct of Masjid al-Aqsa, is the most recognizable symbol of Jerusalem and holds a special place in the
hearts of every Muslim. On this journey we are about to undertake you
will learn why. So let us travel back through time, to 7th century
Arabia, to the city of Mecca
and accompany Prophet Muhammad on his night journey and ascension.
The Journey Commences
Approximately ten years after Prophet Muhammad received the
first revelations of the Quran, he suffered two grave losses. One was the
death of his uncle Abu Talib, the man who had supported and loved him from the
time he was a young orphan, and then only two months later, Muhammad’s beloved
wife, Khadijah, died. This year became known as the Year of Sorrow.
In the years leading up to these sad events, the new
Muslims, especially Prophet Muhammad, were persecuted, ridiculed and abused.
The strength and loyalty of his uncle combined with the love and
compassion shown to him by Khadijah helped him to remain strong and continue
spreading the message in the face of grave adversity. However, he now
felt alone and extremely overwhelmed by his sadness.
When one has truly surrendered to God, the pains and sorrows
of this life form part of a test of faith, and these tests are always followed
by relief. In chapter 94 of the Quran, called Solace, God assures
Prophet Muhammad that with every hardship comes relief, and He repeats it a
second time with emphasis - with every hardship comes relief. After this
extremely difficult year, Prophet Muhammad felt his relief in the form of a
major blessing, the Night Journey and Ascension.
“So verily, with hardship, there is relief. Verily, with
hardship, there is relief.” (Quran 94:4-6)
Even though it was dangerous and he risked attack by the
Pagans of Mecca, Prophet Muhammad often spent the night in prayer at the Holy
Masjid in Mecca .
On this particular night, he was lying close to the Ka’ba (the black
cube in the middle of the Masjid) in a state between wakefulness and
sleep. An angel came and cut open his chest from the throat to the below
the stomach. The angel removed Prophet Muhammad’s heart and placed it in
a golden bowl filled with faith, the heart was purified, filled and returned to
its place.[5]
This was not the first time that an angel had come down and
extracted Muhammad’s heart. As a small child, Muhammad lived in the
deserts of Arabia with a foster family
according to custom, for the desert environment was known to be much healthier
and more suitable for proper cultivation than the cities. When he was
four or five years old and playing in this wilderness with his young friends,
the Angel Gabriel appeared, removed Muhammad’s heart and extracted from it a
portion, referring to it as “a part of Satan”. The Angel Gabriel washed
the heart with the water of zamzam (the well of Mecca which sprung to quench the thirst of
Ishmael) and returned it to its place. The other children ran away
screaming, thinking Muhammad was being murdered, but by the time they returned
with help, he was alone, scared and white, but with only a small mark from the
ordeal.[6]
Prophet Muhammad’s mission was to guide all of humanity to
the worship of the One True God, thus every aspect of his life formed part of
God’s plan to prepare him for this great responsibility. As a child, the
part of Satan was removed from his heart, and as an adult, about to
undertake the building of the Muslim nation, his heart was purified and filled
with pure faith. The next part of this miraculous night then commenced.
Prophet Muhammad was presented with a white animal he
described as being smaller than a horse but larger than a donkey, it was known
as al-Buraq. This animal, he said, could take a stride as far as it
could see. With one leap, al Buraq could cover an incredibly vast
distance.[7] The Angel Gabriel told Prophet
Muhammad to mount the animal, and together they travelled more than 1200 km. to
the furthest masjid – Masjid al-Aqsa.
Prophet Muhammad was on the back of al-Buraq while the
animal’s stride reached towards the horizon, and the stars glittered in the
night sky over the deserts of Arabia and
beyond. He must have felt the wind on his face and been aware of his
newly filled heart thumping in his chest. Imagine what signs and wonders
of God Prophet Muhammad must have seen on that miraculous journey by night!
Footnotes:
[3] Ayaat, the word in Arabic, has
multiple connotations: proofs, evidences, verses & lessons.
[4] Saheeh Al-Bukhari
[5] Ibid.
[6] Saheeh Muslim
[7] Saheeh Al-Bukhari
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