Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm
Shukr to Allāh ﷻ, the holy month of Rajab is almost approaching its end. It is one of the forbidden months. There is a holy night in the beginning and a holy night in the end of it. There is Laylatu l-Raghā’ib in the beginning, and the other one is Laylatu l-Isrā wa-l-Mi‘rāj. No one can deny it. Who live by as Muslims and deny the night journey of our Holy Prophet ﷺ will pass away without īmān. Because Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla puts it right in the middle of the Qur’ān so that there is no other interpretation.
What is Isrā’? It is the night journey from Makka to Jerusalem. Jibrīl ‘alayhi s-salām gave an animal to be ridden named Burāq. There is not such a speed like this holy animal’s in the whole world. If it moves, it goes from one place to another in just a minute. By stopping at five places, our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam prayed two rakāt and moved on. He ﷺ prayed together with Prophets in Jerusalem and made Mi‘rāj, ascended from there. ‘Urooj means ascent. He ﷺ was ascended to heavens. Up to the highest point where people can reach. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla raised our Holy Prophet ﷺ to the highest level. He ﷻ had raised him ﷺ already. But He ﷻ did it physically as well so that people see that the highest rank belongs to our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla addressed him ﷺ in a way we cannot know. Its manifestation; this ascension was not meant for anyone apart from our Holy Prophet ﷺ.
Why are we saying this? Some people and Muslims now say it happened in his ﷺ dream to make their belief weak. Those who say so claim to be scholars, to have graduated from universities, to have done PhD, to have done master’s degree and I don’t know what. These people say it happened in a dream, that it is a dream. Everyone can have dreams. What can you do with that? It is not important what they say. What’s important is the truth. The miracles of our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, believing in the hidden is from the first conditions of īmān. It is to believe in what we don’t see. Nevertheless, people say “No one saw it. It can’t be so. How did he ﷺ travel the distance of forty days in one night? They hadn’t reached heavens. They couldn’t comprehend the worldly matters yet, whereas it is quite simple now.” Therefore, that hidden thing is open now. But it is the condition of our īmān to believe that our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was taken to the highest levels by Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. As the last Prophet, as the most beloved servant of Allāh ﷻ he ﷺ went to His ﷻ presence, to the nearest level. As we said, there is no space and time there. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla knows what the addressing was. We believe in that. As we said, who doesn’t believe in that may lose his īmān and religion. May Allāh ﷻ protect us.
Therefore, this holy night is a blessed night. In shā’a Llāh we will revive it in two days. Its barakah will be upon us. Performing worship then will make us closer to Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. These holy days are gifted to us by Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla for the honor of our Holy Prophet ﷺ. They are beautiful nights. Therefore, there will be strength to our īmān. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ was shown outside the time and space by Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. If these things he ﷺ saw were in time and space, it would take millions of years to be able to see them. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam went to all of these places in two hours. He ﷺ attained these beautiful things, then returned and gave good tidings to people. People who got the good tidings are the people with īmān. Those who didn’t accept it were kāfirs.
Kāfirs were very happy for this matter. They said, “No one will follow this person after this.” Ḥāshā (far from it). Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam – As they didn’t accept the Prophet, they addressed him ﷺ as “this person” or with other useless words. But when they told Sayyidinā Abū Bakr, the closest one to Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam about it, he said, “Did he ﷺ say this with his holy mouth?” They said, “He ﷺ said that.” They became happy. But when he said, “I didn’t hear it from someone else but from himself ﷺ. I believe him ﷺ,” they were surprised. They ran away. This shows the closeness of Sayyidinā Abū Bakr as well. Also, when the addressing was made, the voice of Sayyidinā Abū Bakr was heard. In order to for there to be a familiarity for our Holy Prophet ﷺ, as he was the closest and best friend of our Holy Prophet ﷺ, his voice was heard to our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam.
These things point at the beauties given to us by Allāh ﷻ and show how valuable it is to be from ummat Muḥammad ﷺ. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ thought about us even in that position. He ﷺ asked for forgiveness for his ﷺ ummah from Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. Shukr to Allāh ﷻ, we make millions of shukr for being from his ﷺ ummah. May Allāh ﷻ let us reside close to him ﷺ in paradise in shā’a Llāh, for the honor of these beautiful days in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.
Al-Fatiha.
- Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani
24 January 2025/ 24 Rajab 1446
Lefke, Cyprus