Sermon Of
Imam A. M. Khattab
Jan.11, 1932---Sept.15, 2001
Imam and Director
Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, Ohio
1982-1998
 

  ISRĀ' and MI 'RĀJ  

Isrā’ and Mi‘rāj denotes an event in the life of the Prophet at a time when he needed encouragement in the face of what appeared to be insurmountable odds. He was stoned and driven out of Tā-īf. His followers were kicked out of their country; some sought refuge in Abyssinia, the present day Ethiopia, and some went to other places. His wife Khadija had died, and his uncle Abu Talib had died. It was at such a time that the event of Isrā’ and Mi ‘rāj came to comfort the Prophet. There is no disagreement among Muslims that it occurred because there are references to it in the Qur'an. But how and what is the nature of the event?

The reference to Isrā’ (the land journey from Mecca to Jerusalem) is in Sura 17, Al- Isrā’. The verse is clear-cut and needs no interpretation.

17:1: Limitless in His glory is He who transported His servant by night from the Inviolable House of Worship (Masjid Al Haraam) [at Mecca] to the Remote House of Worship (Masjid Al Aqsa) [at Jerusalem] – the environs of which We have blessed – so that We might show him some of Our symbols…”

Reference to the Mi ‘rāj is found in Sura 53, An-Najm, where the Qur'anic verses give the idea that the Mi ‘rāj — the Ascension — to the sky had taken place because the verses are talking about Gabriel and how Muhammad met him at that particular place on that night and so on. The verses are little bit vague and that is why the Muslim ulama are in disagreement with one another regarding their interpretation. The main thing to remember is that because there is no clear cut Qur'anic verse like that of Isrā’ there is no consensus on it. Mi ‘rāj is taken from the Arabic verb ‘araja. ‘Araja could be interpreted as sa'ada and in English it means “ascending”.

An-Najm 1-17: Consider this unfolding of God’s message, as it comes down from on high! This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded, and neither does he speak out of his own desire: that which he conveys to you is but a divine inspiration with which he is being inspired – something that a very mighty one [the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel] has imparted to him: an angel endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature, appearing in the horizon’s loftiest part and then drew near, and came close, until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer. And thus did God reveal unto His servant whatever He deemed right to reveal. The servant’s heart did not give the lie to what he saw: will you, then, contend with him as to what he saw? And indeed he saw him (the angel manifested in his true shape and nature) by the lote-tree of the farthest limit, near unto the garden of promise, with the lote-tree veiled in a veil of nameless splendor…. And withal, the eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray: truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer’s symbols [Asad].

What we can get from this, in general, is that I recommend our people not to delve into details; just say that the Prophet ascended from earth to Heaven.

What do the ulama of Islam say about that? Did they agree about what type of trip he had taken? There are three opinions. Some say he had seen it in his dream and the dream of the Prophet is true. Another group of ulama said no the journey had taken place but by his soul only not by his body. A third group of ulama said no he traveled body and soul. Who is correct I don't know? I could choose any one of those opinions and every one of you is free to choose any one of those. That's Islam. These are the Ayat Mutashabihaat, which are subject of ijtehad. But if you go and say these words in Masjid Saad [located on Monroe Street, Toledo, Ohio] they will declare you a kafir. But if you read all of the explanations (tafseers) of the Qur'an you will find these three opinions in them. So the important thing is that as Muslims we believe that the event of Isrā’ and Mi ‘rāj occurred.

Some of the Orientalists and non-Muslims question the idea that Muhammad went to the sky body and soul. They say it is very well-known that oxygen, which is essential to the survival of human beings, is limited to certain layers above the earth after which there is no oxygen. So how Muhammad penetrated through this area where there is no oxygen? How did he breathe? That's a question which has been posed by Orientalists. Discovery of oxygen in the atmosphere is a scientific fact of later times so no one argued about it in the olden times because at that time the body of knowledge was limited and no one knew what oxygen is and what hydrogen is and all that. But in fact the miraculous part of the Qur'an is that it hints at the lack of oxygen in the upper atmosphere. Imam quotes 6:124: And whomsoever God wills to guide, his bosom He opens wide with willingness towards self-surrender unto Him; and whomsoever He wills to let go astray, his bosom He causes to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing unto the skies…

No one understood this verse in the olden times. Today we know that a lack of oxygen, not only at high altitudes but even at sea level, causes a feeling of constriction and tightness in the chest. [These are the classic symptoms of a person suffering an acute heart attack and are due to lack of oxygen]. But we did not understand the meaning of that verse except after the present body of knowledge came into being. So the contemporary Orientalists question how Muhammad ascended to the sky where there is no oxygen. The answer of those who say he went to the sky body and soul is that God, who created the sky and who created the oxygen and who created everything of that sort, is able to let His Prophet ascend to this area without any need for oxygen. That's how they put it to prove their point that Muhammad ascended body and soul.

When the Prophet informed his people the next day that he traveled to Jerusalem and to the sky and came back the same night, even some Muslims rejected Islam. And he was advised by one of his wives not to tell the people because they would not believe him. But because he had confidence in himself he told the people about it. The Qureshites told him to give them some proof that he really had traveled because it took them one month going and one month coming from Mecca to Jerusalem with their caravans. So there is another hadith, which says he told the Qureshites that on the way he had come across such-and-such caravan with such-and-such tribe at such-and-such place and it consisted of so many camels etc. and they found it all to be true. But, what is the lesson that we can truly learn from this? Normally as Muslims when we talk about AbuBakr we call him AbuBakr Siddiq. Why? The word siddiq in Arabic translated into English, means “the one who believes”. Why was that title given to AbuBakr? It is mentioned in Islamic history that when the Prophet told the people about his experience of Isrā’ and Mi ‘rāj even some Muslims disbelieved him and some people went to Hadrat AbuBakr Siddiq and said to him: “Do you believe your friend? Do you know what he said today?” He replied no. They said: “Mohammad is saying that in one night he went from Mecca to Jerusalem and ascended to the sky and came back the same night.  Do you believe that?”  AbuBakr is recorded in history as saying: “If Mohammad said it, it must be true”.

The next question is how did Muhammad travel there? How was he transported there? There is a hadith – and you know my attitude in this respect – I am not very well versed in hadith; I don't know too much about that science so I cannot confirm which is true and which is not true. I depend mostly upon the Qur'an because there is no argument in it. The hadith which is narrated says: “Jibreel brought the Boraq to me on that night to take me on that trip”. And let me assume that the Prophet said that. Good. But what is Al- Boraq? All we can understand is that Al Boraq is a means of transportation but we don’t know what its definition is. The Prophet did not describe it.

You see the Christians nowadays make a photograph or statue of Jesus – blonde, white, and nice looking as if he was born in California! He is not supposed to be that way; he is supposed to be like my color because he was born in the same area where I was born. But that is how the people imagine and then depict religion and it is passed down, incorrectly, to the next generation afterwards. The Muslims did the same. They took the word Al Boraq from the hadith and they began to imagine what it represented and what it looks like and ended up making a picture of Al Boraq. We were born to find the picture of Al-Boraq hanging on the walls. I am sure some of you have seen it because even now it is found in some places. This picture depicts Boraq as having the body of a horse, the head of a man and wings like a bird. Those Muslims visualized or imagined it to be a horse of some kind because the horse was the fastest means of transportation at that time and it could run very fast between Mecca and Jerusalem. That same means of transportation which then transported Muhammad from the earth to the sky must have wings because it needed to fly too. What flies? The birds. Therefore, Boraq must be like a bird. So they put wings on the horse. Imagine, a horse with wings? With wings it could now fly up into the sky and with the head of a human being it could think so it knew where it was going. That's how the ancient Muslims pictured it. What kind of creature is that – a horse with a human head and two wings? If I am to visualize it today I would say no, it must be something else because I would analyze it in the context of our present body of knowledge, so I would have to understand it in a completely different way. It could be something like that Columbia spacecraft which goes into orbit around the earth. The main idea is that we interpret it nowadays according to what we know and maybe the people who will come after us will find a means of transportation which is faster than what we have nowadays. So we are going to be wrong and they will be right. And that is the challenge of Islam. There is a framework, you can change your interpretation inside that framework but don't go beyond that framework. And that is why they always say Islam is applicable in every time and in every place.

The term Al Boraq can be analyzed linguistically. The word Al-Boraq is a noun. The verb is abraqa (to move at the speed of light). Abraqa also means to send a telegram. If I want to send a cable to my brother in Egypt I say abraqa Abdelmoneim ila akhee (Abdelmoneim cabled his brother). Abraqa or baraqa is taken from the word barq which is the lightning associated with thunder. So Boraq is a noun from either abraqa or baraqa. Assuming that he traveled body and soul it means that Muhammad traveled that journey exactly like the lightning. How? I don't know. Nobody knows. It means that Al Boraq is a very, very fast means of transportation like the lightning.

Speaking of the means of transportation we find that the Qur’an refers to it in a special verse and mentions the horse foremost. Imam quotes 16:8: And it is He who creates horses and mules and asses for you to ride, as well as for their beauty: and He will yet create things of which today you have no knowledge.

See, the language of the Qur'an, how it is like clay? You can shape it in every time and in every place because it says God will create what you don't know as means of transportation. This, then, will be applicable to the cars, the train, the plane, and to the spaceship in our day and will be applicable to something else which may be invented in the future. That is how the Qur'an was put in a very soft language. You can adapt it to suit every time and every place.

No doubt that the prayer was imposed upon the Prophet on that night. There is a hadith that is quoted. That hadith, by the way, is mentioned in Bukhari. And before I talk about it I would like to tell you so no one will pick up the telephone and call California and say Imam Khattab does not believe in hadith. Let me say to you that when I come across a hadith which does not make sense to me, I neither deny it nor use it.

According to that hadith they say that when the Prophet went to the sky God imposed upon him to pray 50 times a day. So, the Prophet accepted it and while he was coming back, according to that story, he met the Prophet Moses in the fourth sky and Moses asked him: ‘What did your God impose upon you and your followers?’ He replied ‘Fifty prayers every day’. Moses said to him ‘That is too much. Your people cannot afford that. My advice to you, Muhammad, is to go back to God and say to Him: Discount it little bit’. So Muhammad went back to the seventh sky and asked God and God discounted them so they have become 40. On his way back to earth [Imam laughs] – and note that the gas in Al Boraq is not finished, it is going back and forth, but the fuel is there. On his way back to earth he met Moses again and he asked him ‘How much?’ He said ‘Forty now’. God reduced them — discounted them 20%. So he said to him: ‘Still too much. Go back’. So he went back. Another 25%. Thirty. He came back. Moses said to him: ‘How much they are now?’ He said: 30. He said: ‘No. Go back’. So he went back. Twenty. Came back. And so it continued back and forth until the number was reduced to 5. Even then Moses said to him that it was too much. But the Prophet replied: ‘Moses, I am ashamed to go back to God and ask Him to reduce it more than this. That is from 50 to five. It is too much’.

How can we analyze that hadith and that story? How we can read into it? Let us use logic. First, why Moses is the one who advised Prophet Muhammad?  That's my question.  Why Moses? Why not the grandfather of the prophets which is Prophet Ibrahim?  Why not Prophet Noah?  Why not Jesus?  That same hadith tells us also that Muhammad met all the prophets in the different skies so why specifically Moses did that job of advising Muhammad?  When the Jews occupied Palestine they said to the Muslims: ‘Behave yourselves; our Prophet and we were the ones who reduced all your prayers otherwise you would all be in hell.’ My interpretation is that this is an insertion by the Jews. I could be wrong, but, at least, it makes me think.  Secondly, was the Prophet Muhammad following the Kissinger-style shuttle diplomacy going back and forth to God?  Why all this negotiation?  Is it not understood that when God makes a decree and imposes obligations upon a Prophet and his nation that there is no room for negotiation period? This is my question regarding that hadith. That is nonsense. I don't care if it is in Bukhari or other than Bukhari, because I have a brain and I have to utilize it.

There is nothing in the Qur’an to tell us about the details of the prayer that was made obligatory that night.  All that is mentioned in the Qur’an is aqeemus-salah which means “Establish prayer!” It is a command. It did not tell us to pray Fajr at that time and Dhuhr /Zuhr at that time or that this is four rakats, this is two rakats and so on.  But this came to us through what we called the sunnah or the actions of the Prophet. The Muslims had seen the Prophet praying that way and it was transmitted from one generation to the other, because the Prophet said to the people “Pray as you have seen me pray”.  The closest the Qur’an has come to shedding light on the subject of prayer is in the verse in Sura 2, Al Baqarah which indicates to us that the prayers are more than 1: “Guard your prayers especially the middle one”. So it means that the prayers are an odd number.  That is the nearest thing we know about prayers as mentioned in the Qur'an.  But, because the Prophet prayed five times a day, this is what we are following.

When we pray there are things we recite and actions we perform, for example, we read Al Fatihah when we are standing up, we bow, we prostrate, and when we sit down we recite Attashahhud. This is not something haphazard but it all has its meaning.  The recitation of Attashahhud in every prayer commemorates the event of Isrā’ and Mi ‘rāj when the Prophet ascended and presented himself before God – although I don't know how this sounds because God is not limited to any place. [Attashahhud: Attahiyat-tu lilLah, wassalawato, wathtayyabatAssalam-o Alaika ayyuhan nabiyu wa rahma-tul-lahy wa barakatu- hu. Assalam-o alayna wa 'ala 'ibadillah-his saliheen].

Now when you enter the presence of someone you normally greet them and say Assalam u Alaikum (Peace be upon you). So when the Prophet entered that specific area, about which we don't know anything, he said: Attahiyat-tu lilLah, wassalawato, wathtayyabat which means Greetings to thee O Allah, and prayers and all good things. So Allah answered his greeting and said to him: Assalam-o Alaika ayyuhan nabiyu wa rahma-tul-lahy wa barakatu-hu which means Peace be upon you O Prophet, the blessing and the mercy of God be upon you. The Prophet, as always, was not concerned with himself only and he wants his followers also to be included in the blessings that God invokes upon him so he said: Assalam-o alayna wa 'ala 'ibadillah-his saliheen which means Peace be upon us and upon the righteous people of God.

Of course, in our visualization and our comprehension as human beings, when there is an important person there are lots of guards and spectators around him, and Muhammad is in the presence of the King of kings, and the surrounding area is full of angels watching that scene and that exchange of conversation and greetings between the slave and his Creator, and they exclaim what we call the Shahada: Ashhadu Allah ilaha illalLah wa ashhadu- unna Muhammad-an 'abdu-hu wa rasool-lu hu which means: We witness that there is no god but God and Muhammad is His slave and His Prophet.  So that is the part – the Attashahhud and the Shahada – which we recite in our prayers while we are sitting down. This is what had taken place during the night of Isrā’ and Mi ‘rāj during which the formal prayer (salah) was imposed upon the Prophet.  So, in fact, if you recite up to the end of Shahada and you say Assalam o Alaikum wa Rahamatullah your prayer is correct and complete.  The remainder of the prayers that we say after the end of the Shahada i.e. As-Salah al-Ibrahimiyyah etc. are what we call a du'a but, it is optional; if you say it, it is okay and if you don't say it, it is okay also and if you say Assalam o Alaikum wa Rahamatullah your prayer is complete.

posted 10/6/2004