Mir’aj is the ascension of Hazrat Muhammad on the 27th night of the Islamic lunar month Rajab as a result of the invitation of Allah through the guidance of Hazrat Jibril (Gabriel) from Kaaba to Al-Aqsa Mosque and then to the heaven, to high realms, and to divine presence.

One of our holy nights when abundance and blessing overflow is Mir’aj night. Mir’aj is ascension, progress from the mean feelings and humanly feelings to a spotlessly clean slavery, to the highest rank. It is a limitless horizon of progress opened to our Prophet (PBUH) on behalf of humanity. This lofty journey is the greatest miracle. The miracle of Mir’aj is explained through verses in the Quran, and it is expressed undeniably. The first phase of this divine journey to Al-Aqsa Mosque is mentioned as follows in the Quran:

“Glory to (Allah) Who did take His Servant for Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose precincts We did bless― in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the one Who heareth and seeth (all things).” (Chapter al-Isra 1).

The second phase of Mir’aj begins from Al-Aqsa Mosque; the Prophet passes through all of the seven levels of the heaven and arrives at the presence of Allah. This phase is stated as follows in Chapter an-Najm:

“While he was in the highest part of the horizon: Then he approached and came closer, And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; So did (Allah) convey the inspiration to His Servant (conveyed) what He (meant) to convey. The (Prophet's) (mind and) heart in no way falsified that which he saw. Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he saw? For indeed he saw him at a second descent. Near the Lote-tree beyond which none may pass: Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable!) (His) sight never swerved nor did it go wrong! For truly did he see of the Signs of his Lord the Greatest!.” (Chapter an-Najm, 7-18.)

How did Mir’aj take place?

Mir’aj is the ascension of Hazrat Muhammad on the 27th night of the Islamic lunar month Rajab as a result of the invitation of Allah through the guidance of Hazrat Jibril (Gabriel) from Kaaba to Al-Aqsa Mosque and then to the heaven, to high realms, and to divine presence.

The Prophet (PBUH) went to Al-Aqsa Mosque (Jerusalem) from Kaaba (Makkah) riding on a white steed from Paradise called Buraq. Before he arrived in Jerusalem, he visited the place of Hazrat Musa (Moses) and prayed there, and then he arrived at Al-Aqsa Mosque. All of the prophets welcomed him there. They congratulated his ascension. Our Prophet (PBUH) led other prophets in prayer and he read a sermon.

According to a narration, he also visited Bethlehem, the birthplace of Hazrat Eesa (Jesus Christ). And then he ascended to Mir’aj from the Foundation Stone in the Dome of the Rock.

He visited all levels of the heaven. He talked to the prophets in the seven levels of the heaven respectively Hazrat Adam, Hazrat Yahya (John), Hazrat Eesa (Jesus Christ), Hazrat Idris (Enoch), Hazrat Haroon (Aaron), Hazrat Musa (Moses), and Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham); they welcomed him and congratulated him.

Then he reached to the lote tree of the furthest limit (sidratul muntaha) accompanied by Hazrat Jibril. There our Prophet (PBUH) saw four rivers, two flowing secretly and two (the Nile, the Euphrates) openly. Then he visited the House of Life (al-Bayt al Mamur), which seventy angels visit every day.

It was impossible for Hazrat Jibril to go farther. Then our Prophet (PBUH) rode rafraf (a kind of bed or carpet) and reached Allah, who is free of time and space, saw the beauty of Allah.

As Sulayman Chalabi says:

“He saw the great Lord explicitly/His ummah will see Him similarly” Inshallah...

When our Prophet (PBUH) returned from the presence of Allah he met Hazrat Musa. When Hazrat Musa asked him “What did Allah make obligatory for your ummah?”, he said “50 prayers”.

When Hazrat Musa said, “Return to your Lord and beg Him to reduce them, your ummah will not be able to bear that”, our Prophet (PBUH) begged Allah five times. Each time 10 prayers were reduced, and five prayers were decided at last.

Then our Prophet (PBUH) visited Paradise, Hell, stops of the hereafter, all of the realms accompanied by Hazrat Jibril and returned to Makkah.

In the morning, He told Makkans about Mir’aj near Kaaba. They wanted proof of it. Our Prophet (PBUH) told them about the caravans he saw on the way. Qurayshi people immediately went out of Makkah to meet the caravans. They saw the arriving caravans just as our Prophet (PBUH) had told them, but they did not believe in our Prophet (PBUH).

Nevertheless, they wanted proof from our Prophet that he ascended again and again. When our Prophet (PBUH) told them that he went to Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Qurayshi people opposed saying, “How could Muhammad go to a place in one night that can be traveled in one month?”; and then those that had seen Al-Aqsa Mosque before asked our Prophet, “Will you tell us about Al-Aqsa Mosque?”

Our Prophet (PBUH) said the following:

“I was exasperated by their lies and questions. I had never been exasperated so much before. Then suddenly Allah showed me Al-Aqsa Mosque. I looked at it and described everything one by one. They even asked me ‘How many gates has Al-Aqsa Mosque got?’ I had not counted the gates. When I saw Al-Aqsa Mosque in front of me I looked at it and started to count its gates and told them about it.”

Then the polytheists said:

“By Allah you described it correctly” but they did not believe.

Just then Hazrat Abu Bakr arrived; the polytheists told him about what happened. Hazrat Abu Bakr said,”If he said that, then it is truthful” and approved him; after that Hazrat Abu Bakr was titled “Siddiq” (truthful).

Why did our Prophet ascend?

A sultan has two kinds of talks. The first one is when the sultan rings a citizen and talks to him about a trivial matter. The second is when he talks to his special envoy as the head of the state, caliph and an administrator of the nation and in order to convey his commands everywhere and send his decrees.

As it is seen in this example, Allah has two kinds of talk with his slaves. One is special and little talk, the other is general and comprehensive talk. An example for the first one is Allah’s special and minute inspiration to some saints.

However, the fact that our Prophet (PBUH) as a person with the highest and greatest rank over all of the saints talks to Allah, who is the Creator of all of the beings, is an example to the second and perfect type of talk.

Our prophet’s mission (being an envoy) has two ways: one from people to Allah, the other from Allah to people. One is the esoteric, saintly aspect of Mir’aj, the other is the apparent, prophetic aspect.

That is, The Prophet (PBUH) ascended to the presence of Allah on behalf of us and presented all of the worshipping, prayers, glorification and mentioning of Allah of human beings and all of the other beings to Allah as a whole just as a soldier reports to his commander. From this point of view Mir’aj is ascension from people and beings to Allah. From another point of view, the Prophet brought us what Allah wants from, His slaves, us, His orders and prohibitions; like five prayers, the essence of all worshipping, as the gift of Mir’aj…

How can our prophet talk to Allah?

Question: “What is the meaning of the Prophet’s talk to Allah, who is closer to us than everything, after traveling a distance that would take of thousands of years and after passing seventy thousand veils?”

Allah is closer to everything than everything else, but everything is limitlessly far from him. For instance, if the sun had a mind like man and wanted to talk to us, it would do so through a mirror in our hand. On the other hand, we get close to sun with our eye, which is a kind of mirror. As a matter of fact the sun is 150 million km away from us; we can never get close to it. In order to get one degree close to the sun, we should grow as big as the moon. That is impossible. As it is seen in the example, actually Allah is close to everything but everything is limitlessly far from him. However, by the grace of Allah, the Prophet (PBUH) ascended and reached the presence of Allah by traveling through thousands of veils in a moment and passing all spiritual levels.

How can a man ascend to heavens?

Question: “Is there an example of it? A plane can only fly 10-15 thousands meters high, a space can only reach the moon or Venus. How can a man go to a distance of millions of meters and return in a few minutes?”

Our globe, that is the world, in a year, rotates a distance of about 188 hours in a minute; it covers the distance of twenty-five thousand years in a year. Can’t the Power that makes it cover great distances in a short time and rotate it like a catapult stone take a man to the highest point of the heavens? Can’t the Wisdom that makes the earth, the very heavy thing, rotate round the sun take the body of a man up to His throne like a lightning?

Couldn’t have our Prophet traveled there only by his soul?

Question: "Why did he ascend? Why was it necessary? Wouldn’t have it been enough if he had ascended by his soul and heart?"

It is quite reasonable that Allah invited our Prophet (PBUH) there to show him the beauties of the visible and invisible realms, the factory of the universe and its center, the results of men’s deeds and worshipping in the hereafter. It was necessary for him to travel there not only by his soul and heart but also by his body.

It is a necessity of the intelligence and wisdom that his eye, which is the key of the visible world, and his ear, which is the key of the audible world, his body, which was like the tool and machine that undertook numerous tasks of his soul, all had to go up to the throne of Allah with him.

Besides, Allah makes the body a friend of the soul. The body is the base for many tasks of worshipping, limitless pleasures and pains.

Therefore the holy body will accompany the soul. Since the body will be together with the soul in Paradise, it is the very wisdom that the body of our Prophet (PBUH) will accompany his soul to the lote tree of the furthest point, which is the trunk of Paradise of Abode.

If our prophet had ascended by his soul, it would not have been a miracle. Saints could ascend by their spirits and hearts to those realms.

How did our Prophet go and come back in such a short time?

Question: "Is it logically possible to go to and come back from a distance of thousands of years in a few minutes?"

The rate of movement and speed differs in the art of Allah. The speed of sound and the speed of light, the speed of electricity, and even the speed of soul and imagination are all completely different from one another. The speed of planets also differs. For instance, while the speed of light is 300.000 km/sec, the speed of sound is 360 km/sec.

How can it be logically impossible that the body of our Prophet becomes subject to his soul and move with the speed of the soul?

Sometimes when a man sleeps for only ten minutes, he may do something worth a year. When a dream a man sees, the words he hears in the dream, the words he utters in the dream are added, one day or maybe more can be necessary for them when he is awake.

So the periods of time can change from person to person; one day for a man may be like one year for another.

So, our Prophet (PBUH) rode on Buraq, traveled the universe like a lightning, reached the presence of Allah, attained the honor of talking to his Lord, saw His beauty, received His orders and returned.

Is there an event like Mir’aj?

Question: "It is possible for our Prophet to ascend. However, all of the possible things do not take place. Is there anything similar to it so that we shall accept him?"

There are a lot of examples of Mir’aj: A man can ascend to the planet Neptune in a second with his eye. A scientist can reach behind the stars in a minute by riding the laws of astronomy. A believer can reach the divine presence by putting the actions in the prayer on his thought and riding past the universe, through a kind of ascension. A saint whose eye of the heart is open can attain divine secrets in forty days. It is even reported that some saints like Abdulqadir Gaylani and Imam Rabbani reached the throne of Allah in a minute by their souls. Angels, who have luminous bodies, go to the highest point of the heaven and come back in a moment. In Paradise, believers can reach the gardens of Paradise in a very short time.

Those examples show that it is quite reasonable and doubtless that the sultan of all of the saints, the imam of all of the believers, the chief of all of the people of Paradise and the best accepted person by angels, the most honorable Messenger (PBUH) will ascend, travel and see all of the realms in a moment.

Gifts that sent down through Mir’aj

The first one: our Prophet (PBUH) saw all of the realities of belief with his own eyes. He saw angels, Paradise, the hereafter, even the beauty of Allah with his eyes. That exalted person who never told a lie and who never broke a promise says the following to the souls of the believers spiritually: “I saw angels, the hereafter that you believe, the luminous beauty of your Lord with my eyes; these fundamentals of belief are present, do not hesitate or doubt about them.” So believers attained the happiness of achieving such a limitless belief.

The second one: Man is curious about everything. He searches whether there is life in the moon or not. As a matter of fact that moon occupies a space as tiny as a fly in the realm of that Pre-eternal Sultan.

Believers wonder, “What does our Lord want from us? What should we do to make our Lord be pleased with us? If only we had the chance and talked to Allah and asked him what he wanted from us” While believers were wondering like that, the Chief of the two worlds, Hazrat Muhammad, (PBUH) took the good deeds that the Pre-eternal and Post-eternal Sultan would be pleased with as the fruits of Mir’aj and presented them to man as gifts. These gifts are prayers, and other fundamentals and worshipping of Islam.

The third one: Our Prophet (PBUH) obtained the key of the treasury of eternal happiness, and brought it as a gift to jinn and men. Our Prophet (PBUH) saw Paradise with his own eyes and witnessed the existence of eternal happiness and informed us about the good news. When a man who is about to be hanged is forgiven and given a palace near the sultan he becomes extremely happy. Similarly, this good news for all of men and jinn is so important and valuable.

The fourth one: Our Prophet had the blessing of seeing the beauty of Allah during Mir’aj. He brought the good news that believers would attain in Paradise. He said, “As you see the full moon clearly with your eyes so will you see your Lord clearly in Paradise.” and brought that pre-eternal good news as a gift to us.

The fifth one: Man's being the precious fruit of the universe and the petted beloved of the Owner of the Universe was understood through Mir’aj. This fruit raises man, who is a small being and a weak creature, to a rank so elevated that it confers on him a rank of pride above all the beings in the universe. For if it is said to an ordinary private: "You have been promoted to the rank of field-marshal," how delighted he will be.

Similarly, when it is said to the weak, eternal man who is always punished with separation and declining, “You will attain the mercy of the All-Compassionate and the Merciful One in an eternal never-ending Paradise”, he reaches such a great rank. In Paradise he will make excursions and tours with the speed of imagination and breadth of the spirit and with the mind in accordance with all the desires of the heart in the eternal realm of Allah. He will also attain the blessing of seeing the beauty of Allah. Such a man’s heart and soul will have so much joy, won’t they?

It was written by referring to Words (Sözler) of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, 31st Word (31. Söz).

Reference : Mübarek Gün ve Geceler, Nesil Yayınları