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#30 – Lessons from Isra’ wal-Mi’raj
Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2022
Rajab 27 – Sha’baan 3, 1443

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Lessons from Isra' wal-Mi'raj

What have Allah and His Messenger said about

Lessons from Isra' wal-Mi'raj

فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ۞ إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا۞
For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease [i.e., relief]. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.

[Surah Al-Sarh, Ayah 5-6]
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْوَلِيدِ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏ وَحَدَّثَنَا هُدْبَةُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، حَدَّثَنَا قَتَادَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا أَنَسُ بْنُ مَالِكٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ “‏ بَيْنَمَا أَنَا أَسِيرُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ إِذَا أَنَا بِنَهَرٍ حَافَتَاهُ قِبَابُ الدُّرِّ الْمُجَوَّفِ قُلْتُ مَا هَذَا يَا جِبْرِيلُ قَالَ هَذَا الْكَوْثَرُ الَّذِي أَعْطَاكَ رَبُّكَ‏.‏ فَإِذَا طِينُهُ ـ أَوْ طِيبُهُ ـ مِسْكٌ أَذْفَرُ ‏”‏‏.‏ شَكَّ هُدْبَةُ‏.‏
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “While I was walking in Paradise (on the night of Mi’raj), I saw a river, on the two banks of which there were tents made of hollow pearls. I asked, “What is this, O Gabriel?’ He said, ‘That is the Kauthar which Your Lord has given to you.’ Behold! Its scent or its mud was sharp smelling musk!” (The sub-narrator, Hudba is in doubt as to the correct expression. )

[Sahih al-Bukhari 6581]

Commentary

In the tenth year of prophethood, the Prophet (ﷺ) faced a rapid series of misfortunes. His uncle Abu Talib passes away without accepting Islam and only two months after the death of his uncle, his first wife, Khadijah (RA) passes away as well. This year was know as the “year of grief”. After these misfortunes, Allah (SWT) called The Prophet (ﷺ) past the heavens and he was shown many wonders and miracles. The above verse highlights Allah’s promise that every hardship is followed with ease.

It was mentioned at the end of the preceding Surah that twenty-two Surahs from Surah Ad-Duha to the end of the Qur’an are mainly concerned with Divine favours conferred upon the Holy Prophet ‘ and with his greatness. Only a few Surahs are concerned with the conditions of the Hereafter or some other subject. Surah Al-Inshirah is concerned with special favours that Allah conferred upon the Holy Prophet ﷺ .

Grammatically, if the Arabic definite article al- is prefixed to an Arabic noun and is repeated with the same definite article al-, they refer to the same antecedent. However, if the same noun is repeated without the definite article, they refer to different antecedents. The word al-‘usr ‘[ the ] hardship’ in verse [ 6] is the repetition of al-‘usr ‘[ the ] hardship’ occurring in verse [ 5]. It does not refer to a new hardship. In contrast to this, the word yusr ‘ease’ in both verses occur without the definite article. This indicates that the second yusr ‘ease’ in verse [ 6] is a different antecedent to the yusr ‘ease’ occurring in verse [ 5]. Thus it may be concluded that there is only one ` usr ‘hardship’ and two yusr ‘twofold ease’. ‘Twofold ease’ does not mean twice as much. In fact, it means ‘manifold ease’. The verse signifies that only one kind of hardship will face him, but in the wake of it many kinds of ease are assured.

Ease After Hardship

Sayyidna Hasan Al-Basri (رح) reports that once the Holy Prophet ﷺ emerged from his home in a very happy mood and, giving cheerful news to his Companions on the basis of the current verse, said: “One hardship cannot overcome twofold ease”. Thus history and biographical books written by Muslims and non-Muslims – all bear ample testimony to fact that the most difficult task, even the seemingly impossible task, became easy for him. The above narration further indicates that the Arabic definite article al- signifies that it is an article used to indicate previous knowledge [ that is, al- lil ` ahd ] and refers to the hardship of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his Companions. Allah kept to His promise to them in such a way that the world saw it visibly how in the wake of every hardship the Holy Prophet and his Companions experienced the manifold ease that made their task easy. If a person does not achieve ‘ease’ after ‘hardship’, it does not contradict this verse. In fact, even now Allah’s universal principle applies. One needs to exercise fortitude against hardship, rely on Allah with purity of heart, devote oneself totally to Him, hold onto high hopes for His grace, and one should not despair of His mercy if there is delay in success – He certainly will grant relief after every instance of hardship. [ Fawa’id-e-` Usmaniah ]. Hadith narratives support this.

[Maarif ul Quran Vol-8 (pg 818 – 822) , Maktabah Dar al Uloom, Translation by Prof. Muhammad Hasan Askari & Prof. Muhammad Shamim]

Spiritual Reminders

The Gift Given to The Prophet (ﷺ)
Israa refers to Prophet SAW journey from Makkah to Bait-ul-Maqdis to Jerusalem and Meraj refers to his journey from Jerusalem to the heavens. This incident took place after the Prophet SAW had gone through immense grief. He had suffered at the hands of the people of Quraysh. They had been boycotted. He had suffered at the Taif. His beloved wife Khadija RA had passed away and his greatest supporter from Quraysh his uncle Abu Talib also passed away. So this was coming after a great deal of sorrow and grief. So Allah SWT had honored the prophet SAW and consoled him by taking him on this journey and this journey happened in real life as he was awake it wasn’t just a dream or something. Allah SWT sends Jibrael AS, he sends the Buraq and many of you know the story but there are a few points that are important for us as lessons. The first thing is how much Allah SWT loves the Prophet SAW and what status he has in the eyes of Allah. No prophet before was taken on this type of journey and the Prophet SAW was taken to places even the angles have not been to. This is because of his status in the sight of Allah, his honor in the sight of Allah. It was because of that Allah Aza Wa Jal gave him this special journey and it was the love of Allah for his Prophet SAW that because he had been through so much grief Allah Aza Wa Jal wanted to give him that much happiness. Like Allah SWT says

وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰٓ
And ˹surely˺ your Lord will give so much to you that you will be pleased.

Then at Masjid al Aqsa at Bait-ul-Maqdis Allah SWT gathered the Ambiya AS and they all prayed behind the Prophet SAW. He led the Salat. This was to give the Prophet AS a chance to fulfill that pledge that Allah had taken from them. Quran Ayah Allah Aza Wa Jal took this promise, this covenant from all the Ambiya AS that if this messenger comes in your time you will believe in him and you will help him and you will become his followers and helpers. All the Ambiya AS left this world before Nabi SAW came so this gave those Ambiya AS to actually be his followers by praying Salat behind him. And this was to demonstrate that if those prophets had been alive when Nabi SAW was sent and who would they be for him, they would be his followers. They would all come and follow this Deen. They would all come and obey the Quran and they would all come and obey his Sunnah. Like in one Hadith Omar RA was, he found some pages from the Torah the book that was revealed to Prophet Musa AS the Torah and it had some wisdoms in it so he was reading it and once when he was sitting with the Prophet SAW he showed him the pages, Oh Prophet of Allah I have these pages of wisdoms from the Torah and he was just reading them. The Prophet SAW face began to change color. That was a sign he was displeased. So right away Abu Bakr RA told him to look. Look at the face of Nabi SAW. Omar RA looks up and he sees signs of displeasure and right away he says: I am please with Allah as my lord, Islam as my religion and Muhammad SAW as my Prophet. He was not looking for any other religion and in any other book any other way. These are just some things he was reading. Then it was said in one of the narrations that look you’re reading from the book that was revealed to Musa AS of course we know that those books were not preserved. But you’re reading from that book but remember that If Musa AS was alive right now in my time we would have no choice but to be my follower. He would be from my Ummah. He would follow my book, he would his life according to my Sunnah.
So Allah SWT demonstrated this at Israa by gathering all the Ambiya AS behind the prophet SAW in Salat. And then as the prophet SAW from there went up to the heavens he met the Prophets AS And Allah Aza Wa Jal took him to Sidratul Muntaha and showed him Jannah, showed him Jahannam and all way up to Sidratul Muntaha and there he spoke with Allah SWT and it was all the way there where no angel has been. Above the heavens. That’s when Allah SWT gave the Prophet SAW the gift of Salah. Every other commandment was revealed, sent down to all the Prophets AS. The commandments were revealed and they were sent down to the world. But for this command, Allah SWT didn’t send Jibrael that go and give this message to Rasulullah SAW. Allah SWT called the Prophet SAW up to him. There is a big difference between sending a messenger and calling the person yourself and calling him to your place.

The next thing is the importance of Masjid Al Aqsa which is the first Qiblah. It’s the Qiblah of the Ambiya AS. It’s the first Qiblah of Rasulullah SAW in Medina. And it is the third of the three sacred mosques. Where it is said that if there is a masjid that somebody wants to go to or travel to just to get the special reward of that masjid this can only be done in three Masajid. Al-Masjid-ul-Haram and Al-Masjid-ul-Aqsa and the third is the masjid of the Prophet SAW. And this Masjid-ul-Aqsa was it was chosen by Allah SWT, that place was chosen by Allah Aza Wa Jal and that is the area and region where the greatest number of Ambiya AS were sent and the greatest number of Ambiya AS were buried. And as a Muslim, because it is a place Allah has chosen and Allah has mentioned repeatedly in the Quran over and over again the stories. And it is a place Allah has blessed and it was the Qiblah of the Ambiya AS and it was the Qiblah of Rasulullah SAW. For all of these reasons, it is dear to us and it should be dear to us. Rasulullah SAW suffered all those hardships because of those that rejected him, not because he was starting a company and was introducing something new. Rather, He was simply inviting to Allah. And all of the pain and suffering that he endured was only for this. That he was inviting towards one Allah and he was inviting people to leave the traditions and the customs that they had adopted for generations. And come to the Millah of Ibrahim AS. The true tradition of Ibrahim AS. And for this he was punished, he was tortured, his people were tortured. All of those hardships were for this one purpose, it was for the sake of Allah Aza Wa Jal. So of course Allah SWT honored him and Allah Aza Wa Jal made him the imam of Makkah. Allah SWT granted him the conquest of Makkah. The imam of Medina and when he took him to Masjid-Al-Aqsa he made him the Imam of Masjid-al-Aqsa. So in this way, Allah SWT granted him imamah of all the three harams.

[Adapted from a talk delivered by Mufti Aasim Rashid titled: “Lessons from Isra’ wal-Mi’raj”]

YOUR WEEKLY DOSE OF

Sirah

Return to Mecca
When Nabi SAW came back from Israa and Meraj and he was sitting and telling his companions about it. Other people also came to hear. Like the Quraysh would often go and see what is he saying, what is he saying. So Abu Jahl heard the Prophet SAW said that Allah took him on this trip and showed him and showed him this and some trouble maker from the Quraysh said oh you went to Masjid-al-Aqsa so tell us how many windows and how many doors and how many candles and lanterns did it have. Even if one visits the place many time, these are things that one does not pay attention to. So they were asking him those questions to try to create doubt about what he is saying. So Allah SWT brought Masjid-Al-Aqsa in front of him and the image of it in front of him and he could see all the doors and windows and all the lanterns and he could see every detail of it. He described it to them exactly as it was. And on the way, he saw a caravan coming and he said this caravan is at such and such place and it would reach here in this many days. So Abu Jahl got frustrated and he got up in a big huff and he left. As he was leaving Abu Bakr RA was coming from the other side to go and visit the prophet SAW that morning. So Abu Jahl stops him and tells him, tell me something Abu Bakr. What do you say about someone who claims that they went from Bait-ul-Allah to Bait-ul-Maqdis and then from Bait-ul-Maqdis to the seven heavens and they came back? They went and came back and did this whole tour and came back all in one night. Abu Bakr RA was a person of Iman was As-Sidiq. So he asks who said it. Now Abu Jahl was stuck and he had so much hatred for the Prophet SAW that he didn’t want to take his name. So he just motioned with his head, so he said Sahibuk, your friend is saying it. Immediately Abu Bakr RA acknowledged that it was the truth.

[Adapted from a talk delivered by Mufti Aasim Rashid titled: “Lessons from Isra’ wal-Mi’raj”]

Sunnah Acts

Avoiding Backbiting
Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “During the Mi’raj (the Night of Ascension), I saw a group of people who were scratching their chests and faces with their copper nails. I asked, ‘Who are these people, O Jibril?’ Jibril replied: ‘These are the people who ate flesh of others (by backbiting) and trampled people’s honour.”‘

[Abu Dawud]

Adhkar/Dua

Dua for Ease
رَبِّ ٱشْرَحْ لِى صَدْرِى وَيَسِّرْ لِىٓ أَمْرِى وَٱحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِى يَفْقَهُوا۟ قَوْلِى
My Lord, expand [i.e., relax] for me my breast [with assurance], and make my task easy, and untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.

[Surah Taha, Ayah 25 – 28]
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