بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Translation of Dr. Shams Jilani “Roshni Hira Say” (The light from Cave of Hira) by Dr. Rehan Asad
Chapter (69)
The early incidents of the Miraj
During the last section we discussed about the miracles bestowed to the Prophets (Peace be upon them) by Almighty Allah. This is one of the gifts or the prerequisite given by Almighty Allah to Prophethood. Denying the miracles of the Prophets is the denial of the verses of the Quran where it has been explicitly mentioned. Now let us move & discuss about one of the greatest miracles of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that is known to us as “Miraj”. Other than Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), this blessing is not bestowed to any other Prophets. This incident has been discussed in Surah Al Isra of holy Quran & in Sahih Al Bukhari (Hadith number, 345, Book 11; Hadith number, 1227, book 5). But here also the two narratives coexist. One narrative used to cite that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) performs this journey with body & soul while other said that this journey was spiritual. In the same way one narration said that on the night of Miraj, he was resting at the home of Umm Hani (RA) while another narrative said that he was at that moment present in the Hateem of Kaaba. For the spiritual aspect of Miraj, there is one narrative we find that came from Hazrat Amir Muawiyia (RA) where he narrated that Miraj was the true dream of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). One another narrative came that has been affiliated with Hazrat Ayesha (RA) where she said that the journey of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was spiritual. Other than these two narrations we didn’t find any other narratives on the spiritual perspectives of Miraj. The first narrative that came from Hazrat Muawiya (RA) when reviewed we can see that up to this stage when the incident of Miraj happened, he didn’t revert to Islam. Second point if it was clearly a dream that why the people of Makkah strongly opposed it. Sighting something in the dream is common to everyone. It can be concluded that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mainly described this incident as a real journey. That’s why the people from the tribe of Qureysh tried to strongly deny it. Now when the narrative of Hazrat Ayesha (RA) is examined carefully by the scholars of Hadith, it talked about its attribution to Hazrat Ayesha (RA) that came by the her extended family members or clan. None of the narrator was able to mention the name of this family member as it said that the members of her clan or family narrated this hadith. On the other hand the narration that was described by Ibn Ishaq came in a sound chain of narrators that is like in this manner, Hazrat Abdullah Bin Masud (RA), Abu Saeed Khudri (RA), Hasan Bin Abi Hasan Al BAsri, Ibn Shahab Zahri (RA), Qattadah & daughter of Hazrat Abu Talib (RA) & aunt of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Hazrat Umm Hani (RA).
Cont’d for the next week
