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THE
ASCENSION
The
Ascension is one of the greatest miracles of the Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and blessings. The Prophet realized a spiritual
perfection and full refinement through belief and worship and, as
a reward, God took him to His holy Presence. Escaping from the
imprisonment of ‘natural’ laws and material causes and rising
beyond the limits of bodily existence, the Prophet, upon him be
peace and blessings, crossed distances swiftly and transcended all
dimensions of the material world until he reached the holy
Presence of God.
Multi-dimensional
existence
Atomic
physics has changed many notions in physics and established that
the material world is a dimension or an appearance of existence.
Besides this world, there are many other worlds or dimensions of
existence, each of which has its own particularities. Einstein put
forward the notion that time is only one of the dimensions of
existence. Science has not yet drawn the final conclusions about
existence and new findings and developments continually change our
view of it. Therefore, especially in our day, it is completely
illogical to question the event of Ascension. People have
difficulty in understanding how one can penetrate all time at the
same moment as a single point. In order to understand this subtle
matter, consider the following analogy.
Imagine
that you are standing with a mirror in your hand, with everything
reflected on the right representing the past, while everything
reflected on the left represents the future. The mirror can
reflect one direction only since it cannot show both sides at the
same time as you are holding it. If you wish to reflect both
directions at the same time, you will have to rise high above your
original position so that left and right directions are united
into one and nothing remains to be called first or last, beginning
or end.
In the
Ascension, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings,
must have moved with the speed of the spirit and he traveled
through all time and space and all dimensions of existence in a
very short period. During that heavenly journey, he met with the
previous Prophets, saw angels and beheld the beauties of Paradise
and the terrors of Hell. He also observed the essential realities
of all the Qur’anic issues and the meanings and wisdom of all
the acts of worship. He went as far as the realms where even the
greatest of angels, Gabriel, cannot reach and was honored with
vision of God’s ‘Countenance’ free from any qualitative and
quantitative dimensions and restrictions. Then, in order to bring
humanity out of the darkness of material existence into the
illumined realm of belief and worship, through which they could
realize a ‘spiritual’ ascension each according to his
capacity, he returned to the world where he was made subject to
all kinds of persecution.
(NOTE:
Belief in the Prophet’s Ascension is the result of belief in the
pillars of faith and draws its light and strength from those
pillars. For sure, the Ascension cannot be proved independently to
irreligious atheists who do not accept the pillars of faith,
because it is impossible to discuss the Ascension with those who
neither know God, nor recognize the Prophet, nor accept the
angels, and who deny the existence of the heavens. Firstly, those
pillars must be proved. Since this is so, in the following we
shall address the believer who, since he deems it unlikely, has
doubts about the Accession. However, from time to time we shall
turn to the atheist who is the third party in our discussion and
is in the position of listening, and speak to him.
The Qur’an
declares:
Glorified
be He Who carried His servant by night from the Sacred
Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) to Masjid al-Aqsa, the neighborhood
of which We have blessed, that We might show him of Our
signs. Surely He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. (al-Isra’,
17.1)
Then
he drew nigh and came down, till he was two bows’ length
or even nearer, and He revealed unto His servant what He
revealed. The heart (of His servant) lied not (in seeing)
what he saw. (al-Najm, 53.8-11)
In
the Name of God, the merciful, the Compassionate.
Glory
be to Him Who transported His servant by night from Masjid
al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa’, the environs of which We had
blessed, so that We might show him some of Our signs. Surely
He is the One Who is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. (al-Isra’,
17.1)
It is
naught but a revelation revealed. One with mighty power
taught it, one exalted in wisdom and strength: he rose,
while he was in the highest horizon. Then he approached and
came nearer. He was at a distance of two bows’ length or
even nearer. And He revealed unto His servant what He
revealed. The heart did not falsify what he saw. Will you
then dispute with him concerning what he saw? Surely he saw
him (another time when) he (Gabriel) descended, near the
Lote-tree of the farthest limit, beside it is the Garden of
Abode. It was when what enveloped the Lote-tree enveloped
it. The eye did not waver, nor did it stray. Truly did he
see some of the greatest signs of his Lord. (al-Najm,
53.4-18)
Out of the
vast treasury of the first mighty verse above, we shall only
describe two points which the pronoun He in Surely He is refers to
as a principle of eloquence, since they are included in our
present concern here.
After
mentioning the journey of the noble Beloved of God, upon him be
the best of blessings and most perfect peace, from Masjid al-Haram
in Makka to Masjid al-Aqsa’ in Jerusalem, which was the
beginning of his Ascension, the Wise Qur’an concludes: Surely He
is the One Who is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. Together with
this phrase itself, the pronoun in the Surely He is, which alludes
to the furthest point of the Ascension indicated by the verses
from sura al-Najm (sura 53), refers either to Almighty God or to
the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings.
If it
refers to the Prophet, according to the rules of rhetoric and the
relationship between the pronoun and its antecedent, the meaning
is this: this journey, which is apparently particular, is in
reality so comprehensive and signifies such universal ascent that
the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, heard and saw during
it all the signs of the Lord and the wonders of Divine art which
caught his sight and encountered his ears as the results of the
manifestations of Divine Names in universal degrees as far as the
Lote-tree of the farthest limit and the distance of two bows’
length. Thus, through its conclusive phrase, the verse describes
that particular journey as the key to understand a (higher)
journey that is universal and full of extraordinary events.
If the
pronoun in Surely He is, refers to God Almighty, the meaning is
this: in order to call a servant of His on a journey to His
presence and entrust him with a duty, after sending him from
Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa’, which is where the Prophets
gather, and causing him to meet with them and showing that he is
the absolute, indisputable heir of the principles of the religions
of all the Prophets, He took him through both the external and
inner dimensions of His dominion as far as the Lote-tree of the
farthest limit and the distance of two bows’ length.
For sure,
he was a servant and that journey was a particular ascension.
However, since he was given a Trust which is connected to the
whole of the universe, was accorded a light which would change the
colour of the universe, and also had with him a key with which to
open the door to eternal happiness, Almighty God describes Himself
as the One Who hears and sees all things so that His
world-embracing, comprehensive and all-encompassing wisdom in the
Trust, the light, and the key, might be observed and understood.
This mighty
truth contained in the Ascension may be dealt with under four
heads or four principles:
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