Al Isra Wal- Mi'raj
"Fact or Fiction"
Part III
Overall Reflection
Sultana Uddin
Mohammed S. Uddin
The Isra Wal-Mi'raj, A miraculous Journey:
All aspects of this journey were miraculous in nature; far beyond the grasp of human knowledge, and far-far, and far beyond modern-day technological advancement, and human capability. Some of these aspects are:
1. The distance starting from Makkah to the Holy Presence and back, in a time period that was only a fraction of the night,
2. The journey was in "Body and Soul",
3. The unimaginable speed required to cover the distance to Sidratul Muntaha and Allah's 'Arsh
4. The speed of the Buraq and JibrilAS,
5. No impact of travel on the health of the ProphetSAAW
6. The Greatest Signs of the Sidrat al-Muntaha and Jannatul Ma'wa.
None of these miracles can be explained by scientific data, nor can they be grasped by human knowledge. So, to understand the depth of the events, and to rationalize it to the level of human understanding, Einstein's Theory of Relativity may throw some light to enable us to explain some aspects of the journey:
Impact of High-Speed Travel on Time (Theory of Relativity, Yahoo search):
"It turns out that as an object moves with relativistic speeds, a "strange" thing seems to happen to its time as observed by "us", the stationary observers (observer in an inertial reference frame). What we see happens, is that the "clock" in motion slows down according relative to our clock (at a stationary position);, therefore we read two different times. Which time is correct??? Well they both are, because time is not absolute but is relative, each timeit depends on the its own reference frame.
Let's look at the following classic example. There is a set of twins, one an astronaut, the other works for mission control of NASA. The astronaut leaves on a deep space trip traveling at 95% the speed of light. Upon returning, the astronaut's clock has measured ten years, so the astronaut has aged 10 years. However, when the astronaut reunites with his earth-bound twin, the astronaut sees that the (earth bound) twin has aged 32 years! This is explained due to the fact that the astronaut's twin is traveling at relativistic speeds and therefore his "clock" is slowed down." Time in space is not the same as time on earth, because of time dilation, as recorded by slowing of the clock in space. Objects traveling atin high speed, age slower than that those stationary on earth.
The Holy ProphetSAAW traversed an unknown distance, from Makkah to Jerusalem, to Sidrat al-Muntaha, and beyond to the Holy Presence of AllahSWT. A part of that distance (up to Sidrat al-Muntaha), that can be traveled by the angels and Jibril in a day, proportionately equal to fifty thousand years or more of human reckoning:
"From Allah, the Lord of the ways of ascent. The angels and the Ruh (Jibril) ascend to Him in a Day, the measure thereof is fifty thousand years.' (Surah Al-Ma'arij, 70:3-4)
Referring to the above verse, for our understanding, let us calculate the ratio of Angelic pace to human pace:
One day of angelic pace = 50, 000 years of human pace
= 50,000 X 365 days of human pace = 18,250,000 days of human pace or 438,000,000 hours of human pace (50,000 X 365 X 24)
Or 1 hour of angelic pace = 50, 000 X 365 X 24/ 24 = 18,250,000 hours of human pace
So, the angels travel app. 18,250,000 times faster than human beings do.
So, the time ratio is 1:18,250,000
The distance to Sidrat al- Muntaha (assuming Jibril's speed is equal to speed of light):
In Angelic Pace:
Now, if Jibril traveled at the speed of light, and he took approximately three hours (assuming total of six hours for the round trip, from midnight to Fajr Prayer) to ascend to Sidrat al- Muntaha, the distance will be about two billion and nine million miles:
186, 000 miles/sec X 60 X 60 X 3 = 2,008,800,000 miles (Allah knows best).
In human pace:
Since the ratio of angelic pace to that of human pace is 1:18,250,000, hypothetically, it will take a human being without any aid, to travel this distance to ascend to Sidrat al-Muntaha, an equivalent of
2,008,800,000 miles X 18,250,000 or 36,158,660,600,000,000 miles.
Jibril's Speed compared to the speed of light:
But, since the distance Sidrat al- Muntaha is the same, the speed of Jibril must have been more than his presumed speed equal to the speed of light:
36,158,660,000,000 miles/2,008,800,000 = 18,000.12
Therefore, Angel JibrilAS travels at about eighteen thousand (18,000.12) times faster than the speed of light.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW ascended that distance in only a part (approximately. three hours) of the night. His speed was that of Buraq, and Angel JibrilAS. Considering the speed of Buraq and that of Jibril being equal to eighteen thousand the speed of light (the maximum known parameter known to humans), the approximate distance they traversed, in approximately three hours (ascending), would have been thirty-six trillion, one hundred fifty-eight billion, four hundred million miles (186,000 x 18,000 x 60 x 60 x 3 = 36,158,400,000,000). So, the Prophet Muhammad SAAW, JibrilAS, and Buraq, traveled a total distance of 36,158,400,000,000 miles @ 186,000 miles per sec x 18000.2 (334,800,000 miles per sec) to reach Sidrat al- Muntaha in three hours.
Distance to Sidratul Muntaha and the total measures of the Seven CosmosHeavens:
Prophet's journey transcended seven skies (cosmos). The expanse of one cosmos is about seven trillion miles (based on cosmic background radiation study). Therefore, he traversed about thirty-five trillion miles, which is roughly consistent with the above finding based on the speed of Buruq, and that of JibrilAS.
Other adjustments to reach a more accurate number can be in the area of size of the cosmos, and Einstein's theory of Specific and General Theory of Relativity, dealing with time dilation.
Principle of metaphysics defied:
The ProphetSAAW was in "body and soul", as he was observing things with his eyes (like the backbiters scratching their faces with long nails, MusaAS praying in his grave, meeting and leading other prophets in prayer, and seeing the caravans heading towards Makkah[L1] ), and he did not suffer any impact of speed.
Two things are observed in Einstein's Theory of Special Rrelativity:
E=mc2 which means a tiny amount of mass contains huge amount of energy (the basis of atom bomb).
Another result is that as an object moves faster, its mass[L2] starts to increase, and as it approaches the speed of light, its observed mass becomes infinitely large. As a result, an infinite amount of energy is required to make an object move at the speed of light.
Traveling at such high speed, and yet, being in full "body and soul" defied the physical and metaphysical concepts of matter at high speed. What is miraculous about it was that the ProphetSAAW was still in physical form; still riding the Buraq, his mind still perceiving the visual images, and the soul interpreting and preserving what he was perceiving.
He also did not have any impact of gravity on him, as he traversed through earth's gravity[L3] , nor he had he any gravitational impact from other massive celestial bodies of the galaxies. It is a miracle, because the speed of any material body, or even, that of light, is affected by gravitational force: The beams of light from distant stars are bent, and delayed by black holes (Einstein theory of Relativity, and Newton's theory of Gravity).
Prophet's journey of Mi'raj occurred almost fourteen centuries ago, when astronomy was primitive[L4] and Hubble Telescope was not even in human imagination, and the knowledge about space was limited only to visual observation. But the event of Mi'raj acted as a signal from Almighty AllahSWT for future scientific exploration of the space, which He has made possible with technological advancement:
"O assembly of jinn and men! If you power[L5] to pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, then pass beyond (them)! But you will never be able to pass them, except with authority (from Allah)." (Surah Ar-Rahman 55:33)
Al-Mi'raj transcends the Finiteness of the Creation
In Mi'raj, the ProphetSAAW ascended through seven cosmic systems, each one constituting a universe, the distance between one system to the other is that of five hundred years of travel [Sunnah.Com, Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3292, Book 47, Hadith 350, Vol 5, Book 44, Hadith 3298, Chapter on Tafsir, Hadith 3298, Narrated Al Hasan from Abu Hurayrah].
In his ascension, the Prophet Muhammad SAAW was taken to Sidrat al-Muntaha, on Buraq, accompanied by JibrilAS. Jibril's ascension ended at Malail A'la, but Prophet's journey continued to see more of Allah's creations:
Allah's 'Arsh (the Throne): It is the 'Arsh that AllahSWT created first. It was on water:
"And He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth in six Days and His Throne was on water…" (Surah Hud, 11:7)
The immensity of the 'Arsh is infinite, far beyond any count that human brain can comprehend.
Allah's Kursi (the Foot-Stool): Kursi literally means a foot-stool or a chair. Kursi is next to the Throne. ProphetSAWS said: "The size of the Kursi compared to the 'Arsh is nothing but like a ring thrown out upon an open space of the desert". If the Kursi extends over the entire universe, then how much bigger is the 'Arsh.
From Qur'anic point of view, our universe consists of the earth and the seven heavens. The universe is geocentric, meaning that the skies, like the earth, are circular, and stacked up in a circular fashion, as they move apart, one surrounding the other, separated by the distance of five hundred years of travel, up to seven such heavens:
"See you not, how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another." (Surah Nuh, 71:14)
This is the universe, surrounded by the Kursi (the Foot-Stool) of AllahSWT:
"His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth…" (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:155)
The Water Belt:
Beyond the seventh heaven, is the Water Belt, and outside of that is the Throne of AllahSWT:
"Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them? And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?" (Surah Al-Ambiya, 21:30)
AllahSWT created all living things from water. The Prophet Muhammad SAAW said: "The Right (Hand) of Allah is full, and (its fullness) is not affected by the continuous spending night and day. Do you see what He has spent since He has created the heavens and the earth? Yet, all that has not decreased what is in His Right Hand. His throne is over the water, and in His other Hand is the Bounty of Power to bring about death, and He raises some people and brings others down." [Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, Hadith No. 515, Narrated Abu HurairahRA]
Conclusion:
In Mi'raj, the Prophet ﷺ traveled from Makkah to Jerusalem on a winged creature called Buraq, and in the company of Archangel JibrielAS. From Jerusalem, they ascended through the spheres of seven heavens, and reached the highest place called Sidrat al-Muntaha, the Lote-tree, at the furthest Horizon, near which is the Abode of Paradise. Each one of the cosmic systems constituting a universe, the distance between one system to and the other is that of five hundred years of travel [Sunnah.Com, Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3292, Book 47, Hadith 350, Vol 5, Book 44, Hadith 3298, Chapter on Tafsir, Hadith 3298, Narrated Al Hasan from Abu Hurairah]. From Sidrat al-Muntaha, his lonely journey continued to the Holy Presence of AllahSWT.
He traveled in body and soul, and his journey, in human count was short. During his journey, he visited Masjid al-Aqsa, led prayer for the past prophets. On ascension, he saw many signs of Allah's creations, including the conditions of the people in Barzakh, and he met prophets in different heavens, and as he was passing through, he met the gait-keeper angels.
This was the Prophet's journey by night, the Isra, and as well as the Mi'raj, the ascension through the heavens, and finally to the presence of Almighty AllahSWT. It was a miracle granted by Allah to His slave and final Prophet, MuhammadSAAW. It was one of the greatest of honors bestowed upon any human being.
The event of Al-Isra and Al-Mi'raj is a miraculous phenomenon, therefore it remains far beyond today's scientific explanation. The theories of general and special relativity, and quantum physics, can give only a glimpse of the phenomenon, and the rest is a matter of belief. It is a fact to the believers, but it will always remain a fiction to those whose who based their belief only on science, not realizing that science is only a human invention, and thaet there are things that belong to the realm of Omniscient, AllahSWT.
The Holy Qur'an addresses this dichotomy as a trial for mankind:
"And remember when We told you: "Verily! Your Lord has encompassed mankind round about." We granted the Vision which We showed you, but as a trial for mankind—also the Cursed Tree (mentioned in the Qur'an: We put terror (and warning) into them, but it only increases their inordinate transgression!" (Surah Al Isra' 17:60)
[L1]Was the Prophet not on the ground with the caravans? Drank their water...
[L2]physical mass? Has this been observed?
[L3]That would suggest that he traveled in a body that was something other than what we think of as a physical body!
[L4]I think this is an overstatement. It is well-known that several ancient civilizations had sophisticated mathematics and building skills.
[L5]try ?
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