Al Isra' (621 C.E)

It was during this period that al Isra' and al Mi'raj had taken place.[Al Isra' means

the night journey the Prophet was reported to have taken from

Makkah to al Masjid al Aqsa, the distant mosque, or Jerusalem. AL

Mi'raj means the Prophet's ascension to heaven and his visit to

paradise and hell, later to serve as model for Dante's La. Diutna

Comedia. See M. Asin Palacios, La. evcatologia musulmana en la

Divina Comedia, Madrid, 1919; 2nd edition, Madrid, 1943. -Tr.]. On the

night of al Isra'. Muhammad was staying in the house of his cousin, Hind, daughter

of Abu Talib, who was also called Umm Hani'. Hind related that "The Prophet of God

spent the night in my quarters. He recited his night prayers and went to sleep. Just

before dawn, the Prophet of God awoke us and we all prayed the dawn prayer

together. When the prayer was through, he said, "O Umm Hani', I prayed with you

the night prayer in this place; then I went to Jerusalem and I prayed there, and. as

you see, I have just finished praying with you the dawn prayer.' I answered, `O

Prophet of God, do not tell this to the people for they will belie you and harm you.'

He said, `By God I shall tell them.'"

Was al

Was al Isra' in Body or in Soul?

Those who claim that al Isra' and al Mi'raj of Muhammad-may God's peace be upon

him had taken place in soul rather than in body refer to this report of Umm Hani'.

They also refer to another report by `A'ishah which says, "The body of the Prophet of

God-may God's peace and blessing be upon him was never missed from his bed.

Rather, God caused him to travel in soul alone." Whenever Mu'awiyah ibn Abu

Sufyan was asked about al Isra' of the Prophet, he used to answer, "It was a true

vision from God." Those who share such a view confirm their claim with the Qur'anic

verse, "The vision which We have shown you is but a trial to the people."[Qur'an,

17:60] According to the other view, al Isra' from Makkah to Jerusalem took place in

body. In confirmation of this, they mention that Muhammad had related what he saw

in the desert on the way hither and add that his ascension to heaven was in soul.

Others hold that both al Isra' and al Mi'raj were in body. As a result of this great

controversy, thousands of books have been written on the subject. We have a view

of this matter which we shall give shortly, a view that somebody else may have held

before us. Before we proceed, however, we shall give the story of al Isra' and al

Mi'raj as it was reported in the biography books.

Al Isra'

Ibn Hisham's Report about al Isra'

Such is the report of the Orientalist Dermenghem concerning the story of al Isra and al

Mi'raj. Every item he reported may be readily found, perhaps with greater or lesser detail,

in many of the biographies. An example of the fertility of the reporters' imagination may be

read in ibn Hisham's biography. Reporting on Muhammad's conversation with Adam in the

first heaven, ibn Hisham wrote: "Then I saw men with lips like those of camels. In their

hands were balls of fire which they thrusted into their mouths and collected from their

extremities to thrust into their mouths again. I asked, 'Who are these, O Gabriel?' He said:

'These are men who robbed the orphans.' I then saw men with large bellies, the likes of

which I have never seen before even on the road to the house of Pharaoh where the

greatest punishment is meted out to the greatest sinners. These are trodden upon by men

who when brought to the fire run like maddened camels. Those whom they tread upon

remain immobile, unable to move from their place. I asked, 'Who are those, O Gabriel?' He

answered, 'Those are the usurers.' I then saw men sitting at a table loaded with delicious

and fat meat as well as spoilt and stinking meat. They were eating of the latter and leaving

the former untouched. I asked, 'Who are these, O Gabriel?' He answered, 'These are men

who left their own women whom God had permitted them to enjoy and ran after other

women illegitimately.' I then saw women hanging from their breasts and asked, 'Who are

these, O Gabriel?' He answered, 'These are women who fathered on their husbands children

not their own.' . . . He then took me into Paradise where I saw a beautiful damsel with

luscious lips. As I was attracted by her I asked her, 'To whom do you belong?' She

answered: 'To Zayd ibn Harithah.' The prophet of God-may God's peace and blessing be

upon him announced this glad tiding to Zayd ibn Harithah."

Whether in ibn Hisham's or in other biographies of the Prophet or in the books of Qur'anic

exegesis, the reader will find many details besides the above mentioned. It is certainly the

historian's right to question how closely these reports have been scrutinized and

investigated by their collectors, with the view to finding out how much of them may be

truly ascribed to the Prophet and how much was the invention of the fancy of the Sufis and

others. Although there is no room here to undertake such investigation, nor to decide the

issue of whether or not al Isra' or al Mi'raj were both in body or in soul or the one in body

and the other in soul, there is still no doubt that every one of these views has reasons

which their advocates claim to be legitimate. There is no a priori reason why one may not

adhere to one of these views rather than another. Whoever wishes to hold the view that al

Isra' and al Mi'raj were in soul and not in body, could turn to the evidence of the reports we

have already cited as well as to the Qur'anic emphasis that

"I am but a human like you unto whom a revelation is, given that your God is one God;"

[Qur'an, 18:110] that the book of God is the sole "miracle" of Muhammad; and that

"God does not forgive any association of aught with Him but He forgives to whomsoever He

wishes anything else."[Qur'an, 4:48]

Whoever holds a view of al Isra and al Mi'raj such as this is perhaps better entitled to

inquire about the meaning of these ideas. And that is precisely the issue to which, perhaps

for the first time ever, we want to address ourselves in the following sections.

Al Isra' and the Unity of Being

As phenomena in the spiritual life of Muhammad, al Isra' and al Mi'raj carry great

and noble meanings that are greater than the foregoing descriptions have suggested

much of which being the product of pure imagination. In the moment of al Isra' and

al Mi'raj, Muhammad grasped the unity of being in all its totality and perfection. In

that moment, neither space nor time could prevent his consciousness from

encompassing all being; whereas our consciousness, determined by weaker

perceptive and rational faculties, is incapable of transcending the limitations of space

and time. In that moment, all frontiers fell before Muhammad's insight; and all being

was, as it were, gathered in his soul. In that moment, he came to know totality from

beginning to end and represented this totality as the self-realization of the forces of

goodness, truth, and beauty in their struggle against and conquest of evil, untruth,

and fraud. All this happened to Muhammad by God's grace.

No one is capable of such transcendent vision except by means of superhuman

power. If any of the followers of Muhammad were unable to match him in his

struggle to rise to or to achieve such vision and perception, there should be neither

blame nor surprise. Men's degrees of endowment differ, and their vision of the truth

is always determined by these limitations which our ordinary powers are unable to

transcend. There is perhaps an analogy between Muhammad's understanding of the

universe at that moment and that of any other person who has risen to the highest

level of consciousness possible for man. It is that of the story of the blind men who,

upon being brought into contact with the elephant, were asked to identify it. It will

be remembered that the first thought it was a long rope because he had touched its

tail; the second, a thick tree because he had touched its leg; the third, a spear

because he had touched its ivory; and the fourth, a moving round tube because he

had touched its trunk. These views are to the unimpaired view of the elephant as the

understanding of most of us to that of Muhammad, implied in al Isra' and al Mi'raj, of

the unity and totality of being. In Muhammad's vision, the finitude of space and time

disappeared, and he beheld the universe all "gathered up" and present. Men capable

of such great moments of consciousness see the details of space-time and problems

of worldly living as mathematical atoms appended to the person without ever

affecting him. None of them affect in the least the life of his body, the beat of his

heart, the illumination of his soul, the enlightenment of his consciousness, nor his

vibration with energy and life. For by existing, such a person enters into communion

with all existence and all life, as it were, ipso facto.

A spiritual Isra' and Mi'raj cannot be different in its meanings of beauty, majesty,

and transcendence than a bodily one[The Arabic text has "spiritual" at both

poles of the comparison, which I assume to be a misprint. -Tr.]. In itself,

the story is a very strong figurization of the spiritual unity of all being. Muhammad's

detour for a stop on Mount Sinai where God spoke to Moses face to face, at

Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and the spiritual meeting of Muhammad, Jesus,

Moses and Abraham in the moment of prayer is another very strong figurization of

the unity of religious experience and life, a unity constitutive of the world as it tends

to value and perfection.

Al Isra' and Modern Science

In our modern age, science confirms the possibility of a spiritual Isra' and Mi'raj.

Where there is a meeting of genuine forces, that which shines forth is genuine

reality; just as a meeting of the same forces of nature configured by the genius of

Marconi produced the real effect of lighting a light in distant Australia by means of an

electric radiation directed at it on the waves of space from his ship in Venice. In this

age of ours, science has confirmed the possibility of prestidigitation, of broadcast of

sound through space by means of the radio, as well as of pictures and writing, all of

which was considered too fanciful even for the imagination. The forces latent in

nature are still being discovered by science, and every new day brings a new

surprise. Strong and powerful spirits such as Muhammad's are perfectly capable of

being carried in one night from Makkah to Jerusalem and of being shown God's

signs. That is not opposed to reason, especially when the moral of it is the

figurization of divine truths, of extraordinary meanings of beauty and transcendence,

and of the unity of spirit and world so clearly achieved in the consciousness of

Muhammad. Though extraordinary and unique to Muhammad, the experience is

certainly possible for man upon removal of the illusions of this world, penetration of

ultimate reality, and relation of oneself and the world thereto.

Doubt of

Doubt of Quraysh and Apostasy of Some Muslims

The Arabs of Makkah, however, were incapable of understanding such meanings.

Therefore, as soon as Muhammad related his Isra', they could not progress beyond

the question of the possibility or otherwise of instantaneous bodily transport to

Jerusalem. Even those who followed Muhammad and believed in him were troubled

by doubt. Some said, "This is clear and decisive. By God, camels run continually for a

whole month to reach al Sham and another whole month to return. Would

Muhammad achieve such a feat in one night?" Many of the Muslims apostatized.

Those who were troubled by doubt went to Abu Bakr and related to him

Muhammad's claim. Abu Bakr answered, "Surely you are telling me lies." They said,

"There is Muhammad in the mosque telling the people of his trip." Abu Bakr

answered, "By God, if Muhammad himself has said so, then it is true. He tells us that

the word of God comes to him directly from heaven to earth in an hour of night or

day and we believe him. Isn't this a greater miracle than what you are doubting

today?" Abu Bakr came to the Prophet and listened to him describing Jerusalem and

its mosque. When he finished, Abu Bakr said, "You said the truth, O Prophet of God."

From that day on Muhammad called Abu Bakr "al Siddiq."[Al Siddiq, i.e., he who

believes the truth to be true. -Tr.]