al-Isra wa Miraj - The Climax of all Spirituality - Bayan of Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee

1.
Rehmatow ke Taj Waalay
do jahaan ke Raaj Waalay
Arsh ki Miraaj Waalay

Ya Nabi Salaam Alaika
Ya Rasul Salaam Alaika
Ya Habib Salaam Alaika
Salawaatulla Alaika

O the crown prince of mercy

O the mandate owner of the two worlds

O the owner of ascension to the Divine throne

O Prophet divine peace be upon you

O Messenger may divine peace be yours

O beloved of God, we greet you with peace

Divine benediction be upon you

May sweet Divine benediction be yours

2.
To deal with the subject at hand which is the Isra wa Miraj, that for us this and actually for religions if they were to understand it, this is a singular and unique event in religious history of all of humanity. And it is an unforeseen miraculous achievement that belongs exclusively to Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa saalama which we will make clear in the course of this bayan inshaAllah.

The Climax of all Spirituality

One may consider it in actuality to be the climax of all spirituality, the ultimate sense of tawhid that was totally realized by the Prophet of Islam but never realized and unrealizable by any other Prophet in any other age or any angel indeed.

One would commit a great mistake if you were to consider this as a mere journey from one place to another or if you were to equate it somehow with the people who go to moon or space flight or people who make orbit around the earth and something like that.

It is both a voyage which is physical, some people of course say he was asleep, he was dreaming so on and so forth, but it was a physical journey and at the same time it was a spiritual journey, it was both a worldly or earthly journey and celestial journey in which he went beyond the dimensions of time and space.

It is a journey that is totally realized intellectually and ontologically, that is in his being, it transversed all of the gradation and all the hierarcy and culminmation of blissful meeting between a human being, Muhammad alayhis salaam and Allah, the Divine. Allah the Lord of all the worlds.

The Cycle was Completed

The profound significance of this meeting lies in the fact that the spiritual and physical presence of the Prophet sallalahu alayhis sallaam, before Allah denotes on one hand the restoration of the Paradisical state or the direct link with Allah that began in the time of Adam, in other words the cycle was completed.

That cycle was broken with the expulsion of Adam and Hawah (Eve) from Jannah (Paradisal Garden).

It is indeed the physical resurrection not only of him but all of humanity. It is the completion of what began with Adam being sent down from the Jannah, to return by the Prophet alayhi wa sallam in his body - that is why it is most important to understand that this is not just dream or vision but this actually happened in his body.

So we can say that the Isra wa Miral is a total and comprehensive voyage and it prefigures symbolic at least all the aspects of Islam both the shariat and tariqat, that is both in law and a way to Allah.

The celestial, the here and hereafter all these things and just as Isra wa Miraj starts from the Ka'ba on earth which is where he left from and ends in the Heavenly Ka'ba which we can call the Arsh or the Throne of Allah, so Islam starts with Allah and ends with Allah.

In other words the journey of Isra wa Miraj, you know we pass over it every year, the 27th of the Month of Isra wa Mira, sometime we celebrate Laylatul Isra wa Miraj in various Masajid so on and so forth, and it become a common place to us. But we have to think very deeply that what this thing that happened.

It is the ultimate pilgrimage towards Allah, more than any Hajj, the Hajj is only kind of a symbolic imitation in which we get on a plane in Washington and we fly to Jeddah and we take the bus to Mecca and then we go and we see the Ka'ba and so on and so forth. This is a journey for sure. Its a journey.

But this journey at that level is moving from your home towards the Ka'ba but in the Isra wa Miraj the Prophet alayhi wa sallam move from the Ka'ba to Allah, who is the Lord of the Ka'ba.

So its like we go to Mecca we make tawaf (circumbulation around Ka'ba) but thats as far as we go, we have all the great experiences that we have and we make the Hajj or Umra but thats as far as we go. But on the other hand did that just as we do that, but then he went beyond that and he went to Allah Subhanu watala. So this is a Hajj, when you think of yourself, toward's your own inward Ka'ba or towards the depth of your own heart, which is the Seat of Allah.

He says, in hadith Qudsi, nothing contains me but the Heart of the Mu'min (Truly Faithful). So the Seat of Allah Subhanuwa tala (Most Glorious is He) in each of us is in our purified Hearts.

... So the Isra wa Miraj which is coming on 26th, 27th of Rajab prefigures all possible aspects of Islam. It is one's physical, it is spiritual, it is earthly, it is heavenly, it is zahiri, it is batini, it is esoteric, it is exoteric, it is micro-cosmic, it is macro-cosmic - all of these things take place in Isra wa Miraj.

- Quoted from the Bayan at Khutbah by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee

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Over the last few years Technology of the Heart site has shared a number of posts regarding this special time when the door of special blessings are opened for those who wish to turn to the all Merciful, the One Who alone is the Creator of all that is in heaven and in earth, the One Who alone reserves the right to forgive, the One Who alone is the Bestower of Never ending Mercy. You may click on the links below to access the past posts to learn more about Miraj.