Islam's Reformers .pdf

nubuwwa: “One of the most honourable blessings of Allâhuta’âlâ on Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is His lifting him up toheaven in the Mi’râj. He has not given this miracle to any otherprophet. It is declared clearly in the Qur’ân that he was takenfrom Mecca to Masjid al-Aqsâ; he who does not believe thisbecomes a disbeliever. Mashhûr hadîths inform with the factthat he was taken up to heaven from Masjid al-Aqsâ; a personwho denies this becomes a man of bid’a, a sinner. The majorityof the Sahâbat al-kirâm, of the Tâbi’ûn, of the scholars of theHadîth, of the scholars of fiqh and of the scholars of kalâmcommunicate that the Mi’râj happened as he was awake andphysically. Also sahîh hadîths communicate that this happenedso. Mi’râj took place many times. One of them was when hewas awake and in body. Others happened spiritually only.’Âisha (radiy-Allâhu ’anh) told about one which happenedspiritually in his dream. This narration of hers does notnecessarily show that the Mi’râj which happened when he wasawake and physically was untrue. Nevertheless, Islamicscholars communicate unanimously that prophets’ dreams werewahî. There is no way for doubt in these. While their eyes wereclosed, their blessed hearts were awake. Those whichhappened spiritually before were intended to prepare him forthe Mi’râj that would happen physically. Because thedisbelievers would not believe in the Mi’râj and asked forinformation about Masjid al-Aqsâ in order to test him, it wasdeclared clearly in the sûrat al-Isrâ that he was taken to Masjidal-Aqsâ. In this sûra, the âyat, ‘I took him to show Mine Âyat,’shows the fact that he was taken up to heaven. The sixtiethâyat of the same sûra purports: “We have made the dreamwhich We showed you a fitna for people.’ The dreammentioned here denotes the Mi’râj. Some scholars said, ‘It wasthe dream in which he saw that he would go to Mecca andperform tawâf (hajj) together with as-Sahâba. Because they didnot go into Mecca but turned and went back from Hudaibiya inthe year when he communicated this dream to as-Sahâba, themunâfiqs aroused fitna.’ However, he did not have that dreamthat year; why should it have caused fitna, then? Many of thescholars of tafsîr have informed that the word ‘ruyâ’ (dream) isused in the sense ‘seeing while awake at night’ here, and theyhave put forward examples for this from the Dîvân of the poetMutanabbî. The Bâtinîs, i.e., members of the Ismâ’îlism, have- 304 -