Advice for the Muslim

’ulamâ’ unanimously. It is written in the Sahîhain of al-Bukhârî
and Muslim: “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent all the prophets to our Prophet
on the Mi’râj night. He became the imâm, and they performed
two rak’as of salât.” The salât includes bowing (rukû’) and
prostration (sajda). And this shows that they performed salât
corporally, with their bodies. Mûsâ’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) performing
salât in his grave also indicates this. It was declared in the hadîth
ash-sharîf quoted in the book Mishkât [1]
on the authority of
Muslim, “Near the Ka’ba, the disbelievers of the Quraish asked
me how the Bait al-muqaddas was. I had not looked at it carefully.
I become very stressful. Allâhu ta’âlâ showed me. I saw myself
among prophets. Mûsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was performing salât
standing up. He was thin. His hair was not untidy or drooping. He
was like a brave young man of the Shan’a tribe [of the Yemen].
’Îsâ (’alaihi ’s-slâm) looked like Urwat ibn Mas’ûd as-Saqafî.”
These hadîths prove that prophets are alive in Allah’s audience.
Their bodies have become etheral like their souls. They are not
dense or solid. They may become visible in material and spiritual
worlds. It is for this reason that prophets can be seen in soul and
body. The hadîth ash-sharîf explains that Mûsâ and ’Îsâ (’alaihima
’s-Salâm) were performing salât, which involves physical actions
that are to be done with the body, not with the soul. Muhammad’s
(’alaihi ’s-salâm) description of Mûsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) with
medium height, lean and thin, and with tidy hair shows that he saw
not his soul but his body. Prophets do not die like other human
beings. They emigrate from the transitory world to the everlasting
next world. Al-Imâm al-Baihakî [d. Nishapur, 458 A.H. (1066)]
wrote in his book I’tiqâd, “Prophets’ souls are given back to their
bodies after they are put into their graves. We cannot see them.
They become invisible like angels. Only the distinguished people
to whom Allâhu ta’âlâ has bestowed it as a karâma can see them.”
Al-Imâm as-Suyûtî said so, too. Also, al-Imâm an-Nawawî, Imâm
Abu ’l-Hasan ’Alî as-Subkî [d. Egypt, 756 A.H. (1355)] and al-
Imâm Muhammad al-Qurtubî [d. 671 A.H. (1272)] relate the
same from their masters. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya [d. 751 A.H.
(1350)], a Hanbalî ’âlim, wrote exactly the same in his Kitâb arrûh.
The Shâfi’î ’ulamâ’ Ibn Hajar al-Hîtamî, Shams ad-dîn
Muhammad ar-Ramlî [d. 1004 A.H. (1596)] and Qâdî Muhammad
Zakariyyâ [d. Egypt, 926 A.H. (1520)]; the Hanafî scholars Akmal
[1] Last volume, section on the Mi’râj, chapter one.
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