The Night Journey

This journey did not happen in a happy moment. It happened after the hardest year of the Prophet's life ﷺ.

In the same year, two people who were his greatest support both died: his beloved wife Khadijah (ra) the first Muslim, the one who wrapped him in a cloak on the night of the first revelation and his uncle Abu Talib, who had protected him from the tribe's persecution for decades.

Then the Prophet ﷺ traveled to Ta'if to call people to Islam. He was met with mockery and driven out of the city, pelted with stones until his sandals filled with blood. He sat under a tree and prayed one of the most moving prayers in all of history: "O Allah to You alone I complain of my weakness and my helplessness. You are the Lord of the oppressed. You are my Lord..."

It was in this moment of complete human vulnerability that Allah honoured His prophet with a journey unlike anything in all of creation.

One night, the angel Jibreel (as) came to the Prophet ﷺ. He was brought al-Buraq a white mount larger than a donkey, smaller than a mule, whose stride reached as far as its eye could see.

Allah says: "Exalted is He who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed." (17:1)

In moments a journey that would take months on foot the Prophet ﷺ arrived at al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, the first qiblah of the Muslims and the third most sacred mosque in Islam.

There he was met by the souls of all the prophets before him. He led them all in prayer Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, and every prophet as their imam. The final prophet standing before all who came before him, united in worship of Allah alone.

From Jerusalem, the Prophet ﷺ was taken upward through the seven heavens on the Mi'raj.

At each heaven, Jibreel asked permission to enter. The gates opened. And at each level the Prophet ﷺ met a prophet:

In the first heaven: Adam ﷺ the father of all humanity, who welcomed him with joy.
In the second: Isa and Yahya ﷺ cousins, both honoured.
In the third: Yusuf ﷺ whose face was like the full moon.
In the fourth: Idris ﷺ raised to a high station.
In the fifth: Harun ﷺ beloved by his people.
In the sixth: Musa ﷺ who wept saying the final prophet's ummah would enter paradise in greater numbers than his own.
In the seventh: Ibrahim ﷺ leaning against al-Bayt al-Ma'mur, the heavenly Ka'bah, which 70,000 angels visit every day and never return.

On this journey, the Prophet ﷺ was shown things no human eye had ever seen.

He saw Jannah paradise its rivers of milk, honey, and clear water, its palaces and its light. He saw the people of paradise. He saw the rewards Allah has prepared for those who believe and do good.

He saw Jahannam the fire and the punishments of those who wronged themselves. He saw the people who ate from usury, those who were arrogant, those who harmed others and he saw the consequences in the hereafter that words can barely describe.

He was being shown reality as it truly is not how the world presents it, but how Allah sees it. Every prayer has weight. Every sin has a consequence. Every good deed reaches Allah.

Then the Prophet ﷺ was brought before Allah closer than any creation has ever been and received the greatest gift of the night: Salah.

Allah first commanded fifty prayers a day. As the Prophet descended, Musa ﷺ stopped him and said: "Go back and ask for a reduction your ummah cannot bear fifty."

The Prophet ﷺ went back and forth each time Musa urged him to return and ask again until the prayers were reduced to five.

Then Allah said: "These five prayers are [equal in reward to] fifty My word does not change."

Every Muslim who prays five times a day earns the reward of fifty. This was the personal gift of Allah to this ummah, received by the Prophet ﷺ above the seven heavens. No other act of worship was commanded this way from beyond the heavens, directly.

The Prophet ﷺ returned to Makkah before the night was over. The journey that covered the heavens, the earth, Jerusalem, and back completed in a single night.

When he told the people of Makkah what had happened, many mocked him. Even some who had accepted Islam began to doubt how could a man travel to Jerusalem and back in one night, let alone to the heavens?

But Abu Bakr (ra), when told, said immediately: "If he said it, then it is true." It was for this that he earned the title al-Siddiq the one who affirmed the truth without hesitation.

The Night Journey was a test of faith. Those who believed it deepened their iman. Those who could not believe it exposed their doubt. And the Prophet ﷺ who had been through the worst year of his life returned with his chest full of light.