How did the Prophet travel without wings?

Now, that this is documentation or his version of events if you will. What I mean by that is that when you have an something that occurred, an occurrence, an incident as major as the night journey. This a lot and as major as the Ascension, of the prophet to the heavens. This is regarded amongst the scholars as being the greatest event of any human being. And so the accounts of this event are carried by innumerable narrators. So, we can expect that there will be some fine diff fine details with regards to what came first, what came second because of the sheer amount of testimony regarding this event. Because of that, there are some minor details and again, these details are regarding are regarding the issue of order, the order of events details with regards to the order of events cause a little bit of a stir amongst the narrators. So, we can expect that if this happened in the year ten after Hijalah or if this happened in the year 11 after Hijalah or twelve difference of opinion. That the prophet spent at least ten almost 15 years and this would come up at different times. He would relate different aspects of it at different times. When it first happened, he would have related it to the companions. That were Muslim at the time. After Hijra, he might relate certain parts of it in certain in under certain circumstances, right? So, let's say for instance, the prophet is speaking about the dangers of backbiting. For instance, and then Something He was shown something that is related to that on the night of so he may say to the companions that happened to be there and on the night of Al Mirage, I saw such and such. Right? That has to do with this issue that's that they're dealing with at the moment. So, that's a fragment. It's a fragment of what happened. This is something a lot of people don't understand about the issue of about narrations. Narrations, they can happen all at once or they can happen in fragments because if a companion is sitting in a gathering and the issue of Rebbe comes up, right? Well, not all night journey has to do with Riba. A small portion of it. Something happens, something that was seen, something that he told. So, he'll mention just what is pertinent to the situation or the gathering or the speech that he's giving at the moment. So, if we go through now, all of the narrations throughout recorded Islamic history, of everyone who is recorded to have discussed any part of the Isra and Maharaj and we put all of that together we try to make a complete picture, a complete narrative from beginning to end, right? And because not all narrations are the same, some of them have stronger chains of narration, some of them have weaker chains of narration, some of them have no chain of narration, right? So, we have to expect that there will be small details that narrators do not necessarily agree on but the issue itself is All agreed upon. This is something that is referred to in the science of Hadith as this is meaning that this is something that is known of the prophet biography to everyone. It's what's referred to as common knowledge. We have an almost enumerable amount of narrators for this incident. Hundreds. Right? perhaps dozens if not more companions who narrate some some aspect of it and we have hundreds and then on to into thousands of narrators who brought the narrations to us. Because of this, there are a few details which are disagreed upon. Amongst the this is historians and the scholars of Hadith. One of those details is was this What year did Al Islat when Maharaj take place, right? That's a deal that they differ on. Some scholars mention the 12th year, some mention 11th year after his prophethood. So, mention the tenth. So, mention the second, right? But we know that it happened before Hijalah. Another issue that is debated amongst the scholars is who were the prophets that he led in salah? Right? We know that he led the prophets in salah in Al Masjid al Aqsa. Was it every single prophet ever? Right? Or was it just a a group of prophets? Or was it only those prophets that he saw in the heavens that he encountered? Was this before the Ascension? After the ascension. Right? Another issue is who did he see in which heaven? Cuz it's seven seven heavens. And each heaven's gate that he entered. He was presented and acquainted with a prophet. Right? Who were those prophets? Slight variation in the narrations with regards to that. This is not the prophet narrating a different This is the people that heard it from him and perhaps got the order one or two of them and others got it correct. So, the scholars of Hadith now have to gather all those narrations and look what is the chain of narration and the most credible account, right? In order to iron out those details. It's a very tedious task but it's something that has been done obviously and so, Ibn Rahima Allah, he's going to tell us now the correct opinion with regards to these events. Avi I'm mentioning what Ibn mentions which he doesn't go into extreme detail. he just mentions over the course of a few pages. A very comprehensive account of is the account documented by Ibn Kathir, Rahima Allah. If you want to read basically every credible narration ever narrated about you would read the original the first the first his on the first verse of the he has a huge essay that he compiled all those narrations together and you can see basically every credible narration with regards to that issue so here we're going to kind of merge them together right and tried to give a coherent, most likely account of what occurred on the night of and the night of Al Miraj. Ibn Al he says,.

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Journey? Or was it literally his body he was taken on this journey? And the majority, the vast majority of the scholars to the point that it's almost an issue of consensus. hold the opinion and affirm that it was with his body and soul both. He literally, physically went on this night journey and that's what makes it so miraculous, right? This night journey was from Al Masjid al Haram to it doesn't mean that he was inside the Masjid, the Kaaba, right? Actually, in the narration of Abudar in a Sahir, he was actually in his aunt's house when this occur and the prophet mentions that he was sleeping and the roof or the top of the house was removed. And Jibrael Alaihi Salam descended to him and began the preparations for the night journey. One of the things that happened was that the prophet tells us in Muslim that his heart was extracted by Jibreel. Right? This is a physical thing that happened. His chest was opened. And in one narration, the prophet relates that his chest was open from Al or to his navel. And then another wording to his pubic region. This was all opened. And his heart was taken out. Jibreel Alaihi Salam brought with other angels a basin made of gold and water from Zemzem and the prophet heart was placed into this blessed bath. And a a It say a clot of black was taken out of his heart. And Jibreel showed it to the prophet and said this is this amount, this thing here, this is all a Shaitan has of you. Meaning of your heart. And then he discarded it. Right? Now, again, how is a man not having his heart and his body having a conversation? This is beyond the realm of our.

[Arabic recitation]

Right? And so, he took this clot out and washed the prophet's heart in this basin of gold with the water of Zemzem, and then he stuffed his heart with wisdom and faith right? So,.

[Arabic recitation]

Then he replaced it in the prophet chest. And sealed the wound. Now, this is a physical thing. NS, and a was one of the prophet personal servants. So, we have a lot of narrations of things that the prophet did in his house. or certain aspects of his body related to us by Enes because Ennis was a young boy and he would always be tending to the prophet in his house, in in Madina. And he saw the prophet with a shirt on, without a shirt. He saw his body. He knows is the one who relates to us. Even the amount of white hairs that were in the prophet head, right? So, he's one of the very intimate companions of the prophet and us narrates to us that he always sought the stitching on the prophet chest from that incident, right? So, this is a physical thing that happened. This happened twice in his lifetime. It happened once as a young boy when he was living with his his mother of suckling, Halima, a Sadiya, is a young boy. He was playing with the other children and a great light like that of a lightning strike happened and his heart was extracted and purified at that time. This was before he was a prophet. Sallallahu And this is actually what caused and this was the catalyst for him returning to Mecca. Because when she saw this happen, well, she didn't see it. She actually heard. The other kids came and told her, this is what we saw happen. She became very, very scared that something would happen to him and her care. So, she urged that he be returned to his to his family in Mecca after this incident. This is the second time that this occurred. Now, why did it occur twice? Significance of it occurring before or before his prophethood and after. Obviously, there are many wisdoms in that but person's heart as a child and a person's heart as an adult, and so this occurring and especially before he was taken to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is that his heart was purified physically and spiritually and additional time because he was going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, he was being prepared for prophethood in the first one and he was being for Allah's meeting in the second one, right? And this kind of articulates to us what it is we need to do in preparing ourselves to meet Allah. Right? Think about it. The prophet is going to meet Allah and his heart is extracted and purified and washed physically and spiritually. This tells us that When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says whoever desires the meaning of his lord meaning that when we meet Allah, we need to work in our lives to try to purify ourselves in the same way. Obviously, not by removing our hearts but by removing the filth that is contained in our hearts and by trying fill our hearts and flood our hearts with the words of Allah and Revelation and light and and piety and and faith as much as we possibly can working towards the meeting of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so after this Jibreel Alayhi Salam brought to him an animal referred to as Al Burak. Prophet gave us two main descriptions of this animal, this barak. The first description was that Canabena. The first description of is that this animal was smaller than a mule but bigger than a a donkey. It was in that range, right? And the second description that the prophet gave us of Al Burak is That this animal has the ability to place his hoof, his foot as far as its eyes see. Right? He didn't describe it as having wings. He didn't describe it in a lot of these other things that we see and honestly, it's unfortunate and we discussed this last week but it's unfortunate that sometimes, people have tried to create art, right? Draw pictures of Al Boraq and they've even taken, you know, some books you can buy My even have these pictures on the cover which is obviously something that is unacceptable because it cheapens the book and it cheapens you know, this is not a book of fairy tales and this is real life. This is what the prophet did. So, you'll see on the cover of a book about Al Is or the cover of a book about the prophets biography and you'll see a horse, you know, a white horse with with wings like dove wings. This has nothing to do with the actual description of Al Baraq. Al Baraq, the the name Boraq Alawazni, Fual, Mahudun Mil Bark, this word is derivative of the word al Bach which is lightning, right? So, it is described with this description, etymologically, that it is swift and fast you know, similar to Albarch. And so, these are the descriptions of Al Baraq, the prophet then got onto Albarak. And he began his night journey to now on his night journey between Al Masjid Al Haram to Al Masjid al Aqsa he saw a number of things. Right? And one of the things that he saw was on his way a Shaitan tried to deter him from this journey. He tried to lead him off of the path from Me to Medina and to get him lost in the vast desert between the two Mashajid. However, he was he remained steadfast and he was not deterred by a Shaitan and he was not sidetracked by a Shaitan, shimmering, and trying to trying to attract him off of the path He reached there in Al Masjid Al Aqsa. And Masjid. And he tied Al Burak there. Some accounts mentioned that it was in the the ring on the actual door. Right? Other accounts mentioned that. It was a place that Jibreel Alaihi Salam had carved out of a stone. But in some narrations the prophet said that this is a place where all of the prophets tie their animal, right? And so he tied al Barak there. Mentions that he prayed and led the other prophets in salah. This is very significant. Now, which prophets were they? Some scholars mention all of the prophets, some of them mention a group of prophets but we know that the cardinal or chief prophets and messengers, Ibrahim and Musa and Isa and Noor and and these messengers were there were present and he led them in salah. This articulates what it articulates that. The prophet Muhammad legislation is the final legislation and it abrogates those previous religions or legislations of the prophets before. And that if any of those prophets were alive today and amongst us today, they would find guidance only by ad hering to the prophet message. Right? And so, What this means is that a person may say, you know, yeah, I believe in I believe in the prophet Muhammad. I believe that he was a prophet but I also believe in Musa and I want I follow Musa Alaihi Salam, right? As some of the Rabbis and Jews of Medina had done in the prophet's time or a person who was Christian will say, yes, I believe he was a prophet. However I'm following Risa Alaihi Salam. I believe he's a prophet but I follow this prophet over here. We say that this is invalid because those prophets if they were alive today, they would have no choice but to follow the prophet Muhammad Jabber, Hadith, Omar, Fisunan, Al Musnad, Musnad Ahmed, and then Nabi.

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Me, you would be misled. You would be misguided. And so, he led the prophets in prayer. Some of the scholars mentioned that this happened after he returned from the heavens. Others mentioned that it was before he ascended. And their case. Tells us that what is definitely not correct is that instead of arriving at he instead arrived at Bethlehem, Bethlehem. This is found in some vague narrations and this is inauthentic. It is not correct that he went to Bethlehem or Bethlehem Bethlehem in his night journey. Rather he went from Al Masjid Al Haram to Al Masjid al Aqsa. First Adam.

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That there was a which means that there were stairs, steps that he took. In either case, he ascended into the heavens and when they arrived at the first heaven, at its gates, Jibreel requested a gate to be opened and so the gate was opened for Jibreel and Muhammad and when they entered into the first heaven, they found there Adam Alaihi Salam. Conveyed a salaam to him and he responded to a salaam and he welcomed him warmly and he testified to the prophet Muhammad prophethood and believed in him And Adam Alaihi Salam had there to his right the souls of all of his offspring. All of humanity. We were there. All of us. Right? The souls of all of his offspring to his right as being the people of paradise and to his left the souls of the damned. And so this is one of the cases or one of the instances where the people of the right are taken from. Right? There are the people of the right, and the people of the left. The of the right. They are those who were to the right of Adam Alaihi Salam that night. And the people of the left were the damned, the forsaken, they were the people of the left. To the left of Adam, Alaihi Salam. There are other reasons of course. And this is one of the reasons that we are encouraged to treat the the right different than the left. Had a.

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He would begin with the right side, the right foot, combing the hair beginning with the right side, right? And when he would bathe and make Udu, he would begin with the right And he would do this consistently in anything where he would have to choose between doing the right or the left first. He would give precedence to the right. This is why. This is in preparation and memorium two being of the people of the right. And so he was then taken to the gates of the second heaven Again, the same process happened. Jibreel Alaihi Salam requested the gate to be opened. The gatekeepers of the second heaven from amongst the angels opened and there in the second heaven, he was acquainted with Yahia and Asah. Yahia and Aisa, why these two together? Asa Alaihi Salam was taken up to the heaven, right? Taken up to the heavens and he still remains alive therein in the heavens. In the second heaven, as we have here, and so when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions and relates to us that he said to I am going to conclude your time on the earth now for now and take you up into the heavens that he was taken into the second heaven Allah raised. To himself. Meaning into the heavens. And he remains there in the second heaven. Passed away on the earth. And as did Adam and as did all of the rest of the prophets that were going to hear about. Is the only one from amongst all of those prophets. That had not yet met his time of death. Right? I want to mention and kind of bring something to our attention. When we read many of the narrations we notice two things. The first is that they mention almost always together which means that they happened at the same time. They happened together, right? And it is incorrect that Al Isra happened on a separate night from they happened on the same night. Second thing we notice in these narrations of didn't mention it here but it was mentioned particularly by the prophet in a number of times. And that is that every time Jibreel Alaihi Salam would arrive at one of the heavens, the first or the second or the third and he would request that the gatekeepers of the angels of that heaven open that heaven for them to enter.

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Fayakul, Jibreel, or Mohammed.

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Opened the gatekeeper says, who is this? And Jibreel responds, Jibreel and Mohammed. And the gatekeeper then says, has he already been sent? Meaning that they were unaware that he had already been sent as a messenger. Why is that? How is it that he was on the Earth for 10 years, 11 years years 12 years as a prophet, as a messenger. The Quran is coming to is bringing it to the prophet Muhammad etcetera etcetera. And these gatekeepers of the heavens seem to be unaware that he has already been sent. It's incorrect for us to look at time on this earth. The same as it is perceived in the heavens. All of this could be a matter of moments. With regards to the angels in the heavens. I mean, if you think about it, was taken up into the second heaven. How long ago, like almost 2000 years ago, right? So, 2000 years ago, he was taken up into the heavens and so he's been up there for 2000 years, right? That's a long life. Does that mean that Isa Alaihi Salam has a longer life than any of the other prophets and messengers? I mean, Adam Alaihi Salam's life was how long? A thousand years, right? And he gave 40 of those thousand years to Dawood Alaihi Salam. And that answer to that is that Isa Alaihi Salam in the heaven, the second heaven does he perceive time to be 2000 years of lapsed as we perceive it here on the Earth? Very, very unlikely that that is the case. Or Isa Alai Islam, it could seem a couple of days, just a few days. Right? Time is very, very different. Outside of Earth. Actually, time is very different. The further you get from Earth and the faster something goes. An object goes and you know, there have been experiments done. With atomic clocks and sending them into space and speeding them up and so forth. That's they would keep a clock here on Earth Send a clock into space. Get it further from gravity. Speed it up faster than the other clock and bring them back together and one would have gone slightly faster than the other, right? What does this mean? This means that time on Earth here is relative. It's kind of light, right? It's relative and so, time as perceived by the gatekeepers of the heavens, the angels as perceived by and so forth. As perceived by people in their graves. Right? Is not the same as we perceive and experience time here on Earth. Even different animals. Experience time on earth differently than others. depending on their makeup. And so the point here is that when we read these narrations, we see that there is a difference in the way that time is experienced by these angels and by these prophets. So, there he met Asah and Yahia. The prophet commented and said, Ibn , they are cousins, maternal cousins, Yahia and and Isa Alaihi Salam. And then he was taken to the third heaven. And the same process repeats itself. There in the third heaven, he was acquainted with Yusuf Alaihi Salam. Then the fourth heaven, where he was, acquainted with Idris. Idris Alaihi Salam in the correct opinion of historians is one of the prophets of Beni Israel. Box history books, books on the stories of the prophets. Often mention Idris as preceding around I.