The night as the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) lay sleeping, he was woken by the Archangel Gabriel. The Prophet (Pbuh) sat up and the Archangel took hold of his arm and led him to the door of the Mosque where there was a mysterious animal for him to ride. That animal came to be known as the Buraqq, a magical steed.
The Holy Prophet (Pbuh) mounted the animal and, with the Archangel Gabriel at his side, was transported from Makkah to the Mosque called Al-Aqsa, in far away Jerusalem. There the Prophet (Pbuh) was the Imam in a congregational prayer which included among other Prophets, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (Pbuh). Then the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) ascended to the Heavens where he saw the splendours of paradise and the horrors of Hell. Later the angels took the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) through the seven Heavens one by one. In his journey across the heavens he saw some of the Prophets (Pbuh) who had come before him in their earthly missions.
The greatest moment in the life of the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) arrived when he was admitted into the divine presence of Allah himself. He was instructed to order his community to observe ‘salat’ fifty times a day.
In the words of the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) himself, this is how the incident occurred which resulted in the five daily prayer becoming obligatory on Muslims: “Allah enjoined fifty prayer on my followers. When I returned with this order of Allah, I passed by Moses (Pbuh) who asked me, “what has Allah enjoined on your followers.” I replied, He has enjoined fifty prayers on them. Moses said. Go back to your Lord (and appeal for reduction) for your followers will not be able to bear it. (So I went back to Allah and requested for reduction) and He reduced it to half, when I passed by Moses again, I informed him about it, he said, Go back to your Lord as your followers will not be able to bear it. So I returned to Allah and requested for further reduction and half of it was reduced. I again passed by Moses and he said to me: Return to your Lord, for your followers will not be able to bear it. So I returned to Allah and He said. These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward) for My word does not change. I returned to Moses and he told me to go back once again. I replied, Now I feel shy of asking my Lord again. (Reported by Ibn Hazm and Anas bin Malik .. Bukhari).
The morning after the Prophet’s (Pbuh) return to Makkah he related the events of the night before. “By God! This is ridiculous! A caravan takes a month to go to Syria and a month to return! Can you do that long journey in a single night!” When Abu Bakr heard the news he exclaimed. “By Allah, if Muhammad (Pbuh) himself has said so, then it true. Remember, the Prophet (Pbuh) tells us that the word of Allah comes to him directly from heaven to earth at any hour by day or night, and we believe him. Is not that a greater miracle than what you are now doubting?”
This spontaneous belief in the Prophet’s (Pbuh) truthfulness earned Abu Bakr the title of ‘Al Siddiq’ or the “one who supports the truth. Others also began to believe the Prophet’s (Pbuh) story when he went on to describe two caravans he had seen on his way back to Makkah. He told the doubters where he had seen the caravans, what they were carrying and when they would arrive in Makkah. And that the Prophet (Pbuh) had said was borne out when the caravans arrived at the time he said they would be, carrying all that he has described.
The Qur’an also speaks of the Night Journey; “Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the far distant place of worship, which we have blessed, that we might show him some of our signs. He, only He is the All Hearing, the All-Seeing.” (Qur’an 17:1)
Adapted from “The life of the Prophet Muhammad” (Pbuh) by Leila Azzam and Aisa Gouverneur.
