Al-Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj: Theological Debates and Comprehensive Lessons

This note summarizes the major theological debates raised by the Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj and the comprehensive lessons the speaker derives from it at the conclusion of the three-session series.

❧Theological Debate 1: Did the Prophet ﷺ See Allah

This question has been debated since the earliest generations. The Islamic scholarly consensus (derived from the ahadith) is: the Prophet ﷺ did NOT see Allah with his physical eyes in this world. However, a minority position holds that he saw Allah "with his heart."

The evidence against seeing Allah with the eyes (the majority position):

Aisha رضي الله عنها (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī): "Man ḥaddathaka anna Muḥammadan ra'ā Rabbahu faqad aʿẓama ʿalā Allāhi al-firya (مَنْ حَدَّثَكَ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ رَأَى رَبَّهُ فَقَدْ أَعْظَمَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْفِرْيَةَ), Whoever tells you that Muḥammad saw his Lord has made a colossal lie against Allah." She then cites: لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ, "Eyes cannot encompass Him, but He encompasses all eyes" (Surah Al-Anʿām 6:103). She also cites: وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَن يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِن وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ رَسُولًا, "It is not given to any human being that Allah speak to him except through inspiration (waḥy), or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger (angel)" (Surah Al-Shūrā 42:51).

When Masrūq (a student of the Ṣaḥābah) challenged Aisha with two Quranic verses: "Wa laqad ra'āhu nazlatan ukhrā (وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَىٰ)" and "Wa laqad ra'āhu bil-ufuqil-mubīn (وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ بِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ)", Aisha replied with precision: "I am the first person to have ever asked the Prophet ﷺ about these verses. They refer to Jibrīl. He saw Jibrīl, not Allah." The Prophet ﷺ saw Jibrīl in his original form (600 wings filling the horizon) on two occasions; those verses describe those sightings.

The most direct evidence: Abu Dharr al-Ghifārī رضي الله عنه asked the Prophet ﷺ directly in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: "Yā Rasūlallāh, hal ra'ayta Rabbak?, O Messenger of Allah, did you see your Lord?" The Prophet ﷺ responded: "Nūrun annā arāhu (نُورٌ أَنَّى أَرَاهُ), There was light. How could I see Him?"

What is this light? Another hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim explains: "Ḥijābuhu an-nūr (حِجَابُهُ النُّور), His veil is light." And: "Law kashafahu la-aḥraqat subuḥātu wajhihi man intahā ilayhi baṣaruhu min khalqihi (لَوْ كَشَفَهُ لَأَحْرَقَتْ سُبُحَاتُ وَجْهِهِ مَنِ انتَهَىٰ إِلَيْهِ بَصَرُهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ), If Allah were to lift this veil, the rays (subuḥāt) emanating from His Face would incinerate everything that His sight reaches among the creation." Since Allah sees everything, everything would be destroyed. This is why the veil exists, to protect the creation.

This principle is illustrated in the Quran: When Mūsā requested "Rabbi arinī anẓur ilayk, O my Lord, show me, let me see You," Allah responded: "Lan tarānī, You will never see Me (in this world)." He then directed Mūsā to look at a mountain: "If it remains standing when I manifest Myself, then you will see Me." Allah manifested to the mountain, and it collapsed into dust (Surah Al-Aʿrāf 7:143). No created thing can withstand even a glimpse of His manifestation.

Therefore: The Prophet ﷺ saw the light of Allah's veil, a created light, the most powerful light in existence, but not Allah Himself directly. He was closer to Allah than any other being has ever been or will be, but "seeing Allah with the eyes" in this world is categorically impossible.

Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه's statement ("He saw his Lord") is reconciled in one of two ways: (1) it is Ibn Abbas's own opinion that the stronger Aisha/Abu Dharr narrations override; or (2) Ibn Abbas clarified elsewhere: "Ra'āhu bi-qalbihi (رَآهُ بِقَلْبِهِ), He saw Him with his heart", a spiritual perception, not physical sight. This does not contradict the mainstream position.

In the Ākhirah: The believers WILL see Allah in the Next World (there are mutawātir ahadith about ru'yat Allah in Jannah). But that world is not this world, it is a different mode of existence, a perfect resurrection with a different type of body and being. What is impossible in this world becomes possible in that world.

❧Theological Debate 2: Was the Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj Physical or a Dream

A small number of early Tābiʿūn (students of the Ṣaḥābah) held that the journey was a dream (ru'yā) or spiritual experience, not physical. They based this on the phrase in some narrations: "the Prophet ﷺ woke up", which they took to mean he had been asleep. A few modern progressive/rationalist writers revive this interpretation to make the miracle "scientific."

The majority position throughout 1,400 years of Islamic scholarship, and the position of the overwhelming majority of scholars, is that the Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj was a physical journey in body and soul, in a state of full wakefulness (yaqaẓah). The evidences:

1. If it were a dream, there is no miracle. Anyone can fly to Jerusalem and beyond in a dream, even the Quraysh could do this. Why would anyone find it strange? Why would people reject it?

2. The Quraysh were shocked and rejected it, they found it literally impossible. This only makes sense if it is a physical, waking-state claim.

3. Abu Bakr earned the title Al-Ṣiddīq specifically for believing it. If it were "just a dream," why would belief in it be remarkable? Everybody has dreams; everybody believes dreams happen.

4. Al-Burāq was provided for physical transport. Dreams do not require physical transportation animals.

5. The Prophet ﷺ got thirsty on the way back and drank from a caravan's water urn, physical thirst, physical drinking. Dreams do not quench physical thirst.

6. Surah Al-Isrāʾ 17:1 says "took His servant by night" (asrā bi-ʿabdihi), the word ʿabd means the body-and-soul person together. If it were only the soul, the word used would be rūḥ.

The phrase "he woke up" in some narrations refers to waking up at the end of the night after returning to sleep, not waking up from a dream that the Isrāʾ occurred within.

❧Primary Wisdom: A Personal Gift from Allah

The Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj is fundamentally not a miracle for the Ummah to witness and be convinced by (like the parting of the Red Sea for Mūsā's people). It is a personal gift from Allah to Muḥammad ﷺ.

The comparison: When Mūsā was first sent to Fir'aun, Allah privately showed him two miracles at Mount Sinai, the glowing hand and the staff-to-serpent transformation. These happened with no audience. Why? To strengthen Mūsā's own faith. Liyatma'inna qalbī, "so that my heart will be at rest" (the very phrase Ibrāhīm used when asking to see resurrection). Even Prophets, in their humanity, receive personal confirmations from Allah. This is not weakness; it is compassion from a Lord who knows His servants.

The Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj is the Prophet's ﷺ liyatma'inna qalbī, the grandest, most comprehensive personal confirmation ever given to any prophet. Li-nuriyahu min āyātinā al-kubrā, "to show him of Our greatest signs."

❧Additional Comprehensive Lessons

TIMING: It came completely unexpectedly at the lowest moment, after losing Khadijah, after losing Abu Ṭālib, after the stoning at Ṭāʾif. The greater the suffering, the greater the ease that follows: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا. This pattern applies to our lives too.

COURAGE AND STEADINESS: Ibn Kathīr said that if any ordinary person had seen even a fraction of what the Prophet ﷺ saw that night, he would have woken up insane. The Prophet ﷺ came back, went to sleep, and woke up calm. This is exactly what Allah praises: مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَىٰ, "The sight did not waver nor did it exceed." The courage to witness the unseen without losing one's mind is among the Prophet's ﷺ greatest qualities.

HUMANITY: The Prophet ﷺ woke up anxious. He got confused when questioned. He was terrified (kurba) when he couldn't answer. He is a Prophet, and a human being. Both simultaneously. This is Sunnah.

DO NOT MODIFY THE MESSAGE: He announced it even knowing the Quraysh would reject it, even when Abu Jahl asked, because Allah told him to. "It's not our job to modify the product. It's our job to deliver it."

PHYSICAL PROOF IS PERMITTED: He used descriptions of Jerusalem and the three caravan accounts as physical evidence. We may use physical and rational arguments to support the truth of Islam.

LINK BETWEEN THE TWO MASĀJID: The Isrāʾ links Masjid al-Ḥarām (the tradition of Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl) with Masjid al-Aqṣā (the tradition of Ibrāhīm and Isḥāq). The two are not separate; they are one message. The journey begins and ends in Mecca, giving Mecca precedence, but Baitul Maqdis is the honored middle point.

EFFORTS ARE LINKED TO CAUSES: Even miracles require effort. Burāq had to be mounted and saddled. Maryam had to shake the palm tree (Fa-huzzī ilayki bi-jidʿin-nakhlah). Mūsā had to strike the sea. Allah never gives a gift without requiring some effort as its cause. This is cosmic Sunnah.

ALL PILLARS OF IMAN MADE VISIBLE: The Prophet ﷺ saw, with his own eyes, every pillar of Imān: Allah (the divine veil and direct communication), Angels (Jibrīl in original form), Prophets and their Books (led them all in Ṣalāh), Day of Judgment (Adam's right/left groups, Jannah, Hell, signs of Qiyāmah including Dajjāl), and Qadar (the Pen writing on the Preserved Tablet; the souls of Adam's descendants already determined). This night was liyatma'inna qalbī for every aspect of Imān.

BROTHERHOOD OF THE PROPHETS: All the prophets accepted the Prophet ﷺ as their Imām without complaint or dispute. No jealousy, no competition, only love and acknowledgment of Allah's decree. Even Mūsā's weeping was ghibṭah (positive jealousy), wanting good for his Ummah, not bitterness toward the Prophet ﷺ.

STATUS OF SALAH: No other commandment in Islamic history was given in this manner, directly, from Allah to the Prophet ﷺ, without the intermediary of Jibrīl, during a direct divine encounter. The original commandment was 50 Ṣalawāt. Mūsā's repeated intercession and the Prophet's ﷺ repeated return to Allah reduced them to 5, but with the reward of 50. Salah is our Miʿrāj, as the Prophet ﷺ said: "al-Ṣalātu miʿrāj al-muʾminīn (الصَّلَاةُ مِعْرَاجُ الْمُؤمِنِينَ)."

SUPERIORITY OF THIS UMMAH: Mūsā said, "My Ummah could not handle 50 daily prayers, and they had less trials than yours." Yet Allah assigned 5 to this Ummah, and the righteous among us fulfill them. We are carrying a trust that the Ummah of Mūsā, by their own prophet's estimation, could not.

ALLAH IS ABOVE US: The direction of the Miʿrāj is upward, this is not incidental. Allah is above His creation. لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ, not because He is diffused everywhere, but because He is beyond and above all created vision. The modernist/Sufi interpretation that "Allah is everywhere" is refuted by the very fact that the Prophet ﷺ had to ascend to meet Him.

JANNAH AND HELL EXIST NOW: The Prophet ﷺ saw them during the Miʿrāj. They are real, physical places that exist right now, not metaphors, not future constructs.

❧FIQH BENEFITS

1. Ask permission before entering (the gate-asking protocol at every heaven);

2. When asked "who's there?" say your name, not "it's me" (Jibrīl said "This is Jibrīl");

3. The walking person gives Salām to the sitting person, even if the sitting person is more noble (the prophets initiated Salām when the Prophet ﷺ arrived);

4. Giving glad tidings (bushrā) to the worthy is encouraged (the prophets gave glad tidings to the Prophet ﷺ);

5. Sitting with one's back toward the Qibla is permissible (Ibrāhīm was leaning against Al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr);

6. Night travel is preferred over day travel (Isrāʾ literally means "night travel"; the Prophet ﷺ confirmed in authentic aḥādīth that when traveling, one should travel at night because Allah makes the distance easier).