“Magic” Carpet Ride…(Part 1)

"Magic" carpet ride...

It is going to be “A Whole New World….A Whole New Place…” Jasmin and Aladdin sang to the world with love and amazement glittering in their eyes…
Where? How? “On a magic carpet ride…”

Disney did its job. Childrens’ eyes stare in wonder…
Their imagination-(or what is left of it after many mind-numbing television hours)-begins to soar…
A magic carpet ride? WOWW….Amazzzzzzing…I wish…I wish…I wish…
And off they run to get the kitchen rug and try it out themselves…

It is a dazzling scene, thought, idea…
But why haven’t these children been dazzled by Surat Al-Israa?

Surat Al-Israa?? Magic carpet ride?? What???????

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My first realization of how much we do not marvel at the miracle of Al-Israa’ and Mi’raaj is when I read the translation of the Surah’s Title…
“The Night Journey..”
Sounds like a title in the fantasy section at Chapters (or Borders 🙂 ).
But it is not! It is Quran! It is Seerah!

Exploring the first ayah is more than enough for one post…

The Ayah
Glory to (Allah) Who did take His Servant for Journey by night, from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did Bless, – in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: For He is the One Who Heareth and Seeth (all things).

Some Balagha
-(Red) Begins with ‘Subhana’ ..just by getting ready to read about the miracle, you glorify Allah. Notice I mentioned it is the root of SubhanAllah!…when do we say subhanAllah? For surprise, shock, wonder, amazement….exactly the emotions we feel when we learn about the Israa…

-(Green) ‘Asraa’.. In Arabic, the word ‘Asraa’ can come in two forms:
(sara) سرى or (asraa) أسرى
What is the difference?
–Asraa-to move from the beginning of the night
–Sara-to move from the end of the night
So ‘Asraa’ was used.

-(Blue) ‘biabdeh’..(his slave)
Something interesting about this word… Allah names the Prophet salla allahu allayhe wa salam a slave. He did not say “with Mohammad” or “with his Prophet”….No, with his slave.
In Islam, a ‘slave’ is not a demeaning term, but rather a humbling one…
Now think…
This is the event of being RAISED to the heavens, which obviously hints a raise in status…But the word ‘slave’HUMBLES the Prophet salla allahu allayhe wa salam….
It feels as if a balance is created.
Yes, he is the best of mankind, and the only one to be lifted to the sky and come back to relay it, allayhe alsalatu wasalam, but he is still a slave of Allah, like everyone on this Earth..
At the same time, it is honor for the Prophet salla allahu allayhe wa salam to be a slave of Allah.

-(Green vs. Pink)….
So.
You said “Asraa” meant to move at night.
And then in the pink box you have “Laylan” which means at night.
So isn’t that redundant?
Why not just “Asraa” or just “Laylan”???

The entire event started at night (Asraa), which as we said was “to move at the START of the night”, but then the word “Laylan” (At night) shows you that the event also FINISHED within that same NIGHT.
The effect is: Miracle-More-Miraculous (MMM 🙂 )

-(Pink)
Another question..
Why “laylan” (at night) and not “fi al-layl” (in the night)?

Because if Allah were to say “Al-Layl” that would mean that it took up the ENTIRE night, but it did not–it happened ‘laylan’ during the night…..So it is another MMM!
Because all these events that would normally take so much time, by the will of Allah, only took up a portion of the night!

-(Purple)
So why…“so WE can show HIM from OUR signs”… “linuriyahu”
It could have been “so HE can see OUR signs” … “leyara”
Or it could have been “so OUR signs can be shown”….“leyura”

Why specifically the first one?
Notice all the pronouns in capital letters?
The first choice has the most personal pronouns referring both back to Allah and back to the Prophet salla allahu allayhe wa salam…
Which is more ‘takreem‘ as we say in Arabic…which means honoring the Prophet (allahye alsalatu wasalam)… by emphasizing that he was with Allah…

-(Orange)
Ok, SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY subhanAllah…Prepare to be AMAZED at this one.
Notice how on the picture it says “Hears All” before “Sees All“..
Ya, so what?
So.. a lot 🙂

Okay, I’m going to give you clues and see if you can figure it out.
Clue 1: -Word underlined in green and Word circled in pink.
Clue 2: -Bats (as in the animal..)

That should get you somewhere 🙂
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Got it? Give up?
Okay, by clue 1 I was trying to remind you that Israa’ and Mi’raaj happened at NIGHT.
And if you think about the senses (or Clue 2, the bat and how it moves by echolocation-i think it is called that-at night) HEARING is much more important (and what you depend on) than SEEING at night…which is why it came first…it matches the time this took place!
Cool, right?

It gets more cool ….
Okay…Say you are standing on the phone talking.
Who is closer to you?
Someone who can HEAR your phone conservation? Or someone who can only SEE you talking on the phone?
…….
(The person who can hear you right? and if they are close enough to hear you, they are close enough to see you…)

And in that, Allah is showing just how CLOSE he is with his knowledge, subhanahu wa taala…he HEARS ALL (so close)…and then, almost obviously, SEES ALL.

There is one more point…but I will touch on it in the Seerah section, inshAllah 😉

-More? The one double underlined in pink…
Why “barakna hawlah” ? “we made blessings around it” ?
That is your homework 😉

To continue, go to Part 2

And Allah Knows Best