Isra' and Mi'raj

Narrated Anas bin Malik (Radi Allah Anhu): The night Allah's Apostle (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) was taken for a journey from the sacred mosque (of Makkah) Al-Ka'ba: Three persons came to him (in a dreamy) while he was sleeping in the Sacred Mosque before the Divine Inspiration was revealed to Him. One of them said, "Which of them is he?" The middle (second) angel said, "He is the best of them." The last (third) angle said, "Take the best of them."

Only that much happened on that night and he did not see them till they came on another night, i.e. after The Divine Inspiration was revealed to him. (Fateh-Al-Bari Page 258, Vol. 17) and he saw them, his eyes were asleep but his heart was not----and so is the case with the prophets: their eyes sleep while their hearts do not sleep. So those angels did not talk to him till they carried him and placed him beside the well of Zam-Zam. From among them Gabriel (Alaihissalam) took charge of him. Gabriel (Alaihissalam) cut open (the part of his body) between his throat and the middle of his chest (heart) and took all the material out of his chest and abdomen and then washed it with Zam-Zam water with his own hands till he cleansed the inside of his body, and then a gold tray containing a gold bowl full of belief and wisdom was brought and then Gabriel (Alaihissalam) stuffed his chest and throat blood vessels with it and then closed it (the chest).

He then ascended with him to the heaven of the world and knocked on one of its doors. The dwellers of the Heaven asked, 'Who is it?' He said, "Gabriel." They said, "Who is accompanying you?" He said, "Muhammad (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam)." They said, "Has he been called?" He said, "Yes" They said, "He is welcomed." So the dwellers of the Heaven became pleased with his arrival, and they did not know what Allah would do to the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) on earth unless Allah informed them.


The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) met Adam (Alaihissalam) over the nearest Heaven. Gabriel (Alaihissalam) said to the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam), "He is your father; greet him." The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) greeted him and Adam (Alaihissalam) returned his greeting and said, "Welcome, O my Son! O what a good son you are!" Behold, he saw two flowing rivers, while he was in the nearest sky. He asked, "What are these two rivers, O Gabriel?" Gabriel (Alaihissalam) said, "These are the sources of the Nile and the Euphrates." Then Gabriel (Alaihissalam) took him around that Heaven and behold, he saw another river at the bank of which there was a palace built of pearls and emerald. He put his hand into the river and found its mud like musk Adhfar. He asked, "What is this, O Gabriel?" Gabriel (Alaihissalam) said, "This is the Kauthar which your Lord has kept for you."


Then Gabriel (Alaihissalam) ascended (with him) to the second Heaven and the angels asked the same questions as those on the first Heaven, i.e., "Who is it?" Gabriel (Alaihissalam) replied, "Gabriel". They asked, "Who is accompanying you?" He said, "Muhammad (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam)." They asked, "Has he been sent for?" He said, "Yes." Then they said, "He is welcomed.'' Then he (Gabriel Alaihissalam) ascended with the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) to the third Heaven, and the angels said the same as the angels of the first and the second Heavens had said. Then he ascended with him to the fourth Heaven and they said the same; and then he ascended with him to the fifth Heaven and they said the same; and then he ascended with him to the sixth Heaven and they said the same; then he ascended with him to the seventh Heaven and they said the same.


On each Heaven there were prophets whose names he had mentioned and of whom I remember Idris (Alaihissalam) on the second Heaven, Haaron (Alaihissalam) on the fourth Heavens, another prophet whose name I don't remember, on the fifth Heaven, Abraham (Alaihissalam) on the sixth Heaven, and Moses (Alaihissalam) on the seventh Heaven because of his privilege of talking to Allah directly. Moses (Alaihissalam) said (to Allah), "O Lord! I thought that none would be raised up above me."


But Gabriel (Alaihissalam) ascended with him (the Prophet Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) for a distance above that, the distance of which only Allah knows, till he reached the Lote Tree (beyond which none may pass) and then the Irresistible, the Lord of Honor and Majesty approached and came closer till he (Gabriel Alaihissalam) was about two bow lengths or (even) nearer. (It is said that it was Gabriel who approached and came closer to the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam). (Fate Al-Bari Page 263, 264, Vol. 17).


Among the things which Allah revealed to him then, was: "fifty prayers were enjoined on his followers in a day and a night." Then the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) descended till he met Moses (Alaihissalam), and then Moses (Alaihissalam) stopped him and asked, "O Muhammad ! What did your Lord enjoin upon you?" The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) replied, "He enjoined upon me to perform fifty prayers in a day and a night." Moses (Alaihissalam) said, "Your followers cannot do that; Go back so that your Lord may reduce it for you and for them." So the Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) turned to Gabriel (Alaihissalam) as if he wanted to consult him about that issue. Gabriel (Alaihissalam) told him of his opinion, saying, "Yes, if you wish." So Gabriel ascended with him to the Irresistible and said while he was in his place, "O Lord, please lighten our burden as my followers cannot do that." So Allah deducted for him ten prayers where upon he returned to Moses (Alaihissalam) who stopped him again and kept on sending him back to his Lord till the enjoined prayers were reduced to only five prayers.

Then Moses (Alaihissalam) stopped him when the prayers had been reduced to five and said, "O Muhammad! By Allah, I tried to persuade my nation, Bani Israel to do less than this, but they could not do it and gave it up. However, your followers are weaker in body, heart, sight and hearing, so return to your Lord so that He may lighten your burden."

The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) turned towards Gabriel (Alaihissalam) for advice and Gabriel (Alaihissalam) did not disapprove of that. So he ascended with him for the fifth time. The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) said, "O Lord, my followers are weak in their bodies, hearts, hearing and constitution, so lighten our burden."

On that the Irresistible said, "O Muhammad!" (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam)

The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) replied, "Labbaik and Sa'daik."

Allah said, "The Word that comes from Me does not change, so it will be as I enjoined on you in the Mother of the Book."

Allah added, "Every good deed will be rewarded as ten times so it is fifty (prayers) in the Mother of the Book (in reward) but you are to perform only five (in practice)."

The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) returned to Moses (Alaihissalam) who asked, "What have you done?" He said, "He has lightened our burden: He has given us for every good deed a tenfold reward." Moses (Alaihissalam) said, "By Allah! I tried to make Bani Israel observe less than that, but they gave it up. So go back to your Lord that He may lighten your burden further." Allah's Apostle (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) said, "O Moses! By Allah, I feel shy of returning too many times to my Lord." On that Gabriel (Alaihissalam) said, "Descend in Allah's Name." The Prophet (Sal-Allahu-Alleihi-Wasallam) then woke while he was in the Sacred Mosque (at Makkah).


[ Sahih Bukhari: Book #93, Hadith #608 ]

Contemplate on the reality

[Someone has sent me this and I find this very inspiring. Have a read, it may help you too. ]


We try to keep اللهin MASJIDS on FRIDAY...
Maybe, FRIDAY night...
And, the unlikely event of a MAGHRIB SALAAH.



We do like to have Him around during sickness...

And, of course, at funerals

However, we don't have time, or room, for Him during work or play....



Because.. That's the part of our lives we think... We can, and should, handle on our own.

May الله forgive me for ever thinking...

That... there is a time or place where, HE is not to be FIRST in my life.



We should always have time to remember all HE has done for us.



Pass this on ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT!!

Yes, I do Love الله.
HE is my source of existence and Savior.



He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I will be nothing. This is the simplest test.
If You Love الله... And, are not ashamed of all the marvelous things HE has done for you...



Send it on...
Now do you have the time to pass it on?
Make sure that you scroll through to the end.



Easy vs. Hard



Why is it so hard to tell the truth but Yet so easy to tell a lie?
Why are we so sleepy in THE MASJID but Right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up?

Why is it so easy to delete a HOLY e-mail, but yet we forward all of the nasty ones?



Of all the free gifts we may receive, Prayer is the very best one....
There are no costs, but wonderful rewards...
Notes: Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to NOT BELIEVE IN الله and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Isn't it funny how someone can say 'I believe in الله but still follow Satan.



Isn't it funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding ISLAM, people think twice about sharing?



Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.


Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what الله thinks of me.

Why I reverted to Islam - my story

By: Brother Daniel

In 2001, I was 17 and very immature. Having been born in South London, I was raised on several of its different council estates. By the time I left school I was spending most of my free spare time either DJ-ing or hanging around on the streets. Life was a constant battle; trying to avoid being caught by the police for one of the many petty crimes we may have done; trying to avoid conflict with other misguided youngsters from different areas who were competing as to who could achieve the most respect or street credibility. The biggest battle we had was trying to figure out some sense of direction for not only our lives but for the approaching weeks and months ahead of us.

I remember when and how I first came to hear about Islam. My mum had a friend who would visit our house occasionally; maybe once or twice a year. She was married to a man who I mistakenly assumed was of Mediterranean appearance. When they would visit he would impress me with his flash lifestyle; the usual things – money, cars, expensive clothes, loud music etc... However in early 2001, he turned up one day dressed as he normally would, with his wife but he had grown a small beard. I questioned him about it and he told me he was a Muslim from the Middle East. I had this false assumption that Muslims were Asians, so I was surprised to see his new image.

I asked him what it means to be a Muslim and he told me three things that have always stayed with me. He told me that Muslims believe in only one God and they reject the worship of anything else. He also told me that the God, the Creator of the universe is not like any creation. He gave me the example of Jesus (peace be upon him) by saying that God was not born from a woman in a stable, nor was he circumcised, nor was he breast fed, nor did he eat, drink, sleep, cry, or need the toilet and nor was he tortured in public and eventually suffer a humiliating death. I imagine he told me this because he may have presumed I had a Christian background. When I was born I was given a Biblical name, I played Joseph in the nativity play in infant school and as a teenager I went to church only once – and that was to look for a girlfriend; that is about how ‘Christian’ I ever was; therefore not very. He also told me that Muslims do not ‘turn the other cheek’ and that they are peaceful people, however they respond to unwarranted aggression with similar aggression. I imagine he was trying to appeal to my ‘street culture’ by telling me this.

When he had finished telling me that God is one, he is unlike men and Muslims stand up for themselves, I told myself there and then, that one day I would become a Muslim. It is strange how particular things affect the way people think but because of the experiences I had endured in my life up to that point, Islam seemed to give me a clear look at the reality of life. I say this because before I became a Muslim, I lived a life where I was constantly fooling myself; fooling myself that I was something great; acting tough in the presence of my friends who eventually turned out not to ‘have my back’ as I thought they did. I would convince myself that I would find happiness in money, cars, designer clothes and women but my heart was never content with these things. I had seen people bigger and worse than me, killed or given very long prison sentences and I felt that life had to have a purpose. Islam seemed to agree with my head – but not my heart because of my addiction to the filthy life I was living.

I never became a Muslim until 2004, despite wanting to. I had a strong attachment to my previous lifestyle and I feared to embrace Islam because I anticipated a negative reaction from those around me based upon information they had received from the mainstream media. Between 2001 and 2004 I experienced many things which helped me embrace Islam; they are too numerous to mention here. I became convinced that death cannot be the end of a person. A person’s soul must go somewhere. I always believed that everybody gets what they deserve, whether during life or after death. Many good people suffer throughout their lives, while many very bad people enjoy the best of lives without any hardships. There must be a reward or punishment beyond this life? I never really thought about it until I became fed up with chasing money and women (neither of which I was successful at acquiring).

In 2002 I met the woman who is now my wife. She was raised as a Catholic from the Caribbean, however never really had much respect for her religion. Our first meeting lasted several hours and I knew immediately that she would one day become the mother of my children and the woman I would marry. I had kept my vowel to become a Muslim ‘one day’ secret from her. I did not know how she would react towards Islam. She had stumbled across some of my Islamic books and began asking her Muslim colleagues some questions, so they gave her some books to read for basic information. I noticed in her the same attraction and apprehension that I had after initially hearing about Islam. At that point I decided that I would walk into a Mosque and try speaking to some Muslims. I did not know how I would be welcomed and was unable to contact my mum’s friend’s husband, so I felt as though I had no other choice.

So one day I saw a gathering of Muslims outside of a Mosque as I was on a bus. I got off the bus and asked one of them about Islam and he welcomed me into the Mosque and showed me how to wash before praying and how to pray in congregation. I formally became a Muslim and my girlfriend did too shortly after me and we got married and now have four children. I felt as though I had triumphed over the evil, coward within me, who was content to continue living without really thinking about what I wanted from life; becoming a Muslim is the best thing I have ever done. I now feel comfort and tranquillity because I know that I try my best to submit any desire that I may have, to the will of God. Islam is an Arabic word which means submission, however in order to submit to God, one begins by acknowledging the Creator as one single entity – without attributing or describing him with any characteristic that he has not assigned to himself, such as having partners, children or being dependent on physical needs like sleep or food.

Unfortunately the reaction that I received from those around me was exactly as I had expected. Some people I was very close to from amongst friends and family have shown a disappointment and even a deep hatred toward me for becoming a Muslim. There could be several different reasons for this but after analysing reasons cited for their anger or disgust with Islam and after studying Social Anthropology, it saddens me to say that many people in our society are ‘scientifically’ prejudiced. This type of discrimination describes those who are intolerant towards people who are different to them because of belief, political system, nationality, culture or other similar reason. Many people in our country hate Islam without knowing anything about it and those who claim to be able to support their hatred with knowledge, have either been misinformed, or are just completely narrow-minded fanatics.

If, as intelligent people, we were to sit down and use our intellectual attain reasoning and agree on what we would expect from a true religion, based upon no biased opinions whatsoever, Islam would be the preference of most people. Islam does not differentiate between social class, skin colour or nationality. Islam offers solutions for the many social diseases that we suffer from in our ‘civilization’. Islam gives clear answers and reasons as to what happens to the human beings after death and more importantly, Islam clarifies what God requires from mankind during their very short lifetime on Earth. Unfortunately for most people, there is no interest in what will happen after death. We run around like hamsters on a wheel, chasing money without a care for what the true purpose of life is. Our true purpose in this life is to worship Allah alone and to follow his final messenger to mankind, Muhammad (May God’s peace and blessings be upon him). Understanding and accomplishing this is the greatest achievement any human being can ever attain. I pray that Allah gives me the ability to succeed according to what he wants for humankind.