June 2011
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The Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم
On the 27th of Rajab, before the Migration to Madinah, the Prophet Muhammad peace and mercy be upon him was taken on a Night Journey and Heavenly Ascent (Al-Isra’ wa Al-Mi’raj). Below are excerpts from the Qur’an, Hadith, and scholarly insight regarding the miraculous events:
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Jesus and the Man Who Desired an Atom of Love
As Jesus was traveling across a plain, he saw a man who had made a retreat for himself there. It was a secluded haunt with a running natural spring and an oratory for prayer, and was surrounded by green shrubbery.
“My dear God-fearing ascetic,” Jesus addressed the man, “why do you seclude yourself so?”
“Devotion has been my life-long labor,” the man replied,...
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Master and Disciple
Al-Junayd tells us that, at the beginning, he was reluctant to become a teacher as long as as-Sarī was alive, until one night he dreamt that the Apostle of God said to him: “Oh, al-Junayd, speak to the people, for God hath made thy words the means of saving a multitude of mankind.”
When he awoke, the thought occurred to him that his status was superior to that of as-Sarī’s, since the Apostle had...
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A Sufi
Once, as Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal was sitting with al-Shāfiʿī, Shayban al-Rāʿī came to them. Aḥmad said [to al-Shāfiʿī]: “Abu ʿAbdallah, I’d like to draw your attention to his lack of knowledge, so that he would busy himself with acquiring some of it.”
Al-Shāfiʿī exclaimed: “Don’t do this!”
However, Ibn Ḥanbal did not desist. He asked Shayban: “What can you say about someone who forgot [to perform] one...
