What are the lessons and admonitions from the Night Journey and the Ascension, and the scenes the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that affect heedless hearts?
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The questioner : We ask the honorable Shaykh to shed light on the lessons and admonitions from the Night Journey and the Ascension, and the scenes the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that affect heedless hearts?
The Shaykh : I refer the questioner to what the scholars have written on this, for the hadith of the Ascension is a long hadith that requires multiple sessions. However, he should refer to what Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in his book "Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihayah" regarding the story of the Ascension, and what the scholars wrote on the hadith, such as Fath al-Bari, Al-Nawawi’s commentary on Sahih Muslim, and other books. We only point briefly to the story of the Ascension:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was taken by Allah the Exalted on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. He was sleeping in the Hijr, so he was taken from there. The Hijr is the section cut off from the Ka'bah and enclosed by the known wall. He was taken from there, peace and blessings be upon him, to Bayt al-Maqdis, where the prophets were gathered for him and he led them in prayer.
Then Jibril ascended with him to the lowest heaven, and he knocked, and it was opened for him. Then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth, then the seventh. He found Adam in the first heaven and Ibrahim (peace be upon him) in the seventh. He reached a place no human had reached, a place where he heard the scraping of the pens with which the daily decree is written, up to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary.
He saw of the signs of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that if anyone other than he had seen them, his vision would have been dazzled and his mind would have been confused. But Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) kept this noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) steadfast until he saw the greatest of his Lord’s signs. Allah obligated upon him fifty prayers every day and night. Allah caused Musa (peace be upon him) to meet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as he passed by, so that he would ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) what Allah had obligated upon him and his Ummah?
He informed him that Allah the Exalted had obligated upon him fifty prayers every day and night. He said to him, "Your Ummah cannot bear that. Return to your Lord and ask Him for relief." Our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) kept returning to Allah until the obligation settled at five prayers every day and night instead of fifty. But by the grace and favor of Allah, they were five prayers in practice and fifty in the scale. That is, if we pray five prayers, it is as if we have prayed fifty. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
In the story of the obligation of the prayers on this night, which is the greatest night in the right of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and that it was fifty prayers, and that it was obligated by Allah upon His Messenger without an intermediary, there is evidence of the care of Allah the Exalted for these prayers and His love for them, and that they are the greatest of the physical deeds in Islam. For this reason, the one who abandons them becomes a disbeliever, an apostate, and one who has exited Islam.
People have differed regarding the night of the Ascension and the Night Journey: whether they were in one night or in two nights? And whether the Night Journey was with his spirit or with his body and spirit?
The correct view is that they were in one night, and that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was taken with his spirit and his body. Then people differed regarding the night of the Ascension: which night it was and in which month it was:
The closest of the opinions is that it was three years before the Hijrah, and that it was in Rabi' al-Awwal, not in Rajab. Then people innovated in this night innovations that were not known among the Salaf, so they began to hold the night of the twenty-seventh of Rajab to celebrate this occasion. But it has not been established that I mean the night of the Night Journey and the Ascension was in Rajab, nor that it was on the twenty-seventh night of it. So this innovation became an error upon an error: an error from the historical aspect because it has not been established that it was on the twenty-seventh of Rajab, and an error from the religious aspect because it is an innovation. For the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not celebrate it, nor did the Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor the Companions, nor the Imams of the Muslims after them.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, O honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh : I refer the questioner to what the scholars have written on this, for the hadith of the Ascension is a long hadith that requires multiple sessions. However, he should refer to what Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in his book "Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihayah" regarding the story of the Ascension, and what the scholars wrote on the hadith, such as Fath al-Bari, Al-Nawawi’s commentary on Sahih Muslim, and other books. We only point briefly to the story of the Ascension:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was taken by Allah the Exalted on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. He was sleeping in the Hijr, so he was taken from there. The Hijr is the section cut off from the Ka'bah and enclosed by the known wall. He was taken from there, peace and blessings be upon him, to Bayt al-Maqdis, where the prophets were gathered for him and he led them in prayer.
Then Jibril ascended with him to the lowest heaven, and he knocked, and it was opened for him. Then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth, then the seventh. He found Adam in the first heaven and Ibrahim (peace be upon him) in the seventh. He reached a place no human had reached, a place where he heard the scraping of the pens with which the daily decree is written, up to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary.
He saw of the signs of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that if anyone other than he had seen them, his vision would have been dazzled and his mind would have been confused. But Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) kept this noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) steadfast until he saw the greatest of his Lord’s signs. Allah obligated upon him fifty prayers every day and night. Allah caused Musa (peace be upon him) to meet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as he passed by, so that he would ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) what Allah had obligated upon him and his Ummah?
He informed him that Allah the Exalted had obligated upon him fifty prayers every day and night. He said to him, "Your Ummah cannot bear that. Return to your Lord and ask Him for relief." Our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) kept returning to Allah until the obligation settled at five prayers every day and night instead of fifty. But by the grace and favor of Allah, they were five prayers in practice and fifty in the scale. That is, if we pray five prayers, it is as if we have prayed fifty. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
In the story of the obligation of the prayers on this night, which is the greatest night in the right of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and that it was fifty prayers, and that it was obligated by Allah upon His Messenger without an intermediary, there is evidence of the care of Allah the Exalted for these prayers and His love for them, and that they are the greatest of the physical deeds in Islam. For this reason, the one who abandons them becomes a disbeliever, an apostate, and one who has exited Islam.
People have differed regarding the night of the Ascension and the Night Journey: whether they were in one night or in two nights? And whether the Night Journey was with his spirit or with his body and spirit?
The correct view is that they were in one night, and that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was taken with his spirit and his body. Then people differed regarding the night of the Ascension: which night it was and in which month it was:
The closest of the opinions is that it was three years before the Hijrah, and that it was in Rabi' al-Awwal, not in Rajab. Then people innovated in this night innovations that were not known among the Salaf, so they began to hold the night of the twenty-seventh of Rajab to celebrate this occasion. But it has not been established that I mean the night of the Night Journey and the Ascension was in Rajab, nor that it was on the twenty-seventh night of it. So this innovation became an error upon an error: an error from the historical aspect because it has not been established that it was on the twenty-seventh of Rajab, and an error from the religious aspect because it is an innovation. For the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not celebrate it, nor did the Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor the Companions, nor the Imams of the Muslims after them.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, O honorable Shaykh.