PLACES IN TIME: The Prophet’s Night Journey…TRAVEL IN TIME

PLACES IN TIME: The Prophet’s Night Journey…TRAVEL IN TIME

The angel Gabriel took the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from the house where he slept that night to the Kaaba, the ‘Bait Allah’ in the valley of Mecca. Some say the prophet went to the Kaaba late at night and slept there. The angel Gabriel woke him up and mounted him on the back of the Burak, a horse-like creature that resembled a hybrid of a mule and an ass. It was winged and pure white in color. Arab artists later painted it with a human female head, a half-beast, half-human creature. Each stride was as far as the eyes could see, so the story goes. They traveled from the Kaaba in the valley of Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. God’s great prophets – Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus – were already there waiting. They prayed on the Temple Mount with the Prophet Muhammad leading the prayer.

            The angel brought two vessels before the prophet to drink. The prophet took the vessel containing milk and left the other with wine. “Thou hast been guided,” the angel said, “and wine is forbidden to you.” They then each left for heaven, where the other prophets of God were present.

            Many Muslim writers of late have fallen prey to the same revisionists of the Bible. Similarly, they, too, are playing with fire. Muslim scholars who cannot comprehend how the Prophet could travel to Jerusalem, heaven, and back in just a tiny fraction of the night are now saying that the Prophet’s travel was a mystical, spiritual journey akin to a dream. If it were a dream or a spiritual journey, the early Muslims would not have been worried when the Prophet told the unbelievers of his night journey. Even Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad's closest friends and who later became the first caliph of Islam after the Prophet’s death, could not believe it when he was told that the Prophet was in the Kaaba speaking to the unbelievers about his night journey. But he said, “If the prophet claimed he did, I believe him.” Many Muslims of today have become the unbelievers of the Prophet’s time.

            Let us be very clear about this. The prophet claimed he traveled with his body, and he never referred to the other prophets as being in spirit. Like him, they were in heaven, body and soul.

            The Arab artists who painted the “Burak” as half-beast, half-human creatures may even have been accurate. The Sphinx monument in Egypt remains a mystery to this day. It is very possible that the monument's creators saw beings from another galaxy or another time.

            Strangers are still Nostradamus’s prophecy—Quatrain I.64. Interpreters of the Nostradamus prophecies consider the quatrain to be fiction, which I find unfair and absurd. Nostradamus is never known to have been a fiction writer. How can anyone claim the prophecies genuine except Quatrain I.64 simply because it defies the comprehension of the limited mindset?

            Quatrain I.64: “Many will think they have seen the sun at night. They will also see deformed men, half-animal, half-human. Noise, sounds, battle, and fighting in the sky will be seen, and one will hear strange beasts talking.” Can anyone absolutely and honestly say that this prophecy does not refer to other beings from another world or another time? If the only barrier between now and anywhere else in time is the speed of light, then I must say beyond any shadow of doubt that the Burak was not only an intergalactic being who traveled the fringes of the universe but must also be an inter-time creature who transcended the borders of time.

            We live in a world where fiction and reality become indistinguishable. “The Boys from Brazil” and the “Island of DR. Moreau” are no longer fiction. We first cloned beans, fruits, and vegetables, then came “Dolly,” the sheep, cows, monkeys, and mice. What next: half-animal, half-human creatures, winged horses and men, flying zebras, dogs and cats. Have no doubt about it – the technology with the right equipment is theoretically so simple that it is child’s play. Parents may, in the future, clone cute-looking pets that do not exist today for their children. Foods genetically engineered with human and animal genes are becoming an increasingly common part of our daily diet. What does it make of us cannibals? It seems that man cannot be satisfied playing second fiddle to God.

            We even know for sure that spacemen are out there. It is only a matter of time.

            Time Travel is a fiction that is well-suited for movies, but will we ever achieve it? Believe it or not, we were already there.

            The Prophet’s Night Journey (Miraj), which Walter Roger of CNN enthusiastically described on TV as Muhammad’s Flight to the Heavens, is a true story of Time Travel.

            The most astounding aspect of the prophet’s night journey was the presence of the other prophets. Muslim scholars ignore this puzzle because there is no readily acceptable answer if non-Muslims ask. It is hard to imagine that God had resurrected Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, who are supposedly long dead and buried, so they could pray with the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Jerusalem. Their presence, if one gets a closer look, was not essential to the prophet’s mission or his journey to the heavens, meaning their presence has nothing to do with the prophet’s own journey. Like him, they were alive and well (not dead), and they were there either for their own or God’s reason. They obviously time-traveled to the prophet’s place so they could travel together to heaven. In heaven, he was greeted by the other prophets: Adam, John the Baptist, Enoch, Joseph, and many others. Prophet Daniel saw this event in a vision. The chances are, he too was there (Daniel 7:12). Similarly, Paul was there as well in 2 Corinthians 12.

            The angel brought the Prophet Muhammad alone to the seven spheres of heaven and hell. I like to believe that they time-traveled to a place after Judgment Day because, in the ensuing years following the ‘Miraj,’ the Prophet revealed in bits and pieces the names of people he recognized in heaven and hell.

            I like the scene where the Prophet Moses (pbuh) sent the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) several times to the highest heaven to bargain with God to reduce the daily number of prayers.

            The initial number of prayers was 50, but it was later reduced to only five. Prophet Moses encouraged him to go again, but he was ashamed to bargain for more, so he accepted the five daily prayers for his ‘ummah.’ The prophet Moses warned him that the five daily prayers would be as difficult for his ‘ummah’ as it was for him.

            From heaven, the angel brought him back to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and to Mecca. It is believed that in addition to the Holy Qur’an as a point of reference, the Prophet’s 23-year ministry was also based on knowledge he received during the Miraj (Night Journey).

The early converts to Islam begged the Prophet to keep the journey a secret until the right time came. They were afraid that the unbelievers would have something to mock and use against them. A one-way trip to Syria takes a month; how could he convince the unbelievers that he did a round trip in just a fraction of the night, not to mention his journey to heaven? He was in a dilemma, but presented proof by revealing the number of caravans he saw between Mecca and Syria. Still unconvinced, the unbelievers quizzed him on the physical appearance of Jerusalem, a place he had never been to before his night journey. His answers were all accurate. Three days later, a caravan testified that the prophet had come upon their camp three nights earlier to tell them where to find one of their camels who had wandered into the desert. They thought the prophet was naturally traveling alone at night when he chanced upon their camp.

            There is no doubt that the Prophet traveled either back or forward in time to a place where he met all the other prophets of God, coming from their own respective places in time. They were summoned to a commonplace time when they each received a mission from God.