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 nigh to the ka’aba, the ‘Bait Allah’ in the valley of Mecca. Some say, the prophet went to the Ka’aba late at night and slept there. The angel Gabriel woke him up and mounted him on the back of the Burak, a horse-like-creatures that looked like the 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. From the Ka’aba in the valley of Mecca, they traveled to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. God’s great prophets – Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus – were already there waiting. They prayed in 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 the heaven where the other prophets of God were present.

            Many Muslim writers of late are falling prey to the same revisionists of the Bible. Similarly, they too are playing fire with the truth. Muslims scholars who cannot comprehend how the prophet can travel to Jerusalem and to heaven and back in just a small fraction of the night are now saying that the prophet’s travel was a mystical one, a spiritual travel akin to a dream. If it was 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 Baker, one of the closest friends of Muhammad and who later became the first caliph of Islam after the prophet’s death, could not believe when he was told that the prophet was in the Ka’aba 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 not once did he refer 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 turn out to be accurate. The Sphinx monument in Egypt is a mystery to this day. It is very possible the creators of the said monument may have actually seen beings from another galaxy and or from another time.

            Strangers still is Nostradamus’s prophecy – Quatrain I.64. Interpreters of the Nostradamus prophecies considered the quatrain to be a fiction which I found unfair and absurd. Nostradamus is never known to be 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 particular prophecy does not refer to other beings from another world and or from 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 fictions. We cloned beans, fruits and vegetables at first 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 equipments is theoretically so simple, it is child’s play. Parents may in the future clone cute looking pets which do not exist today for their children. Foods genetically engineered with human and animal genes are becoming part of our daily diet. What does it make of us, cannibals? Man so it seems cannot be satisfied in 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 good for the movies but will we ever get there? Believe it or not, we were already there.

            The prophet’s night journey (Miraj) which Walter Roger of CNN enthusiastically described on TV as Mohammad’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 should 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 neither to 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 a reason of their own or God’s. They obviously time traveled to the prophet’s place in time so that together they could travel to the 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 did too in 2 Cor. 12.

            The prophet Muhammad alone was brought by the angel to the seven spheres of heaven and hell. I like to believe that they time-traveled to a place in time after judgment day because in the ensuing years following the ‘Miraj;’ the prophet revealed in bits and pieces the name of people he recognized in heaven and hell.

            I like the scene where the prophet Moses 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 prayer was 50 until it was 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 his.

            From heaven, the angel brought him back to the temple mount in Jerusalem and to Mecca. It is believed that aside from the Holy Qur’an as a point reference, the prophet’s 23 years 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 comes. They were afraid that the unbelievers will have something to mock and attack them with. A one-way journey to Syria takes a month, how could he convince the unbelievers that he did round trip in just a fraction of the night not to mention his journey to the heaven? He was in dilemma but he presented proofs 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 came upon their camp three nights earlier to tell them where to find one of their camels who had wandered into the desert. They thought that the prophet was naturally travelling alone in the night when he chanced upon their camp.

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