Salman Spiritual
Towards the Inner Vision of the Truth
Candle Image

"Light upon light. Allah guideth unto His light whom He will. And Allah speaketh to mankind in allegories, for Allah is Knower of all things." — Holy Qur'an 24:35

 

Spark No. 3 :: The Mi'raj of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.)

 

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

 

Ya Ali Madad. Why do we need higher spiritual education? The simple answer is because we have a personal world which consists of a body and a soul which can be enlightened. Let us examine these concepts in more detail:

 

Ya Ali Madad. Mi'raj means a ladder or a series of steps or stairs, or the occasion of Holy Prophet's vision of the Divine light in the higher world. Let us study upon the higher dimensions of Mi'raj by studying the following questions:

 

  1. What is the meaning of the word "Sûr"?

    "Let us first analyse the word "Sûr" literally. The root of the word is "s-w-r" and its derivatives are: sara yasiru sawran, meaning "to call", "to cause to incline", "to cut", "to separate"; as-sûr, trumpet, bugle ..."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 31)

     

  2. What is the function of "Sûr-i Israfil"?

    "... Hazrat Israfil, who is the custodian of the Sûr, is (an angel) to wake people up, both today and tomorrow (36:52)."
    (Source: Healing Through Knowledge, p. 24)

     

  3. What is the function of "Sûr-i Israfil" from a ma'rifat point of view?

    "According to the people of ma'rifat, to conceive as-sur as a trumpet or bugle is nothing more than a veil, for the reality is that through the angel Jadd (72:3), it is the soul-seizing and soul-giving melody of Divine love, i.e., it is a living, unique, unprecedented luminous flute, which for the friend of God, has the effect of fana' fillah (annihilation in God) and baqa' billah (survival in God). In the above examples you have seen that among the meaning of the word "sûr" are "to call (= da'wat-i-haqq)", "to cause to incline (= to make humble)", as well as "to cut (= to slaughter)". The slaughtering, however is not with the usual knife, but with a dagger of Divine love. With it, Hazrat Ibrahim slaughtered his beloved son Hazrat Isma'il in the path of God. Otherwise, the appellation Dhabihi'llah (Sacrifice for God) does not have any real meaning."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 31-32)

     

  4. What happened to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s) during Mi'raj?

    "The Holy Prophet was the embodied and living religion of God. When his personal Resurrection took place, according to the Divine promise (9:33; 48:28; 61:9), all the people of the world in form of particles entered his personal world (110:1-3). In the Surah of Nasr (Succour), the word nasr is the name of Israfil and Fath (Victory) the name of Mika'il. By naas (people) are meant all people and by dini'llah (religion of God) is meant the Holy Prophet himself, because everything of God is living."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 60-61)

     

  5. What is the meaning of the phrase "heavenly love"?

    "By "heavenly love" is meant that extremely sacred, pure and ardent love, which is in the hearts of the people of faith for God, the Prophet and the Imam of the time, which is enjoined in many ayats of the Holy Qu'ran. As for its benefits, what can one say about them in this world and the next world! If the purpose of religion is well-wishing, then its best form is love. It is through love that all religious obligations become easy. About the exegesis of "Verily, with every difficulty, there is ease" (94:5), we can also say that every difficult task becomes easy with love. Divine remembrance of love is the supreme remembrance (dhikr-i azam) and greatest dhikr (dhikr-i akbar), which is initially through the rubab, and on the higher level it is with Sur-i Israfil. The form of supreme remembrance is that, not only the tongue and heart, but all the particles of soul and cells of the body together and in harmony remember God. In this state, the light of love surrounds the existence of the believing servant."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 45-46)

     

  6. What is the take home message of Mi'raj for Ismailis?

    "The progress of heavenly love depends upon the believing servant's obedience and piety and his ability to see the unique beauties of the Imam of his time. In the light of the knowledge of certainty ('ilmu-l-yaqin), he must observe various manifestations of the Holy Imam's elegence and beauty and with the eye of certainty ('aynu'l-yaqin) must attain the Holy Imam's complete recognition at the ultimate stage of the truth of certainty (haqqu'l-yaqin). He must see the Imam in the Qur'an and the Qur'an in the Imam, then heavenly love will reach its climax."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 48)

     

  7. What happens during the personal resurrection of mu'mins?

    "By the command of God, when the time of personal Resurrection of a searching mu'min comes, the wonders and marvels of Sûr-i Israfil starts with a voice which is called "ringing of the ears". In Qur'anic wisdom its example is given by a gnat (ba'udah = its noise, 2:26), about which Mawla Ali (a.s.) has said: "I am the gnat whose example God has given in the Qu'ran". This means that the ringing of the ears is the beginning of the voice of Sûr-i Israfil as well as the spark of the light of Imamat. This voice gradually becomes louder and louder and eventually surrounds the entire universe so that all people are gathered and present for the judgement of the Resurrection mentioned in the Qur'an."
    (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 36-37)

 

I humbly urge the readers to develop an appetite for higher spiritual education and understand the path of our lofty destiny. Every morning and evening, we sing ginans and qasidas in our Jamat Khanas. These are mild forms of the experience of Sûr-i Israfil, however, as we progress in our faith with good deeds and intensive Divine remembrance (dhikr) and Ibadat (bandagi, luminous prayer at the luminous time with luminous word) we will experience the majestic luminous flute of Hazrat Israfil (a.s.). What will we not see when this happens?

 

Additional readings on Mi'raj:
Some Relections on Miraj :: The Journey in which our Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) Attained the Status of Fana fi'llah and Baqa bi'llah through Ism-i Azam

Lessons from the Mi'raj of Our Holy Prophet

 

Angelic Salwat
Let us recite angelic salwats to invoke Divine grace and mercy.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad:
O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants

33 beads recited by Noorallah Juma

or

101 beads recited by Noorallah Juma

Al-hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

 

Haizinda — Qayampaya
(Our Present Imam is Living and His NOOR is Eternal)

 

Spiritual Education Sparks: