{"id":29756,"date":"2026-06-11T10:13:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=29756"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:15:32","slug":"the-ascension-of-the-noble-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/the-ascension-of-the-noble-prophet\/","title":{"rendered":"# The Ascension of the Noble Prophet"},"content":{"rendered":"

# The Ascension of the Noble Prophet <\/strong>
\n**By Shaykh Ja\u2018far al-Subhani** <\/strong>
\n*(English translation)*<\/strong><\/p>\n

**The Ascension of the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family**<\/strong><\/p>\n

To reflect upon the Prophet\u2019s Night Journey from the Sacred Mosque to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, and his ascent from there to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, is to reflect upon one of his miracles and honors that the Noble Qur\u2019an affirms in Surat al-Isra\u2019 and Surat al-Najm. The details of what was shown to him therein depend upon transmitting the Qur\u2019anic account itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for the **Night Journey (Isra\u2019)**, God says:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cGlory be to Him who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, in order that We might show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.\u201d** <\/strong>
\n> *(Qur\u2019an 17:1)*<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/strong><\/p>\n

## 1. The Opening with \u201cSubhan\u201d<\/strong>
\nGod, exalted is His Name, begins with the word:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cSubhan\u201d**<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a word of declaring God\u2019s transcendence above whatever does not befit Him of attributes. It may also be intended to express wonder, though the apparent meaning is the first.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the reason for beginning with transcendence is to declare God far above incapacity, since what follows is the taking of His servant from the Sacred Mosque to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in a very short span of time. It may also be intended to declare Him above corporeality, spatial direction, vision, and everything unbefitting His majesty and perfection\u2014so that no one imagines that the purpose of the Ascension was seeing God, exalted be He, in the kingdom of His Throne and the dominion of His sovereignty. But the first interpretation is nearer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/strong><\/p>\n

## 2. The Meaning of *Isra\u2019*<\/strong>
\nLinguistically, **Isra\u2019** means traveling by night. One says *sara* by night and *asra* with the same meaning. As for why the word **\u201cby night\u201d** (*laylan*) is mentioned even though the term *Isra\u2019* itself already implies night travel, its reason will be explained later.<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/strong><\/p>\n

## 3. \u201cWith His Servant\u201d Indicates Body and Soul<\/strong>
\nGod\u2019s saying:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cwith His servant\u201d** (*bi-\u2018abdihi*)<\/strong><\/p>\n

indicates that the Night Journey occurred with both **body and soul together**, in a state of wakefulness, not in a dream. In the Qur\u2019an, the word **\u2018abd** (servant) is only used for the totality of the human being\u2014body and soul together.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, God says:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cthe free for the free, and the servant for the servant\u201d** <\/strong>
\n> *(Qur\u2019an 2:178)*<\/strong><\/p>\n

and:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201ca believing servant is better than an idolater\u201d** <\/strong>
\n> *(Qur\u2019an 2:221)*<\/strong><\/p>\n

And likewise in many other verses in which the word *\u2018abd* appears.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is further supported by the fact that God begins the chapter with transcendence:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cGlory be to Him who took His servant by night\u2026\u201d**<\/strong><\/p>\n

especially if we say the expression also carries a sense of amazement, for amazement is connected to great matters that break customary norms. Had the Isra\u2019 been merely with the soul, in sleep, then it would not have been such a tremendous matter, nor something astounding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for the narrations reported in this regard and traced back to people such as **Mu\u2018awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan**, saying that it was only a true vision from God, they are rejected, for Mu\u2018awiyah at that time was among the polytheists, and his report in such a matter is not to be accepted. Similarly, what was narrated from **\u2018A\u2019ishah**, the Prophet\u2019s wife, that she said: *\u201cThe body of the Messenger of God was not absent; rather, only his soul was taken on the journey\u201d*\u2014this too is problematic, because at that time \u2018A\u2019ishah was still very young and had not yet become the Prophet\u2019s wife; indeed, according to some possibilities, she may not even have been born yet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abu Ja\u2018far al-Tabari said in his *Tafsir*\u2014and we quote from it the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> \u201cThe correct opinion in this matter, in our view, is that God took His servant Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, on the Night Journey from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, as God informed His servants, and as the reports from the Messenger of God have abundantly established: that God carried him on al-Buraq until he came there and prayed with those prophets and messengers with whom he prayed, and showed him of His signs what He showed him. There is no meaning to the statement of one who says that only his soul, and not his body, was taken on the journey, because such a journey would not constitute a proof of his prophethood nor an evidence for his message; nor would the polytheists have denied it. For it was not something strange to them\u2014or to anyone of sound human nature\u2014that one might see in a dream what covers the distance of a year\u2019s travel, so what of a month\u2019s travel or less? Furthermore, God only informed us in His Book that He took His servant by night, and He did not inform us that He took the soul of His servant by night. Therefore it is not permissible for anyone to go beyond what God has said. In addition to that, the clear proofs and widespread reports from the Messenger of God indicate that he was taken on a mount called al-Buraq. If the Isra\u2019 had been only with his soul, then the soul would not have been carried upon al-Buraq, since mounts carry only bodies.\u201d <\/strong>
\n> *(Tafsir al-Tabari, vol. 15, p. 130)*<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/strong><\/p>\n

## 4. The Meaning of \u201cBy Night\u201d<\/strong>
\nGod says:<\/strong><\/p>\n

> **\u201cby night\u201d** (*laylan*)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This indicates that the journey occurred during **part of the night**, as suggested by the indefiniteness of the word. This specific meaning is not derived merely from the word *Isra\u2019*, for that only indicates travel in the night in a general sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Al-Zamakhshari said that the indefiniteness<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

# The Ascension of the Noble Prophet **By Shaykh Ja\u2018far al-Subhani** *(English translation)* **The Ascension of the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family** To reflect upon the Prophet\u2019s Night Journey from the Sacred Mosque to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, and his ascent from there to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":29757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-islamic-research--"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29760,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29756\/revisions\/29760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}