We are living the anniversary of the holy occasion of the Night Journey and the Ascension to the Seven Heavens of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH), on which the Exalted Allah said: "Glory to {Allah} who did take his slave for a journey by night from the sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of our Signs; for He is the One Who hears and sees {all things}" (Al Isra', 1).
Certainly, our Master, Muhammad (PBUH) travelled to Jerusalem from which he ascended to heaven, the process that will always be a marvelous miracle and a wise indication of the Greatness of Allah.
The above mentioned verse in the beginning of Surat Al Isra' presents to us many issues. In it, there is talk about the One Who took the Prophet on this Journey; the one who is taken on this journey; indication of the time and occasion of this Night Journey; as well as narration of the way of this Journey.
• Concerning the talk about the One Who took the Prophet on this journey, Exalted He is, it is referred to by the statement "Glory to Allah". Before the revelation of the Qur'an, the Arabs used this word for exclamation. So whenever they saw a marvel, they said: "Glory to Allah". The exegetes explained the statement: "Glory to {Allah} who did take his slave for a journey" to mean: "I do too much glorifying to Allah".
The Miracle of the Nocturnal Journey and the Ascension to Heaven is a supernatural phenomenon, because the Prophet (PBUH) moved from the Sacred Mosque to Al Masjid Al Aqsa (the Furthest Mosque) in one night. He did that at a time when travelling to Ash Shan (Syria) took a long time. But the Exalted Allah, in Whose hand moving and calming down objects, time and place, and the rein of all affairs are, does whatever he wishes.
The problem is with the one whose sense overwhelms his heart, and the material possesses his entity, so the Exalted Allah pointed out to this matter saying "Glory to Allah", i.e., oh you who believe in the material, do not be astonished at what the Exalted Allah did to the Master of the people of spirituality and those of the material.
Won't you prostrate to the One Who Possesses heavens and earth?
Won't you submit to Allah and give up your arrogance that does nothing but increase your humiliation to the Creator and Master of the universe?
"who did take his slave for a journey", i.e., made the Prophet (PBUH) travel at night.
• As for our Master, Muhammad (PBUH) who was taken on this journey to be honored, he is the slave of Allah.
Thus, after saying "Glory to {Allah} who did take his slave for a journey", and after this suspense that stirs the exclamation of the wonderers, it is fitting to present the attribute that man should be qualified with, namely, slavery.
Slavery means disavowal of one's might and power, and complete dependence upon Allah. It is man's denial of the real ownership of anything, for everything belongs to Allah.
It means man's announcement of his submission, and incompetence, as well as his need for the support of his Lord. The Exalted Allah said:
"You do we worship, and Your aid do we seek" (Al Fatihah, 5).
Suffice for the slave to listen to the Exalted Allah's words:
"Is not Allah enough for His slave?" (Az Zumur, 36).
This is the slave's state with his Lord.
Consequently, be verified, oh man, by slavehood, and after which do not fear the harm of anything, because the Exalted Allah suffices His salve.
Get out of the illusion of your power and might, after which you will find your Lord supporting you.
Get out of the 'ego', and out of the attributes that contest with Lordship, and you will find the sufficiency of the Sufficient, Exalted He is.
Is not Allah enough for His servant?" Certainly, yes.
*As for the time of the nocturnal journey, after saying 'Glory to {Allah} who did take his slave', the Exalted Allah said 'by night'. The Holy Qur'an reveals two matters concerning this night time:
1-It is a time that the soul needs.
Why does one perform optional prayer at night, and why does he read the Qur'an at night?
It is because at night, one needs rest and tranquility. The Exalted Allah makes the night the time of tranquility and rest for man. Consequently, the believer must avail himself of this opportunity so that his soul may feel calmness at that time, for the soul does not feel tranquil but with its Lord.
The Exalted Allah guides His Beloved to the tranquility of the soul when He said: "And pray in the small watches of the night as or supererogatory act of worship for you", i.e., it is increase in worship and closeness to Allah because of the soul communication, "soon will your Lord raise you to a station of praise and Glory" (Al Isra', 79).
How great is the difference between the praised status and the dispraised one. In the praised status, the Exalted Allah is contented with His slave, but in the dispraised one, the slave gets the wrath of his Lord.
When the soul feels tranquil, it will be able to attain the praised status. The Exalted Allah said: "But Allah has endeared the Faith to you, and has made it beautiful in your hearts, and He has made hateful to you unbelief, wickedness, and rebellion" (Al Hujurat, 7).
If you find that you are in a dispraised status, do pray at night, because the tranquility of the soul will lead you to a praised status, and when you find yourself in a dispraised status, then you have to realize that you need this tranquility of the soul. The Exalted Allah said: "Some of the People of the Book are a portion that stand {for the right}; they rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long" (Al Imran, 113). In the night, the soul restores its purity, its chastity and its promotion.
The Qur'an refers to this specialty of the night, as is mentioned in another place, that is
2-Clothing, i.e., veiling. In this concerning the Exalted Allah mentioned the movement of the weak. He said: "{The Messengers} said: 'O Lut! we are Messengers from your Lord! By no means shall they reach you! Now travel with your family while yet a part of the night remains, and let not any of you look back' " (Hud, 81).‏
The Exalted Allah drew the attention of the weak to move in the night to hide themselves from their enemy who lurked for them. It is the specialty of veiling that makes the movement of the ambushers weaker.
*As for the way to Isra' (the way of the Nocturnal Journey), it is the way to Jerusalem that every believer is eager to go through, and the way that the first who went through was our Master, Muhammad (PBUH), and after him went Omar (ABPWH), then Salahid Din…, and the Hour will not come until the Muslims go through this way. What prevents the believers to go through it is only the arrogance of the children of Zion, and this is a mere transient phase. It is inevitable that there will come a day when the salves of Allah, the people of faith who are interested in nothing but the contentment of their Lord, and fear no blame of the blamers, it is inevitable that they will gather to go through this way.
It is related in the Hadith narrated by Ahmad, Tabarani, and Tirmidhi that: "Al Qiyama (The Last Day) will not come till thirty Dajjals (Anti-Christs) appear, the last of which will be the one-eyed Dajjal".
Why is that Dajjal one-eyed?
Is there any symbolism in his being one-eyed?
In fact, man is esteemed by the senses of seeing as well as insight, so when the insight in man does not work, and he conceives the objects only through his eyes and his material senses, he is considered one-eyed. .
This is symbolic of the fact that today there are a lot of one-eyed people, but this does not prevent the fact that one day the one-eyed Dajjal will appear. The appearance of this type of people is a prelude to the appearance of the real Dajjal. They are the people who are concerned with the material and are unable to see truth through the insight, nor can they see the Ability of the Exalted Allah, or tremble with hear before His Sovereignty. They rather do that before the sovereignty of the perceptible. The apparent signs of Allah that the hearts of the people of faith can conceive are hidden from them for they are excited only by the material movement they see on the earth.
He said: "Ad Dajjal is the liar who conceals the truths of the invisible from people".
"Ad Dajjal will appear in every place on the earth except the two Holy Mosques and Bait Al Maqdis (Jerusalem), and the believers will be present in Bait Al Maqdis", i.e., the people of faith all over the world will gather in Bait Al Maqdis, and it will be their headquarters and their capital.
The children of Zion lie, for Jerusalem will never be their capital for the Jews. It is rather the everlasting capital of the people of faith, as is told by the truthful and trusted by Allah, Muhammad (PBUH).
However much the intriguers plan, they are mistaken in believing that they might one day achieve their goal of dividing Al Quds among themselves, or realize a state of a mixture of lying and truth, or a mixture of falsehood and truth. By Allah, this will not be realized. Either falsehood will remain in Al Quds, or the truth will come to defeat falsehood, and Al Quds will return to the Muslims.
This will not be achieved by invocation only, nor by mottos only or shouting. It will be realized by the existence of the type of people who are slaves to Allah: "Glory to {Allah} who did take his slave for a journey by night", the slaves who are eager to go through the way to Al Quds.
The way to Al Quds cannot be attained by any motto of nationality, or any of the claims of the perceptible. The way to Al Quds' can be attained only when people become qualified by the attribute of slavehood. It is the only way to realize that. The people of faith cannot realize this goal but by slavehood. Only when this type of pure slavehood to Allah exists, can we go towards Al Quds and open its way.
"The believers will be present in Bait Al Maqdis, and they will be greatly shaken, then the Exalted Allah will make Ad Dajjal perish", i.e., Ad Dajjal and his followers, "Even the tree will call the believer saying to him: Oh believer, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him".
I admire the statement of one of the researchers in the version called "The Holy Book", who referred to the difference between the Hebrews and the Jews. He said:
"The Jews did not exist at the time of Moses (PBUH) but when Jesus Christ appeared (PBUH), the Jews were the writers who differed among themselves, and wrote Al Talmud that has no relationship whatsoever with the Torah that was revealed to Moses (PBUH)". According to this researcher, he distinguishes between the Hebrews and the Jews.
Why do wonder about the tree that will talk?
Didn't the rock talk at the time of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH)?
Didn't the trunk moan and cry when the Beloved, Al Mustafa (PBUH) exchanged it for the podium that was made for him to present his sermons?
Are you astonished at the speech of the tree to the believer?
When the state of believer's faith is true, everything becomes serviceable to him.
Mercy be upon Ibn Ata' who said:
"You are with the universe when you do not witness the Creator, but when you witness Him, the universe will be with you".
*After mentioning the way to Al Quda in this verse that talks about the illuminated countries, the Exalted Allah said: "whose precincts We did bless". All Ash Sham country is blessed, and fie on those who divided it into countries and territories: one is called Lebanon, another is Jordan, another is Palestine, another is Syria…, but all are the blessed Sham whose borders are from Sinai to Mesopotamia.
Ash Sham is the blessed country. In the Hadith transmitted by Al Hakem in his Mustadrak, the Prophet (PBUH) said: "There will be a group of my Ummah who will persevere on the right, indifferent to whoever opposes them till the command of Allah comes. They will be like a dish among hungry people" (i.e., all the world will aim at devouring them. Don't we witness this sample that is present on the land of Gaza), "till the command of Allah comes while they are steadfast on the right" We said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, who are they, and where are they? He said: they are in the vicinity of Baitul Maqdis".

Then, the Exalted Allah said: " in order that We might show him some of our Signs". The Exalted Allah honors His beloveds by signs that strengthen their certainty. When your faith becomes true, the Exalted Allah honors you by signs so that you become sure that He will make you satisfied, He will aid you and He will relieve you.
In the statement: "for He is the one who hears and sees {all things}" there are two interpretations:
a-The believer is the one who hears and sees. A lot of exegetes believe that the pronoun 'he' refers to the Prophet (PBUH), so he is the one who hears and sees. He hears and hears perceptibly and meaningfully. Consequently, if the believer has this attribute of the Prophet (PBUH), he will be ready to witness the Signs.
b-The pronoun 'he' refers to the Exalted Allah Who took His prophet on that nocturnal Journey. In this interpretation, the hearts feel tranquility, for it is He, Exalted He is, Who hears your news and sees your state. Hence, His knowledge of your state will suffice and satisfy you as He will be your Sponsor.
In spite of its being one verse, it produces a lesson on faith, from which the people of faith profit a lot, so do the people of trust in Allah, however great the adversities and terrors they face are.
The Exalted Allah said: "Let not the strutting about of the Unbelievers through the land deceive you. Little is it for enjoyment; their ultimate abode is Hell: what an evil bed {to lie on}" (Al Imran, 196-197).
Allahum…, guide us to You favorably, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.