53:8-9 Then He drew close, so He came down until he was two bows' length away, or closer.
Among all the creatures in the World of the Realities, none was greater than Muḥammad Muṣ?afā. The root desire of the divine decree in accordance with the beginningless knowledge was to bring about the state of that paragon and make manifest his majesty.
The first substance that received a robe from the command Be! and upon which shone the sun of the Real's gentleness was his pure spirit. There was still no Throne or Carpet, no nighttime intrusion or daytime mercy, when God's artisanry brought his spirit from the repository of beginningless knowledge to the lodging place of endless splendor. He put it on display in the meadow of good pleasure and the station of contemplation. Whatever came into existence afterwards rode on the coattails of his spirit's existence. Whatever people imagine of familiarity, nearness, clemency, mercy, leadership, and felicity, He sprinkled over his spirit's essence and attributes. Then He placed it inside the frame of Adam the Chosen and made it pass over the degrees of variegation and the trails of stability. Then He sat it down in the seat of messengerhood, commanding it to call the people to the presence of the religion, to bring the lost back to the road, and to invite the travelers to the Threshold.
You might say that this paragon was a falcon trained on the hand of bounty, nurtured on the carpet of proximity and nearness, and brought forth from the togetherness of contemplation to the dispersion of invitation so that he could hunt a world and place everyone before the gentleness and severity of the Real. Today he makes everyone his prey with the Shariah, and tomorrow, in the station of intercession, he will entrust them all to the Real.
When that paragon stepped into the playing field of invitation and when the exalted ones of the Presence responded, the vanguard of trial showed its face from every corner. From the heaven of creativity the rain of tribulation began to fall. The Eternal Qur'an reports the story of their grief as follows: "We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger" [2:155]. "You will surely be tried in your possessions and your selves and you will hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you and from the associators" [3:186].
O chevalier! Whoever strikes his tent at the top of love's lane will have no escape from tasting trial and hearing disloyalty. As long as you keep your feet in the world of safety, the whole world will be your carpet. When you step into the world of passion, you will be twisted with the chain of moaning on the rack of trial, and the neck of your need will be hung from the knocker on the door of unneediness. If you are a manly knight and a faithful lover, you will shout out, "Is there any more?" [50:30]. Otherwise, if the pain of the blow of severity's sword brings forth "I cannot bear it!" from you, they will strike your head with the whip of rebuke and say,
"When you knew that your love was not true,
you should not have made the intention to fall for Me."
When the suffering of the trial of those pure Companions, the exalted ones of the Presence, reached its utmost, and the injuries and attacks of the unbelievers passed the limit, a command came to Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence, the couriers of Mercy, the emissary of prophecy: "O Gabriel, the hearts of those faithful, exalted Companions have remained in bewilderment and grief, and their breasts have become the quarry of sorrow and regret. It seems that they know nothing of the varieties of bliss and the gentle favors of generosity that We have prepared for them in the subsistent home, nor of the bestowals and chambers that we have built in their names. Rise up, pass through the layers of heaven, and travel to the lower world. Go to the threshold of Muḥammad the Arab, that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, their prophet and Our messenger, and tell him to come to the Presence to see their final issue and returning place. He can recount that joy, bliss, and tremendous triumph that We have made for them and place a balm on their hearts. Then the hardship and trial they suffer in this world may become easy for them in the hope for this generosity and bestowal."
"O Muḥammad! Tell your companions that someone will be aware of the sweetness of union once he has tasted the bitter colocynth of separation." When someone hopes for a great kingdom in the neighborhood of the generous Lord, it is not beneath him to carry the burden of tribulation and, with the hope of that blessing, to consider the tribulation good fortune. Thus that Pir of the Tariqah said, "O God, I wept so many tears in hoping for union that I sowed the seeds of pain with my eyes' water.
"If I find endless felicity,
I will approve of this pain.
If one day my eyes fall on You,
I will count all tribulation as good fortune."
It has been reported that on the morning of the day after the night of the miʿrāj, Muṣ?afā reported about the beginning of his journey in the earth to Jerusalem. The exalted Companions became happy and accepted that, and the report was spread in Mecca. Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq was absent that day and had not seen the Prophet. When Abū Jahl heard the report, he said to himself, "If it is possible to turn Abū Bakr away from the followers of Muḥammad through some cause, the cause may be this absurd report." Hence he got up and set off in the road of Abū Bakr. He said to him, "O son of Abū Qaḥāfa! This companion of yours Muḥammad is talking about an absurdity that no intelligent man would ever accept. He says that last night he left his mosque and went to Jerusalem and returned the same night. O Abū Bakr! Do you believe that someone can in one night go from Mecca to Jerusalem and return on the same night? That is one month for a caravan or a man who goes on foot. If you believe this absurd report, there is no doubt whatsoever that your intelligence is defective."
The sincerely truthful Abū Bakr gave him a circumspect answer and abbreviated explanation. He said, "If he said that, he is telling the truth."
Abū Jahl despaired of him, and Abū Bakr hurried to the Messenger and, before sitting down said to him, like someone truthful and in love, "O Messenger of God! Tell me about your journey last night."
He said, "O Abū Bakr, last night Gabriel came bringing Burāq and took me to Jerusalem. I saw the pure spirits of the prophets and the chieftains of the Higher Plenum and I led them in prayer. From there I journeyed to the realm of the Dominion and arrived at the Highest Horizon. I saw the greatest signs and returned to the region of Mecca while it was still night."
Abū Bakr said, "You have spoken the truth, O Messenger of God! By the exaltedness of that Lord who sent you with the truth, just as you were awake and taken on this journey in your form and person from place to place, my spirit was also taken in companionship with and service to you. Your journey was in the form and frame and my journey in serving you was in spirit and secret core. I saw myself in a dream in your service, and you were shown in wakefulness by the confirmation of the Real." Just as he was saying these words, trustworthy Gabriel came and revealed this verse: "And he who brought truthfulness, and he assented to his truthfulness" [39:33]. From that day on Abū Bakr's title became "the sincerely truthful," and until the coming of the Hour the folk of the Sunnah and the Jamāʿa will be emulating him in assenting to the truthfulness of the miʿrāj. I have told the whole story of the miʿrāj and its subtleties and realities at the beginning of the Surah of Banī IsrāÌīl.
Someone may ask, "It is narrated that on the night of the miʿrāj, when that paragon of the world wanted to place his feet in the stirrups, Burāq shied away from him. Why did Burāq shy away?"
The answer is that when Burāq saw that he would be the steed of the Master, he lifted up his head, rejoiced, and strutted. He said, "O Master! I have a hope from you. Afterwards a day will come when you will strut into paradise, just as today you are going to Jerusalem. On that day also I want to be your mount, for the habit of noble men is that whoever seeks an intimate at night will have in the day the rejoicing of a close friend."
The paragon of the world verified this covenant for him and with the clemency of prophethood and the tenderness of messengerhood said, "At the resurrection, you will be my mount."
Then Burāq said, "O paragon of the world, nonetheless I still want a souvenir from you so that I may bind it around my neck as a collar and make it a necklace for myself."
The Master answered his request and gave a strand of his black hair to him. Burāq bound that to his neck with the hand of need and until the coming of the Hour will remain in the giddiness of that wine and the revelry of that union.
Now, some have said that Burāq shied from his hand because the smell of idols came from it. Gabriel asked the Messenger about that, and he said, "One day I was passing by an idol and I put my hand on it and said, 'This poor wretch of an idol does not know that it is being worshiped. And even worse of a wretch is he who worships it.' That is where the smell comes from." This has been transmitted, but the transmitter is not reliable and the answer not correct. The correct answer is what I said at first.
Someone may ask, "What wisdom is there in the fact that on the night of the miʿrāj, Moses spoke with him about reducing the number of prayers, but no other prophet spoke of that?"
The answer is that Moses was a possessor of whispered prayers in this world and he had the opinion that no one's level was higher than his level and no one's miʿrāj beyond his miʿrāj. But Moses' miʿrāj was to the Mount, and Muḥammad's miʿrāj was to the Carpet of Light. Moses was commanded to fast for forty days, and when he was made present in the presence of whispered prayer, some of his requests were granted and some were not. But Muḥammad was the unique pearl of the ocean of creativity, and he was taken to the Presence still stained by sleep. In one instant he asked several times for reduction, and all of that was granted to him. This was so that Moses would come to know the eminence and level of Muṣ?afā and ask forgiveness for what he had said: "A young man has been made to pass above my head!" What is even more wondrous is that when Moses asked for vision-"Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!"-he was answered with the sword of jealousy: "Thou shalt not see Me." When the damage of that question struck against him, he paid the fine with "I repent to Thee" [7:143].
When the turn of Muṣ?afā arrived, his eyes were anointed with the collyrium of jealousy: "Stretch not thine eyes! [15:88]. O Muḥammad, be careful that you not lend to anyone the eyes with which you see Me. The paragon bound his eyes with the band of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. He said with the tongue of his state,
"I will bind up my eyes and not again open them
until the day of visiting You, O Exalted Companion!"
This is why, when he became present in the Presence, the majesty and beauty of the Possessor of Majesty was unveiled to him: His mindful heart did not lie about what he saw [53:11].
When I whisper secretly with You, all my body becomes heart.
When I open my eyes, all I see is Your beauty.
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If I remember Him, all of me is heart:
if I look at Him, all of me is eye.
It has been said that when Moses returned from the presence of whispered prayer, the light of awesomeness and tremendousness came with him, so everyone who looked upon him was blinded. But when Muṣ?afā returned from the presence of contemplation, the light of intimacy came along with him, so everyone who looked upon him increased in eyesight. The former is the station of the folk of variegation, and the latter the state of the lords of stability.