Suhaib Webb – The Isra and the Miraj
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Send peace and blessings upon our beloved, the
messenger, Muhammad
upon those who follow him until the end
of time. First of all, dear brothers and
sisters,
feel free to turn on your cameras if
you like also
and get cozy.
Secondly, my apologies. It seems that there was
some confusion,
around the timing. Always, we try to put
the timings for Swiss as central time.
So not New York time or East Coast
time where I'm at. So that's our mistake,
and my apology to each and every one
of you.
Sincerely, SubhanAllah.
A lot of things happening at Swiss and
limited limited staff. So,
hopefully, we will slowly begin to improve and
get better and better.
We planned actually last week to do this
event
at SWISS, but because of circumstances, so many
things happening in the world,
it was difficult to to to bring it
together. But we felt even though the month
of
has started and we pulled out of the
month of,
it would be important for us to take
some time and to pull some lessons
from the night of Isra and Mi'raj,
the night of the prophet
ascent to heaven,
and his trip from Mecca to Al Asa
to,
Bayt al Maqdis.
I wanna welcome all of you, and thank
you for being Swiss members. Hamdullah for the
last few months has been stressful for everybody.
But we we are happy to hold the
stress for brothers and sisters across the globe,
as well as in our own countries to
be supportive of one another.
As the prophet said,
that actually the word means that not only
do they strengthen one another, but they push
in and they're going to find that it
may be difficult, but they push in with
strength.
The night of
is so important that if you look, for
example, in the second level
on Swiss or a text called,
it's actually one of the points that Marzocchi
mentions
as being something that we should know about
the prophet
And Allahu
in the Quran commands us to know our
history,
especially the history,
related to great things. And he says
after remind them of the days of Allah.
Meaning, those great accomplishments
and feats, the successes of the prophets, the
the assistance of the friends of Allah
Remind them of those days. And that's why
we find a third of the Quran actually
is stories.
A third of the Quran is stories. Because
those stories,
support us, strengthen us, and encourage us when
we may find difficulty
and may also temper us and keep us
humble and grounded when we find success.
And that's really the secret secret to Surah
Al Rahman. If you look at Surah Al
Rahman over and over again, it says,
Which of the favors of your lord will
you deny? If you look at Surat Al
Rahman,
it's not all good things.
There's difficult things.
There's heaven. There's *. There's creation.
There's challenges.
There's success.
And every time one of those is mentioned,
it
says, which of the favors of your lord
are you going to not deny? Because for
the believer,
success is a favor and even test and
challenges are our favor. So in the face
of either one, we're reminded to look at
them at our broader level and
say. And we talk about this in level
1 in Swiss, in our text on the
harida,
on purification or sanitation of the soul. The
the night of Al Isra in Mi'raj, according
to most scholars, the strongest opinion happens 12
years
after the beloved message of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasalam,
starts his mission as a prophet.
And we know that this is an incredibly
difficult time.
This is a few months
or
a short amount of time after he lost
his beloved wife,
say that Khadija and his uncle
will taught it.
And the prophet
we know that that year was called the
year of sadness.
There's two opinions as to why it was
called the year of sadness. Number 1 is
the obvious meaning that he lost his family,
that he lost his emotional and physical support,
so to speak. The other opinion is that
in that year, the 11th year, there was
no dua.
Because in the 12th year, you only have,
like, 67 followers.
The
prophet
like, his message wasn't going viral.
It wasn't popular. To be Muslim at that
time meant that you immediately
subjected yourself to economic, political, and social pressure,
that you were going to be faced with
a deluge of adversity.
So for someone to really be a Muslim
at that time demanded
an honest commitment. There were no hypocrites in
Mecca.
So there are two opinions as to why
it's called the year of sadness. 1, the
loss of his beloved wife Radiallahu Anha and
his uncle. The second is that the dua
stopped. And that second opinion is supported by
the fact that we know the prophet
ventures to Taif, and he goes to Taif
to spread the message.
And here we can take a lesson
that prophets do not allow
fate to be an alibi
for not working
hard. Like the prophet
had every reason to give up. He had
every reason to say Khalas, Like, I lost
my sort of political and financial
support as well as my emotional support.
You know, sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes things
in our life go don't go the way
that we want them. And we find people
sometimes like, why has Allah done this to
me? I've been righteous for so many years.
I've tried to be a good Muslim, a
a dedicated Muslim for such an extend
extended amount of time. What am I getting
out of this? Well,
Allah says to the prophet
like what you're going to get will come
later.
What you will get will come in the
hereafter.
And Allah is
teaching us a very important lesson through the
prophet
that he does not use
the bitter
taste of fate
as an excuse
not to work hard, nor does he allow
difficulties to be interpreted as a sign that
Allah is displeased with him. We have to
be very careful
of sort of the commodified
attitude towards religion now that has has seeped
in sort of some circles within the Muslim
community.
And that is like, well, if my life
is going good, that means Allah loves me.
If a life if my life is not
going good, that means means Allah is not
pleased with me. That's not the case.
The prophet
said,
whoever Allah wants to test, whoever Allah wants
good for, he test him.
So the prophet
doesn't give up in Mecca.
He says, what
what can I do next?
Because I'm commanded. And that's the question that
you and I should ask ourselves. Like, what
am I commanded to do, and what can
I do next? I'm not giving up until
I leave the studio.
So he goes to 5.
And it's not like
a fairy tale. He faces tremendous opposition in
Thayef.
To the extent that he comes back
from Taif
excuse me. And he can't even get back
into Mecca. He's rejected by everybody.
So the loss of his wife, the loss
of his uncle,
venturing to Ta'a, if not not using
hard times as an excuse
not to work hard. In fact, they embolden
him to work harder
to seek any means he can.
Comes back after being rejected and thought if
and barely gets back into Mecca. And
it's shortly after this,
12th year, that the prophet
is given the isra and
the. This is 3 months before Musa'ib al
Umair will come from Medina for
and around 6 months before the migration.
There is a very important lesson that I'll
mention before we well welcome our first guest,
Sheikh Hassan. Sheikh Hassan, if you're here, if
you can just give me a thumbs up
so I know who you are.
And that is
that if the entire world
rejects you
for the truth,
that if the entire world has rejected you
excuse me. Because you're standing on the heaven.
The heavens accept you.
And that's the beautiful lesson of Isola Narmaj,
that everyone on the earth except those few
less than 70 people had accepted the prophet,
but he stood on principle,
and he stood on the truth.
So the occupants of the heavens
accepted him,
And that's something that's very powerful,
a very transformative
idea for now.
As we as Muslims see what we thought
were allies falling to the wayside,
we see people that we thought we could
trust showing their true colors,
and maybe we feel the need to waver
in our commitment.
Remember that if everyone rejects you,
the heavens have accepted you.
It's my pleasure now. I'm glad to start
this evening. I want to welcome Imam Hassan
Ali.
Imam, I'm going to ask you to
accept,
our cohost
permissions, and then I'm going to
add to the spotlight.
Wow.
Great to see
you.
Can you hear me? Yes. I can.
So it's my pleasure to welcome my fellow
alumnus
from the same,
education institution.
Sheikh Iraham Hassan has served in numerous communities
across the country for over 15 years. He
is a great educator,
a great public speaker. He has a PhD
in theology as well as a degree from
Al Azhar. He has so many accolades. We
would be here,
I think, most of the night.
If we went through his accolades, and he
has graciously accepted
to share some time with us.
For
the. I'm so, happy and delighted
to accept this, honorable invitation to,
be with you tonight, and it's very hard
and challenging to speak after you. You are
our teacher and our
sheikh. May Allah
bless you and bless your efforts. But again,
you know, as,
as I'm trying to be a good student,
I cannot say no to my teachers and
my.
So everyone.
Those who are following us and, watching us
now or those who will follow or watch
us, later.
Today, of course, you know, as we heard,
our Sheikh Imam Suhib speaking about Al Isra
wal Mi'raj.
And,
this is,
a very special,
miracle that happened to Rasulullah.
The event of
or the night
journey,
which, took prophet Muhammad
from Al Masjid Al Haram in Mecca to
Al Masjid Al Aqsa in Palestine in Jerusalem.
We ask Allah
tonight in this,
very special night, one of the nights of
the month of Shaban,
to,
liberate Masjid Al Aqsa, to free Masjid Al
Aqsa, to allow all of us to pray,
insha'Allah with safety and,
tranquility in Masjid Al Aqsa
to
make it easy for the people who are
protecting
protecting Al Masjid Al Aqsa.
So again once again, is
the night journey, which took Rasoula from.
And then to the heaven in in in
this very special unique divine,
journey
to the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and of course coming back.
The event of
Miraj, holds a lot of lessons for all
of us as believers.
Since
the day of judgement.
And
through the the followers of Rasulullah,
from from the Sahaba, starting from the Sahaba,
the Tabireen,
and the Tabireen, and all of the great
scholars and and, you know, till our day
and till,
the day,
of judgment,
you know, we will always have,
time to reflect
and think and read more about this very
special unique,
event that happened to Rasool Allah sallallahu.
And let me begin by saying that Al
Isra wal Mi'raj is not only fascinating
but also loaded with happiness
and happy moments.
Sometimes we look at
as
something that happened in a very difficult tough
time. But as a matter of fact, it
happened to provide some relief
and some happiness to Rasulullah
and we as Muslims
must realize that we must never allow
this, incident of
to remain as a simple,
you know,
fantastic story,
that that we can just, like, you know,
say to our children or,
you know, read it to them before they
go to bed like some other stories. We
cannot leave Islam on the shelves
and on the pages of books. We must
try to connect,
this very special event to our lives today
and every day.
Now, Islam linguistically means to travel at night.
You know, Allah said that, and it's it's
very special surah, one of the 114 Surahs.
So,
in Arabic language, linguistically, it means to travel
at night. And
means the travel.
You know? And in Islamic, it means the
night journey that the prophet undertook from Mecca
again to Al Medina. While means
the, item mechanism
of rising up high. So, again, Israel took
place from Mecca to,
Jerusalem and then in from Jerusalem to the,
to the heavens.
One of the great lessons that we always
speak about,
when we talk about is
that
actually related to,
the historical background of
what happened to Rasoolullah sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi
sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi
sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi sassalallahu alaihi
sassalallahu alaihi sassalam, how the life of Rasulullah
SAWSALAM
looked like before that night journey. So shortly
after Abu Talib's death, and Abu Talib, as
you know, father of Sayedna Alib Nabu Talib
was a great supporter to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wa Alaihi Wa Sallam.
And he died. Subhanallah. And,
shortly after his death, the, honorable
wife of Rasulullah
Khadija
also died.
And that was very tough for Rasulullah
and that's why in history, our scholars,
they, they gave this year,
the name of the the the year of
Al Ahab al Husna,
the year of sorrow or sadness.
Right? So what happened is that
was under a lot of pressure. You know,
he lost his his his protection
and support, you know, indoors
from from his his wife Khadijah because she
died and from outdoors with his uncle
who died too. So
went to a.
Right? You know, just trying to find at,
you know, different a different ground, a different
field, the different people,
that that that perhaps, hopefully,
they can
hear and accept
the message of Islam.
And,
in
this journey from Mecca to
he
walked. The scholars of said that he did
not use any mouth. He did not have
any any camel or any horse or anything.
So it was like about 60 miles at
that time,
walking in the desert of the Arabia
just going to attack. Why? Just to deliver
and convey the message of Islam. The aim
was,
you know, to
meet the leaders over there and to invite
them to support, Rasulullah
and to establish Al Islam, over there. But
what happened as you know that his invitation
and his mission, was totally rejected by the
people of Uthayef. He was chased out of
the city and stoned so badly
that his his his shoes
became,
clogged with blood.
Subhanallah,
Allah
this very special
or verse and, of course, the entire Quran
is special. Allah
said after hardship, indeed, there is ease.
And after or verily with with hardship, there
there is relief and ease. So from these
events, which occurred around the same time, we
can see that
had suffered
a series of of, series of, disappointing,
setbacks
and trials. But Allah took him up into
his presence. What happened here is that again
as we learned from,
Imam Suhib, Suhib,
protect and preserve him is that when when
when all the doors of of of dulia,
were locked in the face of Rasulullah
from
his,
own town or city, Mecca and from.
It was very sad and very tough. As
a matter of fact,
mentioned
that this was perhaps the most difficult time
in the life of
Rasulullah. In one of the Hadith, he mentioned
that too as
when she asked him about the day of
because the day of as you know, it
was very tough for Rasulullah.
It was very serious. Rasulullah
was about to be killed. And as a
matter of fact, you know, rumors started to
spread around in the army that he was
killed. And she asked him, did you ever
had any experience of a of a time
when it was more difficult than? And he
said yes. And he mentioned to her that,
the days, of,
so at a time when the whole world
seemed to have turned against him
he turned to his lord
And he
started to, you know, engage himself in prayers.
This is the communication with Allah. This is
the you know complaints that we all should
have to Allah
Allah. This is the same prayers that
had when he lost his beloved son Yusuf
Alaihi Salam. He said, I'm not going to
complain to anyone. I'm not going to, you
know, share my my sadness with anyone. I
will share it only with Allah
At a time when you feel like nobody
want to hear you, nobody want to see
you, nobody want to welcome you, you know,
you should know. And again, as we as
we just heard it from clearly from Imam
Suhayb, you have to look at the divine
doors and gates, the gates of Rahmah and
mercy that always will be open for you
and for everyone. So
after delivering the message and conveying the message
of Islam, the message of the message of
truth, the message of guidance, the message of
justice, the message of love, the message of
peace to his people for over 950
years. So only few people accepted him.
And and not only that, he used to,
like, you know, give them lectures every day,
sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, you
know.
This is what he said, you know, in
public and in in private. And then he
used to say
So So look at this because this this
is is is sound similar
and relevant to to to to our own
selves and our own narratives and our own
situation,
nowadays, brother and sister.
Saying that that that whenever I call them
to to to the truth, to to the
to the, to the guidance,
that that you may forgive them. They put
their fingers
in their ears. They don't want to listen
to me. You know they cover themselves
with their garments
and they persist
and they walks most arrogant. Right?
This is
this is very similar to to to our
situations brothers and sisters. You know we feel
like no one want to hear us. No
one want to see us. No one want
to see the thousands of people who are
suffering
because just because they're they're Muslims. No one
want to hear our narrative. No one want
to hear, you know that the other part
of the stone. Right? And this is this
is what happened to say
and this is what happened to say Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi wa Salam. And you know what
happened to say
Rasulullah
He made this very powerful dua.
Allah made so many dua in so many
occasions but you can feel.
If you know some Arabic like even when
we read the translation
brothers and sisters, You can feel
the the the the the the pain of
Rasulullah
even though after 1400 plus years. Even though
that we're just reading the dua. We're not
seeing the Dua, we're not initiating the the
Dua, we're not, we're not hearing the
ah saying the Dua, but you can feed
it.
Every and each word that choose
for this to you
alone, I make my complaint of my helplessness.
The lack of my resources
and my and importance before mankind. You are
the most merciful of all merciful.
You are the lord of the helpless and
the weak. Oh lord, you Allah, lord of
mine, into those hands
would you abandon me?
Into the hands of an
unfeeling
distant
relative
who would severely
thrown at me or to the enemy who
has been given control
over my affairs. But the most important thing
that said,
if your anger does not drop on me,
there is nothing for me to worry about.
I see protection in the light of your
countenance
while, you know, which illuminates
the heavens and the
the darkness
and which controls
all affairs in this world as well as
in the hereafter may it never be that
I should invite your anger. This is the
most important thing. Rasulullah
is saying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
you Allah I don't care about people. I
don't care if no one want to see
me or no one want to walk, you
know, worry about me or no one want
to hear my pain. This is sometimes happened
to you and I, brother and sister. It
happened to our brothers and sisters in Gaza
today. It happened to our brothers and sisters
in Kashmir. It happened to our brothers and
sisters in, in Sudan and in Yemen, in
and in the Rohingya refugee camps. It happened
again again. It happened to you and I
sometimes.
Sometimes you feel like no one no one
understands you. No one can like, sometimes you
you you feel like you can't even,
explain yourself. You cannot even,
describe your pain. Whether because you have some
some tough problems and issues, and struggles with
your spouse or with your family members or
with your father or mother or with your,
children.
Sometimes you feel like it's too much like
no one can understand you but the only
one who can feel you, the only one
who know what's inside you, the only one
who understand you more than yourself is Allah
Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And the most important thing is
that
If your anger does not drop on me,
there's nothing for me to worry about. And
so, it was mentioned that
the righteous, great,
lady and scholar,
they mentioned that they used to say,
So in conclusion, it's it's all about my
relationship with you, you Allah. Because all of
of of of what we have here around
us is is very limited and very, you
know,
short in in in in time. We will
leave everyone around us. All they will leave
us. You know, we will leave this dunya
with all of its worries and difficulties and
problems. And what what's matter is our relationship
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so
made this very special dua to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And one of the reasons here
for us all is that whenever we are
facing,
you know, a calamity or adversity,
feeling weak and oppressed
and all our means have been cut,
That people don't want to hear us. People
don't want to listen to us. People don't
want to even consider us, you know, and
they may even give us names and describe
us and we should of course try our
best in every possible
peaceful
way to to to to explain ourselves and
to protect ourselves and to help ourselves
and we should go back to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. We should put our trust in
him alone. We should have faith in on
him alone and we should be patient
as as this is the the tradition and
the weight of the prophets and the messengers.
If there's any questions for Imam, we can
take them briefly.
Sure people here in the chat may have
some questions.
You can either type them in the chat
box or you can ask to unmute yourself.
We're happy also to take questions directly from
people.
We put actually the dua in the chat
box as well that the sheikh mentioned
that Imam mentioned from
that the prophet
made.
I know that you're super busy.
Thank you for participating,
in this program tonight
and for the changes in the schedule.
But we're blessed and honored to have you,
for having me. The honor is mine, and
may Allah bless you and bless your efforts
and bless,
the people who are, joining us tonight.
So the sheikh, he said something really important
that is actually works as a means of
strengthening. The companions of the prophet who are
with him as well as the prophet And
this is something very profound,
that we mentioned earlier. The idea that if
everyone re rejects you, those in the heavens
have accepted you. So one of the things
that happens in this
night is that the prophet
is shown that he is the leader
of all prophets.
As is mentioned in the authentic hadith, Adam
That Adam and all of the prophets will
be behind my
flag, if you will,
in the day of judgment.
And that's why Imam Asiuti,
he he says something that's really remarkable,
and he has a small essay about this.
And he says that one of the lessons
that we take from the night of Isra
and Mi'raj is the importance
of companionship
and.
So if you think about it, the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the whole night, he
could have been alone. This just could have
happened, but we know that Satan's real estate
Satan Mikael, they came to him. They they
aroused him.
And not only did they take him directly
to other Aqsa, they showed him other important
places like Medina.
The same as your real said.
This is Tayba. The name is Tayba. You
will you will make hitra there.
They prayed with him in Bethlehem
according to other opinions.
But the lesson that a CUT makes that's
related to strengthening one's sort of value
is that we know a Sahabi
is a companion of the prophet, is defined
as someone who saw the prophet, believed in
the prophet while the prophet was alive,
and and that person then died as a
Muslim.
So a says something really remarkable
that when the prophet
all of the prophets in prayer,
there was one prophet who is still alive,
and that was saint Naysari
Allah says,
I am going to cause you to sleep.
Right? I'm going to cause you to sleep
and raise you to the heavens.
So sayin Asiyyuti
says because of that, the greatest Sahabi is
sayin Asa.
Because prophet Asa saw the prophet
while both of them were alive.
He believed in the message of Allah.
He accepted the message of
Allah by praying behind him. And we know
that say, Naysa, as we talk about also
in
and level 2 in Swiss in theology. And
I don't know if you noticed, we actually
now added level 4.
They say
believed in him and will come back and
die as a Muslim, as a follower. So
the said the greatest Sahaba
the greatest Sahabi
is Isa alaihis salatu salam. So imagine, like,
you belong to a community
that prophets
are members of this community
And that imam
mentions
that prophet Musa when
he saw, like, the blessings of this ummah
of the prophet
He said,
Oh Allah, make me from this community. Make
me from this this this this nation.
So at Swiss, we try our best to
contribute to that sort of growth intellectually and
the development spiritually of our brothers and sisters.
There
are a lot of changes at Swiss now
if you notice the new website as well
as the updates on the app. But there's
some things I think that you need to
know about. Number 1 is we have a
full time person to help you with any
tech issues that you have.
If you go to the website and you
look under
book a call, you'll find under their tech
support. And our sister, Chris, who's amazing, she
will get back in touch with you. Secondly,
if you go to the website and you
look at the bottom, you'll see a little
AI, like Square, that we're working out to
host our major,
like, answers to questions that you may have
through AI. So you'll also find support there.
You can also book time to meet with
me for free.
There's no charge for it,
also on there. And then every Thursday night,
from 10 to 10:30
PM EST,
9:30
to 10 PM,
9 to 10:30 PM,
central time. I have student meetings that are
open, And you'll find all of that information
under the live classes tab, which we we're
we're always sort of developing things and trying
to work to improve. So I think now
that live tab is working really well, and
you'll find classes for youth in the UK,
adult classes for people in the UK. We
have some students
in Pakistan
and as well as the timings for our
classes here.
We're also planning next year a retreat,
and I'm gonna talk about that later tonight.
That will happen actually in Iowa.
So why in Iowa? Well, we'll we'll give
you
a little
teaser,
once Sheikh Hassan, arrives
Inshallah. Right now, though, it's my pleasure to
introduce,
someone who I've known for a number of
years. She was a student of mine at
NYU,
and,
a really amazing person,
An incredible,
really just across the board
contributor to so many areas as an intellectual,
as an academic, as a student organizer, as
someone who led what's called the Black Muslim
Initiative at NYU,
and a student,
here at Swiss. I wanna introduce Miriam Stevenson
to all of you, and I'm going to
ask her her to accept being a cohost
so she can join
us.
So, Mariam, I don't know if you can
hear me, but
trying to get in touch with you.
Okay. There you are. Okay. I see you
now.
Welcome.
It's my it's my honor.
Alhamdulillah. For the generous introduction. May Allah make
me better,
than you say, and may Allah truly
reward,
all that you and and Sheikh Hassan Adi
has mentioned tonight
on a lot of gems, and may Allah
preserve you guys and increase you guys and,
allow you to continue to benefit the and
allow us to continue to benefit from you
all and to absorb,
what you all have taught us and continue
to teach us.
Everyone. My name is Mariema.
Tonight, you know, as SubhanAllah,
you know, we had Sheikh Suhay talk about,
you know, what
did the year, I'm an Husni look like,
you know, and how it was not only
just,
you know, the loss of the the many
different instances and events that happened in the
loss of the life of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. But as well as it was
a time where, you know, revelation wasn't as
popular.
Revelation wasn't the wa wasn't,
you know, as common as as prevalent at
the time. And subhanAllah, you know, as
Sheikh Hassan Ali mentioned, you know, Ta'if was
a really, really, really, really, really difficult point
in the life of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
And subhanAllah, you know, that dua actually is
one of my favorite duas,
and has come in handy through many of
my own personal hardships.
So subhanAllah,
you know, I When we're talking about the
Isra'u Mi'raj event,
it's important
one thing that we've seen throughout is context.
Right?
To know about this this journey and why
and how impactful it was
in the life of the prophet It's
important to know that context. Right? So we
know that for example,
this was the was at a vulnerable point
in life. Right? This was the time, you
know, the boycott was happening. The Muslim was
starving.
Right? It wasn't popular to be Muslim at
the time. It wasn't, you know, the coolest
thing to be a Muslim. Right? People the
Muslims were being persecuted at the time. And
so the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam imagined he's
doing dawah and he's watching his ummah suffer.
Right? So imagine that burden once. Right? And
then not only that, but he loses his
greatest
external support,
his his uncle.
Right? And then he loses as well his
internal support.
Khadija.
Right? The person that when he first received
revelation ran
to and said,
So you can imagine just this state. Right?
And then thought it happens.
Right? So it's like a bill it's like
a mountain. Right? Everything is just piling up.
Right? If you ever play, you know, the
the Jenga puzzle piece, like everything is piling
up and it just crashes.
Right?
So when you see that dua from bath,
you can see the intense you can feel
the intense intensity as Sheikh Hassan Ali mentioned.
You can feel the intensity of the emotions
that the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was going
through.
Right?
And so subhanAllah,
all of this is happening.
And then the journey of the istaqah when
Mi'raj happens.
Right? Where the prophet
is raised
firstly, is taken from Mecca
all the way to Jerusalem,
Al Quds.
Right? And may we see a free Al
Quds right now?
So he's taken all the way over there.
Right? A miraculous journey.
And then he's not only just taken to
Al Quds where he meets all the prophets
and he prays
as the imam of the prayer and the
all the prophets, every prophet
is praying behind him.
And this journey is actually where he earns
that he where he, you know, receives the
title imam
al imam al mursaleem.
Right? Because he led all the prophets. Right?
So he was the imam of of the
Andia.
But,
he didn't get only that honor
but he was ascended into the heavens.
Right?
And each heaven that he was going on
to,
every prophet is reaffirming him.
Now I want you to think about that.
The prophet
had just
experienced
rejection,
ridicule,
abuse verbally,
mentally,
physically
thought it was brutal until he was bleeding
in his feet.
So he's received so much negativity.
And he's lost his greatest supports
support systems.
And yet what happens when he's in the
heavens?
Every prophet looks at him and reaffirms him.
Right?
SubhanAllah.
And each time he meets a new prophet,
right? Musa Alaihi Salam is saying, you know,
like you dealt with the the you're dealing
with Abu Jahal, you know, a huge tyrant.
Guess what? I dealt with the tyrants of
tyrants.
Right? So each one is like reaffirming him.
Imagine Yusuf alaihi salaam saying like I know
what it feels like for your family to
reject you. My own brothers threw me in
a while. Right? Until he gets to Ibrahim
alaihis salam. Can you imagine when Ibrahim alaihis
salam
When he's when he's telling the prophet sallallahu
alaihis salam that you're the answer to my
duas.
Right? All the duas that Ibrahim alaihi wasallam
made.
Right? SubhanAllah.
And so
to the point that he receives the the
special honor
to go to a certain point in the
heavens where even Jibreel alaihi sallam doesn't cannot
go in.
SubhanAllah.
Just an intimate personal
invitation
between the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam and Allah
azza
wa jal. Can you imagine how
beautiful that was? That's why the strip is
so beautiful.
Right? And there were so many gifts given
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and to the ummah.
Right?
So we know, like, our
tashahood is the conversation with the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam in Allah. We know also
salah was gifted. Right?
And so subhanAllah,
the lesson that we see behind this
is that
whenever we go through hardships,
whether it's within our communities,
there's turmoil in our ummah, the state of
the ummah, right,
or in our personal lives.
They won't last.
Right?
If and if we're patient
and we're mindful of Allah,
he will ascend us
in ways we couldn't imagine.
So how can we ascend? You know, it's
not like we can fly to Al Quds.
Well, throughout with a plane. But the point
is, right, how can we ascend though?
The biggest way to ascend in the eyes
of Allah is what?
Is to read his words.
Allah has given us this Quran.
Right? Because his words
are our guidance
for this world
and for our hereafter.
We see in the Quran, Allah says in
if you look at Surah Al Nahl,
the Surah
right before
Surah Al Israa.
Right? If you look at the very last
2 ayahs
of Surah Al Nahil,
Allah
mentions
This this a is so powerful.
Allah says,
and be patient. He's talking to the prophet
and
be patient.
And and and and be patient.
Sorry.
And be patient, oh, prophet for
your patience
is only with Allah's help.
And do not grieve
over those who disbelieve
nor be distressed
by their schemes.
Surely,
indeed, Allah is with those who are mindful
and those who do good.
Subhanahu wa.
Right? Allah is reminding us about being patient,
being steadfast,
as well as
being mind being mindful and being steadfast.
And so, subhanAllah,
if we want to
connect to the journey of the Isla'awani
Awaj,
we have to learn about that point in
the sierra.
And we have to read about the stories
in the Quran,
right,
to understand how powerful of a trip it
was
and as an example for us
until the end of time.
So in general,
understanding this journey
and what was happening within the Ummah at
that time as well as the personal life
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
will put not only into perspect will put
a lot of perspectives into the hardships we
go through, both on an individual level and
on a community level.
And I'm pretty sure we can all relate
to that right now with what's happening in
Gaza. Their pain and grant them a great,
great victory.
And the second thing is for us to
connect with the book of Allah
and using it as our moral guide in
this world
will make a lot of sense
as well as comfort
our hearts
because it is the truth.
Right?
As Sheikh Suhayb just mentioned. Right?
The truth will always,
you know, when you stand by the truth,
you know, you will be accepted in the
heavens. SubhanAllah. It's so powerful.
And the truth always prevails.
And then the last thing
is that the irony
of how Allah raised the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And when you hear
the prophet's name, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, please
say sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
The irony of how Allah raised the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam on that trip
is that the more we read his words,
the more he elevates us.
And I wanna leave with this last,
with this last point, which is a beautiful,
beautiful hadith by the prophet
where he says,
you know, it's about the people who,
he the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says, the
one who was devoted to the Quran
will be told on the day of resurrection
recite
and ascend
in ranks
as you used to recite when you were
in the world.
And your rank will be the last ayah
you recite.
SubhanAllah. Again, you see that comparison
about being connected to the Quran
with a session. Right? Ascended
to the highest of ranks. May Allah make
us amongst Quran.
May Allah alleviate,
the pain our Ummah is is going through
right now. May Allah alleviate what our brothers
and sisters in Palestine are going through. May
Allah alleviate
our brothers and sisters in Sudan,
our brothers and sisters in Congo and Yemen
and all around the world who are facing
any oppression. May Allah make us sincere
and true inheritors of this deen and make
us a vehicles
of justice
and truth and protect us from following falsehood.
Thank you.
Are there any questions?
Everyone give
Mariamma a big tag.
Are there any questions or comments for,
Mariamah?
It's graciously accepted. I know she's super busy.
Got a lot going on always. But
are thankful that you're here.
Thank you so much. Again, I know, like,
you're you have a lot going on, so
I appreciate you taking the time, to come
today and to share with us.
Of course,
It's my honor to just learn and continue
learning from you guys. So I it's my
honor to be here.
So one thing that that,
Mariam has said that's really beautiful
is the idea of ascension.
And there is something in Arabic.
I don't wanna make this overly complicated. But
in Arabic, actually, if we thought about the
title, it would be
Isra and. Isra and. These are 2 special
type of verbal nouns that don't have a
meme in front of them.
But what we find is, Isra and Mi'raj.
Mi'raj is.
It's a it's a verbal noun, but it
has a miman in front of it.
And there's a reason for this.
And that is that
if it was al Isra
and Uhrouj, the word Uhrouj
means to go up
and to come down again.
Okay? But the word
means to go up
and
to never come down.
So Allah
as,
Rayama mentioned,
is showing the prophet
and many of us that
coming out of hardship,
holding on to principle
is actually a means for celebration and a
means for immense and patient.
And that's why Allahu
says
Give good news to those who were were
resilient
because
Allah says
The reward for those who are resilient is
infinite. It it's incalculable.
It cannot
be quantified or qualified.
So after
the struggles and challenges
and difficulties and successes and the pains and
the happiness
and and being banished in Sheba Abi Talib,
Allah
takes the prophet
on.
There's a question from Tarek. He's asking about,
can we discuss the history of Salah previous
to the Isra? Yeah. So the strongest opinion
that this is a great question amongst historians
is that initially, the companions of the prophet
and the prophet
prayed to,
in the evening and the morning. And this
is mentioned in the Quran.
Remember
Allah towards the evening and at the morning
time.
This is mentioned by,
Al Qari Abu Bakr in his explanation of
the Muwata,
as well as the ibn Abdul Bar, who
actually gives a long
detailed description of this. And the imam Al
Nawi,
that initially there were 2 raka.
And then later on,
the
the the 5 prayers are taught to the
prophet
because Sayyidina Jibril and Sayyidina Mikkah are with
him.
And we know that,
the the narration, the first hadith, and the
Muwata,
and it's it's actually longer,
in in in Muslims,
collection
that
shortly after, like, Islam,
if not actually the same evening,
the prophet
was taught by Sayedid Jibril the times of
prayer and how to pray.
And that's why the first prayer
observed by the community
is.
That's agreed upon by historians and jurists
That the first
public
prayer,
congregational
prayer,
observed by the
prophet in Jamah
with this community
in Mecca
is.
And that's why it's called.
Some people think it's called because the sun
is out. This is incorrect.
It's called, and here's a very important lesson.
Because this is the first moment
where as a liturgy,
you have
that you have a
a public,
right,
congregational
act
in front of people.
Because
means to be explicit,
to be seen, to be clear.
So that's why
it's called Like
Why is it called?
Because it happens at the end of the
day. And every single day should remind you
of your of
your lifetime.
So how did I spend my day when
I pray?
I go back and I look at it,
and I ask myself, how have I lived
my day to day? How have I lived
this micro era
of a broader era?
So it's not time to talk about the.
Inshallah, we'll do that in our,
class on,
I believe,
as a seminar, not as one of our
our levels in our Swiss courses. And that's
why it's called Fajr because it reminds you
of this break
just as Allah has broken you from the
night.
Allah now has broken you from death. Now
how are you gonna spend your day?
So is the first congregational prayer observed,
and it's done publicly. And here we learn
a lesson that not everything has to be
done in secret.
That there are times where actions also,
should be done in person,
in public.
So the prophet
in the Sahaba,
they observed in front of the people
after this night
of.
I don't know if, Sheikh Hassan is here
yet because we are actually running
a little early,
which is a good sign. We're kind of
in front of ourselves, but Imam Hassan,
Sadim, if you're here. I know you're coming,
so I'm not sure if you're here yet.
If that's the case,
I'll continue,
to take questions that you may have as
well as any questions related to SWISS.
Someone sent a question, when do youth classes
start? Youth classes already started.
If you go to the live
courses tab on the website, you'll see them
there, on Sundays. And also now we have
our UK classes for youth,
that are really for youth overseas,
that have started.
Another important lesson that we
have to take from Leila to Isla'il Miraj
is humility.
And humility in Islam doesn't mean to be
weak. Humility in Islam is to recognize Allah.
And by recognizing Allah, I recognize myself.
As some of the early Muslims used to
say, who knows Allah, knows themselves, knows their
place.
And,
he
knows something really beautiful
in his
about the and the
that this is the highlight
of
you know, one of the highlights
of the prophet's
career as a prophet.
As his
his his role
as being the final
prophet and messenger to people.
And this night is filled with some incredible
feats.
And there's a nice lecture that we have
planned for next year. We wanted to do
it this year
on what what what Maqas al Sharia
what are the Maqas al Sharia that we
can take from Isra and Mi'raj? And I'll
mention 1 in a second.
But Alapur Tobi notes that even though this
is one of the highlights of the prophetic
era of Sayedid Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
The prophet continues to show incredible humility. So
he doesn't allow promotion.
He doesn't allow success
to keep him from staying grounded.
And oftentimes, that happens to us. I know
in religious, my own experience, my own mistakes
in life,
sometimes we may allow our religious,
accomplishments
to detach us from holding on to humility.
Professionally, sometimes we find people in their marriages,
they say, you changed, I changed.
Because sometimes
success can spoil us.
You get into a certain grad school, you
get into a certain
social setting,
maybe move into a certain type of neighborhood.
If our hearts aren't grounded
and our hearts aren't with Allah
that dunya can corrupt us.
So we see the prophet
Excuse me. I have, like, a really crazy
flu.
That the prophet
on both instances where Allah
in the Quran
details the events of the night of Israa
and Mi'raj.
The prophet is called the servant of Allah.
Allah
says
and and the word is
from
sibaha means to swim.
The masbah is the pool.
Because if you and I were to really,
really ponder
on
the impactful lessons that we can extract from
the night of Isra and Mi'raj,
our hearts and minds will, like, swim
in the glory
and power of Allah
It's hard to explain it in English.
So
Allah doesn't say
Allah doesn't say
1 more.
Allah says, glory to the one who took
his servant
on Islam.
And also in
says again, his servant his servant. So throughout
the Quran,
the prophet
in moments of incredible
success
is constantly
called
servant of Allah.
Allah says, a servant, why he prays.
When the servant of Allah stood, meaning, Sayyidina
Nabi,
because somebody who achieves material
but doesn't achieve
servitude to Allah
is not really successful because it won't carry
over to the hereafter.
Somebody who's the Abdavala
and may not achieve I don't mean monetary
material success,
and doesn't achieve
any success in dunya, still they have incredible
success.
But as we say,
but for the person that Allah blessed to
have both
sufficiency
in this world
and success as Allah's servant,
the prophet
said, that's the best of you.
Is the one as a mentions that was
given sufficiency, not opulence, sufficiency.
Reason people are so unhappy now, they want
opulence, but the Muslim is commanded to seek
sufficiency.
And
the prophet says, lives a long life full
of good. Here's.
He said, that's the best of you.
Another lesson that we take from Islam and
Mi'raj
that is extremely important.
And this is related to the Maqas al
Sharia. And I actually have a lesson that
I want to give in the future on
what I I said earlier, some of the
Maqas
we take from the
from Islam.
But one of them is something that sometimes
in our thought as Muslims, we forgot.
That that sometimes in our thought
as the last,
as the last
leader
of prophetic guidance on the face of the
earth. As this happens on the night of
Islam,
our prophet
becomes imam and
then we become the
of
the We become the leaders of religious nations
because our prophet is the the leader of
the prophets.
Right? The ruling goes with what's followed.
So the prophet
he mentions in the long narration that he
was sleeping. It's saying that Jibril it's saying
that Mikael
awakened him. And he found in front of
him, Burak. And Burak is a creature
that the prophet
has never seen.
That in fact human beings have never seen.
This is from the,
the special unique blessings given to the prophet.
And we know in the book that was
given to you that we translated and sent
out, that description of Borak is there,
you know, in in somewhat an abridged way.
But the point is
the prophet
does not shy
from new technology.
The prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, does not
shy
from an opportunity
to use something that will facilitate
worship.
And that's because the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
is the embodiment of the Quran.
And one of the most important significant
principles of the Quran
is that everything is permissible
until
understood
clearly by religious text to be forbidden.
This axiom, and we teach it in
at
Swiss, that the foundation of all things is
permissibility.
Unless there is a clear text
that states it's forbidden or there's what's called.
Now oftentimes and we have now a q
and a,
option at Swish. You can submit your q
and a on the website, and I will
answer you all through videos.
The prophet
is teaching us this axiom
because when he sees,
he doesn't shy away from it. He uses
it.
I remember when I was initially on Snapchat,
there were some even religious teachers contacting me.
How could you be on Snapchat and stuff
for Allah? How could you use this? How
can you be on Instagram? How could you
be here or there? This is years ago
before people kind of caught the bug, if
you will.
And I remember telling them
that the foundation of all things is permissibility
until there's a clear text to show it's
it's it's either dangerous,
could lead to something haram, or is haram.
And this is a theme
we find in the life of the prophet
because the is from Sayr, to follow, to
walk
in the way of the messenger of Allah.
To walk in not just in a fashionable
way as Sheikh Hassan talked about, not in
a shallow way, but how to live and
embody
the teachings, the axiomatic
teachings of the print the principles of the
sira in my life.
Here's one of them. That's why one of
my teachers used to say, if you're reading
the Quran
and you're not challenged, you're not reading the
Quran. If you're reading the Sira of the
prophet
and you do not feel challenged to work
on your life and improve yourself,
then you are truly not studying the. You
are just wanting to be applauded.
But the prophet is not only sent as
a bashir,
the one who applauds us, but he's also
sent as the the the the the mundir,
the one who's
reminding us and chastising us and forcing us
to to critically examine our lives.
So here's 1.
Over and over and over, we find
that sometimes Muslims,
we shy away from something new that may
actually facilitate
our work as a prophetic community that will
ease I remember one time my brother told
me you shouldn't have microphones in the masjid.
This is an extreme example. Of course, ridiculous.
But in the sira,
the prophet
when he has the opportunity,
remind your tribes, your nearest family, he goes
to Asafa.
Safa is now being
on television,
speaking on you know, we see many Muslim
brothers and sisters, for example,
on YouTube,
popular channels
addressing people. Well, the prophet
taught us to embrace these means of facilitating
and delivering the message
when he went to Asafah, because Asafah is
the best news outlet of his time.
Another example in the battle of when
Sayna Salman
teaches them about building the trench.
This is something they've never seen before. The
prophet
he embraces it.
When the Havasheet community, the Ethiopians
teach the prophet about the Mimbar to give
his sermons,
he embraces it.
And this carries over to the Sahaba.
Why does Sayna Uthman
Institute a second Adhan in Jummah?
You can find this over and over and
over and over again.
That community
didn't ask this question.
Prove to me it's halal.
Their question was prove to me it's Haram.
And that's why they were able to engage
society in such a layered,
if you will, way, a mature
way.
So we learn from Isra and Mi'raj something
from the Maqas al Sharia.
That the goal of Islam is to bring
benefit and prevent harm.
And one of the ways that it does
this is it opens the door of the
permissible
and limits the door of the impermissible
through texts
or through a strong analogy, LPS, or IGNA.
We don't have time to talk about that
now. But that's something that I want us
to think about.
Did we really take this lesson
from this incredible evening,
from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's teachings
that allows us to think in a much
more mature way
and to move away from sort of a
simplistic reading of the life of the prophet
to one that leads to living a life
based on the axioms and objectives of sharia
through the life of the prophet I'm gonna
now welcome our imam, Imam Hassan,
Salim, who's here. He's a teacher at SWISS,
alhamdulillah, from the very first day.
If I can ask Sheikh Imam, please, to
turn on your,
camera,
and we want to welcome you wholeheartedly
to
tonight's gathering.
And
everyone wore
except me. Now I feel sort of,
out of out of touch because I wore,
you know, my what do you call it?
My civilian clothing.
I didn't wear my,
official
I'm gonna get in trouble. Some of our
teachers know.
So Sheikh Hassan actually taught
for, I think, almost 2 years
every Sunday night on our social media channels,
the
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And after
Ramadan,
will be teaching the
Sure.
Also on our social media channels. But for
Swiss members, you can join him like now
on a Zoom. So you can ask questions
and engage, but also will be available for
the masses. And we're working actually, Shaykh, to
translate those one of those texts. One of
them is already translated,
but the other one so that you'll have
those resources
to teach.
And then next year,
we are hoping to do a retreat
for Swiss students
in Sheikh City.
So, Sheikh, if you can tell them why
that's important. Because when I told people we're
gonna do a retreat in Iowa,
you know, they were kind of shocked. They
thought, you know, we're gonna go somewhere fancy,
but Iowa is fancy if people know
what to look for. So,
imam, if you can tell them why we
hope to be able to do that retreat
in your city.
Yes. Of course.
1st and foremost,
I would like to extend my
deep gratitude for,
Swiss and for you, Sheikh, for, and and
trusting some
one like me
to,
just be in such,
in such a gathering and share a few
words.
You know, it's
sadly here. I I would consider
it a sign of troubled times that the
likes of me,
would,
would speak,
in in the presence of the learned and
the knowledgeable.
But may Allah
forgive
and, and accept from us inshallah.
For Esmeralda, the, for Iowa being,
one a a a significant,
place
actually because
we have what is known as the mother
mosque of America.
And the mother mosque of America is considered
some might argue it's the longest
or the first mosque in all of North
America, although
this needs some sort of historical verification. But,
nevertheless, it is,
at least
the first,
mosque west of the of the Mississippi,
built in 1934
by a
Muslim community that originated from
Lebanon and Syria.
I believe it was then Alwaida Suriyyah, if
I'm not mistaken. At least the the the
sham area.
Many Muslims
for one reason or another
relocated here,
and
they built something called, at the time, the
Muslim temple.
And,
I believe also was given the the name,
the Muslim club,
and eventually became the mother mosque of America.
And as such, it is the longest standing.
And
perhaps at at one point,
known as the the first purposefully
built mosque.
And so the the city
hosts,
that mosques since 1934,
but Muslims have been here. Perhaps,
there are
some documents that show perhaps
1850
or so
or,
yeah.
1850. So
there there is a lot of history
and a lot of gems to be discovered,
a lot of stories,
of of,
of the early Muslim community.
And I think it any Muslim who's interested
in learning about the roots of Islam
in America
would
some
this would be a starting point
here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
That is,
it's, like, incredible
to note that. And so that's why actually
we decided we talked to Imam,
Hassan, and and we're hoping that next year,
Insha'Allah,
sometime in the fall
to have our 1st nationwide Swiss retreat there
in Cedar Rapids. And one reason also, it's
affordable for people. Right? Like, one of the
things if you know people who work with
Swiss, we believe in making things accessible and
affordable, but not not any less professional.
But the historical
perspective of centering ourselves, especially on our history,
and then under your leadership, imam, you're too
humble. And now let me just quickly introduce
imam Hassan. Actually, we were classmates together. People
I don't think they know that. We studied
in the traditional classes, not necessarily in the
same
college, but we attended some of the same
and, actually, I saw a YouTube clip
of you and I. I think you sent
it to me or someone,
where you and I are actually sitting in
a class at home, had this,
like, years
ago, like, you you haven't changed, but I
certainly,
I didn't even recognize myself.
SubhanAllah.
And we knew each other. Actually, we ran
into each other,
in Egypt. And then to to for you
guys to know the quality of Sheikh Hassan,
actually, he sent me an email.
And he was like, look, man.
You we studied together. We know each other,
and I just really wanna contribute as an
educator,
to Swiss out of my passion. And it
was, like, really a beautiful email.
And then from there, we we we continued
this relationship
as
they say. So Imam Hassan is an Azari.
He's originally from Egypt.
He studied, I think, in the college of
translation,
and he did his degree as well at
the Alameda and Elazar, and he studied with
the Shulchan scholars,
in Egypt traditionally as well, alhamdulillah. And that's
why I ran into him tonight. We welcome
him. He's going to be talking about,
as we're talking about lessons,
and ideas we can take from Al Isra
and Mi'raj. He's the imam, as he said,
of America's 1st standing masjid. And if you
look him up online, you'll see some of
the great things he's doing there for the
community,
the leadership that's there, and the growth.
For being here, Sheikhas.
I I am
I just to
clarify,
further, I am the imam at the Islamic
Center of Cedar Rapids, which is you can
think of it as the daughter
Masjid,
of the mother mosque of of America. Mother
mosque of America is currently
serving almost as a heritage center slash museum,
and and the community itself outgrew the mother
mosque and into
now the Islamic,
center of of, of Cedar Rapids. So just
to just further
clarify that point, which is in one way
or another, perhaps one can think of it
as,
in in in connection to the topic of
because
or the night journey was
in in,
at some in some regard
was a stepping stone
towards
the prophet
growing and the the community growing from Makkan
into Madinah and farther out.
And
that that night journey was was a turning
moment in the, in in history
or or the or or the sierra
of the prophet and
the sierra of the the community and the
Omer round around him. And really briefly,
what I want to not add, but just
share a few thoughts and reflections on al
Isra wal Maharaj,
the time of blessings.
The theme of what what I wanna share
is
a return to
simplicity,
first principles, and the fitra, purity
of of belief
and practice as well.
And I take that from, specifically,
that moment
in which the prophet
was offered that option, that the choice between,
you know, symbolically,
the milk and the and the and the
wine.
And he, of course, chose
that which is,
representative
or symbolic of
the the fitra. He says,
That's
the the
when he was given
that,
that choice,
he chose the the fitra, and Jibril
then reaffirmed
that you have chosen
the fitra, and the fitra
is that innate
nature
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
created
us with. And I I I often and
that's something I do when I
help guide people or teach them
if when I do get the opportunity is
I I like people to reflect a little
bit on these details that are usually
oversided
both in
reading the text, whether it's the Quran or
the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, his hadith, or his as well. It
is very
it's easy to look at the the bigger
picture, but to zoom in and to look
at these little details of the story and
on the text, as I as we will
as
we will see in a little bit,
it's
I think there is there's a great benefit
in that. So why
after,
you know, years,
the prophet is
presented
with that
choice
once more as though at a moment of
turning,
at a moment of
rebirth, if you wish,
and redefining of the direction the will
take,
the
becomes the basis. Becomes the first principle.
Becomes the the the very foundation
of any work that could be done,
any meaningful work that could be done in
the life of the of the.
And
and so
this kind of, like, this idea of returning
back to the fitra, to purity, simplicity
of both
faith and practice,
I think is a major point in the
story of Al Isra wal Mi'raj.
We can easily be taken back by the
greatness and the awe
of just the idea of Isra
from one
physical
and geographical location to another and then
from earth to heavens,
we can be taken back and almost overwhelmed
and consumed
by these big events. And in the details
or in the process,
we lose track of these little,
meaningful and powerful details.
One
other
powerful detail
that sometimes we may,
not really
give it its its due right in in
the in reflecting on our
history and the of the prophet, Alaihi Salam,
is the year
proceeding
and and preparing for that great moment of
and
that is known as,
as it's
usually,
presented in in the
in the works of.
This is a moment of,
again,
fitra. And it's part of the fitra that
we,
as human
beings,
feel grief and sadness,
and go through these traumatic experiences,
the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, he he says to the
in in
in
Surat
Al Islam, to the,
he says to to them
that he's,
but a
I'm sorry.
That I am, but a human being
just
similar to you. The only difference is
the only difference is is that I have
received the revelation. And the fact that he
is
a human means that he is subject
to all that we experience,
as humans, all the range of emotions and
feelings,
such as sadness,
and
grief.
And that sadness was due to the loss
of both his beloved
wife, Sayida Khadija alaihis salam, and his uncle
as well. These are the the loss of,
human,
the loss of a human connection
that has provided the prophet
with with
yet a basic and,
in innately
that that innate nature
that requires that we connect with people in
our lives,
spouses,
children,
parents,
family members, friends.
This is a we we are, as people,
created with that with that fitrah, with that
nature, with that need as well. When it's
lost,
whether you are a prophet
or a
or not,
you will still feel the impact
and the and the and the and the
loss of of
the great loss
of that,
and and what what that connection provides us
with.
And so the prophet
for an entire,
almost year,
have been impacted by that,
and
it was almost like
the prepare preparatory
stage
to then go through the powerful act of
Al Isra and and.
As though the the story is telling us
and as though the is trying to tell
us
that at the moment like this, at a
moment of loss
and grief
and trauma,
we are
most
in in in we we are we are
in in a in a almost in a
perfect
angle to receive then
the the powerful providence of Allah's
grace and Allah's
rahma and and and and and compassion,
in the form of
the the
the great divine gifts that the prophet
has experienced
during an Isra wal one.
And then I would like to maybe
briefly and I'm sorry if I'm kind of,
like, rambling. These are just some thoughts
that I have,
you know, reflected on
on the on the.
I want to perhaps share with you very
briefly,
yet another way of looking at the little
details
in the story, but also in the scripture
and how it paints
and and that story. Allah
is in Surah
in Surah in Surah
One little detail
here
is the bat
that Allah says
And they
say, you know, as we know from the,
the the the the the the the the.
He says
and
the the bat here
means the Musa Haba,
that Allah
not only,
but he
we think of it as the night journey.
The prophet himself,
you know, moved from al from from Mecca
or from Al Baytul
Haram
Al Baytul Haram,
but
the bat shows that he was
also in the
Allah was with with the prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Allah was with the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
that Islam
happened with the prophet
as though that Allah
has been with him
at every moment
of that journey.
It wasn't just,
you know, he was in almost, like, in
isolation and in a in a in a
vacuum, and this is happening to him. It
is happening
with him.
And
we see that in just this one
detail in the
in the in the area, which is the.
So the
means that there was Musa Haba here. Allah
was with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
at every moment and at every detail and
at every turn
of this of this night journey.
Yet again, a reminder
that at moments of difficulty,
that divine grace and providence
is with us. Allah is with us at
this moment.
He said the prophet
to Abu Bakr
that don't don't grieve. Allah is with us.
Perhaps this idea
was one of the
powerful
results
and the impact
of the bat
of the little bat
in
And so I just wanted to just share
these few
ideas
and or, you know, thoughts and reflections, and
maybe it's more of a than
really,
anything else.
And, you know, I will I will leave
it at that.
Thank you for
participating
and and and being part of this important
program this evening. One of the things that
I have actually here in front of me,
we just started for Swiss members is our
Suhebod Institute of Sacred Science is WhatsApp channel.
And it's another easy way for you to
kind of stay up on what classes are
happening in the announcements because I know sometimes
we could do a much better job
than we do.
So if you have an opportunity, search on
your WhatsApp group for Suheb Webb Institute of
Sacred Sciences. We'll also send out this information
in the next few days via email,
but is another great way to sort of
know what's coming this weekend. Tomorrow, we have
early morning our classes with the UK students.
So you'll find them on our live,
live course section.
And then tomorrow also, we have Hamdah sister
Janan is continuing connecting to
Allah through prayer, which is, like, an amazing
class.
I believe at 10:30 EST.
And then on Sunday, we have our youth
programs for, students here,
on this side of the Atlantic,
around 3 PM 4 PM sorry, 4 PM
CST.
And then at 3 PM, we have doc
sister Ustessa Imanaadi is continuing to teach her
class on reading Arabic.
Now reached level 2. She's written 3 books
on this. So she's teaching those books, and
she just continues to go, like, through them.
So anyone interested really in working on their
reading of Arabic, I encourage you to do
that.
And thank all of you for participating this
evening, and we hope to share with you
some more information coming soon about the retreat
that we planned as well as our Ramadan
pre Ramadan program that we'll be having as
well
in the next few few weeks. Please share
on social media if you're enjoying using Swiss.
That really helps us a lot.
And
to the and to the who participated
into our
We ask Allah to bless our brothers and
sisters in Gaza,
our brothers and sisters in the Congo and
Sudan, as well as Kashmir and through Rohingya,
brothers and sisters across the globe. And we
ask Allah
to allow us to learn the important lessons
from this
incredible opportunity to reflect on the night of
Isfa and Mi'raj of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
sallam.