THE SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE
Since the Al-Isra and Mira}
involved a real journey (rather than a vision or a dream) it is important that we should seek to
understand how the journey was effected. How was it possible for the Prophet (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam) to be transported from Makkah
to Jerusalem and back to Makkah in a matter of a fleeting moment? Also, how was
it possible for the physical being of the Prophet to be transported into the
transcendental realms and to return to this spatio temporal dimension of existence?
We are, in fact, faced here
with a situation which is virtually identical to that of the ascent of Jesus (pbuh) -
if we accept the majority Muslim view that Jesus (pbuh) was transported bodily
into the heavens and will return to this world before the end of the world.
Now since the physical body
occupies space, one cannot, in terms of the Qur'anic Guidance, conceive of a
physical approach to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah), Who is non-spatial and Who is also "with you
wherever you are" and is "closer to (man) than his jugular
vein". The only way, therefore, that we can understand this journey is by
postulating the transformation of the physical body into its transcendental form
which, by definition, pertains to that domain of existence which transcends
space and time. Although the majority opinion in the time of the Prophet (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam) and up to this day has been
that the physical body made the entire journey, we noted earlier that there was
a minority opinion to the effect that the body did not participate in the
journey. It is important that we remember
that the Prophet himself did not explicitly confirm the participation of the
physical body in the physical form. Indeed he seemed to be deliberately vague on the subject.
Dr. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman
Ansari, the learned author of "The Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim
Society", (World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi, 1973) supports
the thesis of ,transformation' :
"The holy Prophet's Miraj
was. however, an event of unique nature in which it should be accepted that
his sacred personality had been transformed by God from the physical to the
transcendental dimension of existence ..." (Vol. 1. pS8)
Now both the physical and the
transcendental are dimensions of the self-same human personality. Al-Isra and
Miraj involved movement within the individual person of the Prophet (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam) from one dimension of existence
to another.
Para-psychologists have
conclusively demonstrated that out-of body travel over long distances in very short
periods of time is possible and actually happens. The transformation of the
physical being has, however, eluded para-psychology. The secret explanation for
this probably lies in the Sufi view of the origin of matter - that it is light
which generates energy and gradually transforms itself into matter. The first
thing which God created was a particle of light in intense motion, and from
this original light emerged all creation. Matter, therefore, is at its origin,
light. If scientific research can discover how to reverse the transformation of
light into matter it will be possible for the physical being to be transformed
- and herein lies the primary scientific significance of the Prophet's (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam) miraculous joumey.
One cannot commence the effort of
seeking to discover the process of reverse transformation, however, until one
has first understood the original process of creation through transformation.
Nor can one penetrate the knowledge of the original process of transformation
without turning to the divine guidance on the subject revealed through the Word
of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah) (the Qur'an). For this reason also,
therefore, the Qur'an remains a book of supreme scientific importance advent of
Muhammad (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa
sallam).
To Be Continued ....
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