 We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala God Almighty as he is most worthy and deserving of all praise We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others and We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us of our shortcomings our sins Those that we commit knowingly and those that we have committed unknowingly We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless his noble prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah Sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa salam perspective brothers and sisters this previous week Was the 27th of Rajab Which according to our tradition or at least according to the vast majority of Our scholars is the night of isra and ma'raj Which was the prophetic night journey and then ascension and although the Event has passed according to the vast majority of the alama nonetheless, I think it's important for us to reflect upon Certain lessons certain things that we learn from the isra wal ma'raj this magnificent Journey that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam undergoes And I wanted focus not so much on the specifics Of the event. In fact, there was a beautiful program by dr. Ali atayi here at mcc on that night this week And I believe you can probably watch it on youtube and I would highly recommend you do so Where he goes into many of the specificity and events That transpired on that evening on that night But I want to focus on a few of them and then more importantly as I said What are the lessons that we can glean and we can learn From the prophet's journey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran in the beginning of surah al-isra named as such Which is the 17th chapter of the Quran also known as bani israel the surah Subhanah, which is a surah by his servant night To the mosque of haram From the mosque of haram to the mosque of al-Aqsa Which is blessed For us to see from our verses Indeed, it is the sound of sight Glory be to Allah subhanah, who is glory be to he Who took his servant Asra be abdihi Who took his servant from the Masjid al haram The sanctuary in mecca To the Masjid al-Aqsa to the sanctuary in jerusalem by tulmaktas Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed These sanctuaries and their surroundings And indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Is ever watchful and ever is always watchful and can hear and see all things This speaks of this journey that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam undergoes What's important first and foremost to remember Is that this journey comes at a very Critical time in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the seerah of the prophet It was an opportunistic it was an opportunistic time Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had undergone Severe trials Those that would test His very faith and belief In what he was doing and how he was doing it This comes after the events of daif Where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam goes To seek sanctuary And is not only humiliated Is devastated is driven out of that city and Uh countless atrocities are committed against the prophet Against his character And the only thing that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is concerned with Is whether or not he has disappointed His rub Whether or not he has disappointed allah subhanu wa ta'ala somehow And of course the angel gibreel alaihi salatu wa salam descends and assures him That he is not Allah is not displeased with him Allah will never be displeased with him And he is blessed and gives the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam the opportunity To request the destruction of the city of daif And the prophet being The mercy to all of creation He refuses he says no Perhaps from their offspring from their loins shall emerge A nation of believers And we know this to be the truth The prophets this is a prophecy of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Because indeed from that tribe and from that community Emerges many great believers And so that was one But it is also comes after the so-called year of sorrow In which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is exiled from medina And from mecca, excuse me And it is in that period of time where he loses The comfort the support Of two pivotal characters in his life One is his Is his is his uncle is his grandfather, excuse me Who had given him support And also his wife khatija radiallahu anha Who of course had given him tremendous support And so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is distraught despondent And it is at this time That he undergoes this magnificent journey First to jerusalem and then from there the ascension The urooj the ma'raj To the seven heavens this beyond the samawat And so this is that journey And so first and foremost it comes at this very critical time in the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's campaign And we know as I said there are certain Amazing and fantastical things that occur During this journey and as I said that we don't have time to delve into all of them He travels on this mystical creature known as the burrak And he travels the speed of light literally It is reported by aisha radiallahu anha That his bed was still warm when he returned after the journey And yet he had traveled these tremendous distances That the lock on the door was still swinging This is a blink of an eye in our reality But in the prophet's reality and then the journey that he undergoes It is fantastical He sees and traverses great distances And we can get into the relativity of time and so on But regardless he undergoes these Fantastical events that occur That are presented to him the sights and the sounds the opportunity to meet with ambia with his fellow prophets In jerusalem and also throughout the seven samawats the seven heavens as they were But what I want to also remember remind us brothers and sisters when we talk about the fantastical When we talk about something that If we apply simply our rational minds It doesn't make sense. How is it and like the koresh of the time Who denied that the prophet had undergone this magnificent journey? In fact, abubakar asiddiq it is reported that he gets his name of asiddiq Because the koresh they approached him and they said you know what your What your friend the what's your prophet is saying? That last night he went on this journey What do you say of that and the prophet and abubakar asiddiq? He says that if the prophet says it then it is truth And he is asiddiq Because he confirms the truth and the veracity of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam But This fantastical journey that takes place if we apply just our rational minds alone We say how does this happen? And as I said we can get into some of the scientific And we can get into Newtonian physics and quantum phoenix physics that may explain how the prophet was able to do this But this is a A miracle of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam And a miracle by its very different but by its very definition is a suspension of natural laws Is a suspension of physical reality or it can be and so we do not deny the Existence of the fantastical In fact our very lives are intertwined With the metaphysical We are not cognizant of it. We are not aware of it But we are in constant contact and interaction with other realms and dimensions That we cannot even see The ghaib the unseen Our very our very essence Is a great unknown to us We know very little as the quran tells us That about the ruh about the soul you know so little You know so you know, but a little of the reality of your own essence Let alone The realms and the dimensions that we encounter The manakut the realm of the angels the angelic realm the demonic realm the realm of the shayateen the realm of the jinn those forces and Those things around us that we cannot understand or conceptualize with our rational minds alone or with our intellect But they exist we believe in the fantastical And so the prophet's journey is not Anything beyond that It is a part of that metaphysical reality that we may not understand everything by simply applying our intellects Or science alone Cannot explain the realities of existence We live a life that transcends the physical We live a life that is connected with the metaphysical that which is beyond the physical realm And frankly brothers and sisters how empty would our lives be? How Drab Would human existence be If we didn't believe in the fantastical If we didn't believe that there are things that are greater than us That there are things that exist that are beyond our ability to understand That there are things that connect us to a law to the lord and creator of the universe be So hollow and and and empty if all we Believed in was the reality that we see the reality that transcends our senses That is the existence that we live Never forget that It gives our life purpose It reminds us again that there are things It transcends the mundane aspects of daily existence Another lesson that we learn Is that our message And the message of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Is a message of continuity That is to say that we belong to a great tradition and although historically if you Aren't you purely from a academic or historical perspective? The muslim community follows after Or comes after The jewish and christian and other faith traditions Our tradition is one of continuity It is not one of rejection It is not one of Uh of rejecting that which existed before before us But rather affirming in parts and negating in others But it is a continuity Of the abrahamic message It is a continuity of the message that was taught and instructed by all of the mba Which is submission to the creator Which is submission and obedience to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That submission that islam capital i if you will Islam as as as submission to the will of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a continuity Of other faith traditions and it is a continuity of the abrahamic tradition specifically And the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Is reminded of this himself On this journey Because he meets with the mba He meets with his prophetic brethren Those who followed before him He meets with them. He converses with them This is an opportunity for the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam To be reminded as if he forgot kasha But he was reminded again of the greater reality that his message belongs to And so our message is a message That is not unique that is not beyond Uh that is not a part from other great traditions But rather it is a continuity and a culmination of those great traditions That is the other lesson that we learn and that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself is reminded of In this in this magnificent journey One of the other things that is important of this journey And of import to us but also specifically to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Is that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is given Three things according to most of our great scholars He is given the prayer the salawat And we know the story of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam being commanded To pray 50 times a day And then he goes and he's instructed or he's advised By musa alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that his community would never be able to fulfill that obligation This is this occurs on this night But most importantly Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Gives him these things Without the intermediary Of the angel jibreel alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Underscoring the importance of these things That the prayer is given to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam directly without the angelic intermediary Without angel jibreel alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He is directly given the prayer Underscoring the importance and the centrality Of the prayer in our lives And our prayers brothers and sisters I spoke about the prayer last time in the khutbah In the khutbah But let us not forget that the prayer that we pray Is our own personal ascension It is our own personal Me'araj if you will Because we transcend beyond this world We transcend beyond the mundane And we have the opportunity to correct to connect Directly and communicate and commune directly with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's the prayer It is our own personal me'araj that we are given the opportunity a minimum of five times a day That's what the prayer is And this is the gift that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is given Without directly from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Directly The other thing that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is given is the wa'adah the Guarantee of paradise Not only for him But also to the faithful and the believers in his community The wa'adah of jannah of paradise is given to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to conclude I know it's cold a little wet perhaps even Is that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's magnificent journey He had the opportunity Or he was given the choice To descend back To the earthly realm and he chose that because he wanted to continue to Prosecute his mission. He wanted to continue To promulgate the mission of islam the teachings that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had given him But he was given the choice to return And so there is a great mercy in his descent back to the earthly realm Because the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam chose to continue To impart his teachings and to leave the legacy that we belong to as being a part of his umma That is a mercy to not only us but also to all of humanity That the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Descended and the descent back To the earthly realm is a mercy and it is a it is a representation Of the prophets being and that the prophet being A mercy to all of creation because he chose that But another descent that i want to talk about brothers and sisters in my conclusion Is descent spelled d i s s e n t Which is to defer to disagree Descent Because it is known that even among the companions There was some khilaf. There was some disagreement as to whether the prophet's journey To the specifically the ma'raj the ascension to the seven realms of the the paradise and and the seven Atmospheric realms if you will the samawad these are not paradise, but rather these are realms of existence but nonetheless That there was a disagreement whether the prophet's journey was a physical one Or whether it was a spiritual one in fact according to our mother sayyidina ayesha radi allahu hanha She held the opinion That the prophet's journey was a spiritual one not a physical one That she deferred with other companions and the in fact the majority opinion That the prophet's journey was in fact in body and in spirit But nonetheless They deferred and they disagreed Without coming to war Without disagreeing you know being disagreeing without being disagreeable as they say They maintain ties They maintain their friendship and the and camaraderie in the community that they belong to They didn't allow deferring opinions khilaf Different approaches different understandings different interpretations Of even something as the prophet's journey to come in the way of to not allow differences in disputations that occur Whether they're over managerial or organizational matters Or they're over religious matters fiki jurisprudential differences Or even theological differences to come in the way Of our relationship that we have with one another The relationship that we have with the rest of our umma Let us not allow differences and disputations to occur to soil the ranks of our community To create discord and disharmony in our community That is a lesson that we learn in also the dissent the disagreement that the that the prophet's companions add Of the very journey that we are speaking about I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allows us to reflect upon the many Beautiful lessons that we can learn from the isra'a wal-maraj from our great freight tradition I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keeps us safe keeps us healthy and secure Inna alhamdulillah What You call Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran Inna alhamdulillah Alayna isra'an kamaa maltaqu'a alaladina min qablina Rabbana wa la tuhammilla malatokhata lana bi wa'afu'anna Wa gafir lana wa rhamna Anta maulana fansurna alal qawma al-kaafireen Ya muqalib al-khulub thabit khuluban aladinik Rabbana la tu'akhidna Rabbana atina fid dunya hasna wa fil aakhir hasna wa khina aza b'nara subhanah Rabbika rabbil izzati yama yisifoon Wa salamun alal mursaleen Wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin Wa qeemu al-salah