Meraj - In light of Hadith

The journey of Meraj was also a physical one, is established by the Holy Quran.  Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala) says in the first verse of Surah Bani Israil.

 

Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala) has used the word "'Abd" for the journey of Meraj and the Mufassirin (Exegetes-Experts in interpretation of the Holy Quran) have clarified that the word "'Abd" means both the body and the soul.  Neither only the body nor only the soul, but their gathering is called "'Abd."  This shows the journey of Meraj was for both the blessed body and the blessed soul of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  As given in Tafseer Razi, Surah Bani Israil-1.

 

There cannot be any contradiction between the Holy Quran and the Hadith.  The correct meaning of the said Hadith, will obviously be the one which does not create any (unnecessary) contradiction between the Holy Quran and the Hadith.  Thus, the interpreters of Hadith (the Shariheen) have mentioned multiple meanings of the Hadith of Hadhrat Shuraik (May Allah shower His Mercy on him):

 

The famous interpreter of Sahih Bukhari, Hadhrat Imam Ibn Hajr Asqalani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) has said, in Fathul Bari Sharh Sahih Bukhari:

 

1. If only the apparent meaning is taken here it means that after descending from the sky, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) rested and then woke up in the Masjid Haraam.

 

2. The Arabic word "Istaiqaza" means that when the Wahi (divine revelation) came to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), He would be in a particular state of absorption and the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) came out of that state in Masjid Haraam.  Coming out of the state of absorption is described as waking up.

The author of Fath Ul Bari clarifies this further on the authority of Hadhrat Imam Qurtubi: Imam Qurtubi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) has said: After the journey of Meraj, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) woke up, as the journey did not take the whole night, it was only in the part of the night and it can also be that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) turned towards humanness from the state of absorption in Masjid Haraam.  This is all assuming that multiple Hadith talk about the same journey.\

 

3. If it is taken that multiple Hadith are talking about multiple journeys and that the Meraj happened once with the body and other times in the dream, then there is no need for the aforementioned discussion even.

As the Pious Predecessors (Salaf Saliheen) have said that Meraj with the body occurred only once and spiritual Meraj occurred 33 times.

 

In reply to the objections to the Hadith of Hadhrat Shuraik (May Allah shower His Mercy on him), the aforementioned opinions of the Muhaddithin may be presented and none of them cast any doubt on the authenticity of Sahih Bukhari, which all the scholars accept to comprise the most well-authenticated Hadith.