['Aalim Network QR] Date of Mi'raaj

[Ummulbanin <workshop@popmail.dircon.co.uk>]

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|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
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Assalamu 'Alaykum
The following question was kindly responded to by Mulla Bashir Rahim

Salaams & Duas
Ummulbanin Merali - Moderator - 'Aalim Network
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QUESTION:

According to most Shia historians, did Meeraj take place on the 16th of
Ramadan or on the 27 of Rajab (When Mabath happened)?


RESPONSE:

The Shiah historians are unanimous in their assertion that the significance
of the night of the 27th Rajab is because it is the night of Bi'that, that
is the night on which the Holy Prophet
(SAWA) assumed the prophetic mission and received the first revelation. This
happened in the 40th year of Aamul Fil.

With regard to mi'raj there is a difference of opinion as to when it
happened. Allama Majlisi (a.r.) in his Hayatul Quloob (English translation
published by the Zahra Trust pp.190-191)
writes as follows:

"It is agreed by the Shiahs and the Sunnis that the ascension was before the
Hijrah from Mecca. It is probable that the ascension was afterwards
repeated. But that which occurred before the
Hijrah, according to some authorities, happened on Friday night, the
seventeenth of the blessed month of Ramadhan, or on the twenty-first of this
month, and  six months before the Hijrah.
Some say it was in the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, two years after Muhammad's
assumption of the Prophetic office....." Allama goes on to mention several
other dates favoured by other
historians including the 27th Rajab, but that date , according to Allama, is
mentioned in connection with the theory of mi'raj having taken place in the
second A.H.

Sayyid Safdar Hussain whose work has been translated into English as 'The
Early History of Islam' writes that Mi'raj took place on the 27th Rajab
eight months before the Hijrah.

It is difficult, therefore, to claim any particular date for Mi'raj. I was
perplexed to find in the very useful booklets published by the Al-Balagh
Foundation on the life of the Holy Prophet (SAWA) in the Chapter entitled al
Isra' (Parts 1 & 2 p.51) a theory being put forward that there were in fact
two events namely the al-isra' described in Ayah 1 of Chapter XVII of the
Holy Qur'an and the mi'raj described in Suratun Najm (Chapter LIII). This
may be because of the difficulty posed by the fact that Ch.XVII:1 mentions
one journey, one point of departure and
one destination. Whatever the motives, I had never come across this theory
before and al-Balagh who usually give their sources, give none for this
statement. I thought it pertinent to mention
this because many readers may have access to the al-Balagh publications.

Only Allah knows best about the date of the mi'raj.

With salaams and du'aas from an humble servant of Ahlul Bayt and their
followers, and with a request to be remembered by you in your prayers,

Bashir Rahim