• Q and A

    Questions and Answers from the Risale-i Nur Collection
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Why is the Ascension Special to the Prophet Muhammad?

 

  • Despite many corruptions in the previous Scriptures like the Torah, the Gospels and the Psalms, a discerning scholar like Husain al-Jisri, still in this century, was able to find in them one hundred and ten signs indicating the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and quoted them in his Risala al-Hamidiya.
  • As authentically recorded by history, many soothsayers such Shiq and Satih, some time before his Prophethood, accurately foretold his Prophethood, and even that he was the Last of the Prophets.
  • Before his Prophethood, there were many extraordinary events, famous in history, called irhasat that is, signs forewarning people of a coming Prophet. For example, on the night of his birth, the idols in the Ka‘ba were toppled over, and the pinnacles of the famous palace of Chosroes, the Persian ruler, broke.
  • He satisfied the thirst of an army with water flowing from his fingers; he split the moon, as confirmed by the Qur’anic verse, The moon split (al-Qamar, 54.1), and the dry wooden pole against which he leant while preaching his sermons in the Mosque moaned like a camel in the presence of a large congregation because of separation from him. With all his miracles such as these numbering almost one thousand, related by history and biography, he was distinguished and made superior to all other Prophets.
  • Friend and foe alike agree that all the good qualities were to be found to the highest degree in his character, and that, as demonstrated by his conduct, the attributes and character of the highest excellence were apparent in the way he performed his mission, and, in accordance with the moral principles prescribed by the religion of Islam, praiseworthy virtues of the highest order are to be found in the Law he brought.
  • It is a requirement of wisdom that Divinity be manifested beacuse of Its perfections. It is the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who manifested the Divinity of God at the greatest level and in the most brilliant fashion through the most perfect and comprehensive way of worship contained in his religion.
  • The Creator of the world wants, as a result of the wisdom in the creation of the universe, to display His most perfect Beauty and Grace through some appropriate means, and it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who demonstrated and described His Beauty and Grace in the most perfect fashion.
  • The Maker of the world wants to exhibit and draw attentive gaze towards His perfect art of infinite Beauty, and, again, it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who proclaimed that art with the clearest voice.
  • Again, it is necessarily Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who, in response to the desire of the Lord of the worlds to proclaim His Oneness in the realms of multiplicity, announced Unity with all Its aspects in the most perfect way.
  • The Owner of the world wants, as a consequence of His Wisdom, both to see and to show in the mirrors of all beings, His infinite essential Beauty and Grace, with all their manifestations, and again it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who reflected them in the most brilliant fashion and made others love them.
  • It is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who, in response to the desire of the Builder of the palace of the world to describe His perfections by exhibiting His unseen treasuries full of invaluable gems, displayed and described them in the most perfect way.
  • The Maker of the universe has decorated the universe with the most beautiful and exquisite kinds of embellishments and included in it His conscious creatures in order that they should travel therein both to get enjoyment and to ponder over it and reflect. He therefore wants, as a result of His Wisdom, to communicate to people who observe and reflect, the meaning and value expressed by the works of His art. Again, it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who guided, in the most comprehensive way, men and jinn, and even angels, in this respect by means of the Qur’an.
  • Also, the All-Wise Ruler of the universe wants, by means of an envoy, to reveal to all conscious beings the purpose of the changes and transformations in existence and the answer to these three perplexing questions, Where do beings come from? Where are they going? What are they? Again, it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who revealed, by means of the truths of the Qur’an, this purpose and provided the answer in the clearest and most perfect way.
  • The Maker of this world also wants to make Himself known to conscious beings through His exquisite works and to be loved by them through the precious bounties He bestows on them. As a result, He desires to communicate to them by means of an envoy what He wants them to do and how they may obtain His approval in return for those bounties. It is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who communicated, by means of the Qur’an, the things that please God in the most exalted and perfect way.
  • The Lord of the Worlds has endowed man, who is the fruit of the tree of creation, with such a comprehensive disposition as will encompass the whole universe, and with a corresponding ability, and even need, to perform a universal worship. Man, on the other hand, because of his feelings, is usually inclined to the world with its varying attractions. So, God wills, by means of a guide, to turn man’s attention from worldly multiplicity to Divine Unity, from transience to eternity. Again, it is evidently Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who, in response to this will, by means of the Qur’an, guided man to this end in the most desirable fashion and performed the duty of Messengership in the most perfect way.
  • Thus, the most superior among creation are living beings, and among living beings the most superior are conscious beings. The most superior of conscious beings are true human beings, and among the human beings the one who carried out all the duties mentioned in the most perfect and comprehensive way would, of a certainty, rise through an all-embracing Ascension to the nearness of ‘two bows’ length’, that is, to the station nearest to God, knock at the door of eternal happiness, open the treasury of Mercy, and become a direct witness of the unseen truths of faith.
  • As observed in the whole universe, everything displays the most pleasing instances of beauty and utmost degree of adornment. This beauty and adornment clearly demonstrate that their Maker possesses a most vigorous will to make things beautiful and to adorn them. This will in turn shows of a necessity that the Maker has a strong inclination and sacred love towards His art. Therefore, the one among beings who has the most comprehensive disposition to display in himself all the wonders of art, one who knows them and makes them known and thus makes himself lovable, and who also deeply appreciates the beauties manifested in other beings in full appreciation of their having come from the Maker will evidently be the most beloved in the sight of the Maker, Who greatly loves His art.
  • It is the same being who, in full awareness of the exquisite qualities that adorn all beings; and of perfections that illuminate them, makes the heavens echo the words: Glory be to God! What wonders God has willed, and All these are from God! God is the greatest!, and who causes the universe to reverberate with the sounds of the Qur’an, and enraptures land and sea with his appreciative reflections and glorification, and his proclamation and demonstration of Divine Unity. Such a being is he that, according to the principle, The cause is like the doer, he receives the reward equivalent to that of all the good deeds performed by each member of his community; his spiritual perfections draw strength from the blessings prayed for him by each member of his community, and, as a result of the duties he performed in his Messengership, receives immaterial recompense and infinite emanations of Divine Mercy and Love. It is, therefore, the certain result of pure truth and absolute wisdom that this being should advance by means of Ascension as far as Paradise, Sidra al-Muntaha (the Lotus Tree), which is the farthest limit of contingency, the Divine Throne, and to the nearness of two bows’ length. The second: What do you mean by saying that he is the seed of the universe? You also say that the universe was created from his light, and also that he is its farthest and most enlightened fruit. What does that mean?

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.