The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 274
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 274 greeted him in the following words: “O Awwal, 1 the peace of God be on you. O Ākhir, 2 the peace of God be on you, O Ḥāshir, 3 the peace of God be on you. ” Gabriel as instructed the Holy Prophet sa to respond to their greetings of peace. The Holy Prophet sa greeted them, and then, moved ahead. After some time, this very group met the Holy Prophet sa again, and greeted him with the same words. After a little while, a third time, this same occurrence took place, after which the Holy Prophet sa reached Jerusalem. Here, Gabriel as presented three cups before the Holy Prophet sa. In one was water, in the second alcohol and in the third was milk. The Holy Prophet sa preferred the glass of milk and rejected the other two. Gabriel as said, “You have chosen that which is natural, for if you had taken the water, your community would have drowned, and if you had chosen the glass of alcohol, your community would have gone astray. ” Then Adam as and the prophets after him were brought before the Holy Prophet sa , and he led them in congregational prayer. After this, Gabriel as said: “The old lady that you saw on your way here, was the world, and now the time remaining of this world is equivalent to the life left of this old woman. As for the one who called you to one side of the path, he was Satan, who wished to divert your attention from your true path, and towards himself. The group that met you in the end, and gave you greetings of peace, were Abraham as , Moses as , and Jesus as , the messengers of God. ” After this, the Holy Prophet sa returned to Makkah. 4 These are the occurrences which the Holy Prophet sa was confronted with during the Mi‘rāj and Isrā’. Any individual, who carefully analyses these instances, cannot remain in doubt with regards to their purpose or objective, especially when it is kept in mind that these were not physical occurrences. Quite the contrary, they were visions of the highest possible level, which the Holy Prophet sa was made to witness by the divine power of God. Even by little study, it is obvious that both in the Mi‘rāj and Isrā’ an indication to the 1 The First (Publishers) 2 The Last (Publishers) 3 The Gatherer (Publishers) 4 * Jāmi‘ul-Bayān ‘an Ta’wīli Āyatil-Qur’ānil-Ma‘rūf - Tafsīruṭ-Ṭabarī, By Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Al-Jarīr Ṭabarī, Volume 15, pp. 10-11, 21, Tafsīru Sūrati Banī Isrā’īl, Under verse no. 2, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) * As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, pp. 286-290, Dhikrul-Isrā’i wal-Mi‘rāj , Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) - (A summary)