Furthermore, just as the Noble Messenger (UWBP) showed the inhabitants of the earth the miracle of the Splitting of the Moon, so too he showed the inhabitants of the heavens his supreme miracle of the Ascension. Referring that greatest miracle to the Treatise on the Ascension, the Thirty-First Word, which demonstrates with decisive proofs – even to deniers – how luminous, exalted, and true a miracle it was, we shall mention here only his journey to Jerusalem, the preliminary part of the miracle of the Ascension. For it was a miracle too that when asked by the Quraysh the following morning,  he  provided  them  with  a  description  of  the  Masjid  al-Aqsa.  It  was  as follows:

The morning after the night of the Ascension, he informed the Quraysh about the Ascension. They dismissed it as false, and said: “If you really went to the Masjid al- Aqsa in Jerusalem, then describe to us its doors, walls, and condition.” The Noble Messenger (UWBP) later said: “I was annoyed by their question and denial in a way that I had never been annoyed before. Suddenly, God Almighty lifted the veil between me and the Masjid al-Aqsa and showed it to me; I looked at it, and saw and described it.” [398] Then the Quraysh understood that he was giving the correct and complete description.

God’s Noble Messenger (UWBP) also told them: “During the journey, I saw one of your caravans. It will arrive here tomorrow at such-and-such a time.” They waited for the caravan. It was delayed for an hour, so in order that the Messenger’s (UWBP) prediction should be right, the sun was arrested for an hour, as is confirmed by those who investigated the event. That is to say, in order to prove what he said was right, the earth stopped its journeying, its duty, for an hour, and its immobility was shown as the sun being arrested in its motion.[399]

Thus, the mighty earth abandoned its duty in order to confirm a single statement of Muhammad the Arabian (UWBP), and the mighty sun witnessed it. So you may understand how unfortunate are those who do not affirm him nor obey his commands, and how fortunate are those who affirm him and say: “We have heard and we obey!” Now offer praise and thanks to God for Islam and belief!

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[398] Bukhari, Manaqib al-Ansar, 41; Tafsir Sura, 17:3; Muslim, Iman, 276, 278; Tafsir Sura, 17:3; Musnad, i, 309; iii, 377; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 191.

[399] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 284; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 591-2; Suyuti, al-Durar al-Muntathira, 193; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, viii, 296; al-Sa’ati, al-Fath al-Rabbani, vi, 155; al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da’ifa, 972.