The Conversation at the Miʿrāj

The word taḥiyyāt is a gift: it is a conversation that took place between the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and Allah (swt) when he was raised to the Miʿrāj. The twenty-seventh night of Rajab is, according to the majority of the ʿulamāʾ, the actual night on which this journey, al-Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj, took place — in the eleventh year, it seems, shortly before the Hijrah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was going through a very difficult time. People were being persecuted for their dīn: because they said lā ilāha illa Llāh they were tortured, they were killed — not as it is with Muslims today. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had lost his beloved wife. In that year of ḥuzn, the year of sorrow, he had lost his uncle. He had lost his support, internal and external. He was utterly alone, and under great strain. Then Allah (swt) rewarded him with a gift called al-Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj: the journey from Makkah to Masjid al-Aqṣā and back in one night, and, within that same time, a journey of ascension into the heavens, which is called the Miʿrāj. He went beyond the edge of creation, so to speak, to the Lote Tree, Sidrat al-Muntahā. There Jibrīl al-Amīn said to him: O Muhammad, this is my limit; I cannot go even one step further. If I go one step further, Allah (swt) will burn me to ashes; I cannot bear it. The only being, he said, the only maqām, that could ever go beyond this point was Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself.

So Muhammad (peace be upon him) went into the presence of Allah (swt) — without space, without time, without dimensions, without directions. In that ḥuḍūr, in the presence of Allah (swt), his head lowered in full respect and adab, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used the following words, which most Muslims say every day without understanding them: at-taḥiyyātu lillāhi waṣ-ṣalawātu waṭ-ṭayyibāt. He gave salām to Allah (swt), so to speak — that is, he praised Allah (swt) with taḥiyyāt, ṣalawāt and ṭayyibāt. Allah (swt) responded to His Prophet (peace be upon him) with the shiʿār of Islam, the symbol of Islam: as-salāmu ʿalayka ayyuhā n-nabiyy — O Prophet, peace be upon you — and Allah (swt) added two things on top of it: wa-raḥmatullāhi wa-barakātuh, and the mercy and the blessings of Allah (swt) be upon you. What a conversation. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) responded: as-salāmu ʿalaynā wa-ʿalā ʿibādillāhi ṣ-ṣāliḥīn — I take this salām upon myself, and upon all my brethren among the anbiyāʾ, the prophets, and upon all those sincere servants who worship You, O Lord of the worlds. And all the angels together, including Jibrīl al-Amīn, all together declared: ashhadu an lā ilāha illa Llāh, wa-ashhadu anna Muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa-rasūluh. This is the conversation.