Fifty Prayers Become Five

After he passed Sidrat al-Muntahā, this tree, he went further up, and made it all the way until he met with Allah ʿazza wa jall, and that was the culmination of this journey. He reaches the Heights, and speaks to Allah ʿazza wa jall directly, and Allah (swt) prescribed upon Muhammad (peace be upon him) fifty daily prayers.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "I descended, and on my way back I passed by Mūsā." Mūsā (peace be upon him) asked him what Allah had told him, and he said Allah had prescribed fifty daily prayers upon his ummah. Mūsā (peace be upon him) said: "Your people will not be able to handle that. I have tested people before you, and I have experience of the Children of Israel over a very long time. Go back to your Lord and ask him to reduce it — ask him to relieve you." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) followed this counsel and went back to Allah (swt), asking to be relieved of some of the prayers, and they were reduced by ten. He came down; Mūsā asked what had happened, and told him to go back and ask for a further reduction. He went back, and ten more were reduced, bringing the number to thirty. Mūsā told him to go back again: it was reduced to twenty. Mūsā told him to go back again: it was reduced to ten. Mūsā told him to go back once more, and it was reduced to five. He went down and reported this to Mūsā, who said: "O Muhammad, I know these people — I have experience, I have dealt with the Children of Israel. Your ummah will not be able to handle even this. Go back and ask Allah to reduce it further." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "I am so ashamed to go back to Allah and ask Him for a further reduction — I cannot."

Here the difference between the two personalities shows itself. Mūsā would not have minded arguing with Allah further — he was the one who had asked Allah, "I want to see You," even after Allah had already granted him the favour of speaking to him directly; wanting still more, he asked to see Him, and collapsed at what followed. Mūsā (peace be upon him) is the one who struck the angel of death and knocked out his eye when the angel came to him. He was a very strong man, and that showed in his personality — the prophets of Allah were all the same in their daʿwah, but their personalities differed.

So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not go back, and he heard a voice saying that this was the prescription upon him — five daily prayers — but that he would receive the reward of fifty. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made it back to this world, to dunyā, on the same night. He went to Umm Ayman (may Allah be pleased with her) and told her what had happened: "I have been to Jerusalem and back in this night." She said: "O Messenger of Allah, do not tell anyone about that — nobody will believe it, it is impossible." Umm Ayman herself believed it, but she knew that the disbelievers of Quraysh would not. The journey to Jerusalem would ordinarily take a month; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made it there and back within a single night, and travelled further still, to meet with Allah ʿazza wa jall Himself.

Umm Ayman (may Allah be pleased with her) told him not to tell his people. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "I will. I will convey the message, regardless of what the people will say — it is part of my mission, and I will tell them what happened." His responsibility was only to convey it.