Lecture J

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

THE EVENT AND MIRACLE OF THE ASCENSION (MI’RAJ) AND THE FIRST GRANT GIVEN TO THE BELIEVER UPON HIS DEATH

Mi’raj means –as spiritual journey- ADVANCEMENT IN COGNIZANCE OF ALLAH AND PROGRESSING.

The travel in the physical realm is the ascend of our prophet (peace be upon him) with his soul and bodily structure to THE REALM OF CREATION, i.e. seven heavens, the almighty throne, the seat, the Lote-tree of the utmost boundary. Our venerable Visali Sultan said that this Mi’raj took place both with his soul and body, while the 33 other Mi’raj of the prophet took place only with his soul only.

THE LOTE-TREE OF THE UTMOST BOUNDARY is the end of the realm of CREATION and the start of the realm of HAQQIYYAH. Haqqiyyah is the unseen realm (The realm of Ghayb) and the realm of Emir (The realm of Decree). The position that Gabriel (peace be upon him) said “If I walk one step ahead, I will be burnt” is the degree whose reality is known only by Allah Dhul Jalal and his distinguished Prophet (pbuh).

Gabriel (peace be upon him) has KNOWLEDGE and INTELLECT. However, the realm of HAQQIYYAH is beyond the intellect, i.e. the realm that is beyond being able to UNDERSTAND and REFLECT. According to our spiritual guide the venerable Visali, the meaning of Gabriel’s words: “If I walk one step ahead, I will be burnt” is the degree the author of the Mawlid indicates as “THERE IS NO PLACE OR THE EARTH AND SKIES IN THERE”.

Even though JETS and ROCKETS can not go to the far way points of the physical realm, their flight to the realm of EMIR, which even Gabriel (peace be upon him) can not have access to, is the other impossibility.

Our prophet (peace be upon him) opened the path of Mi’raj to his community, too. Those who put the condition of the faith in their heart and reach to the degree of SOUL AT PEACE (REST AND SATISFATION) can ascend to the mentioned degrees in proportion to their degree in MATURITY AND PRAYERS. Especially those who experience THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY should attain Mi’raj in their lifetime, while in the grave or in the arena for last judgment or in the heaven.

What will be seen during Mi’raj is given in summary in the EULOGY OF THE SEVEN REMEDIES FOR THE HEART. We recommend reading that eulogy again.

“EXPERIENCE IS NOT KNOWN BY MERE WORDS. THOSE WHO DO NOT TASTE DO NOT KNOW”

MIFTAH-UL KULUB- pp-369

As you can not explain the sweetness of sugar by mere words to the one who has not tasted it, even though one can describe Mi’raj, a spiritual pleasure, in the best possible way, we can not grasp THE REALITY OF MI’RAJ fully unless we do Mi’raj ourselves. We pray for the help of Allah Taala.

THE FIRST GRANT TO THE BELIEVER UPON HIS DEATH

A noble hadith quoted by BERA BIN AZIB says:

We were in the funeral of a person from the Ansar (who gave aid to those who forsook their homes and migrated to Medina) with the prophet of Allah. We had not put him in the grave, yet. Our prophet sit and we sit, too. The prophet of Allah was holding a stick in his hand and was scraping the soil with it. He raised his head and said two or three times: I SEEK REFUGEE WITH ALLAH FROM THE TORMENT OF THE GRAVE.

Then he continued:

When a believer servant is about to leave the world and turn towards the afterlife, angels in white clothes descend to him. Their faces are as bright as the sunshine. They bring the shroud and mummy from the heaven. They stop when they approach to until eye-length. Then the angle of death comes and sits on his bedside and says to the believer:

“O NAFS AL MUTMAINNAH (THE NAFS AT PEACE), COME OUT TO THE MERCY AND CONSENT OF ALLAH”.

He said, even though you see differently, his soul flows out from his body as the water flows from the pitcher. The angel of death takes his soul. The angels in white do not surrender his soul immediately; first they put it in the shroud and mummy and then give it. Then a smell comes out of it like the best smell in the world. The angels lift it up. When they pass by other angel groups, they say WHO IS THIS PLEASANT AND NICE SOUL: Others say HE IS THE SON OF SO AND SO and mention him with best attributes. Then they arrive at the sky of the earth which is opened to them. The muqarrab angels of each heaven accompany them until they are surrendered to those of the next heaven and finally they arrive at the seventh sky. Allah Taala decrees in there.

“WRITE THE BOOK OF THIS SERVANT OF MINE AT THE HIGH PLACES (='ILLIYYOON), AND RETURN HIM TO THE EARTH, BECAUSE I CREATED HIM OUT OF THE EARTH AND I AM RETURNING IT TO THE EARTH AND I WILL RESURRECT HIM FROM THERE”.

When the soul returns to its body, TWO ANGELS come and ask the questions of the grave. Upon this, a voice is heard from the sky.

“MY SERVANT SAID IT CORRECTLY. REFURBISH A PLACE IN THE HEAVEN FOR HIM AND MAKE HIM WEAR THE CLOTHES THE PARADISE AND OPEN A DOOR FOR HIM TO THE HEAVEN AND THROUH IT HE GETS PLEASANT SMELLS AND THE SMELL OF THE PARADISE. HIS GRAVE EXPANDS AS FAR AS EYES CAN DISCERN. THEN A MAN WITH A BEAUTIFUL FACE AND NICE SMELL COMES TO HIM AND SAYS:

Glad tidings to you, the promised day is today. The dead person asks: “Who are you?” and continues “You have a blessed face”. The man answers “I AM YOUR GOOD DEEDS”.

The dead person gets very happy and asks Allah: “O MY SUSTAINER, BRING THE END OF THE WORLD SO THAT I CAN MEET MY FAMILY AND MY BELONGINGS”.

This is the first gift of Allah just after the death. He is raised to the SEVEN HEAVENS in nice smells. The angels of each heaven meet him with compliments and WELCOME. He sees the paradise. A window is opened from his grave to the paradise. His grave expands. The grave becomes a garden from the gardens of the paradise for him UNTIL THE RESURRECTION.

Celaleddin Es-Süyuti, KABİR HAYATI, pp-109-110

This noble hadith also expresses the situation of those who died as unbelievers. It would be useful to give that part, too, to compare with the situation of the believer.

The unbeliever with his all strength concentrated on meeting the needs of his body, even he became sort of drunk with this effort. He has no thoughts other than the love of the world and fulfilling its requirements. Normally aging should result in the worry of the afterlife and the wish to continue the prayers, his greed increases further. This is called THE GREED OF ELDERLY. His experiences and money stocks lead him to making new investments, getting higher income and looking for fertile grounds for trade. The life wasted and he went bankruptcy for the afterlife.

Those who perform the obligatory and wajib orders and those who practice Islam fully are minority. The population of the world is above five billion. Among this the number of those with muslim identity (as written in their ID card) EXCEEDS ONE BILLION. If we can sift the ID card muslims in this one billion muslims with various sieves, we wonder how many muslims will stay above the sieve. This should be asked to ELEKÇİ BABA in Edirnekapı.

A hadith says the following:

MY UMMAH (COMMUNITY) IS DIVIDED INTO 73 DIVISIONS,

72 OF which went astray (their life does not conform to Islam)

The remaining one is the SAVED GROUP (those who attain freedom).

A muslim should first learn the religious rules in Islamic catechism books and then give priority to the following five things and act accordingly.

1-The foods he eats: He should eat and drink halal (permissible) stuff. He should learn how he can earn money through halal ways. As per a classification the ways of making money lawfully are these: The booty, inheritance, agriculture, bodily work. He should avoid interest, deceiving people, engaging in bribery, taking the goods that belong to the state or a private person without permission, telling lies in trade, not keeping his words and not paying his debts.

A noble hadith decrees:

“WORSHIPPING HAS TEN PARTS, NINE OF WHICH IS EATING HALAL (PERMISSIBLE)”.

2- Rectifying the faith in accordance with the creed of the community of Sunnah wal jamaat, that is being outside the seventy two DEVIATED GROUPS and being included in the SAVED GROUP.

3- MAKING HIS PURPOSE SINCERE: He should not hope any other gains in his prayers other than pleasing Allah, not expect anything in exchange of his worship.

4- ACCEPTABLE DEEDS, GOOD DEEDS: His goods should attain acceptance. He should carry out the rules of Islamic catechism together with the conditions and fundamental principles and spiritual principles of the worships.

5- Having BEAUTIFUL MORAL (that deserves being praised)

Moral is the fruits of the worships. If the four principles cited above are fulfilled properly, MORAL COMES into existence. If the moral of ALLAH and our prophet do not occur, it means there are flaws in the lawfulness of the food, the correction of the faith, the sincerity of purpose and acceptance of the deeds. A resolution should be sought after for these.

A hadith says:

“GET AND STICK TO THE MORALITY OF ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER (peace be upon him)”.

A believer that reaches to the degree of mature person can know and see THE SITUATION AND DEGREES of the dead people when he enters a cemetery. This is called DISCOVERY OF THE GRAVES. Such persons can even talk to the dead people in the graves. YUNUS EMRE (may Allah exalt his mystery) is one of them and he says the following:

These were sirs at a time

They had doorkeepers

Now come and see what situation they are in.

Seyid Nizamoğlu Divanı, pp-113

Those who make these temporary bodies embellished

They who make the world heaven to themselves

Those who are greedy for property and goods

Those who love kids and wife

Do you think you turned your face to God?

Be careful, you made your face an idolater

THE DEATH OF THE UNBELIEVERS AND THEIR SITUATION IN THE GRAVE

When an unbeliever servant is about to cut his ties with the world and turn towards the afterlife, angels with dark faces descend to him. They carry blankets made of hard hair. They sit very close to the unbeliever. Then the angle of death comes and sits on his bedside and says:

“O EVIL NAFS!”, the angels say. “COME OUT TO THE WRATH OF ALLAH!” and his soul scattered in his body. He pulls his soul as if he pulls his side teeth. Then they wrap him to blankets made of hair. THE WORST SMELL of the earth emanates from him. Then those angels take him to the skies. When they pass by the groups of angels, they say WHAT AN EVIL SOUL. THE ANGELS OF TORTURE:

Talk about him as HE IS THE SON OF SO AND SO with its worst name in the World.

Then the prophet of Allah recited the 40th verse of Surah Al A’raf. “For them the gates of heaven will not be opened” and continued. ALLAH DECREES: WRITE HIS NAME TO THE DEEPEST MUD OF THE EARTH.

Then he recited the following verse:

“IF ANYONE ASSIGNS PARTNERS TO ALLAH, IS AS IF HE HAD FALLEN FROM HEAVEN AND BEEN SNATCHED UP BY BIRDS, OR THE WIND HAD SWOOPED (LIKE A BIRD ON ITS PREY) AND THROWN HIM INTO A FAR-DISTANT PLACE”

Those who ascribe partners unto Allah are as if fallen from the sky and an eagle grabbed him or the air thrown him away.

Two angels come to him (MUNKAR and NAKIR) and sit:

They ask “Who is your sustainer?” He answers, “uh, I do not know”

They ask “What is your religion?” He answers, “uh, I do not know”

They ask “Who is the man who was sent to you?” He answers, “uh, I do not know”

Upon this a voices is heard from the sky.

Allah says: THIS SERVANT OF MINE HAS TOLD LIE. ARRANGE A PLACE FOR HIM FROM THE HELL. MAKE HIM WEAR CLOTHES MADE OF FIRE, OPEN A DOOR FROM THE HELL TO HIM SO THAT ITS HEAT AND SMOKE CAN COME TO HIM THROUGH THAT DOOR. HIS GRAVE BECOMES TIGHTENED AND HIS RIBS GO IN ONE WITHIN THE OTHER. THEN A MAN WITH AN UGLY FACE AND DISGUSTING CLOTHES COME TO HIM.

To him:

BAD NEWS FOR YOU ABOUT THE THINGS YOU DISLIKED, this is the promised day.

He asks him:

WHO ARE YOU?

When he answers “I am your dirty deed”

He starts praying: O MY GOD DO NOT BRING THE END OF THE WORLD.

THE LIFE OF THOSE WHO DIED IN DEBT IN THE GRAVE

A noble hadith is as follows:

“A BELIEVER IS BOUND TO HIS DEBT UNTIL IT IS REIMBURSED”. This means he will be kept back from his real degree.

Another hadith of the prophet (peace be upon him):

A corpse was brought to near to the prophet. They would pray the Funeral Salat. He asked “HAS YOUR FRIEND BEEN IN DEBT?” One of the companions of the prophet said ‘YES’. Upon this he said:

“MY PRAYING FOR A MAN WHOSE SOUL IS HELD AS A HOSTAGE AND CONSEQUENTLY CAN NOT ASCEND TO THE HEAVENS WOULD BE NO AVAIL FOR HIM. IF ONE OF YOU GOES GUARANTOR FOR HIS DEBT, THEN I WOULD PERFORM THE FUNERAL WORSHIP AND MY WORSHIP DEFINITELY BE OF HELP TO HIM”.

After the prayer, the prophet (peace be upon him) asked if there was any one from his tribe and continued:

“YOUR DEAD BROTHER HAS BEEN SEIZED OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF THE HEAVEN. YOU EITHER PAY HIS DEBT, OR LEAVE HIM TO THE TORMENT OF THE GOD”.

Three points are emphasized in above given hadith:

1- The person who died while he had some debts is bound to his debt in the life in the grave. Debt squeezes man even in his life in the world.

The most evident meaning of being bound is being deprived of FREEDOM IN THE GRAVE. Those who lose the ability to move are like a prisoner. The believers have a kind of freedom under the conditions of the grave.

They can ascend to the skies, pass through the seven heavens and see THE ANGELS, THE PARADISE and their degree.

Their graves expand as wide as their eyes can see. They can go to the assemblies of remembrance, the masjid they worshipped in, the house they lived in whenever they wish.

They can talk to other dead people who lived a similar life in the world and had a similar degree. They can inquire curiously the matters they are interested in, and get news about them. They are taught the things they do not know including how to read the Qur’an.

THEY ARE DEPRIVED OF ALL THESE UNTIL THEIR DEBTS HAVE BEEN SETTLED IN FULL.

2- These two hadith also verify at a different time and subject, the hadith of ASCENDING TO THE HEAVENS AND THE GRAVE being similar to the hell, which will be analyzed in the parts to come. The expression that “IT CANNOT HELP TO PRAY FOR A PERSON WHOSE SOUL IS TAKEN HOSTAGE (BECAUSE OF DEBTS) AND THEREFORE CANNOT GO UP THE HEAVENS” points to this fact.

3- The importance of human rights

Being in debt relates to human rights. Passing through the Bridge (Sirat Bridge) and reckoning are obligatory (fard) and people will account FOR AT SEVEN DIFFERENT POINTS in the bridge. Five of them are about to THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM, THAT IS FAITH, PRAYER, FAST, ZAQAH, AND PILGRIMAGE. THE REMAINING TWO ARE HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF THE PARENTS. The sixth point at which one will account for is HUMAN RIGHTS. Every Muslim will account for his life from his adolescence to his death when he passes through the bridge.

If a person died as NOT BELIEVING in the afterlife, he goes directly to the hell. There is no need for him to pass through the other points of reckoning. Those who died as believers are first asked about the prayer (salat). The sin and reward balance of the person is produced very quickly, faster than a computer can do. The verse of (GOD IS SWIFT IN RECKONING) points to this. For instance if a Muslim, who became responsible for PRACTISING ISLAM at the age of 15, starts praying at the age of 32, first his MISSING PRAYERS are deducted. If this does not cover his debt, the sunnah cycles of each prayer are accepted as fard and deducted from his debt. If still some prayer debt remained, his situation is left to the divine wish. If Allah wishes, he is put into the hell for some time for the missing prayers, or he simply forgives. The pilgrimage deletes all sins, and also the sacred nights (laylat ul qadr and others) and Ramadan month and the like holy times cause the forgiveness of the sins. ALLAH KNOWS THE TRUTH BETTER.

If he person is sure or doubtful that he violated the right of a human, he should definitely make that person forgive him in his lifetime.

There are some suggestions for those who violated HUMAN RIGHTS.

a) He should start with repentance and pray for the help of Allah to become freed from the problem.

b) If the wronged person is alive, he must ask his forgiveness, and indemnify it in the way the person is pleased.

c) If the wronged person is dead, then he must satisfy and please the heirs with the same method, i.e. through advices.

d) If the wronged person had no heirs, he should pay the sum of money he has to pay to the poor on behalf of the dead person, and intend to do it in return for his debt.

e) If he has no means to pay for some reason such as hardship, he should recite QUR’AN for the mistreated person and pray for him. He should recite at least one Surah fatihah and three Surah Ikhlas and donate the attained reward to that person. In the praying places of the pilgrimage there are holy ones where prayers are always accepted.

One should pray especially in Al-Multazam, beneath the Golden gutter (on the Kaaba), the Great Maqam (the place of Abraham), during wukuf (standing/staying) in Mina and ‘Arafat and the like holy places and near the grave of the prophet.

We can donate the rewards of tawafs (the circumambulations of the Kaaba), except those of the tawaf ul Qudoom (arrival circuit) and Wada’ (farewell) tawaf to a person whose right we violated or our relatives and friends (or someone we want to reward)…There is no guarantee in forgiveness of the violation of a human right in the last two alternatives above. However, one should keep in mind and may hope that while the wronged person is trying to account for his deeds in the afterlife, on the day of reckoning, he will see the prays made on behalf of him in his rewards column and get very happy as if he was given a donation. If he indemnified his right in his lifetime, may be he would not have spent it in the right way. Considering the reasons and thoughts above, we think that the right of the wronged person can be paid like that. Because of the importance of the issue, we have given some details.

If one dies without indemnifying a violated right, and his heirs do not do it on behalf of him, he is BOUND TO HIS DEBT in his grave until the Doomsday. That is he becomes imprisoned and can not enjoy any of the gifts bestowed upon of the believers. THIS SITUATION CONTINUES UNTIL THE RESURRECTION AND THE END OF THE RECKONING. There he is made to pay his debt; that is some of his rewards are taken and added to the rewards of the wronged person by THE ABSOLUTE JUST Allah Taala who does everything in justice. Allah Taala knows its truth.

We will write here two incidents that we heard from our venerable Visali. One of them took place in 1900’s and related to two sincere dervishes, both of whom were cognizant of the events of the unseen realm to a certain extent. One day the two were talking about death. They did not know their death time. They promised mutually: When one of them dies, the dead one would explain to the living one whatever happens to him until he has been put into the grave. The LIVING one would watch over the dead one through SPIRITUAL CONTACTING.

After some time, one of these two dervishes died at a train accident. In accordance with the promise they made, the living one looked forward to getting the news of the dead one about his situation in the grave through SPIRITUAL CONTACTING. He also visited his grave. One day passed, then two and three, no news. While the living one was awaiting his news in great amazement, after the 29th day the dead person comes to him with his spiritual structure.

… I REMEMBER I MET A GROUP OF ANGELS IN NICE SMELLS. THEY SAID TO ME ‘WELCOME’ AND THEN THEY TOOK ME TO THE SKIES IMMEDIATELY. I MET A SEPARATE GROUP OF ANGELS IN EACH HEAVEN.. WITH WELCOMES AND COMPLIMENTS WE REACHED TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN. THEN THEY TOOK ME IN FRONT OF THE PROPHET. I JOINED THE MAJLIS OF THE SHEIKH OF THE UNIVERSE. THERE WAS ABU BAKR IN HIS RIGHT-HAND SIDE, AND ALI IN HIS LEFT-HAND SIDE, OTHER GREAT COMPANIONS OF HIM WERE THERE, TOO. I KISSED THE SACRED HANDS OF OUR EFFENDI…. Then the angels took me to the paradise. I had not seen such a beautiful house in my lifetime. It had been refurbished extraordinarily. They said ‘this is your house’. My happiness increased further.. I said, IF SO, I HAVE MY WIFE AND CHILDREN, LET ME BRING THEM HERE, TOO. They said, “nay! you are dead, we showed you your house in the paradise, you can view this from your grave at any time”. Upon this, I understood for the first time that I was dead and I remembered my promise and came back to you to keep my word. This is the end of their story. It is quite visible that the things our TRUTHFUL (TRUE INFORMER) prophet (peace be upon him) said in his hadith above come true exactly in the same manner. Here there is a small extra, i.e. his participating in the majlis (session) of the prophet. As the dead person was a dervish (FROM THE COMMUNITY OF SPIRITUAL JOURNEY) this was a favour of the prophet to him.

2- The year was 1961. We were in the house of Afyonlu İsmal Efendi together with the venerable Visali and some muslim brothers. Two young people who joined the meeting told our spiritual guide Hajji Bekir effendi:

“O sheikh, our fathers died a few years ago. We dream about him a couple of times where he looked offended. However, in his lifetime we always showed respect to him. We had the same dream a couple of nights, we are very sad and do not know what to do”.

The venerable Effendi kept silent for a couple of minutes and then asked. DID YOUR FATHER HAVE A DISPUTED DEBT ISSUE? They said, yes, he had somebody make a building, the master workman claimed he was supposed to be given 800 Liras more, and our father did not accept this and they had a dispute. Then our father died. Our Sultan told them to PAY THE MONEY AND MAKE THE MASTER WORKMAN FORGIVE THEIR FATHER.

We had written this incident under the heading of the miracle-like deeds of the effendi. The reason for conveying for the second time is to confirm the fact that THE INDEBTED PERSON IS TIED AND IMPRISONED IN HIS GRAVE with the miracle-like deed of a sheikh with the eye of certainty.