A Wisdom of the Night Journey and Ascent

٦ - فِي فَرْضِ الصَّلَاةِ لَيْلَةَ الإِسْرَاءِ وَالمِعْرَاجِ إِشَارَةٌ إِلَى الحِكْمَةِ الَّتِي مِنْ أَجْلِهَا شُرِعَتِ الصَّلَاةُ، فَكَأَنَّ اللهَ يَقُولُ لِعِبَادِهِ المُؤْمِنِينَ: إِذَا كَانَ مِعْرَاجُ رَسُولِكُمْ بِجِسْمِهِ وَرُوحِهِ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ مُعْجِزَةً، فَلْيَكُنْ لكُمْ في كُلَّ يَوْمٍ خَمْسَ مَرَّاتٍ مِعْرَاجٌ تَعْرُجُ فِيهِ أَرْوَاحُكُمْ وَقُلُوبُكُمْ إِلَيَّ، وَلِيَكُِنْ لَكُمْ عُرُوجٌ رُوحِيٌّ تَتَحَقَّقُونَ بِهِ التَّرَفُّعَ عَنْ أَهْوَائِكُمْ وَشَهَوَاتِكُمْ، وَتَشْهَدُونَ مَا هُوَ مِنْ عَظَمَتِي وَقُدْرَتِي وَوَحْدَانِيَّتِي، مَا يَدْفَعُكُمْ إِلَى السِّيَادَةِ عَلَى الأَرْضِ، لَا عَنْ طَرِيقِ الاسْتِعْبَادِ وَالقَهْرِ وَالغَلَبَةِ، بَلْ عَنْ طَرِيقِ الخَيْرِ وَالسُّمُوِّ، عَنْ طَرِيقِ الطُّهْرِ وَالتَّسَامِي، عَنْ طَرِيقِ الصَّلَاةِ.

6. In the obligation of the Ṣalāh on the night of al-Isrāʾ (Night Journey) and al-Miʿrāj (Ascent) is an indication of the wisdom  for which the Ṣalāh was legislated, for it is as if Allah is saying to His believing slaves: ‘If the Ascent of your Messenger, in both body and spirit, into the sky was a miracle, let there be for you, five times every day, an ascent in which your spirits and your hearts ascend to Me. Let there be for you a spiritual ascent in which you rise above your passions and desires, and witness of my Sublimity, Power, and Oneness what will push you towards sovereignty on earth, not through the path of enslavement, coercion, and domination, but rather through the path of goodness and loftiness, through the path of purity and transcendence, through the path of the Ṣalāh.’

  -  Dr Muṣtafa as-Sibāʿī, As-Sīrah an-Nabawiyyah: Durūs wa ʿIbar (Beirut: Dār Ibn     Ḥazm, 1430/2010), 58.