As the Gaza ceasefire entered its eighth day on Jan 27, Muslims the world over commemorate Isra’ Mi’raj on that day – 27 Rejab (the 7th month) of 1446 Hijriah (Islamic calendar).
And the lessons of Israʾ and Miʿraj as seen from the perspective of the Seerah (the study of important events during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) is very much relevant in analysing the broader context of what would be the outcome of the ceasefire, and even the Gaza War itself.
For the uninitiated, Isra’ and Mi’raj refer to two parts of a miraculous Night Journey that Muslims believe Muhammad undertook during a single night around the year 621.
While Isra’ is the Night Journey from Mecca to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Mi’raj (Ascension) is the continuation of that journey from the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Heaven, where the Prophet individually greeted the other prophets including Adam, Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa) and Jesus (Isa).
It was during the Mi’raj that the Prophet received the commandment from Allah for Muslims to pray 50 times a day. As he descended to the lower Heaven, Moses bade him to beseech Allah to reduce the number of the daily prayers, as such an amount is a heavy burden that even his people (the Jews) would not be able to observe it had it been ordained on them.
Muhammad did as advised, and Allah reduced the number by five to 45 prayers a day. As he descended again to the lower Heaven, Moses still bade him to ask for a reduction and it was again reduced by another five.
This went on repeatedly until the daily obligatory prayers was reduced to just five. Yet Moses still bade him to ask for a further reduction with the same argument that “your people just like mine won’t be able to do this”.
This time Muhammad rejected the advice and said that he is deeply embarrassed of repeatedly beseeching Allah for a prayer reduction, and so Muslims are obligated to pray five times daily which carries the reward of 50 prayers.
Two years before Isra’ and Mi’raj, the Economic and Social Boycott of the Banu Hashim, the clan to which the Prophet belongs, miraculously ended, much to the chagrin of the pagan Meccans.
Although not all Hashimites were Muslims then, the pagan Meccans in their desperation entered into a confederacy (a bloc like the EU/Nato?) against the Hashimites – that they would not marry their women, nor give their own in marriage to them; that they would sell or buy nothing to/from them, and that dealings with them of every kind should cease.
The leader of Banu Hashim, Abu Talib, who was not a Muslim realized that it would not be prudent to live in the city where at any moment, the enemy could set fire to their houses.
And so, in the interests of the security of the clan, he, therefore, decided to leave Makkah to seek safety for his clan in a ravine near Makkah which later came to be known as Sh’ib Abu Talib. They were in a state of siege. And it was going to be a long siege!
The Boycott which began in 616 and lasted for three years saw the pagans had very little, if any, to show for their efforts. They had used every weapon against the Muslims ranging from temptation to persuasion, to insults to jibes and mockery, to the threat of using force and the actual use of force, but to no avail. The strength of the faith of the Muslims had baffled them.
It was during the Boycott that Muhammad lost two family members dearest to him – his protector and uncle, Abu Talib, and his wife, Khadijah in 619, the Year of Grief.
So Isra’ Mi’raj which occurred two years later (621) can be seen as a form of consolation from Allah for the Prophet and the Ummah for their patience, forbearance and steadfastness in facing the acute challenges of the Boycott, and a gift from Allah for the reduction in the daily prayers.
Most important of all, it was a portent from Allah that after all these struggles, a new chapter in the history of the Ummah will be forthcoming soon, and this takes the form of the Hijrah (the emigration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina) the following year (622) which immediately led to the formation of the first Islamic state in the history of the Ummah.
The Economic and Social Boycott of that time is akin to the present hybrid wars imposed by the sole hegemon of the unipolar world against the Palestinians and the Russians, with the various military offensives and intense economic sanctions imposed on them, together with Islamophobia and Russophobia added to the mix.
For the Palestinians in Gaza specifically, it was a horrendous oppression via the Siege of Gaza as symbolised by the Gaza Wall. Although there was no West Bank Wall, the Palestinians in the West Bank were also subjected to a siege via a strict and deadly border crossing controls imposed on them by Israel, where in the words of one of the released Israeli hostages:
“If the Israeli army only kills Palestinians in war, the Israeli Border Police controls the Palestinian neighbourhoods with military checkpoints and kill and wound them daily for no reason.”
Could it be that commemorating Isra’ Mi’raj yesterday (Jan 27) so soon after the ceasefire is similarly a sign of consolation from Allah for the steadfastness, patience and forbearance of the Palestinian people in enduring the horrendous atrocities and genocide inflicted on them by the Zionists and their allies in the US and Europe?
And what would be the likely gift from Allah during this year’s Isra’ and Mi’raj? The speedy and miraculous reconstruction of Gaza perhaps. And what would be its portents? The defeat of the Zionists at the hands of the Axis of Resistance, and the establishment of a free and independent Palestinian state in the not too distant future, perhaps.
Only Allah knows the future!
But make no mistake. The consolation of Isra’ and Mi’raj did not mean an immediate end to the oppression and persecution of the Ummah. In fact it got worse. With the death of Abu Talib, Muhammad had lost all protection, and so he proceeded to Taif to seek protection from the head of the Banu Thaqif.
However, Taif responded his entreaty for protection by mustering the children of Taif to throw stones at him. But the worst is yet to come when the pagan Meccans hatched a plot to assassinate Muhammad (a decapitation strategy which Israel and the US are fond of using), and then proceeded with the action with utmost failure, forcing him instead to emigrate to Madina.
But the wonder of it all is that before even the Hijrah took place when all hopes seemed to have been lost on living as Muslims in Mecca freely and independently based on the Divine Guidance brought by Muhammad, out of the blue he received a deputation from Madina who invited him to come to Medina to be their arbiter and ruler in their tribal quarrels and wars.
Would this out-of-the-blue moment be repeated in Gaza? Again, only Allah knows best!!!
If the lessons of Al-Isra’ wal Mi’raj were to be learnt, it means the Palestinian Resistance must be on their toes during the ceasefire for any violations of it by Israel, and for the very real possibility that Netanyahu had reluctantly accepted the ceasefire under heavy pressure from President Donald Trump because of an alleged Quid Pro Quo (I scratch your back, you scratch my back!) between them for the ceasefire to be a tactical breather for Israel to mount a further brutal ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians once the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas are all released.
It doesn’t really matter whether Trump is a true-blue Zionist or a ZINO, prevention is always better than cure. Moreover Trump has already approved the delivery of big bombs to Israel which was suspended by the Biden administration, and we know where these big bombs will land.
On top of this, Trump has also appealed to Arab countries like Jordan, Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia to take in all Palestinians in Gaza so that the rebuilding of Gaza can immediately take place which is as good as ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in Gaza.
In addition to all these, the Palestinian Resistance must also have a creative gameplan to ensure minimum possible casualties of their civilians – a tall order for a non-conventional army of resistance fighters to do without having an air force and air defence system.
But as the adage goes, knowing a problem is already half of the solution. Come to think of it, they too have a breather to come out with this gameplan.
Just saying!
