53:1 By the star when it fell.
Know that in this surah the Real reported about the miʿrāj of that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, his journey to heaven, and his return from contemplation and face-to-face vision. Thus by knowing this story his community may give repose to their spirits and increase the light and joy of their hearts. At the beginning of the Surah of Banī Isrāʾīl, He mentions the story of his going and, to show its greatness, put His own incomparability before it: “Glory to be Him who took His servant by night” [17:1]. In this Surah, He explains his return from the Presence and, to declare its eminence, swears by his person: “By the star when it fell! By that bright star, by that full moon, by that lit lamp, when he returned from the presence of face-to-face vision!” His person saw the station of proximity, his heart found the repose of contemplation, his secret core reached the good fortune of union, and he listened to the secrets in the secluded cell of Or closer [53:9] on the carpet of expansiveness.
Know that the Master’s going to that way station is not strange, but his resting in this way station is wondrous, for the people of the world are in the darkness of distance, but he was in the light of nearness and proximity. When that paragon left Gabriel in his known station [37:164] and passed on, he entrusted the luminous secrets of his outwardness and inwardness to the attraction of the Presence. He dove into the sea of light and the ocean of tremendousness and he traversed the canopy of eminence with the feet of aspiration. Just as a magnet attracts iron to itself, so the spires of the Splendorous Throne attracted that paragon to itself. From the Splendorous Throne he aimed for the presence of two-bows’ length [53:9], and in the station of two-bows’ length, he made himself a resting place on the seat of beauty in the description of perfection while contemplating majesty. The exalted revelation explains these intimations in these words:
53:8-9 Then He drew close, so He came down until he was two-bows’ length away, or closer.
Among all the creatures in the World of the Realities, none was greater than Muḥammad Muṣṭafā. The root desire of the divine decree in accordance with the beginningless knowledge was to bring about the state of that paragon and make manifest his majesty. The first substance that received a robe from the command Be! and upon which shone the sun of the Real’s gentleness was his pure spirit. There was still no Throne or Carpet, no nighttime intrusion or daytime mercy when God’s artisanry brought his spirit from the repository of beginningless knowledge to the lodging place of endless splendor. He put it on display in the meadow of approval and the station of contemplation. Whatever came into existence afterward rode on the coattails of his spirit’s existence. Whatever people imagine of familiarity, nearness, clemency, mercy, leadership, and felicity, He sprinkled over his spirit’s essence and attributes. Then He placed it inside the frame of Adam the Chosen and made it pass over the degrees of variegation and the trails of stability. Then He sat it down in the seat of messenger hood, commanding it to call the people to the presence of the religion, to bring the lost back to the road, and to invite the travelers to the Threshold.
You might say that this paragon was a falcon trained on the hand of bounty, nurtured on the carpet of proximity and nearness, and brought forth from the togetherness of contemplation to the dispersion of invitation so that he could hunt a world and place everyone before the gentleness and severity of the Real. Today he makes everyone his prey with the Shariah, and tomorrow, in the station of intercession, he will entrust them all to the Real.
When that paragon stepped into the playing field of invitation and when the exalted ones of the Presence responded, the vanguard of the trial showed its face from every corner. From the heaven of creativity, the rain of tribulation began to fall. The Eternal Qur’an reports the story of their grief as follows: “We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger” [2:155]. “You will surely be tried in your possessions and yourselves and you will hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you and from the associaters” [3:186].
When the suffering of the trial of those pure Companions, the exalted ones of the Presence, reached its utmost, and the injuries and attacks of the unbelievers passed the limit, a command came to Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence, the courier of Mercy, the emissary of prophecy: “O Gabriel, the hearts of those faithful, exalted Companions have remained in bewilderment and grief, and their breasts have become the quarry of sorrow and regret. It seems that they know nothing of the varieties of bliss and the gentle favors of generosity that We have prepared for them in the subsistent home, nor of the bestowals and chambers that We have built-in their names. Rise up, pass through the layers of heaven, and travel to the lower world. Go to the threshold of Muḥammad the Arab, that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, their prophet and Our messenger, and tell him to come to the Presence to see their final issue and returning place. He can recount that joy, bliss, and tremendous triumph that We have made for them and place a balm on their hearts. Then the hardship and trial they suffer in this world may become easy for them in the hope for this generosity and bestowal.”
“O Muḥammad! Tell your companions that someone will be aware of the sweetness of union once he has tasted the bitter colocynth of separation.” When someone hopes for a great kingdom in the neighborhood of the generous Lord, it is not beneath him to carry the burden of tribulation and, with the hope of that blessing, to consider the tribulation good fortune.
