Part 3

Are unholy things unholy to Allah, too?

There are certain things in the world considered unholy from the religious point of view. Are these things unholy to Allah too? If they are, why did He create them? And if they are not why should He refuse to accept religious worship and prayers performed in an ‘unclean’ condition? It  is said that Allah exists everywhere. If that is so, is there no existence  of Allah in unholy, unclean things?

Why do worshipers have to turn to a particular direction?

Idolaters worship their gods and goddesses sitting or standing in front of the holy images. Thus the image of the goddess Kali is set up facing southward and that of  goddesses Durga facing westward. so the worshiper of these goddesses has to sit facing northward and eastward respectively. But we do not understand the purpose behind fixing a particular direction which the worshiper has to face. Especially for the Muslim who offer their prayers turning to the direction of Holy Kaba in Mecca; it is quite unnecessary since incorporeal Allah exists everywhere. Besides, why make supplications to Allah with folded or cupped hands and say ‘Amen’ in that stance at the end of prayer? Does it indicate the locus of Allah in a particular direction?

Is ‘Meraj’ something real or Dream ?

It is said that one night Hazrat Muhammad undertook a journey into the sky riding a wonder horse called ‘Borak’ sent by Allah. This trip is called the ‘Night of Meraj’. After traveling a immeasurable distance he is said to have reached the heavenly seat of Allah where he had conversions with Him and received from Him two precious gifts of Islam -‘prayer’ and ‘fasting’. That very night he also visited heaven and hell and returned home. they say it took him only a few minutes to accomplish this mission.

It is also said that in this trip of Meraj Hazrat Muhammad rode ‘Borak’ in the first phase and ‘Rafraf’ in the second phase. These are two special creatures, each of which is unique and singular of its kind.

Borak is in fact three in one- beast, bird and woman. That is, its body is like a horse, its wings are like those of bird and its face is like that of a young woman. There is no knowing where it came from, where it went after the trip and whether it is dead or alive. Curiously enough, Borak is a name which is to be found in the account of the ‘Night of Meraj’ and nowhere and nowhere else in the world. Is this beast real or is it a figment of the imagination embodied in a dream?

There are many architectural ruins in the world which are tens of thousand of years old. They are still in existence. They are still in existence. The pyramids of Egypt, built long before 3000 B.C. exists unscratched even today. The Miraj trip of Hazrat Muhammad is a matter of relatively recent history - occurring early seventh century. If he incident is real and factual, the things like the throne of Allah, heaven and hell should still be there. But are they? If they are, why don’t they come into the view of telescope used by the astronomers?

Before discussing Meraj it is necessary to learn whether this trip of Muhammad’s was a worldly trip or a spiritual trip. In other words, we ought to know whether the trip was physical or mental. If it is claimed to be physical, its credibility will be called in question because such a physical feat is neither probable nor possible.

In the opinion of the astronomers the space occupied by the sun and millions of stars is called the nebula or the galaxy and millions of nebulas or galaxies go to the making of the universe.

Scientists have found that speed of light exceeds that of any other things in the universe. Light travels at a speed of 186 thousand miles per second. The distance traveled by light at this speed in one year is called a light year (about six million miles).

Compared to the universe this world of ours is very insignificant indeed and the solar system is rather small and yet light takes eleven hours to travel from one end of the solar system to the other. Similarly light takes nine hundred seventy five thousand years to reach the galaxies from end to end the distance covered is 40,000,000,000 light years. This immense inter stellar space is the familiar visible material universe of the modern astronomers and scientists. But no scientist has yet to able to find any trace of heaven or hell or the throne of Allah in this universe. The man exist in some extra galactic region at an incalculable, infinite distance from here. If the Meraj of Hazrat Muhammad  be real, that is, if he had really traveled in person that infinite distance in a few minutes? What was the speed of Borak? How many miles per second?

Borak is created with having wings. So it appears that it flew at lighting speed with Muhammad on its back. But atmospheric air is necessary for flying by those who uses their wings to fly. No bird or aircraft can fly outside aerospace. Scientists have found that there is no air at an altitude of about 120 miles and beyond. For this reason planes cannot fly at that height. Rockets are used to launch a spacecraft. By what means did Borak fly in the vacuum of outer space?

Considering the different aspects of the matter it appears that Hazrat Muhammad’s air trip named Meraj said to be undertaken personally was no feasible in reality. is it then a spiritual experience or just a dream?

Almost all the religion agree in the belief that the Creator is present everywhere. If it is so, what need is there to travel across the sky to gain His proximity or to have access to Him? Was He not to be found at that time in the heart of hearts of Hazrat Muhammad? Did He disappear from his house (Holy Kaba) in the city of Mecca and the world at large?

Allah said in Holy Quran, ‘Wherever you are, there He is with you all the time (Sura Hadid -4). If Meraj is true will it be consistent with these Quranic verses?

What is the amount, weight etc of one piety?

There are various units of measurement of various things. A unit is  the quantity of amount used as a standard of measurement. For instance, meter/yard is the unit of length or distance; minute/hour is the unit of time; gram/kilogram is the unit of weight; candlepower is the unit of light measurement and volt is the unit of electrical force. Thus there must be a unit for measuring something, otherwise it would e impossible to measure anything at all.

Some religious preachers talk of ’ten piety’ (dosh neki) or seventy piety (shottur neki) to be got for this and that work. But what is the amount or weight of power or force of one piety? And what is the standard measurement for piety?

Where does the sun stay at night?

We have seen that according to some Muslim preachers the sun stays under the throne of Allah [See Hadith: Where does the Sun go to at night? Volume 4 Number 421—The Prophet asked me at Sunset, “Do you know where the Sun goes (at the time of Sunset)?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know better.” He said, “It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: “And the Sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.”]. 

But we have no idea about the exact location of the throne. However, we are told that the sun spends the whole night there in prayer and rises in the east at dawn.

We have also seen that according to the astronomers the sun is a spheroid of blazing furnace estimated to have a diameter of 865,000 miles. The temperature at its center is 60,000,000 degree centigrade and its surface temperature is 6,000 degree centigrade. The sun is constantly radiating heat and light all around it and within the range of that illumination the earth is rotating round its axis. It is day in that part of the world which faces the sun and it is night in its antipodes during that time. As America is situated in our antipodes, when it is day in our country it is night there and when it is night in our country it is day in America.

Therefore, we can confidently say that the sun stays in the sky of America at night in Bangladesh. Is it not the fact of the matter?