In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful!

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,

One of the things with which we associate the end of the moth of Rajab, is Lailat al Miraj! “Miraj” means “ascension”. Allah (S.T.) wished to meet the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) sending him to Himself. He is the only one among the messengers who had the honor to be elevated in the Heavens and to meet the Almighty Allah.

Lailat al Miraj is characterized by several different things. One of them is the fact that elevating to the Heavens, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had the opportunity to meet the other messengers of Allah. Among them were Ibrahim (a.s.), Musa (a.s.) and from each of them Muhammad (pbuh) received a counsel. Returning from the Heavens the Prophet (pbuh) received a very important gift from Allah (J.J.). This was the five-time prayer. It is important for many reasons… But I will mention only two of them.

First, Allah (S.T.) ordered to the Prophet (pbuh) and all the Muslims to perform the prayer 50 times a day or to perform worship 50 times daily. When he was coming back, Musa (a.s.) turned to Muhammad (pbuh), telling him that his people, his followers would not be able to withstand this daily burden and advised him to go back to Allah (S.T.) and to ask from Him relief, to allow him and his people to perform less acts of worship. In this way the Almighty reduced his order for the number of the performed daily prayers to 40, then successively to 30, 20, 10, until their number finally remained 5. Allah (S.T.) knew that the number of the obligatory prayers for the Muslims will become 5, but nevertheless, in the beginning He ordered Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers to pray 50 times a day. Then He gradually reduced the prayers to their present number. Receiving this gift from Allah (S.T.) – the 50-time daily prayer, Muhammad (pbuh) was very happy. But understanding that his people will not be able to perform them, Allah (S.T.) reduced their number. This was the second joy for the Prophet (pbuh) and with every following reduction in the number – Muhammad (pbuh) received another joy. He was repeatedly delighted by the Almighty Allah that night – Miraj!

The next issue, which is important to be noted, is that the Prophet (pbuh) was elevated to Allah (S.T.) to meet Him! Muslims are not able to elevate to Heavens, but they are able to perform acts of worship to the Almighty Allah every day, to perform their prayer five times a day and this will enable them to “elevate”, to get closer to Allah and to “meet” Him. If someone wants to share something with the Almighty Allah, let s/he do the prayer! Whoever wants to hear Allah (S.T.), let s/he read the Qur’an!

That is why we say that Lailat al Miraj is the night in which everyone of us re-considers his situation and his relation with the Creator! Every day a person “meets” the Almighty five times in his prayer! Along with this, during Lailat al Miraj, remembering the ascension of Muhammad (pbuh) to the Heavens and his meeting with the Almighty Allah, we have the incentive to perform as much acts of worship as possible, to be as closer as possible to Him… Because when someone is in prostration, his whispering near the ground is heard by Allah (J.J.). He is the One who gives people the opportunity to re-consider their mission.

We ask Allah (S.T.) to give us the opportunity to re-consider our relation with Him, to make everything possible to be closer to Him!

May Allah accept the acts of worship of all of us!

Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi,

Grand Mufti of the Muslims in the Republic of Bulgaria