In Praise of the Heavenly Night Traveller

Dedication: To the one who flew from one sanctuary to another as the full moon traverses the night sky[1]

On 4 May 2016 / 25 Rajab 1437, after an evening conversation over music and recitation, food, animals, and the night ascension, a friend was inspired to recite and share the following verses.  I have attempted to translate them and have included my rough translation below.  

Full moon over Jerusalem (Image from Islamicity.org)

صلوا على من قد سرى نحو السما
ليلا وعاد وما برحنا نوما
بالروح والجسم المطهر قد سما
قله وعلِّم من أبى تعليما 

صلوا عليه وسلموا تسليما

صلوا على من قد رأى الرحمنَ
بالقلب بل بالعين منه عيانا
من قاب أو أدنى قريبا كان
فخذ الفوائد واحذر التجسيما 

 صلوا عليه وسلموا تسليما

Pray upon the one who traversed the heavens in a night

Returning before we barely stirred from slumber

In spirit and purified body, he took flight

Humbling and teaching the one who rejected (him)

Invoke blessings and peace upon him.

Pray upon the one who beheld The Most Merciful

By heart and, indeed, the eye was witness

To One who was but a short distance--or intimately closer[2]

Take what you may of lessons and beware of anthropomorphism[3] 

Invoke blessings and peace upon him.

---

The Miraj by Sultan Muhammad (16th century)

[1] See the first verse of the chapter on the Night Journey and Ascension in The Mantle Ode by Al-Būṣīrī. 

[2] The poet echoes the ninth verse from the Chapter of the Star in the Qur’an (Sūrat al-Najm 53:9) in which God is described as being “at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer.”

[3] I couldn't think of a more poetic replacement for the technical term "anthropomorphism." Here, the poet is warning against the doctrinal and philosophical position of reading the Qur’anic text that refers to change in space and time in a way that anthropomorphizes God and conceptualizes the divine bound by space and time.