SEMARANG – Commemorating Isra’ Mi’raj of Muhammad SAW Prophet, Diponegoro Mosque of Undip Pleburan Campus held a panel discussion with the theme Isra’ Mi’raj in Science and Religion Perspectives on Friday night (12/03/21).
Prior to the discussion, there are recital of Dzikir Rajab and Istighosah led by K.H. Muhyidin. Present at the event are Undip Rector, Prof. Dr. Yos Johan Utama, S.H., M.Hum., and Undip leaders including Undip Vice Rectors, Dean of Faculties, Lecturers and general public.
In his speech, Undip Rector said that the Isra’ Mi’raj commemoration has often been followed by people and at this time they have commemorated it dozens of times. At the commemoration event, people will be awakened by their rational nature and logical nature, where a person’s faith will have inner fight with something that is scientifically or technologically unreachable by existing logic.
“For example, if we live in the era of the Prophet, we know that the journey from the Grand Mosque to the Aqsa Mosque will takes about 3 weeks to 4 weeks by riding camel. Moreover it takes 8 weeks to go back and forth. However the Prophet suddenly said that by the blessings of Allah, he only takes a part of the night in carrying out in this journey. Now this scientific challenge becomes a challenge for us to explain,” said Prof. Yos Johan.
The speaker in the panel discussion, Prof. Dr. H. Thomas Djamaluddin, M.Sc explained, in the Qur’an there are two verses that explain Isra’ and Mi’raj in different letters and different verses, namely the beginning of the letter of Bani Israil or Al Isra and letter An. Najm verses 13-18.
In the authentic hadiths, it is stated that the Isra’ Mi’raj incident began with the arrival of the Angel of Jibreel who brought the Prophet Muhammad and cleansed his heart with faith and wisdom, then brought in a buraq, a white creature whose steps are as far as the eye can see. Buraq itself means lightning, means that lightning fast as this creature moves.
By riding buraq, Prophet Muhammad SAW performed Isra from the Grand Mosque to the Aqsa Mosque in Palestine. Then He did Mi’raj entering the seven heavens to the climax of the journey is Muslim society received prayer order.
“Then what about Isra’ Mi’raj in the view of science? Of course we cannot understand it completely. However, we try to approach from several approaches. Isra’ Mi’raj is not a journey between countries from Mecca to Palestine, but Isra’ Mi’raj can be understood as a journey out of time and space,” explained Prof. Thomas Djamaluddin.
Prof. Thomas continued, in the old concept, the sky is layered and centered. However, in the current concept, the sky has no center because it was created in the big bang, which is the beginning of matter and the beginning of time. Thus that the expanding universe has no center.
“The sky in the new concept actually means the seven heavens are an infinite number of celestial bodies,” he said. On the other hand, K.H. Drs. Muhammad Dian Nafi, M.Pd., said that there is one important word in the first verse of Al Isra, namely the word “min aayaatinaa” which shows the things that Allah SWT shows as signs of Allah’s power and lessons learned from Mecca to Baitul Maqdis.
“Meanwhile, from Abi Mansyur Al Maturidi’s interpretation, “min aayaatinaa” is when Allah SWT shows signs of power that are not rational in nature, but also psychologically and spiritually. Al Mawardi’s interpretation concludes that the signs of power of Allah SWT which were shown to the Prophet on Isra’ Mi’raj were miracles,” he stated.
