BURAQ –  البُراق ‎

 

Literally: Lightening.

A mount of Jannah. Buraq carried Muhammad (asm) from Mecca to Jerusalem and back during the Isra and Mi’raj, which is a Surah of the Qur’an,  Al-Isra.

 

“through the various Names and titles He makes manifest in the disposition of creatures, and by showing that special ‘abd of His all the works of His rubûbiyyah which He displays in the spheres, creation, and regulation within the sovereignty of His rubûbiyyah, and in the levels of the samâ within those spheres -each of which is the means to al-‘arsh ar-rubûbiyyah and centre for the disposal of power- Janâb-i Haqq made that ‘abd both embrace all human perfections, and display all the Ilahî manifestations, and view all the levels of the universe, and the herald of the sovereignty of rubûbiyyah and the proclaimer of those things pleasing to Allah, and the solver of the enigma of the universe. And so that he could do this, He mounted him on Buraq, caused him to flash through the samâwât like lightning traversing all its levels, observe Ilahî rubûbiyyah from mansion to mansion like the moon, and from sphere to sphere, and showing him each of the prophets, his brothers, whose abodes are in the samâwât of those spheres, He raised him to the ma’nawî station of Qab Qawsayn and displayed to him His Ahadiyyah and His Word and Ru’yat.” The Words ( 588 )

 

The Second Addendum to the Twenty-Fourth Letter

[This is about the Mi’raj of the Prophet]

بِاسْمِهِ وَاِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ اِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً اُخْرَى عِنْدَ سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى عِنْدَهَا جَنَّةُ الْمَاْوَى اِذْ يَغْشَى السِّدْرَةَ مَا يَغْشَى مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَى لَقَدْ رَاَى مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِ الْكُبْرَى1

[We shall explain in Five Points, the section on the Mi’raj in the 'Mevlid' of the Prophet.]

First Point: Sulayman Afandi, in the 'Mevlid' which he wrote, recounts a sad ‘ashq story about Buraq, brought from Jannah. Since he was one of the ahl al-walâyah and it is based on riwâyât, it must surely express a haqiqah in that respect.

The haqiqah must be this: the creatures of al-‘âlam al-baqâ are closely connected with the nûr of Rasûl Al-Akram ‘Alayhissalâtu wassalâm. For it is through the nûr which he brought that Jannah and the realm of the âkhirah will be inhabited by mankind and the jinn. If it had not been for him, eternal happiness would not have been, and man and jinn who are capable of benefiting from all the varieties of the creatures of Jannah, would not have dwelt in it; in one respect it would have remained empty, a wasteland.

As is explained in the Fourth Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, the ‘ashq legend of the nightingale toward rose; in order to proclaim the intense need that is seen at the degree of ‘ashq, which reaches the degree ‘ashq of the animal species for the caravans of plant species, which proceeding from the treasury of rahmah, bear the rizq of animals, a sort of nightingale has been chosen from every species as a Rabbânî orator. The foremost of these are the nightingale and the rose. The songs of them are a sort of welcoming in a manner of tasbîh and an applause before the most beautiful of plants.

Similarly, Jabrâil ‘Alayhissalâm, one of the malâikah, served with perfect love Muhammad the Arabian ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm, who was the reason for the creation of the spheres, the means to the happiness of both worlds, and the beloved of Ar-Rabb of All ‘âlams, thus demonstrating the obedience and submission of the malâikah to Âdam ‘Alayhissalâm and the reason for theirs prostrating before him. So too the people of Jannah -and even some of its animals- felt a connection with that Being, and this was expressed by the Buraq’s feelings of ‘ashq, whom he mounted.” The Letters ( 358 )