SIDRAT AL-MUNTAHÂ - سدرة المنتهى
Literally: One lotus tree or one variety of a lotus tree. The name of a rank in the seventh level of the samâwât which is compared to a tree.
Literally: Muntahâ is an extreme, farthest limit.
Sidrat Al-Muntahâ: The last and highest rank, that our Prophet ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm reached in Mi’raj. The final boundary of the world of beings which are limited by time and place. The ultimate border of the universe and the beings which are created. The rank, which the riwâyat stated as the seventh level of the samâwât.
“And the following comes to mind: O mulhid! You say: "Man is only able to ascend to a height of one or two kilometres with a thousand difficulties by means of the aeroplane. How then could someone come and go bodily within a few minutes covering a distance that would normally take thousands of years?"
To which we reply: According to your science, in its annual rotation, a heavy body like the earth cuts a distance of approximately one hundred and eighty-eight hours in one minute. In one year it covers a distance of approximately twenty-five thousand years. Should a Qadîr Zuljalâl Who causes its regular motion and revolves it like a stone in a sling be unable to convey a human being to the ‘arsh? Should a hikmah that causes the body of the earth, which is extremely heavy, to travel around the sun through a Rabbânî law known the sun's gravity like a Mawlawî be unable to raise a human body to the ‘arsh of Ar-Rahmân like lightning through the gravity of that Rahmân's rahmah and the attraction of the Pre-Eternal Sun's love?
Again it comes to mind that you say: "All right, so he could ascend there, but why did he and why should he? Would it not have been enough if he had gone just in heart and rûh like the awliyâ?"
To which we would reply: Since As-Sâni’ Zuljalâl wished to display His wondrous âyahs which lie in the mulk and malakût, and to make the workshops and sources of this ‘âlam to be gazed upon, and to point out the results of man's actions in the âkhirah. Indeed it was necessary to take together his eyes, which were like the key to al-‘âlam al-mubsirât1 , and his ears, which perceived the âyahs in al-‘âlam al-masmû‘ât2 as far as the ‘arsh. Furthermore, it is required by hikmah and mind that As-Sâni’ Zuljalâl should have taken as far as the ‘arsh his blessed body, which was like the machine of his rûh comprising different members and components, which was the means of infinite duties.
Just as in Jannah Ilahî hikmah makes the body accompany the rûh because it is the body that is the means by which the duties of ‘ubûdiyyah are performed and the means of innumerable pleasures and pains, so did his blessed body accompany his rûh. Since the body goes to Jannah together with the rûh, it is pure hikmah that He should have made the blessed body of Ahmad (ASM) accompany his self, which ascended to the Sidrat Al-Muntahâ, which is the trunk of Jannah al-Ma’wâ.” The Words ( 595-596 )