The Night-Journey Is The Night of Decree

Authored by: Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

 We prove, for the first time, that the Night-Journey is the Night of Decree and refute the myth of Muhammad's alleged ascension to heaven. The Night-Journey was made to the Farthest Mosque: Mount Al-Tur, located in Sinai, Egypt, which has nothing to do with the so-called Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem built by an Umayyad caliph. The entirety of the Quranic text was inspired into Muhammad's heart at Mount Al-Tur and then in installments into his tongue in Arabia. We provide an overview about the Night of Decree in light of modern science. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I: Refuting the Myth of Ascension to Heaven and Tackling the Night of Decree

CHAPTER II: The Divine Revelation and the Descent of the Quran

CHAPTER III: The Night-Journey Is the Night of Decree

CHAPTER IV: The Farthest Mosque Is at Mount Al-Tur and Not in Jerusalem

CHAPTER V: The Descent of Fates during the Night of Decree

CHAPTER VI: The Night of Decree in Light of Modern Science     

INTRODUCTION

1- Myths of heritage books of traditions are so many regarding the Night of Decree; based on such myths, common people wait each Ramadan for the Night of Decree to implore God to make their wishes come true, and there are Egyptian proverbs that revolve around people who have been very fortunate and the Night of Decree allegedly was the cause of their very good fortune; as if the Night of Decree were a genie in a lamp found by Aladdin!

2- Away from such lies, myths, and falsehoods that relieve daydreamers on the psychological level, among the frustrated and desperate persons, the Night of Decree is a religious fact within the metaphysical realm referred to in the Quranic text. Of course, Prophet Muhammad never knew anything about the future nor about the metaphysical realm, as per tens of Quranic verses that assert this fact; thus, God's Word, the Quran, remains to be the only source to get to know what God has made available for humanity to know about the Night of Decree.

CHAPTER I: Refuting the Myth of Ascension to Heaven and Tackling the Night of Decree

Firstly: there is a Night-Journey but no ascension to heaven:

1- It is a common, false notion among the Muhammadans that the first verses of the Quranic Chapter 53 tackle Muhammad's alleged ascension to heaven. It is strange that such a myth remained for centuries without being refuted and dispelled; these verses show clearly that it was Gabriel who descended to meet with Muhammad and Gabriel drew very close to him; these two verses are about Gabriel: "While he was at the highest horizon. Then he descended nearer and hovered around." (53:7-8). This verse tackles the fact that Muhammad saw Gabriel while the latter descended to him once again: "He saw him on another descent." (53:13). These verses refute the myth of ascension to heaven fabricated later on by Muhammadan authors of some heritage books of traditions during the Middle-Ages.

2- In general, there are contradictory heritage-books narratives that 'assert' the alleged ascension to heaven and others that refute it; some other narratives make the Night-Journey and the so-called ascension as dream/vision while Muhammad was asleep, thus seen repeatedly by other men in later eras! Strangely, some other narratives assert the Night-Journey while refuting the alleged ascension in dream/vision or in reality. One can be amused by reading the unprecedented laughter-inducing myths of Ibn Katheer in his interpretation of the very first verses of the Quranic Chapter 17, which is significantly titled "Night-Journey".     

3- The Quran asserts the Night-Journey in the Quranic Chapter 17 and shows in it as well that the alleged ascension is quite an impossibility; disbelievers in Arabia asked Muhammad to perform tangible miracle before their eyes, including that he would ascend to heaven, and God has refused this, as the only miracle offered to people within Islam is the Quran itself: "And they said, "We will not believe in you unless you make a spring burst from the ground for us. Or you have a garden of palms and vines; then cause rivers to gush pouring through them. Or make the sky fall on us in pieces, as you claim, or bring God and the angels before us. Or you possess a house of gold. Or you ascend into heaven. Even then, we will not believe in your ascension, unless you bring down for us a book that we can read." Say, "Glory be to my Lord. Am I anything but a human messenger?"" (17:90-93).   

4- Disbelievers used to assert to Muhammad that if they would see tangible miracles, they would believe; God asserts that what is required is belief chosen based on one's accord and freedom of choice to pass the test of life successfully. God said the following to Muhammad: "They swear by God, with their most solemn oaths, that if a miracle were to come to them, they would believe in it. Say, "The miracles are only with God." But how do you know? Even if it did come, they still would not believe. And We turn away their hearts and their visions, as they refused to believe in it the first time, and We leave them blundering in their rebellion. Even if We sent down the angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered all things before them, they still would not believe, unless God wills; but most of them are ignorant." (6:109-111). Muhammad used to be saddened by their insistence on seeing tangible miracles and God refused this repeatedly; God has said the following to Muhammad about their stubbornness and disbelief: "We know that what they say grieves you. It is not you they reject, but it is God's verses that the unjust ones deny." (6:33). Muhammad had to bear patiently with their harm and their denying the Quran until God's aid would come; God does not alter His commands, and this was the case with previous messengers with their people: "Other messengers before you were rejected, but they endured rejection and persecution until Our help came to them. There can be no change to God's words. News of the messengers has already reached you." (6:34). God has refused to give them miracles and He has rebuked Muhammad by telling him to perform miracles to them within his own human abilities if wanted, such as ascending into heaven, and He has warned Muhammad not to be among the ignorant ones: "If you find their rejection hard to bear, then if you can, seek a tunnel into the earth, or a stairway into the heaven, and bring them a sign. Had God willed, He could have gathered them to guidance. So do not be of the ignorant." (6:35). This means that no ascension to heaven ever occurred to Muhammad, though the terms (ascend)/(ascension) are used in the Quranic text within several other contexts; if otherwise, why is it NEVER mentioned in the Quran beside (or instead of) the very special event, the Night-Journey, mentioned in 17:1? This alleged ascension should have been mentioned in the Quran as a more important event than the Night-Journey. Since this is NOT the case, such ascension claimed by authors of the Sunnite narratives is merely a myth.       

Secondly: features of the Night of Decree in the Quran and the role of angels in relation to human beings:

1- There are two features pertaining to the Night of Decree; one feature is of the past and will never happen again; i.e., when Muhammad was moved through the Night-Journey from Mecca to Mount Al-Tur to meet with Gabriel to receive the entire Quranic text into his heart. The second feature is repeated annually; within the Night of Decree, fates of human beings descend on earth by Gabriel and the angels.

2- Regarding the first feature, God says the following about the descent/revelation of the Quran: "We sent it down on the Night of Decree." (97:1); "We have revealed it on a Blessed Night..." (44:3). Regarding the second feature, God says the following about Gabriel, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, and the angels who descend on earth while carrying with them fates of human beings annually during the Night of Decree: "In it descend the angels and the Spirit, by the leave of their Lord, with every command." (97:4); "In it is distinguished every wise command. A decree from Us. We have been sending messages. As mercy from your Lord..." (44:4-6). This is linked to the other partial descriptions of the Night of Decree: "The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months." (97:3); "Peace it is; until the rise of dawn." (97:5); "...a Blessed Night..." (44:3). Such partial descriptions are permanent for the annual event called the Night of Decree, and it occurs every Ramadan, the lunar month of fasting. We know this from this verse that asserts that the entire Quranic text has descended, for the very first time, during the fasting month: "Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed..." (2:185). 

The role of angels in relation to human beings:

  The shared element in all the features of the Night of Decree is the presence of angels. In fact, the Night of Decree is the annual appointment of Gabriel and angels that accompany him to descend into the realm of the human beings. When the time of Muhammad's ministry or prophethood came, he was transported through the Night-Journey, during the Night of Decree, to Mount Al-Tur to meet with archangel Gabriel to receive the entire Quranic text into his heart, revealed later on in installments of verses into Muhammad's tongue as per events happening during his lifetime in Arabia. In fact, the Quran was revealed as a mercy to the humankind, as the celestial Final Word of God before the end of days. Before we tackle the two main features of the Night of Decree; i.e., the descent/revelation of the Quran and angels descending annually with divine commands regarding fates of human beings, we will tackle first the role of angels in relation to human beings; we assert some Quranic facts in the points below.  

1- This universe, with the seen and unseen aspects of it, of the heavens and the earth is created by Almighty God for one reason: to test human beings: "It is He who has created the heavens and the earth in six days-and His Throne was upon the waters-in order to test you-which of you is best in conduct..." (11:7). When the duration of this testing all human beings comes to an end, the Hour will occur and the universe will be destroyed as a new, eternal one will be created on the Day of Resurrection: "On the Day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens, and they will emerge before God, the One, Dominant Lord." (14:48).

2- Within the above point, we are to understand the enormous responsibility imposed on all human beings; God has created the universe only to test the humankind; God has also made the universe in service of human beings: "And He placed at your service whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth-all is from Him..." (45:13). Within this transient life on earth, human beings enjoy freedom of choice and will to (dis)obey and to (dis)believe. Celestial messages descended from God to make the human beings differentiate between the Truth and falsehoods; humanity bears the responsibility of having to choose as per free will; this is what distinguishes human beings from other creatures in the universe: "We offered the Trust to the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains; but they refused to bear it, and were apprehensive of it; but the human being accepted it. He was unfair and ignorant." (33:72). On the Last Day, human beings will be judged as per this trust and responsibility.    

3- The angels are among the elements of this test imposed on all humanity within this transient life on earth; this is the symbolic meaning behind the divine command addressed to angels to prostrate before Adam when he was created and behind the fact that Adam and his progeny are successors on earth. When Iblis (i.e., Satan or the Devil), who was among the angels, disobeyed God's command of prostrating before Adam, he was expelled from the higher heavens; his self-assigned mission now is to tempt human beings to make them commit sins to enter into Hell as disobedient sinners. This completes the elements of the test of life imposed on all human beings. God has created the human beings as free agents, with free will, to choose between sinning and piety; one either recommends oneself with good deeds to be among the winners or to bring oneself to detriment and loss by sins and evil deeds: "And the soul and He who proportioned it. And inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness. Successful is he who purifies it. Failing is he who corrupts it." (91:7-10). The angels descended with celestial messages for the guidance of human beings, whereas devils provide falsehoods, myths, narratives, hadiths, fabrications, and lies to their followers and allies in order to corrupt, twist, and distort the divine/celestial religion for human beings: "Likewise, We have assigned for every prophet an enemy - human and jinn devils - inspiring one another with fancy words in order to deceive. But had your Lord willed, they would not have done it. So leave them to their fabrications." (6:112).    

4- The angels play other roles in the lives of human beings on earth; for instance, the angels of death take the souls of dying persons when their lives come to an end; there are two angels whose role is to record deeds, words, and thoughts of a given human being; hence, there are two angels who always accompany each human being till death to perform this mission, and these two angels accompany each of the human beings on the Day of Judgment, while carrying their records of deeds: "We created the human being, and We know what his soul whispers to him. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. As the two receivers receive, seated to the right and to the left. Not a word does he utter, but there is a watcher by him, ready. The throe of death has come in truth: "This is what you tried to evade." And the Trumpet is blown: "This is the Promised Day." And every soul will come forward, accompanied by a driver and a witness. "You were in neglect of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen."" (50:16-22). There are also angels who will be created in Hell to torment its human dwellers; their chief is an angel called Malik: "And they will cry, "O Malik, let your Lord finish us off." He will say, "You are staying."" (43:77).  

5- The most distinguished one among God's angels is the archangel Gabriel, also known as the Spirit or the Holy Spirit.

(A) Gabriel was the one who breathed the soul into Adam, who was created without a father and a mother; Gabriel took a human form before the eyes of Mary to breathe into her the soul of Jesus. This means that in both instances, Gabriel carried the divine command of (Be!), as per this verse: "The likeness of Jesus in God's sight is that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be," and he was." (3:59).

(B) Gabriel, the Spirit, was the one to convey the divine revelation to all prophets/messengers of God, as per these verses: "He sends down the angels with the Spirit by His command, upon whom He wills of His servants: "Give warning that there is no God but Me, and fear Me in piety."" (16:2); "Exalted in rank, Owner of the Throne. He conveys the Spirit, by His command, upon whomever He wills of His servants, to warn of the Day of Encounter." (40:15).

(C) Gabriel was the one to convey the Quranic revelation to Muhammad: "The Honest Spirit came down with it. Upon your heart, that you may be one of the warners." (26:193-194); "Say, "The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord, with the Truth..." (16:102).

(D) Gabriel is the one accompanied by other angels who descend to earth annually during the Night of Decree, carrying fates preordained by God to be imposed on human beings, such as times of one's birth and one's death, calamities, and promised earnings in life. 

 The above is a brief overview of the role of angels in relation to the human beings during their lifetimes, especially the archangel or the Holy Spirit Gabriel, who conveyed the celestial messages to prophets/messengers and the Quranic Message to Muhammad during the Night of Decree. The Night of Decree is the annual meeting of angels carrying the fates, or God's commands/decrees, ordained by Him for all human beings. 

CHAPTER II: The Divine Revelation and the Descent of the Quran

 Despite the existence of lots of writings (that mainly consist of surmises and conjectures) about the topic of the Night of Decree and the decent/revelation of the Quran in it, writings that ponder the Quranic facts about this topic are very scarce. We confine our own pondering on the Quranic facts related to this topic to three points/issues: meanings and types of the divine revelation, how the Quran was revealed to Muhammad, and when and where the Quranic revelation descended during the Night of Decree.

Firstly: meanings and types of the divine revelation:

 The revelation, linguistically, is communication of meanings within an unusual, nonverbal type of contact. This meaning is inferred from these Quranic verses about Zachariah when God promised him to beget a son named John: "He said, "My Lord, give me a sign." He said, "Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights straight." And he came out to his people, from the sanctuary, and revealed to them to praise the Lord morning and evening." (19:10-11). Zachariah could not speak but he revealed nonverbally to his people to glorify the Lord God. The meaning of revelation is made clear when it denotes a contact between two different realms. The types of revelation are mentioned in the points below.       

1- There is a revelation inspired by God addressed to the angels: "Your Lord inspired the angels: "I am with you, so support those who believe..." (8:12).

2- There is a revelation inspired by God addressed to the hearts of some people among non-prophets, such as the mother of Moses and the disciples of Jesus: "When We inspired your mother with the inspiration." (20:38); "We inspired the mother of Moses: "Nurse him..."" (28:7); "And when I inspired the disciples: "Believe in Me and to My messenger."..." (5:111).

3- There is a revelation inspired by God addressed to the hearts of prophets/messengers: "We have inspired you, as We had inspired Noah and the prophets after him..." (4:163).

4- There is a revelation inspired by God into His creatures; i.e., to plant inside them certain instincts and to guide them about how to live: "And your Lord inspired the bees: "Set up hives in the mountains, and in the trees, and in what they construct."" (16:68); "...Our Lord is He who gave everything its existence, then guided it." (20:50).

5- The divine revelation to non-prophets is probably a very strong inspiration that makes one feels certain that it is from our Lord God. Yet, this differs a great deal from the special, consistent, and continuing divine revelation inspired to prophets and messengers who received the Scriptures they had conveyed to their people; this makes prophets and messengers distinguished from the rest of humanity; God has commanded Muhammad to say the following: "Say, "I am only a human being like you, being inspired that your Lord is One God..." (18:110). 

Secondly: the descent of the Quran:

 The meaning of divine revelation is a contact between two different realms; i.e., between God and prophets/messengers, within three different ways mentioned in the following verse: "It is not for any human that God should speak to him, except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by His permission whatever He wills. He is All-High, All-Wise." (42:51). Thus, these three different ways are (1) divine inspiration addressing the hearts of prophets/messengers, (2) God speaks to them from behind a barrier, and (3) sending one of the angels to prophets/messengers. God's direct speech or revelation/inspiration occurred with Moses at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai for the first time at the burning bush. The three ways of revelation/inspiration may have occurred with all prophets/messengers in a similar manner from Noah to Muhammad, as we infer from the verse 4:163.    

Between oral and written revelation:

 Of course, the written revelation is Scriptures or celestial messages given by God to prophets/messengers, whereas the oral one accompanied God's prophets/messengers within certain events during their lifetimes. For instance, Moses received divine revelation/inspiration before and after he received the Torah Tablets at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai; Noah was inspired by divine revelation to build a ship before the flood/deluge. The Quranic text contains the type of divine revelation inspired to Muhammad; see 8:7, 9:118, 66:3, and 33:37. Yet, the Book/Scripture is dominant over this divine revelation, as it contains God's celestial message conveyed by prophets/messengers and on which judgment on the Last Day is based; hence, people are required to apply and adhere to the Quran as they will be judged on the Last Day by it as the only criterion.    

How the Quran was revealed to Muhammad:

 We discuss how the entirety of the Quranic text was inspired into the heart of Muhammad and then in installments uttered by him as per events that took place in Arabia.

1- Contrary to what most people have assumed, the Quran asserts that its entire text was inspired into the heart of Muhammad during the Night of Decree and then in successive installments into the tongue/mind of Muhammad as per events occurring during his lifetime, until the last Quranic verse was uttered, which is as follows: "...Today I have perfected your religion for you, and have completed My favor upon you, and have approved Islam as a religion for you..." (5:3). 

2- The Quran asserts that its entire text descended during the Night of Decree, a blessed night during the lunar month of Ramadan. Within verses revealed in Mecca (i.e., within the Meccan revelation, as opposed to the Yathrebian revelation, which are verses revealed in Yathreb), we read that the Quran as the Book/Scripture descended as a written document: "Praise be to God, who revealed the Book to His servant..." (18:1); "...We have revealed to you the Book, as an explanation of all things..." (16:89); "Does it not suffice them that We revealed to you the Book, which is recited to them?..." (29:51).

3- When these Meccan verses were revealed, they have shown to people that the entirety of the Book descended at once, though installments of its verses were being uttered by Muhammad gradually as per events that occurred and at certain occasions in Mecca, and this process went on when Muhammad settled in Yathreb.

The entirety of the Quran conveyed by Gabriel in the Night of Decree:

1- God says in the Quran: "By the Enlightening Book. We have revealed it on a Blessed Night..." (44:2-3). The Quran is the Book revealed in one blessed night; i.e., the Night of Decree, but how was this done? The answer is repeated in the Quran in many other verses.

2- Some verses assert the role of the Holy Spirit Gabriel who conveyed God's Word to Muhammad; i.e., Gabriel inscribed the Quranic text into the heart of Muhammad: "Say, "Whoever is hostile to Gabriel - it is he who revealed it to your heart by God's leave..." (2:97); "Say, "The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord with the Truth..." (16:102); "It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds. The Honest Spirit came down with it. Upon your heart..." (26:192-194).   

3- Some other Quranic verses describe Gabriel with other qualities and indicate briefly how the Quranic revelation was conveyed by Gabriel into Muhammad's heart: "This is the speech of a noble messenger. Endowed with power, eminent with the Lord of the Throne. Obeyed and honest." (81:19-21); these verses describe Gabriel, and then, this verse is about Muhammad: "Your companion is not possessed." (81:22). This means that people in Arabia knew their contemporary, Muhammad, before his ministry as a prophet; they knew how honest, reasonable, and truthful he was, and it is never logical to accuse him of being mad or possessed. Muhammad saw Gabriel when this archangel descended to meet with him to give him the Quran: "He saw him on the clear horizon." (81:23); this is a brief indication about how Muhammad, when he received the Quranic revelation, saw Gabriel in his real angelic form, as he did not take a human form, on a clear horizon that contained no clouds at all.      

4- There are more details in 53:1-11 more than 81:19-23. The Quranic Chapter 53 begins with God swearing by the falling star that Muhammad, the companion and contemporary of Arabian men in Mecca, never erred when he conveyed the Truth when he recited the Quran to them, because it is God's revelation given to him by the extremely powerful archangel Gabriel, who inspired the entire Quran into the heart of Muhammad during the Night of Decree. Gabriel appeared to Muhammad in the clear horizon of the sky and drew closer to Muhammad, who remained on the ground. Both creatures touched, one is a mortal earthling and one is an ethereal being coming from above, from a Barsakh level of existence, and this made the Last Message of God to humanity, the Quran as God's Word and revelation, be conveyed into the heart of Muhammad. When Muhammad received this divine revelation by Gabriel as per the command/decree of the Lord God, he became a prophet, and his heart never lied to him; the whole vision/scene was experienced and seen by Muhammad's heart NOT by his eyes. This is our paraphrase of the verses in the Quranic Chapter 53 about this vision: "By the star as it goes down. Your companion has not gone astray, nor has he erred. Nor does he speak out of desire. It is but a revelation revealed. Taught to him by the Extremely Powerful. The one of vigor. He settled. While he was at the highest horizon. Then he came near, and hovered around. He was within two bows' length, or closer. Then He revealed to His servant what He revealed. The heart did not lie about what it saw." (53:1-11).     

5- The Quranic verses explain and assert one another; the details mentioned in 81:19-23 about the descent of the Quran during the Night of Decree are further explained in the details mentioned in 53:1-11. This similarity between 53:1-11 and 81:19-23 is shown in the three points below, followed by our comment.

# Description of Gabriel:

"This is the speech of a noble messenger. Endowed with power, eminent with the Lord of the Throne. Obeyed and honest." (81:19-21); "Taught to him by the Extremely Powerful. The one of vigor..." (53:5-6).

# Defending Muhammad:

"Your companion is not possessed." (81:22); " By the star as it goes down. Your companion has not gone astray, nor has he erred. Nor does he speak out of desire. It is but a revelation revealed." (53:1-4).

# Description of the encounter between Gabriel and Muhammad:

"He saw him on the clear horizon. And he does not withhold knowledge of the Unseen." (81:23-24); "Taught to him by the Extremely Powerful. The one of vigor. He settled. While he was at the highest horizon. Then he came near, and hovered around. He was within two bows' length, or closer. Then He revealed to His servant what He revealed. The heart did not lie about what it saw." (53:5-11).

Our comment:

 Thus, we read that Gabriel is an extremely powerful archangel of God who is very close to the Lord, and he is an Honest Envoy. God defends Muhammad against accusations of being mad, errant, or misguided; he was the companion of Arabs contemporary of him during his lifetime and they witnessed his upright nature, truthfulness, and honesty. Hence, Muhammad could not have authored the Quran, which is the divine revelation given to him through Gabriel. Gabriel was the ethereal envoy of the metaphysical realm meeting with the mortal, human messenger of God; this was an encounter between two creatures who belong to different realms: the metaphysical/ethereal and the tangible/physical ones. Both Quranic Chapters 53 and 81 assert that Muhammad saw Gabriel in his real angelic form on the horizon and that Gabriel descended down (from the ethereal, Barsakh realm) to get nearer to Muhammad who remained on the ground. Gabriel touched the heart/soul of Muhammad to convey the Quranic text into his heart/soul. The Quranic terms ''heart'' and ''soul'' are exact synonyms in all Quranic contexts. The human souls belong to the ethereal realm of Barsakh and not to our physical, tangible existence on earth. Souls descend from the Barsakh realm into the embryos inside the womb at a certain point, turning embryos into living human beings. Souls control the bodies like drivers controlling their cars. Souls get tired sometimes from the prison called human bodies; they leave the bodies during sleep or deep slumber to return temporarily to Barsakh, their original location. When the predestined time of death comes to someone as his/her life-test comes to an end, the soul leaves the body forever to return to Barsakh until the Day of Resurrection. Thus, these Quranic facts show that human souls (including Muhammad's soul) belong to the Barsakh realm which has many levels; the highest one is where archangel Gabriel belongs and he had to descend to a lower level when he met with Muhammad's soul during the Night of Decree to give him the Quran; this is witnessed by Muhammad's heart/soul and not by his eyes. The lowest level of Barsakh existence is where souls of human beings exist before being born and to which they return temporarily during deep slumber and return permanently after death until the Day of Resurrection. This same level includes the two angels assigned to each of the human beings to record all their deeds and also the misguiding, tempting devils that whisper evil to the human souls. When devils manage to control souls of the sinful people, they make evil look good and true to them and goodness as false and hateful to them.             

Thirdly: revealing the Quran in successive installments as per events:

1- The fact that Muhammad uttered certain Quranic verses (by God's permission) to his contemporaries at certain events and on specific occasions, until the entire text was conveyed and written down, is proven by this verse: "A Quran which We unfolded gradually, that you may recite to the people over time. And We revealed it in stages." (17:106).

2- This duality of revelation (the entire text at once into Muhammad's heart/soul and then in stages into his tongue and within his memory) resembles this example: when one sees a clear vision/dream during sleep and it settles in the subconscious, and one cannot remember its details and cannot recollect the whole picture, then suddenly, the conscious level is made alert by certain event/occasion and one remembers very well and narrates what was seen in this vision/dream.

3- This is exactly what occurred to Muhammad; the Quranic verses were locked inside his heart/soul, and they were transported into his memory and tongue to utter them on certain occasions, by God's leave of course, and the Quran mentions this process within two different contexts. Firstly, God said the following to Muhammad: "...Do not be hasty with the Quran before its inspiration to you is concluded, and say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge."" (20:114); this means that Muhammad was not to utter any verses unless when given permission by God to recite them; the word (knowledge) here refers only to the Quran taught to him by Gabriel (see 53:5). It is noteworthy that the number of this verse is 114, the same number of the Quranic Chapters; this indicates that the Quranic Chapters would be revealed in stages gradually until they reach this number. Secondly, in these verses: "Do not wag your tongue with it, to hurry on with it. Upon Us is its collection and its recitation. Then, when We have recited it, follow its recitation. Then upon Us is its explanation." (75:16-19), we read that God has prevented Muhammad from being hasty in uttering verses he remembered unless when certain occasions would arise and he would receive God's permission to recite certain verses. Of course, the verses 75:16-19 assert that the Quranic verses explain one another and that God is the One Who has compiled the Quranic Chapters and verses later on in the order found today in the copies of the Quran.

CHAPTER III: The Night-Journey Is the Night of Decree

Firstly: Muhammad's vision during the Night-Journey/the Night of Decree:

1- Contradictions in the narratives of heritage books of traditions about the topic of the Night-Journey entail that we use the Quran as the only criterion and the sole source about this topic. The Quran shows to us the direct link between the Night-Journey and the Night of Decree when we ponder deeply on the verses 53:1-11 & 81:19-23. In other words. the Night-Journey of Muhammad occurred during the Night of Decree during the lunar fasting month of Ramadan, and NOT during the lunar month of Rajab as maintained by Middle-Ages authors of heritage books of traditions. Thus, what happened is as follows: God has transported Muhammad during the Night-Journey from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque in Mecca to the Farthest Mosque, which is Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, Egypt. By the way, we remind readers of the fact that the Quranic Chapter 17 is significantly titled "Night-Journey". God says in the Quran: "Glory to Him who journeyed His servant by night, from the Sacred Mosque, to the Farthest Mosque, whose areas We have blessed, in order to show him of Our signs. He is the Listener, the Beholder." (17:1). Middle-Ages authors misunderstood the phrase (...in order to show him of Our signs...), and within their fabricating mythical narratives about the Night-Journey, they forgot that this special vision of Muhammad is a test for people who must never add ANY details to its Quranic narrative: "...We did not make the vision We showed you, except as a test for the people..." (17:60).         

2- People who fail this test are those who embrace and fabricate myths about the topic of the Night-Journey and falsely ascribe such mythical narratives to Muhammad. The Middle-Ages authors failed this test as they have fabricated long, elaborate, and detailed myths regarding the Night-Journey, and they debated and quarreled over them as well; this applies mainly to those who invented the myth of the so-called ascension to heaven and forcibly added it to their fabrications about the Night-Journey. Hence, it is better to adhere to the Quranic narrative of the Night-Journey, as the Quran is the only Absolute Truth, and this will make us successfully pass the test mentioned in 17:60. The Quranist methodology is to ponder the Quranic verses to trace what Muhammad had experienced during the Night-Journey that occurred during the Night of Decree in Ramadan.     

3- Within the Quranic Chapters 53 and 81, we find the details about signs witnessed by Muhammad within the Night-Journey; he saw Gabriel on the horizon of the sky: "He saw him on the clear horizon." (81:23), and further details are found here: "The heart did not lie about what it saw. Will you dispute with him concerning what he saw?" (53:11-12); "The sight did not waver, nor did it exceed. He saw some of the Great Signs of his Lord." (53:17-18). This is what is mentioned briefly in this verse: "...in order to show him of Our signs..." (17:1).  

4- It is only through the Quran that we understand the vision experienced by Muhammad during the Night-Journey/the Night of Decree. This vision was an encounter between Gabriel, the celestial envoy of God who belongs to the Barsakh realm, and Muhammad, the human messenger of God who belonged to the physical realm. Muhammad was among the mortal human beings; his physical senses could not allow him (or allow any other mortals) to see angels; souls cannot see ethereal creatures of Barsakh (i.e., angels, Jinn, and devils) as long as these souls are imprisoned in their physical bodies created of dust/mud. This means that Muhammad's soul's heart/eyes – not his body and physical senses – experienced this vision and saw Gabriel and other signs of the Night-Journey.   

Secondly: Adam and Eve were in the Barsakh Paradise:

 Adam and Eve could see Iblis/Satan, an ethereal creature of the Barsakh level of existence, with their naked eyes because they were dwelling inside the Barsakh Paradise (thus, the Barsakh realm enveloped them) before their sinning and their consequent descent to earth. When they ate from the forbidden tree after being tempted by Satan, their bodies that were covered with Barsakh light stood stark naked after losing such a cover, and they tried to in vain to cover their bodies with Barsakh-light leaves from the trees of Paradise. Thus, Satan managed to make them commit a sin and they saw their physical bodies nakedness for the first time. When they descended on earth, a physical realm of existence, they copulated and produced children. Adam's children and the subsequent progeny until the Hour and Last Day cannot see the Barsakh-realm creatures (i.e., angels, Jinn, and devils), as we know from this verse: "O children of Adam! Do not let Satan seduce you, as he drove your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their garments, to show them their nakedness. He sees you, him and his clan, from where you cannot see them..." (7:27).       

Thirdly: human beings never experience Barsakh-realm levels when they are living on earth:

 Since Adam's descent on earth, his progeny cannot see or contact the Barsakh-realm creatures (i.e., angels, Jinn, and devils). Thus, the physical senses of the human bodies cannot do so and one cannot see angels that record deeds of people. It is only upon dying that one's soul leaves the physical body and see angels of death. Human beings will see angels, Jinn, and devils on the Last Day after being stripped of physicality and entering into a metaphysical, eternal realm on the Day of Resurrection. "As the two receivers receive, seated to the right and to the left. Not a word does he utter, but there is a watcher by him, ready. The daze of death has come in truth: "This is what you tried to evade." And the Trumpet is blown: "This is the Promised Day." And every soul will come forward, accompanied by a driver and a witness. "You were in neglect of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen."" (50:17-22). Thus, one will see angels that record one's deeds only during the Last Day, and never during one's lifetime on earth. The words  "heart" and "soul" are exact synonyms and the term "vision" in 50:22 pertains to the souls and never to the bodies; the soul's vision will be so keen and see angels, which are ethereal Barsakh beings. Upon dying, one's soul see the angels of death and enter into a dialogue with them, as mentioned in the Quran, and those around the death bed of a dying person cannot hear or see anything of the kind: "So when it has reached the throat. As you are looking on. We are nearer to it than you are, but you do not see." (56:83-85). The pronoun ''it'' here refers to the soul of the dying person, of course.       

Fourthly: angels took human form to be seen by prophets:

1- Apart from the moment of one's death and the Last Day, one cannot see angels in their real form; angels had to take a human form to be seen by mortals, when angels were sent by God on special missions; e.g., when God sent angels in human form to Abraham to bring glad tidings of the birth of Isaac and then Jacob, and then to Lot to tell him about the destruction of his people and that he and his family must flee the village, except his wife (see 11:69-83). God sent the Holy Spirit, Gabriel, in human form to Mary to make her pregnant with Jesus (see 19:17).

2- When the Meccan polytheists of Qorayish demanded from Muhammad to make them see angels, the Quran makes it clear that no humans will see angels except upon dying and on the Last Day; this is an Absolute Truth that is unalterable. "And they said, "O you who received the message, you are insane." Why do you not bring us the angels, if you are truthful?" We do not send the angels down except with reason, and they will not be held back." (15:6-8); "Those who do not expect to meet Us say, "If only the angels were sent down to us, or we could see our Lord." They have grown arrogant within themselves, and have become excessively defiant. On the Day when they see the angels-there will be no good news for sinners on that Day..." (25:21-22).

Fifthly: the unique event of Muhammad's experiencing Barsakh and seeing Gabriel:

1- We conclude then that Muhammad saw the vision and signs (see 17:1) of the Night-Journey/the Night of Decree with his soul in a special manner, because he saw Gabriel in his ethereal, angelic form on the horizon of the sky and he saw a glimpse of the Barsakh realm. This is a special Great Sign bestowed by God only to Muhammad.  

2- The Quranic Chapter 53 provides some features of this special vision experienced by the soul of Muhammad; the Meccan polytheists of Qorayish argued against this vision of Muhammad during Muhammad's lifetime mainly because he could not describe it, as it is beyond being described using any words of any of the human languages. Muhammad was never able to describe Gabriel's descent or Gabriel's angelic form; he could not describe the glimpse he caught of the Barsakh Paradise, which is the dwelling-place of the souls of those who were killed for God's sake; they will remain there in bliss until the Last Day. It is the same Barsakh Paradise where Adam and Eve dwelt before they were tempted by Satan to commit the sin of eating from the forbidden tree and therefore were expelled out of it to descend on earth. No human language can describe this Barsakh Paradise seen by Muhammad's soul, at the location named in the Quran as the Tree of the Extremity, while he was in deep awe: "As there covered the Tree of the Extremity what covered it. The sight did not waver, nor did it exceed. He saw some of the Great Signs of his Lord." (53:16-18).     

Sixthly: the importance of the Night-Journey in relation to Muhammad's vision:

 Because it is a very special vision granted to Muhammad during the Night of Decree, it required special preparation; namely, the Night-Journey as Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque to the Farthest Mosque in Sinai. This Night-Journey occurred at one Ramadan during the Night of Decree, when he received the entirety of the Quranic text into his heart at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai.   

CHAPTER IV: The Farthest Mosque Is at Mount Al-Tur and Not in Jerusalem

Firstly: the historical roots of the fake Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem:

1- Both of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus and so-called Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem were built by the Umayyad caliph Al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik. There were no mosques at all in Jerusalem when it was conquered by the Arab troops of the caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab; the historical accounts of the Arab conquest of Jerusalem never mentions anything about the Farthest Mosque as being there at all. The only religious edifice there at the time was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and its patriarch insisted on never to hand over the keys of Jerusalem except to the caliph Omar, who went there himself to get the keys of the city and enter into it. As per Arab accounts of history, when Omar desired to perform prayers, there were no mosques at all in Jerusalem; Omar refused to pray inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher so as not to give a pretext to Arabs to demolish it to build a mosque in its place. Thus, there were no mosques at all in Jerusalem, let alone the Farthest Mosque whose Arabic name, Al-Aqsa, has been 'borrowed' by an Umayyad caliph by force, for a political reason, to be the name of a mosque he built in Jerusalem.          

2- The political reason that drove the Umayyad caliph, Al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan, to propagate a fake story that his Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was where Muhammad was transported during the Night-Journey was that there was a strong motive to make the Levant seem as a 'holy' region (because Damascus was the capital of the Umayyads) as opposed to Hejaz, where political opposition figures who hated the Umayyads and incited others to rebel against them settled in Yathreb and Mecca. Military struggle between Hejaz (where rebellious men settled) and the Levant (center of the Umayyad rule) began with the rebellion of Hussein Ibn Ali (who was in Yathreb and killed in Iraq) and then by Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubayr who settled in Mecca and proclaimed himself as a caliph in defiance of the Umayyad dynasty. Of course, the Umayyads won this struggle and crushed all rebellions; this made the Levant in the limelight and the defeated Hejaz dwellers felt that their region became of minor importance in terms of political influence. This marginalization of the Hejaz region was a main systematic policy for all Umayyad caliphs. The oral narrators/fabricators of hadiths were employed (and paid handsomely) by the Umayyad caliphs for the purpose of propaganda. Thus, orators in mosques served the Umayyads by inventing hadiths as per the political and religious whims of caliphs; such hadiths include the ones about the so-called Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that has been forcibly made to appear as linked to the Night-Journey of Muhammad; other mythical stories were fabricated and spread all over mosques to assert the false idea that this Jerusalem mosque (and Al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik was the one who built the mosque called 'the dome of the rock' in Jerusalem as well, linked to the myth of ascension to heaven) is a 'holy' site and linked to the Yathreb mosque (rebuilt also by the caliph Al-Waleed), to the Sacred Kaaba Mosque, and to the Night-Journey. Some other orators/narrators invented the myth of the alleged ascension of Muhammad to heaven, and they urged the Muhammadans to perform a pilgrimage to this Jerusalem mosque. Such falsehoods served the Umayyads to make the Levant the focus of attention instead of Mecca and Yathreb in Hejaz. Such myths of oral traditions were written down during the Abbasid Era; with the passage of time, heritage books of traditions have become sanctified as 'holy' tomes and 'irrefutable', 'unquestionable', and 'infallible' sources of 'divine' knowledge during the Mameluke and Ottoman eras. Arab readers among the Muhammadans would be amazed as they read these lines of ours and may condemn us and reject the facts of history we present here.                  

Secondly: Quranic contexts assert that the Farthest Mosque is at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai:

1- This topic is a very lengthy one; we mention brief points about how many Quranic verses assert the fact that the Farthest Mosque, mentioned in 17:1, is at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai and NEVER in Jerusalem, as this city is NOT mentioned, explicitly or implicitly, in the Quran at all.   

2- In fact, God mentions the Levant implicitly (i.e., without mentioning this appellation itself) in the Quran as a blessed land and a holy land: "O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has assigned for you..." (5:21); "And We delivered him, and Lot, to the land that We blessed for all people." (21:71). Yet, the Farthest Mosque is never mentioned as being in the Levant or as associated with it. The fact that the areas of the Farthest Mosque are blessed does NOT make it necessarily in the Levant as assumed by Abbasid Era authors who wrote down oral traditions/hadiths. If the Farthest Mosque were in the Levant, it would have been mentioned in the Quranic stories of prophets who dwelled in the Levant, from Abraham till Jesus; these prophets' stories occupy a large part of the Quranic stories. Mount Al-Tur of Sinai is mentioned repeatedly in the Quran as holy and blessed, more than the Quranic implied mention of the Levant. Mount Al-Tur in the Quranic text is linked to revelation of both the Torah and the Quran and is associated with the Sacred House; i.e., the Kaaba.   

3- We thematically trace, in the points below, certain Quranic verses to show how the location of the Farthest Mosque is inferred.

3/1: The verses 17:1-2 tackle the descent/revelation of the Quran and the Torah; we are not to separate the context of 17:1 and 17:2, because of the grammatical word (and) at the beginning of 17:2. "Glory to Him who journeyed His servant by night, from the Sacred Mosque, to the Farthest Mosque, whose areas We have blessed, in order to show him of Our wonders. He is the Listener, the Beholder.And We gave Moses the Book, and made it a guide for the Israelites: Take none for protector other than Me." (17:1-2). We know from the Quran that Moses received the Torah at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, and hence is the link between the Sacred Kaaba Mosque and Mount Al-Tur, which is the Farthest Mosque mentioned in 17:1. Within the Night-Journey, Muhammad was miraculously transported from Mecca to Mount Al-Tur. Thus, Mount Al-Tur is the Farthest Mosque, as opposed to the Sacred Kaaba Mosque in Mecca.  

3/2: Mount Al-Tur is described in the Quran as holy and blessed, as we read God's words with Moses at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai: "Then, when he reached it, he was called, "O Moses. I - I am your Lord. Take off your shoes. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa." (20:11-12). This location is made holy because it witnessed God's talking to Moses, and even the olive tree (or the burning bush) in Mount Al-Tur is described as blessed: "When he reached it, he was called from the right side of the valley, at the Blessed Spot, from the bush: "O Moses, it is I, God, the Lord of the Worlds." (28:30); "Then, when he reached it, he was called: "Blessed is He who is within the fire, and He who is around it..." (27:8). This blessedness of this tree/bush at Mount Al-Tur (the real and only Farthest Mosque) goes on as the Quran associates it with divine revelation, the heavens and the earth, and God's Light and Guidance: "And a tree springing out of Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, producing oil, and seasoning for those who eat." (23:20); "God is the Light of the heavens and the earth...fueled by a blessed tree, an olive tree...God guides to His light whomever wills to be guided..." (24:35). Of course, Guidance and Light from God is His Scripture/Book; this increases the bond between Mount Al-Tur and the Quran itself.    

3/3: Mount Al-Tur is associated with the descent/revelation of the Torah to Moses and it is the location where God talked to Moses for the first time. Besides, Mount Al-Tur is the one moved by God above the Israelites when the covenant was made with them and they prostrated on their chins while their eyes were fixed at the Mount hanging above their heads. Moreover, Mount Al-Tur is the one at which Moses asked the Lord to be enable his eyes to see Him, and when God manifested Himself to Mount Al-Tur, it turned into dust and Moses fell down unconscious, and when he recovered, he prostrated and implored God for forgiveness: " And when Moses came to Our appointment, and his Lord spoke to him, he said, "My Lord, allow me to look and see You." He said, "You will not see Me, but look at the Mount; if it stays in its place, you will see Me." But when his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He turned it into dust, and Moses fell down unconscious. Then, when he recovered, he said, "Glory be to you, I repent to you, and I am the first of the believers."" (7:143). This means that Mount Al-Tur is a location for prostration before the divine manifestation in the Quranic story of Moses; the Israelites prostrated when Mount Al-Tur was raised above them during the event of making the covenant; they were frightened lest Mount Al-Tur fall upon their heads: "And when We suspended the Mount over them, as if it was an umbrella, and they thought it would fall on them: "Hold fast to what We have given you, and remember what it contains, so that you may be attain piety."" (7:171). The Arabic word for (mosque) is masjid, a term that means literally: "the location of prostration", and because Mount Al-Tur is very far from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque in Mecca, the Quran describes it as Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa or the Farthest Mosque in 17:1.    

3/4: There is another strong link between Mount Al-Tur and the Quran; Moses received the Torah Tablets at Mount Al-Tur, and we prove here now that Muhammad received the Quranic text into his heart in the same location at Mount Al-Tur during the Night-Journey. God says the following about Moses as he met with God at Mount Al-Tur: "And We inscribed for him in the Tablets all kinds of enlightenments, and decisive explanation of all things..." (7:145). This means that Moses received the Torah Book written on Tablets. God says the following about the Quran itself: "We have given them a Book, which We detailed with knowledge - guidance and mercy for people who believe." (7:52). Many other similar verses describe the Quran as a detailed book about everything in religion; but we focus here on the fact that this Meccan verse 7:52 (i.e., revealed in Mecca and not in Yathreb) describes the Quran as a written Book and this means its entire text descended as a written book: "A Book was revealed to you..." (7:2). Thus, as Moses was given the Torah as a written Book at Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, Muhammad was given the entire Quran as a Book written inside his heart at the same location.      

3/5: The link between Mount Al-Tur and the Quran is strengthened when we read the Quranic story of Moses and the 70 Israelite men who accompanied him within the event of making the covenant at Mount Al-Tur to express their repentance after worshipping the golden calf and to implore the God for forgiveness. After Mount Al-Tur was made to suspend over their heads and they were very frightened as they prostrated, Moses implored for God's pardon and mercy; God responded by granting mercy especially for those who "...follow the messenger of the gentiles, sent for all people, whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel..." (7:157). This means that the Torah given to Moses at Mount Al-Tur mentions Muhammad and the Last Message of God. God tells us that Muhammad is mentioned in the Gospel as well. Thus, Muhammad received the Quran at Mount Al-Tur just as Moses received the Torah in the same spot.    

3/6: The Torah, the revelation descended on Moses, mentions the Quran and Muhammad, the messenger of the gentiles, and similarly, the Quran mentions the Torah and Moses. In fact, half of the Quranic stories of prophets/messengers are about Moses and the Israelites. The Quran engages into a dialogue with the Israelites and reminds them of the authentic Torah; verses about this topic are more than the ones addressing the Meccan disbelievers themselves. Despite the fact that there were celestial messages or Scriptures in the eras between the Torah and the Quran, God in the Quran describes the Torah in similar ways employed to describe the Quran and mentions some verses of the Torah inside the Quranic text; e.g., see 6:91-92, 6:154-155, 5:43-45, 28:43, 46:30, 87:19, and 26:192-197.

4- Between the Quranic Chapter 17 and the Quranic Chapter 53: this merging between the Quran and the Torah is manifested mostly in the Quranic Chapters 17 and 53; by the way, they are the two chapters talking about the descent/revelation of the Quran.

4/1: The Quranic Chapter 17  is significantly titled "Night-Journey", or Al-Israa' in Arabic, and some Middle-Ages authors name this Quranic Chapter 17 as (The Israelites). Its verses begin with talking about the Night-Journey from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque to the Farthest Mosque in 17:1, and the other verses that follow this one talk about the descent/revelation of the Torah and about the history of the Israelites. By the end of the Quranic Chapter 17, we find verses again about Moses and the Israelites linked to the descent/revelation of the Quran – in the same manner we find in the verses at the beginning of the Quranic Chapter 17. One verse talks about the descent of the entirety of Quran at one point in time: "With the Truth We sent it down, and with the Truth it descended..." (17:105); the very next verse talks about gradual revelation of Quranic verses in installments within the tongue/memory of Muhammad in Arabia: "A Quran which We unfolded gradually, that you may recite to the people over time. And We revealed it in stages." (17:106). God has addressed the polytheistic Arabs here: "Say, "Believe in it, or do not believe."..." (17:107), and then, God has reminded Arabs that the learned ones among the Israelites in Arabia fell to their chins, prostrating, when they heard the Quran as they remembered the covenant with God in Sinai by Mount Al-Tur; this means they linked between the Torah descended in its entirety there and how it tells about the Quran and that they must believe in it once it is revealed as the Last Message from God, as the Quran promised by God has descended, in its turn, by Mount Al-Tur. "...Those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, they fall to their chins, prostrating. And they say, "Glory to our Lord. The promise of our Lord is fulfilled." And they fall to their chins, weeping, and it adds to their humility." (17:107-109). Thus, some of the Israelites in Arabia believed in the Quran and considered themselves lucky to witness its revelation in Arabia as per the promise or prophecy mentioned in the Torah and within God's covenant made with their ancestors in Sinai when Mount All-Tur was made to suspend over their heads.      

4/2: The Quranic Chapter 53 begins with verses talking about how Gabriel met with Muhammad to convey the Quran into his heart. Within the middle of the Quranic Chapter 53, we read that God mentions scrolls/Scripture of Moses and Abraham: "Or was he not informed of what is in the Scrolls of Moses? And of Abraham, who fulfilled?" (53:36-37), and the rest of the verses (i.e., 53:38-62) contain some verses from the Torah and the scrolls of Abraham.  

5- Linking Mount Al-Tur to the Kaaba: the verse 17:1 associates the Sacred Mosque (i.e., the Kaaba in Mecca) with the Farthest Mosque (i.e., Mount Al-Tur of Sinai), but one last issue remains; since the Quranic verses explain and shed light on one another, this link or association between Mount Al-Tur and the Kaaba must have been implied in other Quranic verses to assert what we have inferred from 17:1 that Mount Al-Tur of Sinai is the Farthest Mosque. In fact, finding these verses that assert this link is very easy.   

5/1: God says the following in the Quran: "By the fig and the olive.And by Mount Al-Tur of Sinai. And by this safe city." (95:1-3). Of course, olive and Mount Al-Tur are linked to Sinai, whose name is mentioned in 95:2, and the association with Mecca is made in 95:3 as God refers to Mecca as the (safe city), because God has made His Sacred House there as a sacred sanctuary for pilgrims. Thus, God in 95:1-3 swears by the blessed location, Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, by its two main blessed trees, the fig and the olive, and then by Mecca and its main blessing: safety and security. 

5/2: The association or link occurs again when God in the Quranic Chapter 52 (which is significantly titled "Al-Tur") swears by Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, by the Quran, and then by the Kaaba: "By Mount Al-Tur. And by a Book inscribed. In a published scroll. And by the Frequented House." (52:1-4). The Quran is mentioned between Mount Al-Tur and the Kaaba, God's Sacred House, because Muhammad was transported through the Night-Journey from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque to the Farthest Mosque which is Mount Al-Tur of Sinai.

6- This means that the Night-Journey of Muhammad was to Mount Al-Tur during the Night of Decree to receive the Quran there and witness Great Signs which we have discussed earlier. Mount Al-Tur is the Farthest Mosque and never the mosque in Jerusalem built by an Umayyad caliph; Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran, whereas Mount Al-Tur of Sinai is mentioned many times in the Quranic text as a blessed place. The political reasons (making people perform pilgrimage to Jerusalem instead of Mecca, which was controlled by the rebel Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubayr for a while) that made the Umayyads keen on shifting the spiritual focus to the Levant instead of Hejaz led to subsequent writings (i.e., narratives and hadiths which were oral traditions at first) about this event that have caused people to disregard the real value of Mount Al-Tur praised many times in the Quran, which is located in Sinai, Egypt. By the way, Egypt is the only surviving country mentioned in the Quran; in fact, it is referred to in tens of Quranic verses implicitly and explicitly. For further details about Sinai and Mount Al-Tur in the Quran, we refer our dear readers to the ANNEX of our book (in English) titled "Egypt in the Holy Quran"; this ANNEX is found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/chapter.php?main_id=834

Thirdly: a summary:

1- The very first feature of the Night of Decree is the descent/revelation of the entirety of the Quranic text at one time, inscribed or inspired into the heart/soul of Muhammad, when he was transported miraculously from Mecca through the Night-Journey to Mount Al-Tur, and then in stages into his memory and tongue in Arabia on certain occasions. Thus, Muhammad did not remember verses inscribed into his soul/heart unless with God's permission; this is asserted by the Quranic fact that Muhammad never knew the future, and some of the revealed Quranic verses talk about future events that took place later on during his lifetime in Arabia.  

2- During the Night of Decree, Muhammad was transported from Sacred Mosque through the Night-Journey to Mount Al-Tur, which is the Farthest Mosque mentioned in 17:1, and this means that the Night-Journey took place during the Night of Decree in one Ramadan. This event ordained by the Almighty Lord God combines the sanctity, purity, and blessedness of time and location; i.e., the Night of Decree is a blessed time, better than a thousand months (see 97:3) and the Farthest Mosque is blessed and so are areas around it. All this is combined with the blessedness of the Quranic revelation itself; see 6:92, 6:155, 21:50, and 38:29.   

3- Muhammad during the Night-Journey that took place in the Night of Decree received the Quran when he was by Mount Al-Tur of Sinai, referred to as the Farthest Mosque in 17:1 as opposed to the sacred Mosque, which is the Kaaba in Mecca. Muhammad stood by Mount Al-Tur in the same location exactly where Moses received the Torah Tablets. It is the same location where God talked to Moses through the burning bush or tree. It is the same location where the covenant of God was made with the Israelites and Mount Al-Tur suspended over their heads miraculously. It is the same location where Moses asked to see God and his request was refused, and when God manifested Himself to the Mount Al-Tur, it turned to dust and Moses fell down unconscious, and the Mount stood again in the same shape as before. Within the Quranic story of the descent/revelation of the Torah, we are informed that the Torah mentions the glad tidings of both the prophethood or ministry of Muhammad and the descent of the Quran. This is why Mount Al-Tur, a.k.a. the Farthest Mosque, is linked directly to sanctity, blessedness, purity, and benediction and is also associated directly with Mecca and its Kaaba (a.k.a. the Sacred Mosque), as per the Quranic Chapters 17, 52, and 95.       

4- Narratives and accounts of heritage books of traditions written during the Abbasid Era and political motives during the Umayyad Era are responsible for the grave error that has been going on for centuries, i.e., to assume that the Farthest Mosque mentioned in 17:1 as referring to the so-called Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem built by the caliph Al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik and which never existed when Arabs conquered the Levant. Thus, historians have disregarded Mount Al-Tur. In fact, the Quran never mentions the city of Jerusalem at all; rather, it mentions the Sacred Kaaba Mosque and the Farthest Mosque (i.e., Mount Al-Tur) as blessed locations. The Quran refers also to the Yathreb mosque implicitly in 9:108-109 within the context of Quranic story of Muhammad, but NOT as a sacred site. If the Farthest Mosque mentioned in 17:1 were existing in Jerusalem and if the Night-Journey were made toward this city, this should have been mentioned in the Quran, asserted with many associations, instead of Mount Al-Tur; this is never the case as far as the Quranic text is concerned.

CHAPTER V: The Descent of Fates during the Night of Decree

  God says the following in the Quran: "We sent it down on the Night of Decree. But what will convey to you what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. In it descend the angels and the Spirit, by the leave of their Lord, with every command. Peace it is; until the rise of dawn." (97:1-5).

Firstly: human beings between choices and tests:

1- We have asserted earlier that God has created the universe in order to test human beings and that angels are a main element in preparation of this test. The annual gathering of angels to descend with fates of people is every Night of Decree in Ramadan. This is the same day when the Quran descended to earth at Mount Al-Tur when Gabriel met with Muhammad.

2- The philosophy of this life-test is based on two elements: (1) the freedom to choose to (dis)believe and to (dis)obey, and (2) preordained fates imposed on human beings without choosing them. People will not be judged as per these preordained fates; rather, they will be judged based on their freedom of choice regarding their deeds and faiths. The preordained fates imposed on all human beings are the time and location one's birth and death, one's lifetime duration, one's parentage, calamities that will befall one, and earnings allotted to one. Earnings include food, possessions, gains, lifetime duration, money, lifestyle, progeny, etc., even the breathed air into one's lungs. The fate of death includes when, where, and how one is going to die and of what cause. Human beings cannot escape such preordained fates, but they have freedom of choice regarding other things, especially their deeds, actions, practices, and faiths until they die. Thus, human beings enter the life-test as their souls enter their bodies and interact with the transient world events, items, and options, and souls eventually leave the bodies by death. When all human beings are tested until the last human being created on earth, as per the unknown preordained number of human beings, the universe will be destroyed during the Hour. On the Last Day, a.k.a. the Day of Resurrection/Judgment, all human souls will be made to stand before the Lord God for judgment after the test of life ends. Each soul will be accompanied by two angels, a driver and a witness (see 50:21), who accompanied the soul when it was wearing the human flesh, during its lifetime on earth to record one's deeds. We reassert here that one is never judged regarding preordained fates; God will judge one's choices and actions if one (dis)obeyed and (dis)believed as per freedom given to the humankind.      

3- Thus, archangel Gabriel, or the Spirit, apart from giving Muhammad the Quran at one time during the Night of Decree, descends on earth annually every Night of Decree, with angels under his command, to bring forth the preordained fates for the whole year until the next Night of Decree. This occurs every Ramadan, until the end of days when the Hour comes and the universe is destroyed before the Day of Resurrection. The human beings have the absolute freedom to reject or adhere to the divine sharia legislations of the Quran, and this is their responsibility on which their judgment is based on the Last Day. The human beings cannot have any choice or control regarding the preordained fates (birth/death, parentage, earnings, and calamities). The mission of Gabriel as God's envoy to messengers/prophets has ended, but his mission of carrying preordained fates annually, along with angels under his command, during the Night of Decree will go on until the end of days.   

Secondly: preordained fates exist in God's Omniscience:

1- God asserts His Omniscience in the Quran: "God knows what every female bears, and every increase and decrease of the wombs. With Him, everything is by measure." (13:8). God's Omniscience is Eternal and Permanent.

2- Hence, the countdown of one's lifetime duration begins once one is born; God preordains this duration and the time of one's birth and death BEFORE one is born. Thus, one's lifetime duration is like a sandglass. God says in the Quran: "...No female conceives, or delivers, except with His knowledge. No living thing advances in years, or its life is shortened, except it be in a Book..." (35:11).

3- This Book or Record mentioned in 35:11 contains earnings ensured by God to all living creatures on earth, not just human beings, and their times of birth/death, lifetime duration, location, and lifestyle, preordained within God's Eternal and Permanent Omniscience: "There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on God. And He knows where it lives and where it rests. Everything is in a Clear Book." (11:6); "And in the heaven is your livelihood, and what you are promised. By the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it is as true as the fact that you speak." (51:22-23).

4- Ordinary people fear death, but the Quran asserts the following fact: "Say, "The death from which you flee will catch up with you..." (62:8). Thus one cannot postpone, evade, or hasten one's death; one will die only within the time predestined by God. When hypocrites in the Yathreb city-state said the following after the battle of Uhud: "...If it was up to us, none of us would have been killed here..." (3:154), God refutes their view: "...Even if you Had stayed in your homes, those destined to be killed would have marched into their death beds..." (3:154). Thus, one dies (naturally, because of a disease, by being killed, etc.) when one's predestined time of death comes. Thus, one marches inevitably into this predestined time of death and there is no turning back in time, of course.  

5- Ordinary people try to avoid calamities as much as possible; real believers know that every human being's shares of calamities are preordained by God, as per these verses: "Every soul will taste death. We burden you with adversity and prosperity - a test. And to Us you will be returned." (21:35); "Say, "Nothing will happen to us except what God has ordained for us..." (9:51). Of course, 9:51 includes both adversity and prosperity mentioned in 21:35 as part of the test of life for all human beings, and they are uncontrolled elements predestined within God's Omniscience before the universe, earth, and the humankind have been created. "No calamity occurs on earth, or in your souls, but it is in a Book, even before We make it happen. That is easy for God. That you may not sorrow over what eludes you, nor exult over what He has given you..." (57:22-23).

6- Thus, God has recorded in a Book all fates ordained and imposed on human beings; besides, one's deeds, thoughts, practices, etc. are recorded by angels, as judgment in the Hereafter is based on things/deeds/stances adopted out of one's own free will and free choice, but one's words/deeds that are not judged are the ones within the following cases: madness, while asleep, forgetfulness, weakness, and coercion/compulsion. This recording of one's deeds/words is described in these verses: "For every person We have attached his fate to his neck. And on the Day of Resurrection, We will bring out for him a book which he will find spread open. "Read your book; today there will be none but yourself to call you to account." Whoever is guided - is guided for his own good. And whoever goes astray - goes astray to his detriment..." (17:13-15). Hence, audiovisual records of all your deeds/words/thoughts fly up to a Barsakh level where they are stored in a Book which will be closed once you die. One will read/see this Book, or record of deeds, on the Day of Resurrection. 

7- Thus, there are two types of records for each human being: (1) one of preordained fates which will not be judged in the Hereafter, and (2) one of deeds/words chosen freely and on which one's judgment is based. Preordained fates remain recorded/written within God's Omniscience until realized within the transient world by angels who are agents to make them take place and be executed in specific times; i.e., angels descend with Gabriel once a year into the earth while carrying these fates imposed on humanity for a whole year; this occurs every Ramadan during the Night of Decree.

Thirdly: angels execute and realize fates ordained within God's Omniscience:

1- Time is the 'absent' element that is ever-present here.

2- Time is the fourth dimension of matter; wherever there is physical matter, there is time. Hence, human beings, body and soul, exist and live within the frame of time. Yet, when one sleeps, one's soul is temporarily liberated from the confines of the body and time, as the soul returns to the Barsakh realm. Once one is awake, the soul returns to both the body and the spatiotemporal frame. Souls of dead people return to Barsakh in a state of timelessness and senselessness until the Day of Resurrection, when human beings are judged based on their deeds/words chosen freely within the transient world. Once awake and once resurrected, one does not feel the passage of time when the soul was in the Barsakh realm. Upon resurrection, people will assume they slept/died for a day of a part of a day (see 2:259, 18:19, and 30:55-56). Thus, Barsakh realm is about senselessness and timelessness.      

3- God mentions in the Quran the different types/levels of time regarding the divine commands/decrees of the Lord: "The command of God has come, so do not rush it..." (16:1). This verse shows that the divine command/decree of the Hour to occur has already been issued within the metaphysical level related to God, but realization of this command within the physical realm of the universe entails reaching a certain preordained time within the level of human beings. This is why in 16:1, we see the present perfect tense in the phrase "has come" and the present simple tense in the phrase "do not rush it".

4- The difference/relativity in time between our physical realm and the metaphysical realm of the Barsakh-levels is implied in these verses: "And they ask you to hasten the punishment. But God never breaks His promise. A day with your Lord is like a thousand years by your count." (22:47); "He regulates all affairs, from the heavens, to the earth. Then they ascend to Him on a Day the length of which is a thousand years by your count." (32:5). 

5- This relativity/difference in time entails a temporal converging point; namely, the Night of Decree that takes place in every Ramadan, a night which is better than a thousand months. Thus, a day with our Lord (i.e., when ascending and descending of angels with fates and decrees/commands regarding human beings occur) mentioned in 22:47 and 32:5 means 1000 Ramadans in 1000 lunar years as per the count of human beings of the lunar calendar and the time calculations on earth. 

6-God has created all souls of all human beings together at once, within the Barsakh realm, from the soul of Adam to the soul of the last human being who will exist before the Hour comes. "O people! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul..." (4:1); "And it is He who produced you from a single person, then a repository, then a depository..." (6:98). Thus, souls of all human beings are created from one soul, and the Barsakh realm contains souls of the dead people and the souls of those yet-to-be-born people. Resurrection will be a reversed process, as souls of all human beings return to the one, original soul from which they were issued: "Your creation and your resurrection are only as a single soul..." (31:28). A soul remains in a state of deep slumber of timelessness and senselessness in the Barsakh realm until its turn to wear a body (an embryo at first) and enter into the test of life comes; God chooses the parents of this human being and the chronological order of its ancestry and (possible) progeny. This soul is a free agent within the human body during its lifetime duration, and it has its preordained fates: earnings, calamities, birth/death time and location. The soul leaves the body forever in death, as it returns to the Barsakh realm, which is its original place. Upon dying, the soul see angels of death informing the soul of its eternal destiny (either in Hell or in Paradise) which will come to pass after the Day of Judgment. The souls of the dead persons return to the Barsakh realm, where the souls of the dead (whose life-test ended) and the souls of those yet-to-be-born persons (who are yet to be tested on earth) exist, as per the Quran. The souls of the dead who were tested on earth carry their records of deeds with them, preserved by angels. This occurs to all human beings as the test of life is ordained by God to all humanity, until the last person tested before the Hour takes place and the universe is destroyed.    

7- What is the role of angels here? What is the role of the Night of Decree here? The souls of those yet-to-be-born persons are never known by angels; they are known only to our Omniscient Lord God in the repository/depository of the Barsakh realm, waiting for their turns, predetermined only by God, to be born on earth to be tested. When the divine decree/command comes with its details that someone is going to be born this year, the Spirit (i.e., Gabriel) and angels under him are informed with this command/decree within the Night of Decree, which is repeated once a year every Ramadan, along with the other types of fates preordained and imposed on all human beings, including who will die this year and their souls will return to Barsakh realm until the end of days. Within the annual Night of Decree in the Ramadan, earnings and calamities of living persons descend as part of fates brought down from God by the Gabriel and the angels. In sum, each annual Night of Decree within each Ramadan contains the divine commands carried by angels about those who will be born and those who will die this year (until the next Night of Decree) and calamities and earnings ordained to all living persons on earth.     

8- Of course, there are angels of death who receive divine commands/decrees from the Angel of Death, who is among the archangels headed by Gabriel (who reside/exist in the upper level of the Barsakh realm), as Gabriel (along with angels under his command) descends with such decrees/commands that carry fates preordained on all human beings during the Night of Decree every Ramadan.

9- Apart from angels headed by Gabriel during the Night of Decree, there are angels who realize or execute divine commands; e.g., the angels of death who take the souls of the dying persons and they are headed by the Angel of Death, whose name is NOT mentioned in the Quran at all. Thus, there are certain degrees or levels of the Barsakh metaphysical realm; we notice the divine level of commands descended by angels during the Night of Decree in this verse: "God takes the souls at the time of their death..." (39:42), and we notice the high level of the execution of commands by the Angel of Death in this verse: "Say, "The Angel of Death put in charge of you will reclaim you..." (32:11), and finally, we notice the level of the angels of death, who take the souls of the dying persons on earth as per the commands of their head or archangel, the Angel of Death, who is mentioned in 32:11. The angels of death are mentioned in this verse: "...Until when death overtakes one of you, Our envoys take him away, and they never fail." (6:61). There are certain similar levels for the other preordained fates: birth, earnings, and calamities.

CHAPTER VI: The Night of Decree in Light of Modern Science    

Firstly: modern science knocks the doors of the unknown:

1- We, Dr. A. S. Mansour, specialize only in the Quran, history, and the heritage books of tradition. We urge those who specialize in modern scientific fields to examine our book here about the Night of Decree in light of scientific facts and the latest discoveries in many fields. Muslim scientists should bear in mind that the Quranic miraculous indications of scientific facts have NOT yet been fully explored in light of science now and that there are Quranic miraculous indications unreached yet by scientific fields of our era. Our book here is a modest endeavor to call and urge all Muslim scientists within many fields of specialization to offer their views and ijtihad (i.e., innovative thinking) about the Night of Decree in light of the Quran which is God's Book long abandoned by most people, though we need, as part of Islamic obligations, to take great interest in the Quranic text and to deeply study it and ponder on it.      

2- Undoubtedly, the scientific revolution and advancements in science, telecommunication, modern technology, and IT have made real, pious believers feel more awe and reverence toward our Lord God the Omnipotent. The previously hidden aspects of existence are now made known to humanity and scientists study how to make use of advancements in scientific knowledge to serve the humankind. In the near future, more unknown aspects of existence will be made known to humanity. Consequently, this means it will be easier for human beings to believe – through science – that the metaphysical realm of Barsakh levels exists, as our physical realm has turned out to be merely the tip of an iceberg in knowledge as far as the universe/cosmos is concerned.      

Secondly: modern science gets nearer to the borders of the Barsakh metaphysical realm:

 Advancement and accumulation of scientific knowledge, especially in high technology, have allowed humanity to reach the threshed of some ethereal Barsakh features; we exemplify this in the points below, regarding our topic of the Night of Decree and its features of divine revelation, angels, and fates.

1- Albert Einstein in his articles published in 1905 A.D. tackles the special theory of relativity and topics related to modern physics that have changed views on space, time, and matter. Einstein asserted that the physical universe has three dimensions enveloped by time as the fourth dimension; thus, matter is surrounded by time, and that the speed of light in vacuum is a universal physical constant and it is the maximum speed at which all conventional matter, and hence all known forms of information in the physical universe, can travel.     

2- Dr. Mansour Hasabennabi wrote an article in the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper on the 11^th of May, 1995, in which he tackles a scientific understanding or pondering of these two verses: "And they ask you to hasten the punishment. But God never breaks His promise. A day with your Lord is like a thousand years by your count." (22:47); "He regulates all affairs, from the heavens, to the earth. Then they ascend to Him on a Day the length of which is a thousand years by your count." (32:5). Dr. Hasabennabi maintains that the phrase (by your count) means by the human calculation and counting of time on earth; hence, the distance covered by the divine command to reach and descend on earth within the Night of Decree is to be calculated using the speed of light of Einstein and the time-frame of 1000 lunar years of the Quranic equation in 22:47 and 32:5. Dr. Hasabennabi maintains also that the equations of Einstein have predicted (before Superstring theory) that speeds faster than the speed of light may exist within the tachyon or the tachyonic particle (i.e. hypothetical particle that always moves faster than light). Superstring theory maintains that there is a six-dimensional universe overlapping with our known four-dimensional universe (or our known four-dimensional continuum of three dimensions of space plus the fourth dimension of time, shown in the typical space-time diagrams made by scientists), and speeds more than the speed of light exist there, but they cannot be measured by human beings – yet.        

3- According to the above points, we maintain that these pieces of information refer to the Barsakh metaphysical realm mentioned in the Quran, and the main contact between this metaphysical realm and the physical one is the Night of Decree.  

Thirdly: true visions between our world and the Barsakh metaphysical realm:

1- The time durations are reduced as per the speed of the object that moves; if humans would one day travel in the speed of light, time would be almost nonexistent, but light itself is a physical matter. If humans would travel one day in speeds faster than the speed of light, they might experience the Barsakh level (i.e., the metaphysical realm) and they might know or see events before they take place as per commands and fates descending annually within the Night of Decree; in fact, this occurs in a miniature scale within dreams/visions that predict the future.  

2- During deep sleep, the human soul temporarily leaves the human body but remain linked to it; it returns upon waking up. This is because souls belong to the metaphysical realm of Barsakh, where speeds are more than that of the speed of light in our physical realm. This is why it is assumed that when souls move in Barsakh with unimagined speeds, they might come across future events that are yet to take place in the physical world and such events express themselves in moving images within dreams/visions. Thus, some dreams/visions we see during our sleep come true later and we know their interpretation or witness their realization.

3- The Quranic story of Joseph exemplifies this in the Quranic Chapter 12 which is based on four true visions: one seen by Joseph, two seen by the two prisoners in the cell with Joseph, and the one seen by the king of Egypt. This means that the four souls of these four men wandered in the Barsakh realm and saw future events; different durations have passed until each of such visions came true. This fact indicates that there are different levels and speeds of angels who realize and carry out the divine commands and decrees.    

4- God says in the Quran: "Unto Him the angels and the Spirit ascend on a Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years." (70:4); this means that the commands/decrees of the Lord God are conveyed by Gabriel and the angels headed by him within a different time in comparison to their ascension to the seventh heaven that take them fifty thousand years as per human calculation of time on earth; other angels of lesser ranks take 1000 years as per human calculation of time on earth. Thus, the souls of sleepers that wander in the Barsakh realm might receive dreams/visions predicting future events carried by angels of different ranks/levels/speeds.

5- But during the Night of Decree, commands and fates descend as ordained by God which are pertaining to a whole year until the next Night of Decree during next Ramadan.

Fourthly: the levels of the Barsakh metaphysical realm overlap with human beings and the physical world:

1- When Dr. Hasabennabi tackles the equations of Einstein, we are informed about possible speeds faster than the speed of light (tachyon), and a six-dimensional universe overlapping with our known four-dimensional universe, this indicates that our weak, physical universe is overlapping with higher, more powerful levels of the metaphysical Barsakh realm.

2- Science tell us that atoms rotate within speeds between 400 billion to 750 billion cycles per second, and when they rotate faster, we can no longer see them. This is why we cannot see fan blades if they rotate at fast speeds; we cannot see atoms of volatile materials though we can smell them. The atoms of the six-dimensional realm rotate faster and we cannot see them because they have vibrational levels that differ from those of our physical world. Hence, we cannot see angels, Jinn, and devils nor souls that get out of the dying bodies. The scientific field called quantum mechanics, which is related to waves, indicates that overlapping or lack of overlapping between bodies is directly linked to the similarity or difference of the vibrational levels. Thus, if both bodies belong to the same realm, it is impossible that they overlap or merge; e.g., a man cannot move with his body through a wall as both the man and the wall have the same vibrational levels. The beings that have higher vibrational levels can overlap with or move through beings that have lower vibrational levels. Thus, angels, Jinn, and devils as ethereal beings can exist on earth as the overlapping between them and the physical world is possible and natural. Thus, the souls inside the human bodies are deemed as another example of this overlapping and merging possible as per this scientific field called quantum mechanics. This applies to radio waves that fill the atmosphere on earth and they never overlap, unless when two waves have the same frequency level. Within our physical realm, solid atoms (from solid masses to planets and galaxies) rotate and vibrate within the speed of 400 billion cycles per second, and this speed increases up to 750 billion cycles per second when solid matter turns into gas and we can barely see gases, and it is impossible for the human naked eye to see energy. Thus, within higher levels of our physical realm, invisible energy types can be detected and used like X-rays, ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, and Gama rays, which can penetrate our bodies and solid objects that have lower vibrational levels which include the lowest level for human bodies: 400 billion cycles per second. Let us remember that energy is converted matter and that matter and energy are two faces of the same coin. If there is a being with a vibration level above 750 billion cycles per second, then this being is linked to the Barsakh realm and it is natural that it can overlap/merge with our bodies and that beings of higher levels of Barsakh with higher vibrational levels can overlap/merge with beings with lower vibrational levels.             

3- This means that human beings live within two overlapping realms of the physical realm and the metaphysical one, and each has its different vibrational levels, and this is how the physical bodies contain the souls that originally belong to Barsakh, and this is how on earth, there are human beings and angels (who record deeds of people) while the formers cannot see the latters. Human beings can see the ethereal creatures, i.e., angels, only upon dying and on the Last Day. Miraculously, Muhammad's soul saw Great Signs; i.e., Gabriel and the Barsakh Paradise (see 53:1-18), where the souls of those killed for God's sake and for His cause dwell until the end of days to enjoy bliss and pleasures, but mortals within the physical realm cannot see or sense them, though those who dwell in the Barsakh Paradise can see or sense mortals on earth (see 2:154 and 3:169-171).

4- This means that the levels of the Barsakh realm (of angels, Jinn, and devils and conveyed events/commands) surround human beings: "For every happening is a finality, and you will surely know." (6:67). Thus, all records of deeds written by angels and all fates and decrees/commands carried/conveyed by angels, headed by archangel Gabriel, during the Night of Decree are in the Barsakh realm, to be carried out/realized/executed later on by angels on earth. God says the following about the Night of Decree in the entire Quranic Chapter 97, significantly titled "Night of Decree",: "We sent it down on the Night of Decree. But what will convey to you what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. In it descend the angels and the Spirit, by the leave of their Lord, with every command. Peace it is; until the rise of dawn." (97:1-5).

5- As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.