Biografi Abu Bakar As-Sidiq

Abu Bakar As-Sidiq adalah orang yang paling awal memeluk agama Islam (assabiqunal awwalun), sahabat Rasullullah Saw., dan juga khalifah pertama yang dibaiat (ditunjuk) oleh umat Islam. Beliau lahir bersamaan dengan tahun kelahiran Nabi Muhammad Saw. pada 572 Masehi di Mekah, berasal dari keturunan Bani Taim, suku Quraisy. Nama aslinya adalah Abdullah ibni Abi Quhaafah.

Berdasarkan beberapa sejarawan Islam, ia adalah seorang pedagang, hakim dengan kedudukan tinggi, seorang yang terpelajar serta dipercayai sebagai orang yang bisa menafsirkan mimpi. Berdasarkan keadaan saat itu dimana kepercayaan yang diajarkan Nabi Muhammad SAW lebih banyak menarik minat anak-anak muda, orang miskin, kaum marjinal dan para budak, sulit diterima bahwa Abu Bakar justru termasuk dalam mereka yang memeluk Islam dalam periode awal dan juga berhasil mengajak penduduk mekkah dan kaum Quraish lainnya mengikutinya (memeluk Islam).
Abu Bakar berarti ‘ayah si gadis’, yaitu ayah dari Aisyah istri Nabi Muhammad SAW. Namanya yang sebenarnya adalah Abdul Ka’bah (artinya ‘hamba Ka’bah’), yang kemudian diubah oleh Rasulullah menjadi Abdullah (artinya ‘hamba Allah’). Sumber lain menyebutkan namanya adalah Abdullah bin Abu Quhafah (Abu Quhafah adalah kunya atau nama panggilan ayahnya). Gelar As-Sidiq (yang dipercaya) diberikan Nabi Muhammad SAW sehingga ia lebih dikenal dengan nama Abu Bakar ash-Shiddiq. Sebagaimana orang-orang yang pertama masuk Islam, cobaan yang diderita Abu Bakar As-Sidiq cukup banyak. Namun ia senantiasa tetap setia menemani Nabi dan bersama beliau menjadi satu-satunya teman hijrah ke

Madinah pada 622 Masehi.
Menjelang wafatnya Rasullullah, Abu Bakar ditunjuk sebagai imam shalat menggantikannya. Hal ini diindikasikan bahwa Abu Bakar kelak akan menggantikan posisi Nabi memimpin umat. Setelah wafatnya Rasullullah, maka melalui musyawarah antara kaum Muhajirin dan Anshar memilih Abu Bakar sebagai khalifah pertama, memulai era Khulafaur Rasyidin. Meski ditentang oleh sebagian muslim Syiah karena menurut mereka Nabi pernah memilih Ali bin Abi Thalib sebagai penggantinya, namun Ali bin Abi Thalib menyatakan setia dan mendukung Abu Bakar sebagai khalifah.
Segera setelah menjadi khalifah, urusan Abu Bakar banyak disibukkan oleh pemadaman pemberontakan dan pelurusan akidah masyarakat yang melenceng setelah meninggalnya Nabi. Beliau memerangi Musailamah Al-Kazab (Musailamah si pembohong), yang mengklaim dirinya sebagai nabi baru menggantikan Nabi Muhammad Saw, dan juga memungut zakat kepada suku-suku yang tidak mau membayarnya setelah meninggalnya Nabi Muhammad Saw. Mereka beranggapan bahwa zakat adalah suatu bentuk upeti terhadap Rasullullah. Setelah usainya pemberontakan dan berbagai masalah internal, beliau melanjutkan misi Nabi Muhammad menyiarkan syiar Islam ke seluruh dunia. Abu Bakar mengutus orang-orang kepercayaannya ke Bizantium dan Sassanid sebagai misi menyebarkan agama Islam. Khalid bin Walid juga sukses menaklukkan Irak dan Suriah dengan mudah.
Beliau menjadi khalifah dalam jangka waktu 2 tahun. Abu Bakar meninggal pada tanggal 23 Agustus 634 di Madinah. Beliau dimakamkan di samping makam Rasullullah Saw. Selanjutnya posisi khalifah digantikan oleh Umar bin Khatab.

disunting dari http://kolom-biografi.blogspot.com

Sepupu Rasullullah Saw, Ali bin Abi Thalib

Ali bin Abi Thalib adalah orang yang paling awal memeluk agama Islam (assabiqunal awwalun), sepupu Rasullullah Saw., dan juga khalifah terakhir dalam kekhalifahan Kulafaur Rasyidin menurut pandangan Sunni. Namun bagi Islam Syiah, Ali adalah khalifah pertama dan juga imam pertama dari 12 imam Syiah.
Ali dilahirkan di Mekkah, daerah Hejaz, Jazirah Arab, pada tanggal 13 Rajab. Menurut sejarawan, Ali dilahirkan 10 tahun sebelum dimulainya kenabian Muhammad, sekitar tahun 600 Masehi. Beliau bernama asli Haydar bin Abu Thalib. Namun Rasullullah Saw. tidak menyukainya dan memanggilnya Ali yang berarti memiliki derajat yang tinggi di sisi Allah.

Ketika Rasullullah Saw. mulai menyebarkan Islam, Ali saat itu berusia 10 tahun. Namun ia mempercayai Rasullullah Saw. dan menjadi orang yang pertama masuk Islam dari golongan anak-anak. Masa remajanya banyak dihabiskan untuk belajar bersama Rasullullah sehingga Ali tumbuh menjadi pemuda cerdas, berani, dan bijak. Jika Rasullullah Saw. adalah gudang ilmu, maka Ali ibarat kunci untuk membuka gudang tersebut.
Saat Rasullullah Saw. hijrah, beliau menggantikan Rasullullah tidur di tempat tidurnya sehingga orang-orang Quraisy yang hendak membunuh Nabi terpedaya. Setelah masa hijrah dan tinggal di Madinah, Ali dinikahkan Nabi dengan putri kesayangannya Fatimah az-Zahra.
Ali tidak hanya tumbuh menjadi pemuda cerdas, namun juga berani dalam medan perang. Bersama Dzulfikar, pedangnya, Ali banyak berjasa membawa kemenangan di berbagai medan

perang seperti Perang Badar, Perang Khandaq, dan Perang Khaibar.
Setelah wafatnya Rasullullah, timbul perselisihan perihal siapa yang akan diangkat menjadi khalifah. Kaum Syiah percaya Nabi Muhammad telah mempersiapkan Ali sebagai khalifah. Tetapi Ali dianggap terlalu muda untuk menjabat sebagai khalifah. Pada akhirnya Abu Bakar yang diangkat menjadi khalifah pertama.
Setelah terbunuhnya Utsman bin Affan, keadaan politik Islam menjadi kacau. Atas dasar tersebut, Zubair bin Awwam dan Talhah bin Ubaidillah mendesak agar Ali segera menjadi khalifah. Ali kemudian dibaiat beramai-ramai, menjadikannya khalifah pertama yang dibaiat secara luas. Namun kegentingan politik membuat Ali harus memikul tugas yang berat untuk menyelesaikannya.
Perang saudara pertama dalam Islam, Perang Siffin pecah diikuti dengan merebaknya fitnah seputar kematian Utsman bin Affan membuat posisi Ali sebagai khalifah menjadi sulit. Beliau meninggal di usia 63 tahun karena pembunuhan oleh Abdrrahman bin Muljam, seseorang yang berasal dari golongan Khawarij (pembangkang) saat mengimami shalat subuh di masjid Kufah, pada tanggal 19 Ramadhan, dan Ali menghembuskan nafas terakhirnya pada tanggal 21 Ramadhan tahun 40 Hijriyah. Ali dikuburkan secara rahasia di Najaf, bahkan ada beberapa riwayat yang menyatakan bahwa ia dikubur di tempat lain.
Selanjutnya kursi kekhalifahan dipegang secara turun temurun oleh keluarga Bani Umayyah dengan khalifah pertama Muawiyah. Dengan demikian berakhirlah kekhalifahan Kulafaur Rasyidin.

Biografi Nabi Muhammad SAW

Nabi Muhammad saw berasal dari kabilah Quraisy, tepatnya keturunan Hasyim. Ayah beliau adalah Abdullah bin Abdul Muthalib, cucu Hasyim. Ibunda beliau adalah Aminah binti Wahb yang berasal dari keturunan Bani Zuhrah, salah satu kabilah Quraisy.

Setelah menikah, Abdullah melakukan pepergian ke Syam. Ketika pulang dari pepergian itu, ia wafat di Madinah dan dikuburkan di kota itu juga.

Setelah beberapa bulan dari wafatnya sang ayah berlalu, Nabi pamungkas para nabi lahir di bulan Rabi’ul Awal, tahun 571 Masehi di Makkah, dan dengan kelahirannya itu, dunia menjadi terang-benderang. Sesuai dengan kebiasaan para bangsawan Makkah, ibundanya menyerahkan Muhammad kecil kepada Halimah Sa’diyah dari kabilah Bani Sa’d untuk disusui. Beliau tinggal di rumah Halimah selama empat tahun. Setelah itu, sang ibu mengambilnya kembali.

Dengan tujuan untuk berkunjung ke kerabat ayahnya di Madinah, sang ibunda membawanya pergi ke Madinah. Dalam perjalanan pulang ke Makkah, ibundanya wafat dan dikebumikan di Abwa`, sebuah daerah yang terletak antara Makkah dan Madinah. Setelah ibunda beliau wafat, secara bergantian, kakek dan paman beliau, Abdul Muthalib dan Abu Thalib memelihara beliau. Pada usia dua puluh lima tahun, beliau menikah dengan Khadijah yang waktu itu sudah berusia empat puluh tahun. Beliau menjalani hidup bersamanya selama dua puluh lima tahun hingga ia wafat pada usia enam puluh lima tahun.

Pada usia empat puluh tahun, beliau diutus menjadi nabi oleh Allah. Ia mewahyukan kepada beliau al-Quran yang seluruh manusia dan jin tidak mampu untuk menandinginya. Ia menamakan beliau sebagai pamungkas para nabi dan memujinya karena kemuliaan akhlaknya.

Beliau hidup di dunia ini selama enam puluh tiga tahun. Menurut pendapat masyhur, beliau wafat pada hari Senin bulan Shafar 11 Hijriah di Madinah.
Bukti Kenabian Rasulullah saw

Secara global, kenabian seorang nabi dapat diketahui melalui tiga jalan:

1. Pengakuan sebagai nabi.
2. Kelayakan menjadi nabi.
3. Mukjizat.

Pengakuan Sebagai Nabi

Telah diketahui oleh setiap orang bahwa Rasulullah saw telah mengaku sebagai nabi di Makkah pada tahun 611 M., masa di mana syirik, penyembahan berhala dan api telah menguasai seluruh dunia. Hingga akhir usia, beliau selalu mengajak umat manusia untuk memeluk agama Islam, dan sangat banyak sekali di antara mereka yang mengikuti ajakan beliau itu.

Kelayakan Menjadi Nabi

Maksud asumsi di atas adalah seorang yang mengaku menjadi nabi harus memiliki akhlak dan seluruh etika yang terpuji, dari sisi kesempurnaan jiwa harus orang yang paling utama, tinggi dan sempurna, dan terbebaskan dari segala karakterisitik yang tidak terpuji. Semua itu telah dimiliki oleh Rasulullah saw. Musuh dan teman memuji beliau karena akhlaknya, memberitakan sifat-sifat sempurna dan kelakuan terpujinya dan membebaskannya dari setiap karakterisitik yang buruk.

Kesimpulannya, akhlak beliau yang mulia, tata krama beliau yang terpuji, perubahan dan revolusi yang beliau cetuskan di seanterao dunia, khususnya di Hijaz dan jazirah Arab, dan sabda-sabda beliau yang mulia berkenaan dengan tauhid, sifat-sifat Allah, hukum halal dan haram, serta nasihat-nasihat beliau telah membuktikan kelayakan beliau untuk menduduki kursi kenabian, dan setiap orang yang insaf tidak akan meragukan semua itu.
Mukjizat

Mukjizat dapat disimpulkan dalam lima hal:

1. Mukjizat akhlak.
2. Mukjizat ilmiah.
3. Mukjizat amaliah.
4. Mukjizat maknawiyah.
5. Mukjizat keturunan.

Mukjizat Akhlak

Sejak masa muda, Nabi Muhammad saw telah dikenal dengan kejujuran, amanat, kesabaran, ketegaran, dan kedermawanan. Dalam kesabaran dan kerendahan diri beliau tidak memiliki sekutu dan dalam kemanisan etika beliau tak tertandingi. “Sesungguhnya engkau berada di puncak akhlak yang agung.” Dalam memaafkan, beliau tak ada taranya. Ketika mendapatkan gangguan dan cemoohan masyarakatnya, beliau hanya berkata اَللّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِقَوْمِيْ فَإِنَّهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُوْنَ “Ya Allah, ampunilah kaumku, karena mereka tidak mengetahui.”Beliau selalu mengharapkan kebaikan seluruh umat manusia, penyayang dan belas-kasih terhadap mereka. “Ia belas-kasih dan pengasih terhadap Mukminin.”

Beliau tidak pernah menyembunyikan keceriaan wajah terhadap para sahabat dan selalu mencari berita tentang kondisi mereka. Beliau selalu memberikan tempat khusus kepada orang-orang baik di sisi beliau. Orang yang paling utama di sisi beliau adalah orang yang dikenal dengan kebajikanya terhadap Muslimin dan orang yang termulia adalah orang yang lebih bertindak toleran dan tolong-menolong terhadap umat Islam. Beliau tida pernah duduk dan bangun (dari duduk) kecuali dengan menyebut nama Allah dan mayoritasnya, beliau duduk menghadap ke arah Kiblat. Beliau tidak pernah menentukan tempat duduk khusus bagi dirinya. Beliau memperlakukan masyarakat sedemikian rupa sehingga mereka merasa dirinya adalah orang termulia di sisi beliau. Beliau tidak banyak berbiacara dan tidak pernah memotong pembicaraan seseorang kecuali ia berbicara kebatilan.

Beliau tidak pernah mencela dan mencerca seseorang. Beliau tidak pernah mencari-cari kesalahan orang lain. Budi pelerti beliau yang menyeluruh telah meliputi seluruh umat manusia. Beliau selalu sabar menghadapi perangai buruk bangsa Arab dan orang-orang yang asing bagi beliau. Beliau selalu duduk di atas tanah dan duduk bersama orang-orang miskin serta makan bersama mereka. Dalam makan dan berpakaian, beliau tidak pernah melebihi rakyat biasa. Setiap berjumpa dengan seseorang, beliau selalu memulai mengucapkan salam dan berjabat tangan dengannya. Beliau tidak pernah mengizinkan siapa pun berdiri (untuk menghormati)nya. Beliau selalu menghormati orang-orang berilmu dan berakhlak mulia. Dibandingkan dengan yang lain, beliau lebih bijaksana, sabar, adil, berani dan pengasih. Beliau selalu menghormati orang-orang tua, menyayangi anak-anak kecil dan membantu orang-orang yang terlantar. Sebisa mungkin, beliau tidak pernah makan sendirian. Ketika beliau meninggal dunia, beliau tidak meninggalkan sekeping Dinar dan Dirham pun.

Keberanian beliau sangat terkenal sehingga Imam Ali as pernah berkata: “Ketika perang mulai memanas, kami berlindung kepada beliau.”

Rasa memaafkan beliau sangat besar. Ketika berhasil membebaskan Makkah, beliau memegang pintu Ka’bah seraya bersabda (kepada musyrikin Makkah): “Apa yang kalian katakan dan sangka sekarang?” Mereka menjawab: “Kami mengatakan dan menyangka kebaikan (terhadapmu). Engkau adalah seorang pemurah dan putra seorang pemurah. Engkau telah berhasil berkuasa terhadap kami. Engkau pasti mampu melakukan apa yang kau inginkan.” Mendengar pengakuan mereka ini, hati beliau tersentuh dan menangis. Ketika penduduk Makkah melihat kejadian itu, mereka pun turut menangis. Setelah itu beliau bersabda: “Aku mengatakan seperti apa yang pernah dikatakan oleh saudaraku Yusuf bahwa ‘Tiada cercaan bagi kalian pada hari ini. Allah akan mengampuni kalian, dan Ia adalah Lebih Pengasih dari para pengasih’.” (QS. Yusuf: 92) Beliau memaafkan seluruh kriminalitas dan kejahatan yang pernah mereka lakukan seraya mengucapkan sabda beliau yang spektakuler: “Pergilah! Kalian bebas.”

Mukjizat Ilmiah

Dengan merujuk kepada buku-buku yang memuat sabda, pidato dan nasihat-nasihat beliau secara panjang lebar, mukjizat ilmiah beliau ini dapat dipahami dengan jelas.

Mukjizat Amaliah

Dapat diakui bahwa seluruh perilaku beliau dari sejak lahir hingga wafat adalah sebuah mukjizat. Dengan sedikit merenungkan kondisi dan karakteristik masyarakat Hijaz, khususnya masyarakat kala itu, kemukjizatan seluruh perilaku beliau akan jelas bagi kita. Beliau bak sebuah bunga yang tumbuh di ladang duri. Beliau tidak hanya tidak terpengaruh oleh karakteristik duri-duri itu, bahkan beliau berhasil merubahnya. Beliau tidak hanya terpengaruh oleh kondisi kehidupan masyarakat kala itu, bahkan beliau berhasil mempengaruhi gaya hidup mereka.

Dalam kurun waktu dua puluh tiga tahun, beliau telah berhasil melakukan empat pekerjaan besar dan fundamental meskipun banyak aral melintang dan problema yang melilit. Masing-masing pekerjaan itu dalam kondisi normal semestinya memerlukan usaha bertahun-tahun untuk dapat tegak berdiri sepanjang masa. Keempat pekerjaan besar itu adalah sebagai berikut:

Pertama, berbeda dengan agama-agama yang sedang berlaku pada masa beliau, beliau mendirikan sebuah agama baru yang bersifat Ilahi. Beliau telah berhasil menciptakan banyak orang beriman kepada agama tersebut sehingga sampai sekarang pun pengaruh spiritual beliau masih kuat tertanam di dalam lubuk hati ratusan juta pengikutnya. Menjadikan seseorang taat adalah sebuah pekerjaan yang mudah. Akan tetapi, menundukkan hati masyarakat, itu pun sebuah masyarakat fanatis dan bodoh tanpa syarat dan menjadikan mereka taat dari lubuk hati bukanlah sebuah pekerjaan yang mudah.

Kedua, dari kabilah-kabilah berpecah-belah yang selalu saling bermusuhan dan memiliki hobi berperang, beliau berhasil sebuah umat yang satu dan menjalin persaudaraan, persamaan, kebebasan dan kesatun kalimat dalam arti yang sebenarnya di antara mereka. Setelah beberapa tahun berlalu, beliau berhasil membentuk sebuah umat yang bernama umat Muhammad saw. Hingga sekarang umat ini masih eksis dan terus bertambah.

Ketiga, di tengah-tengah kabilah yang berpecah-belah, masing-masing memiliki seorang pemimpin, biasa melakukan pekerjaan secara tersendiri dan tidak pernah memiliki sebuah pemerintahan yang terpusat itu, beliau berhasil membentuk sebuah pemerintahan yang berlandaskan kepada kebebasan dan kemerdekaan yang sempurna. Dari sisi kekuatan dan kemampuan, pemerintahan ini pernah menjadi satu-satunya pemerintahan mutlak di dunia setelah satu abad berlalu.

Beliau pernah menulis enam surat dalam satu hari kepada para raja penguasa masa itu dan mengajak mereka untuk memeluk Islam, raja-raja yang menganggap diri mereka berada di puncak kekuatan dan meremehkan kaum Arab.

Ketika surat beliau sampai ke tangan raja Iran dan melihat nama beliau disebutkan di atas namanya, ia marah seraya memerintahkan para suruhannya untuk pergi ke Madinah dan membawa Muhammad ke hadapannya.

Ya! Para raja itu berpikir bahwa bangsa Arab adalah sebuah bangsa yang tidak akan menunjukkan reaksi apa pun di hadapan pasukan kecil seperti bala tentara Habasyah. Bahkan, mereka akan lari tunggang-langgang meninggalkan Makkah dan kehidupan mereka, serta berlindung ke gunung-gunung. Mereka tidak dapat memahami bahwa bangsa Arab telah memiliki seorang pemimpin Ilahi dan mereka bukanlah bangsa Arab yang dulu lagi.

Keempat, dalam kurun waktu dua puluh tiga tahun, beliau telah menetapkan dan menunjukkan sederetan undang-undang yang mencakup seluruh kebutuhan umat manusia. Undang-undang ini akan tetap kekal hingga hari Kiamat, dan mempraktikkannya dapat mendatangkan kebahagiaan umat manusia. Undang-undang ini tidak akan pernah layu. “Kehalalan Muhammad adalah halal selamanya hingga hari Kiamat dan keharamannya adalah haram selamanya hingga hari Kiamat.”[1] Undang-undang ini akan selamanya hidup kekal. Di hauzah-hauzah ilmiah selalu dibahas dan didiskusikan oleh para fuqaha besar dalam sebuah obyek pembahasan fiqih,

Furu’uddin dan kewajiban amaliah.

Mukjizat Ma’nawiyah

Mukjizat abadi beliau adalah al-Quran yang telah turun kepada beliau dalam kurun waktu dua puluh tiga tahun, dan dari sejak saat itu hingga sekarang selalu mendapatkan perhatian dan penelaahan dari berbagai segi oleh seluruh masyarakat dunia. Kitab ini berhasil membangkitkan rasa heran para ilmuan dan sepanjang masa masih memiliki kekokohan dan kedudukannya yang mulia. Kitab ini terselamatkan dari segala bentuk tahrif, pengurangan dan penambahan. Ratusan tafsir dan buku tentang hakikat arti dan kosa katanya telah ditulis. Allah telah menjamin keterjagaannya dalam firman-Nya:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَ إِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُوْنَ
“Kami-lah yang telah menurunkan al-Quran ini dan Kami pulalah yang akan menjaganya.”

Mukjizat Keturunan

Salah satu mukjizat beliau yang lain adalah keturunan suci beliau yang terjaga dari dosa. Hanya kedudukan tinggi kenabianlah yang mampu menghaturkan putri-putri dan para imam ma’shum seperti ini kepada masyarakat. Seseorang yang sadar dengan memperhatikan ilmu, kehidupan, ucapan dan perilaku Ahlubait as akan mengakui bahwa setiap dari mereka, sebagaimana al-Quran, adalah dalil tersendiri atas kenabian Rasulullah saw. Seandainya tidak ada dalil lain untuk membuktikan kenabian Rasulullah saw kecuali keberadaan keturunan semacam itu, hal itu sudah mencukupi dan hujjah sudah sempurna. Pembahasan panjang-lebar tentang masalah ini tidak relevan untuk kesempatan pendek ini.

KARAKTER DAN KEUTAMAAN RASULLULLAH SAW

Salah satu karekter rasulullah saw yang paling menonjol adalah kemenangan tidak menjaga kan dia bangga hal ini bisa kita lihat diperang badar dan pembebasan kita makkah(fathu makkah) dan kekalahan tidak membuat dia putus asa dapat kita lihat pristiwa perang uhud bahkan dengan cekatan is mempersiapkan pasukan baru untuk menghadapi hamru"ul asad dan pengingkari perjanjian yang dilakukan kaum yahudi bani quraizah ,dan kewaspadaan beliau,selalu mengedek kekuatan musuh dengan teliti dan mempersiapkan segalanya.

Dia memperlakukan kaum dan pengikutnya dengan tujuan mempererat silaturrahmi dan selalu menamamkan rasa percaya diri dalam mereka is selalu mengasihi anak anak kecil dan mengayomi mereka.berbuat baik dengan fakir miskin dan terhadap hewan dia selalu menanamkan rasa kasih sayang dan melarang untuk menyakiti binatang
Salah satu contoh rasa prikemanusian rasul saw adalah ketika mengutus pasukan untuk berperang dengan musuh dia selalu berpesan tidak boleh menyerang kaum sipil,dia lebih memilih damai terhadap musuh dari pada berperang ketika berperang dia berpesan tidak boleh membunuh lanjut usia anak kecil perempuan dan mengniaya musuh yang sudah tidak berdaya
Ketika kaum quraisi minta suaka politik kepadanya ia tidak memberlakukan baikot ekonomi bahkan ia menyepakati import gandum dari yaman
Ia juga menyerukan realisasikan sebuah perdamaian dunia dan melarang peperanga kecuali hal yang darurat

USAHA RASUL SAW DALAM MEMBENTUK MASYARAKAT &BERPRIKEMANUSIAN

Kedatangan rasul adalah sebuah rahmat bagi manusia semuanya is tidak pernah membedakan seseorang pun baik itu kulit putih atau kulit hitam dan dari suku bangsa mana,karma semua manusia itu makan dari rizki allah yang diberikan allah
Rasul saw mengajak manusia untuk
1:meningkatkan harkat martabat manusia ia bersabda semua manusia berasil dari adam dan ia berasal dari tanah
2: mengajak damai sebelum perang
3: memaafkan sebelom membalas
4: mempermudah seseorang sebelom membalas perbuatan
dari uraian diatas dapat kita simpulkan bahwa peperangan yang dilaksanakan bertujuan untuk merealisasikan tujuan tujuan insani yang agung dan menuju kepada tatanan masyarakat yang berprikemanusian

ia telah membuktikan bahwa dirinya adalah sebuah rahmat bagi manusia dan alam semesta peristiwa itu bisa dilihat dari pembebasan kota makkah dangan segala kemenangan yang telah digapai saat itu ia tetap berbuat baik dengan musuh dan enggan untuk membalas dendam padahal ia dapat melaksanakan ia pernah memaafkan mereka dengan sabda"pergilah kalian karma kalian sekarang sudah bebas pada waktu perang dzatur riqa dia berasil menangkap pemimpin gauts bin al harits yang berusaha beberapa kali membunuh beliau akan tetapi tetap dimaafkan

rasul memperlakukan tawanan perang dengan baik ,ia telah membebaskan seorang tawanan perang dengan tangan dia sendiri disaat ia mendengar keluhan rasa sakit tangannya diikat.

RASUL SEBAGAI PANGLIMA PERANG
Kita bisa lihat keberasilan beliau dalam memenangkan peperangan dan menciptakan perdamaian dan mengujudkan manusia yang berakhlak dan memimpin pasukan dengan gagah berani

TATA KRAMA BERGAUL
Beliau tidak pernah sombong dalam pergaulan selalu tersenyum berbuat baik sesame manusia selalu menyenguk orang sakit tidak pernah memotong pembicaraan lawan tidak pernah mengangap dirinya mulia dari teman yang diajak bicara.Masih banyak lagi sipat2 rasul yang kita bisa dapat teladani.. mudah2an kita bisa dapat meniru akhlak rasulullah amin....

Detik-detik Sakaratul Maut Rasulullah SAW

Inilah bukti cinta yang sebenar-benarnya tentang cinta, yang telah dicontohkan Allah SWT melalui kehidupan Rasul-Nya.

Pagi itu, meski langit mulai menguning di ufuk timur, burung-burung gurun enggan mengepakkan sayapnya. Rasulullah dengan suara lemah memberikan kutbah terakhirnya, “Wahai umatku, kita semua ada dalam kekuasaan Allah dan cinta kasih-Nya. Maka taati dan bertakwalah kepada-Nya. Kuwariskan dua perkara pada kalian, al-Qur’an dan sunnahku. Barang siapa mencintai sunnahku, bererti mencintai aku dan kelak orang-orang yang mencintaiku, akan masuk syurga bersama-sama aku.”

Khutbah singkat itu diakhiri dengan pandangan mata Rasul yang tenang menatap sahabatnya satu persatu. Abu Bakar menatap mata itu dengan berkaca-kaca, Umar dadanya naik turun menahan nafas dan tangisnya. Usman menghela nafas panjang dan Ali menundukkan kepalanya dalam-dalam. “Isyarat itu telah datang, saatnya sudah tiba. Rasulullah akan meninggalkan kita semua,” keluh hati semua sahabat kala itu.

Manusia tercinta itu, hampir selesai menunaikan tugasnya di dunia. Tanda-tanda itu semakin kuat, tatkala Ali dan Fadhal dengan cergas menangkap Rasulullah yang berkeadaan lemah dan goyah ketika turun dari mimbar. Di saat itu, kalau mampu, seluruh sahabat yang hadir di sana pasti akan menahan detik-detik berlalu. Matahari kian tinggi, tapi pintu rumah Rasulullah masih tertutup. Sedang di dalamnya, Rasulullah sedang terbaring lemah dengan keningnya yang berkeringat dan membasahi pelepah kurma yang menjadi alas tidurnya.

Tiba-tiba dari luar pintu terdengar seorang yang berseru mengucapkan salam.

“Bolehkah saya masuk?” tanyanya. Tapi Fatimah tidak mengizinkannya masuk.

“Maafkanlah, ayahku sedang demam,” kata Fatimah yang membalikkan badan dan menutup pintu.

Kemudian ia kembali menemani ayahnya yang ternyata sudah membuka mata dan bertanya pada Fatimah.

“Siapakah itu wahai anakku?”
“Tak tahulah ayahku, orang sepertinya baru sekali ini aku melihatnya,” tutur Fatimah lembut.

Lalu, Rasulullah menatap puterinya itu dengan pandangan yang menggetarkan. Seolah-olah bahagian demi bahagian wajah anaknya itu hendak dikenang.

“Ketahuilah, dialah yang menghapuskan kenikmatan sementara, dialah yang memisahkan pertemuan di dunia. Dialah malakul maut,” kata Rasulullah.

Fatimah menahan ledakkan tangisnya.

Malaikat maut telah datang menghampiri. Rasulullah pun menanyakan kenapa Jibril tidak menyertainya. Kemudian dipanggilah Jibril yang sebelumnya sudah bersiap di atas langit dunia menyambut ruh kekasih Allah dan penghulu dunia ini.

“Jibril, jelaskan apa hakku nanti di hadapan Allah?” tanya Rasululllah dengan suara yang amat lemah.

“Pintu-pintu langit telah terbuka, para malaikat telah menanti ruhmu. Semua syurga terbuka lebar menanti kedatanganmu,” kata Jibril.

Tapi, semua penjelasan Jibril itu tidak membuat Rasul lega, matanya masih penuh kecemasan dan tanda tanya.

“Engkau tidak senang mendengar kabar ini?” tanya Jibril lagi.

“Kabarkan kepadaku bagaimana nasib umatku kelak, sepeninggalanku?”

“Jangan khawatir, wahai Rasul Allah, aku pernah mendengar Allah berfirman kepadaku: ‘Kuharamkan syurga bagi siapa saja, kecuali umat Muhammad telah berada di dalamnya,” kata Jibril meyakinkan.

Detik-detik kian dekat, saatnya Izrail melakukan tugas. Perlahan-lahan ruh Rasulullah ditarik. Nampak seluruh tubuh Rasulullah bersimbah peluh, urat-urat lehernya menegang.

“Jibril, betapa sakitnya, sakaratul maut ini.” Perlahan terdengar desisan suara Rasulullah mengaduh.

Fatimah hanya mampu memejamkan matanya. Sementara Ali yang duduk di sampingnya hanya menundukan kepalanya semakin dalam. Jibril pun memalingkan muka.

“Jijikkah engkau melihatku, hingga engkau palingkan wajahmu Jibril?” tanya Rasulullah pada Malaikat pengantar wahyu itu.

“Siapakah yang sanggup, melihat kekasih Allah direnggut ajal,” kata Jibril sambil terus berpaling.

Sedetik kemudian terdengar Rasulullah memekik kerana sakit yang tidak tertahankan lagi.

“Ya Allah, dahsyat sekali maut ini, timpakan saja semua siksa maut ini kepadaku, jangan pada umatku,” pinta Rasul pada Allah.

Badan Rasulullah mulai dingin, kaki dan dadanya sudah tidak bergerak lagi. Bibirnya bergetar seakan hendak membisikkan sesuatu. Ali pun segera mendekatkan telinganya.

“Uushiikum bis shalati, wa maa malakat aimanuku, peliharalah shalat dan peliharalah orang-orang lemah di antaramu.”

Di luar pintu tangis mulai terdengar bersahutan, sahabat saling berpelukan. Fatimah menutupkan tangan di wajahnya, dan Ali kembali mendekatkan telinganya ke bibir Rasulullah yang mulai kebiruan.

“Ummatii, ummatii, ummatiii?” Dan, berakhirlah hidup manusia mulia yang memberi sinaran kemuliaan itu. Kini, mampukah kita mencintai sepertinya? Allahumma sholli ‘ala Muhammad wa baarik wa salim ‘alaihi. Betapa cintanya Rasulullah kepada kita.

Kirimkan kepada sahabat-sahabat muslim lainnya agar timbul kesadaran untuk mencintai Allah dan RasulNya. Seperti Allah dan Rasul mencintai kita semua. mudah mudahan kita berusaha untuk bisa menjadikan nabi muhammad sebagai huswatun hasanah dalam kehidupan kita amin

Referensi :

www.zainurie.wordpress.com
www.masjid.phpbb24.com
www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=7341229
http://kolom-biografi.blogspot.com

The Lost City of The Kalahari

The Bushmen and Hottentots (now called Khoi Khoi) have many legends and tales of lost cities in the Kalahari desert in southwestern Africa. These cities were not built by them, they say, but by the ancients. The building of the city had never been completed, and it was still possible to unearth tools from the debris. These mysterious ruins were apparently to be found in different parts of the Kalahari, even north near the Caprivi Strip and Ovamboland. Dr. Gustav Prelude, a well-known historian, reported that a party of Khoi Khoi in the Kalahari who had camped near his expedition had told him of a terrible drought and of large ruins somewhere to the north, and expressed their willingness to lead him there once the rains had fallen. The Khoi Khoi also claimed that precious stones had been found in the desert farther north. In 1895, Gilarmi Farini also interested with the story of diamonds from Kalahari. During his return to the town of London, Farini reported the discovery of the Lost City of the Kalahari.

In the early twentieth century, Farini give birth to a legend of a lost city that circulating in South Africa. Some say they saw an abandoned city, or a stone quarry in the desert. It also attempts to explain the presence of this unknown civilization by comparisons with archaeological discoveries of Great Zimbabwe. William Leonard Hunt also known as Gilarmi farini born in New York City, he became a showman, best known for tightrope walking across Niagara Falls. He changed his name to Gilarmi A. Farini and his show name was Farini the Great. Farini exhibited shows at Coney Island, and when a show did well, it was taken to London. One of the most popular London shows was entitled Farini’s African Pygmies or Dwarf Earthmen from the Interior of South Africa. Essentially a tableaux of Bushman life in the Kalahari, it included six live Khoi Khoi. Farini was very interested in the Khoi Khoi and became even more so when they showed him diamonds they said had come from the Kalahari.

Farini The Great

Farini, his son Lulu, and a black South African showman named Gert Louw who had brought the Khoi Khoi to London, sailed from London to Capetown on January 7, 1895 and arrived on January 29. After meeting certain dignitaries in Capetown, in early February the party departed for the Northern Cape and the Kalahari. Six months later they returned to Capetown, claiming to have discovered a lost city of colossal proportions; they departed for London on July 22, 1895. Back in London, Farini addressed the Royal Geographical Society and later the Berlin Geographical Society. His book, Through the Kalahari was published at about the same time, and it contained photographs of the lost city taken by Farini’s son Lulu.

Farini even staged a Lost City Exhibition in London, which included photos of the city. These photos showed the city to be built of huge, massive stones stacked on top of each other, and of extremely ancient construction. Farini described the megalithic city as a long line of stone laid out in the shape of an arc and resembling the Chinese Wall after an earthquake. The ruins were quite extensive, partly buried beneath the sand at some points, and fully exposed to view in others. They could be traced for nearly a mile, and consisted mainly of huge flat-sided stone. In some places the cement was in perfect condition and plainly visible between the various layers of the heaps. The top row of stones was weathered and abraded by the drifting sand. Some of the uppermost stones were grotesquely worn away on the underside so that they resembled a small center table supported by a short leg.

In his Royal Geographical Society report he described the stones as “cyclopean.” Heaps of masonry, each about eighteen inches high, were spaced at intervals of about forty feet inside the wall. The heaps were shaped in the form of ovals or obtuse ellipses; they had flat bases and were hollowed out at the sides for about twelve inches from the edge. Some of them consisted of solid rock, while others were formed from one or more pieces of stone accurately fitted together. Where they had been protected from the sand the joints were perfect. Most of the heaps were more or less covered with sand, and it took his local guides almost a day to uncover the largest of them.

The following day, with no assistance from his guides, who apparently felt it was all a waste of time, Farini and his companions dug the sand away from the middle arc and exposed a pavement structure built of large stones. The pavement was about twenty feet wide, and so designed that the longer, outer stones were laid at right-angles to the inner ones. A similar pavement intersected it at right angles, and the whole structure resembled a Maltese Cross.

Farini visualized an altar, column or some other kind of monument at the intersection of the two pavements. The remains of the base, which were clearly visible at the junction of the pavements, consisted of loose pieces of fluted masonry. There were no inscriptions or markings of any kind. He concluded that the ruins were probably thousands of years old, and they must be of a city, a place of worship or the burial ground of a great nation. Lulu sketched the ruins and took several photographs. Farini composed this poem for his lost city:

“A half-buried ruin—a huge wreck of stones On a lone and desolate spot;
A temple—or tomb for human bones Left by man to decay and rot.
Rude sculpted blocks from the red sand project, And shapeless uncouth stones appear, Some great man’s ashes designed to protect, Buried many a thousand year.
A relic, maybe, of a glorious past,
A city once grand and sublime, Destroyed by earthquake, defaced by the blast, Swept away by the hand of time.”

Professor A. J. Clement also interested with Farini’s lost city in 1964 and advance a new explanation. In his book, The Kalahari and Its Lost City, Clement does an exhaustive study of Farini’s book, his route and the inconsistencies to be found in the publication (and there are many). Clement is to be commended for his research, though his final conclusions are to be questioned. Farini’s book caused a brief sensation at the time, and was published in both German and French. But then the whole business of a lost city in the Kalahari was generally forgotten until 1923 when the story was revived by Professor E. H. L. Schwartz of Rhodes University. Farini himself died at his ranch in Ontario in 1929.

From the 1920s up through the 1950s, many expeditions set out in search of the incredible lost city, many using aircraft. Since 1932 twenty five expeditions were launched to find the Lost City. They criss-cross the desert based on Farini’s story. F. R. Paving and Dr. W. Mr Borcherds searched the desert, flying over the region by air reconnaissance, and advanced multiple hypotheses. No one was able to find it, largely due to Farini’s wildly inaccurate maps to the spot. Many began to feel that the whole thing was really just a natural limestone formation, yet Farini had photos of the city in his book, and no one had yet come up with a suitable natural formation that fit Farini’s description.

Clement also shows in his book that Farini almost certainly did not travel up to Lake Ngami afterward, as he claimed in his book. Clement believes that he turned back after discovering the city, and used details supplied by his secretary W. A. Healey who had visited Lake Ngami the year before collecting items, as well as Bushmen, for the London exhibit. After poring through Farini’s book, Clement finally concluded that Farini’s lost city must actually lie near the small town of Mier, now called Rietfontein.

With partial sponsorship from the Sunday Chronicle newspaper, Clement set out with his 77-year-old father, a reporter from the newspaper and a professional photographer, on Easter Monday of 1964. At Rietfontein they were shown an extremely unusual “rock formation” known to the locals as Eierdop Koppies (Eggshell Hills). Says Clement, “The unmistakable outline of a large, oval-shaped amphitheater, perhaps a third of a mile in length, was the predominant feature. In numerous places there was striking resemblance to a double wall built from large, glistening black rocks, and it was obvious that many of the individual boulders could easily be confused with square building blocks.

There were several examples of flat slabs of rock perched precariously like table-tops on underlying boulders, and one of them—more impressive than the rest—closely matched the one appearing in Farini’s illustration. One or two of the rocks showed a kind of fluting, several were encrusted with a mortar-like substance, and a few were shaped like a basin. To use the phraseology employed by Farini in his lecture before the Royal Geographical Society: ‘The masonry was of a cyclopean character...’”

Clement showed one of Farini’s photos of his lost city to the oldest man in town who agreed that it seemed to show the same place. Clement, it seems, had genuinely rediscovered Farini’s lost city—known all the time to local residents—but concluded that it was no city at all, merely a highly unusual natural rock formation of dolerite, a hard igneous rock. After showing his photos to a geologist, the geologist suggested that the “ruins” were the product of the weathering of dolerite. In this case, magma intrusions forced their way in the form of sills or sheet along the bedding planes of sediments (some 180-190 million years ago, guesses the geologist) forming the level planes or flat sheets of rock found at the site. As the magma cooled, it formed cracks and splits, making it seem as if the rock had been carefully cut and dressed, with pieces stacked up on top of each other. One of the components of dolerite is pyroxene, and over time a chemical reaction takes place in its decomposition that precipitates a brownish “desert varnish” and kind of cement.

Clement concludes his book by saying, “Like all legends, that of the Lost City will be a long time a-dying, and doubtless there will still be some who are disinclined to let the matter rest in spite of all the contrary evidence. And possibly this is just as well, for there is something rather sad about the destruction of a legend.” Clement was convinced that Farini’s city was a natural formation. He could not conceive of a “cyclopean” structure in the Kalahari that was not natural. He said, “The climatological history of the Kalahari does not appear to have undergone any marked change for several thousand years, and it is obvious that no settlement of the size indicated by Farini could exist without perennial rivers or lakes in the vicinity.” And, “...suitable conditions for the establishment of a ‘city’ cannot have existed along any of the river courses for tens of thousands of years. Furthermore, if the age of the Lost City is assessed in relation to Zimbabwe and the ancient ruins of Persia, it is impossible to conceive of any ‘city’ in the Kalahari having been built more than 15,000 years ago.”

Farini had traveled a great deal in Europe and the Mediterranean and had probably seen cyclopean walls in the Peloponnese in Greece or at Abydos or the Valley Temple of Chephren in Egypt. Farini’s lost city is probably just as he believed it to be, a cyclopean structure from another era, destroyed in a cataclysmic shift of the earth’s crust, possibly 15,000 years ago, but probably more recently, such as about 10,000 years ago. It has been suggested that a shift of the earth’s crust about this time sent Africa moving to the south, causing a huge tidal wave to wash over all of Southern Africa.

Any cities, such as Farini’s, would have been destroyed and depopulated during such an event. Farini was also a Mason, and, depending on his initiatory status within the Masons, had probably been exposed to the Masonic beliefs in Atlantis, cataclysms, Mystery Schools and such. His poem about the city indicates as much. Other clues to the non-natural origin of the rocks can be found in photos taken both by Clement and Farini. The rocks are all neatly squared and the lines of “masonry” are parallel and at right angles. Some igneous formations such as basalt do indeed crystallize in regular patterns, but not like the dolerite rocks at Rietfontein. The final proof is Clement’s own photo of one of the massive blocks with a series of four parallel, horizontal grooves on it. Was it an ancient city? Was it natural? Was this what Farini had found? There seemed no clear answer to any of these questions.

Sources :
Atlantis Rising Magazine Vol. 40 : “Vanished City of the Kalahari” by David Hatcher Childress;
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_perdue_du_Kalahari

Pics Sources :
http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/images/map-Kalahari.gif;
Atlantis Rising Magazine Vol. 40 page 33

Queen Of Sheba

The mystical figure known as the Queen of Sheba is recorded in the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament. It states that around the tenth century BC a queen of the rich trading nation known as Sheba decided to meet the great King Solomon in person. She did not believe the stories she had been told of Solomon’s wisdom, and brought many hard questions to test him. When his replies met with her approval she gave him plentiful gifts of gold, spices and precious stones. In return, Solomon gave the queen ‘all her desire’, and after their meeting she returned to her own country. The story is repeated in the second Book of Chronicles, and even Christ himself spoke of a queen of the south who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Other than this, precious few pieces of historical evidence have survived, but that has not stopped the growth of countless myths and stories. So who was the real Queen of Sheba? Perhaps the most famous and important extension of her story is that connected with Ethiopia. In 1320 an Ethiopian monk named Yetshak wrote a compendium of legends called Kebra Negast or ‘Glory of the Kings’. In it, he said that when the Queen of Sheba, referred to in Ethiopian as Makeda, visited Solomon, she was seduced by the great king. Solomon had said that the queen was welcome to his hospitality, but must not take anything without asking.

During the night, the Queen suffered a terrible thirst caused by a spicy meal Solomon fed her and she drank the water placed by her bed. The king said she had broken the rules, and must sleep with him as repayment. Nine months later she gave birth to a boy called Menelik.

Throne of Bilquis / Balkis

Ethiopians believe that the Queen and her son both accepted the Jewish faith, and that Menelik founded the Solomon Jewish, and then Christian, dynasty in Aksum, Ethiopia. At around the same time as Yetshak was compiling his tome, other legends were forming in Europe. A thirteenth century story told in the Legenda Aurea stated that the queen was a prophetess connected to the crucifixion of Christ. Over time, she also became an integral part of religious decorations and art. She was often seen as a sorceress, and then a seductress. Strangely, she is also featured as having a secret deformity – French Gothic sculpture often shows her having a webbed foot. In the same way, the Temptation of Saint Anthony by French novelist Gustave Flaubert depicts the queen as a lustful temptress with a withered limb. This imperfection perhaps arises from earlier Jewish and Islamic references to her. In both the Koran and the Jewish Book called the Targum Sheni, the queen meets Solomon and reveals that she has hairy feet.

The Jewish tradition later features her as a demon or seductress, whereas Islamic legend states that Solomon used his magicians’ power to remove her excess hair and married her. Muslims call the Queen of Sheba Balkis, and believe her great nation was based in the Yemen. The Koran describes Sheba as being two gardens, irrigated by a great dam. An advanced level of farming, and good access to Red Sea shipping channels and Arabian camel trains, meant the nation prospered. Archaeological proof of this occurring in Southern Arabia has been uncovered. The remains of a great dam can be viewed in the Mareb region of the Yemen, now considered to be the capital of the ancient Sheba nation. This dam collapsed in AD 543, but scientists have been able to deduce that it would have been used to irrigate over 500 acres of farm land.

Temple of The Moon God

In recent years, archaeologists have finished restoring an ancient temple known as the ‘Throne of Balkis’ in the Mareb region. The structure dates from the tenth century BC, so is from the right era to link with what we do know about the queen. Two miles to the east of the Marab region, another ancient building, known as the ‘Temple of the Moon God’, is also being studied. Scientists using radar equipment believe this is an extremely large and elaborate structure, and could yield the answers to many Sheba mysteries. Unfortunately such investigations have been plagued over the years by political indifference and, until these areas become more secure for researchers to study, the true history of Sheba may continue to be obscured by myth and legend.

(Source : The Strangest Mysteries)

The Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad Into Heaven.

In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem prior to his famous trip to heaven is called Isra'. As alluded to in the Qur'an (17:1), a journey was made by a servant of God, in a single night, from the “sacred place of worship” (al-masjid al-haram) to the “further place of worship” (al-masjid al-aqsa).

A gorgeous painting of Muhammad riding Buraq to meet Allah in the heaven

Muhammad, whose only miracle, according to his own words, was the bringing of the Qur'an, is credited with innumerable miracles and associated with a variety of miraculous occurrences: his finger split the moon, the cooked poisoned meat warned him not to touch it, the palm trunk sighed, the gazelle spoke for him; he cast no shadow; from his perspiration the rose was created, etc. His ascension to heaven (mi'raj) is still celebrated: he rode the winged horse Buraq in the company of the angel Gabriel through the seven spheres, meeting the other prophets there, until he reached the divine presence, alone, even without the angel of inspiration. Muhammad-mysticism proper was developed in the late 9th century; he is shown as the one who precedes creation, his light is pre-eternal, and he is the reason for and goal of creation. He becomes the perfect man, uniting the divine and the human sphere as dawn is between night and day. His birth was surrounded by miracles, and his birthday (12. Rabi' I) became a popular holiday on which numerous poems were written to praise his achievements. The hope for him who has been sent as “mercy for the worlds” and will intercede for his community on Doomsday is extremely strong, especially among the masses, where these legends have completely overshadowed his historical figure.

Traditionally, there was general agreement that the servant of God was Muhammad and that the “sacred place of worship” was Mecca. Early commentators, however, interpreted the “further place of worship” as heaven, and the entire verse was considered a reference to the Prophet's ascension into heaven (Mi'raj), an ascension which also originated in Mecca. In the period of the Umayyad caliphate (661–750), the “further place of worship” was read as Jerusalem. The two versions were eventually reconciled by regarding the Isra' simply as the night journey and relocating the point of Muhammad's ascension from Mecca to Jerusalem to avoid confusion. Some commentators also suggested that the Isra' was a vision sent to Muhammad in his sleep and not an actual journey at all; but orthodox sentiment has emphatically preserved the physical, thus miraculous, nature of the trip.

Buraq

The Isra' story, greatly elaborated by tradition, relates that Muhammad made the journey astride Buraq, a mythical winged creature, in the company of the archangel Gabriel. Muhammad meets Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in Jerusalem; he then officiates as leader (imam) of the ritual prayer (salat) for all the prophets assembled and establishes his primacy among God's messengers.

In Islamic tradition, a creature said to have transported the Prophet Muhammad to heaven. Described as “a white animal, half-mule, half-donkey, with wings on its sides . . . ,” Buraq was originally introduced into the story of Muhammad's night journey (isra') from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, thus explaining how the journey between the cities could have been completed in a single night. In some traditions he became a steed with the head of a woman and the tail of a peacock. As the tale of the night journey (isra') became connected with that of Muhammad's ascension to heaven (mi'raj), Buraq replaced the ladder as Muhammad's means of access into heaven. From at least the 14th century, the Buraq myth, visualized on the basis of ancient depictions of griffins, sphinxes, and centaurs, became a favourite subject of Persian miniature painting.

Buraq with a pretty feminine face; Bait-ul Muqaddas is shown down below

Muhammad is prepared for his meeting with God by the archangels Jibril and Mikal one evening while he is asleep in the Ka'bah, the sacred shrine of Mecca. They open up his body and purify his heart by removing all traces of error, doubt, idolatry, and paganism and by filling it with wisdom and belief. In the original version of the mi'raj, the prophet is then transported by Jibril directly to the lowest heaven. But early in Muslim history the story of the ascension came to be associated with the story of Muhammad's night journey (isra') from the “sacred place of worship” (Mecca) to the “further place of worship” (Jerusalem). The two separate incidents were gradually combined so that chronologically the purification of Muhammad in his sleep begins the sequence; he is then transported in a single night from Mecca to Jerusalem by the winged mythical creature Buraq, and from Jerusalem he ascends to heaven, possibly by ladder (mi'raj), accompanied by Jibril.

Muhammad and Jibril enter the first heaven and proceed through all seven levels until they reach the throne of God. Along the way they meet the prophets Adam, Yahya (John), 'Isa (Jesus), Yusuf (Joseph), Idris, Harun (Aaron), Musa (Moses), and Ibrahim (Abraham) and visit hell and paradise. Musa alone of all the inhabitants of heaven speaks at any length to the visitors; he says that Muhammad is more highly regarded by God than himself and that Muhammad's following outnumbers his own. Once Muhammad appears before God—there is some question as to whether he actually saw him—he is told to recite the salat (ritual prayer) 50 times each day. Musa, however, advises Muhammad to plead for a reduction of the number as being too difficult for believers, and the obligation is eventually reduced to five prayers each day.

Muhammad riding Buraq on his way to meet Allah; he is surrounded by winged angels

Muhammad's mi'raj has been a constant source of speculation among Muslims. Some state that the ascension was merely a dream; others speculate that only Muhammad's soul entered heaven, while his body remained on earth. Parallels have been drawn between the mi'raj and the manner in which a dead man's soul will progress to judgment at God's throne; and the Sufis (Muslim mystics) claim it describes the soul's leap into mystic knowledge. Popularly the ascension is celebrated with readings of the legend on the 27th day of Rajab, called Laylat al-Mi'raj (“Night of the Ascension”).

(Source : Geocities)

The Ark of The Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 25. Following Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt, God instructs Moses to build a Tabernacle (or tent) in which the Israelites will worship God. Placed in a special area known as "the Holy of Holies," the Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred object in the Tabernacle. Detailed instructions were given by God to construct the Ark. It was to be made with acacia wood and overlaid with gold. Dimensionally, the Ark was to be 2.5 cubits (1 cubit is approximately 18 in.) long and 1.5 cubits wide and high. Atop the Ark were two gold cherubs that stood with their wings covering an area of the Ark known as the "Mercy Seat."

It was contained three items of extreme significance to the Israelites. The first was two stone tablets bearing the divine inscription of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments formed the foundation of God's covenant with Israel, commonly referred to as "The Law" (Exodus 31). The second item in the Ark was the rod of Aaron. God miraculously caused Aaron's rod to bud with blossoms to show the rest of the tribes of Israel that it was God's will for Aaron to be in charge of the Priesthood (Numbers 17). The last item was a golden pot of manna. Manna was the starchy food God miraculously provided for the Israelites during their 40 years of desert wanderings (Exodus 16).

The Ark was where God manifested His presence on earth. It went ahead of the Israelites wherever they traveled. Not only was it the center of worship when it resided in the tabernacle, but the Ark also protected the Israelites in battle, supernaturally defeating any adversaries that came before them (Joshua 6:3-4). The Israelites also went to the Ark to seek God's guidance and wisdom for the nation (Numbers 7:89, Exodus 25:22).


The Ark of the Covenant could only be approached once a year by the high priest on "Yum Kippur"- the Jewish Day of Atonement. On this day, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of a sacrificed lamb. It was also only on this day that God's presence manifested between the two Cherubs. The high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed lamb on the Mercy Seat. Once received by God, the blood of the lamb atoned (covered) for the sins of the high priest and the entire nation of Israel. This ritual was performed continuously, year after year. The Ark of the Covenant played a key role in the forgiveness of sins.

At first glance, the blood sacrifices associated with the history of the Ark of the Covenant may seem somewhat disturbing. Slaughtering animals and offering their blood on an altar begs of the occult. It is important to note, however, that these sacrifices were not intended to appease the wrath of a bloodthirsty deity. God does not desire the blood and suffering of helpless lambs (Hebrews 10:8). The biblical text repeatedly shows that where there is sin, the unavoidable result is death. The sacrifice of the lamb points to the severity of sin. Sin must always be atoned (paid) for in order for God to be just (Hebrews 9:22). God's compassion enabled the sins of Israel to be transferred upon the lamb. More importantly, these sacrifices were foreshadowing a greater sacrifice yet to take place -- the sacrifice of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. God knew that these continual sacrifices would be insufficient to pay for the sins of Israel, much less the sins of all humanity. Therefore, God provided Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrificial lamb, which became the greatest act of love in all history. A Roman cross became the ark on which Christ was sacrificed. The blood of Christ, once and for all, atoned for the wrongs of all who would accept Him as their Savior (John 3:16).

But the Ark of the Covenant disappeared from the Jewish Temple somewhere before or during the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 BC. In anticipation of the Ark's disappearance, the prophet Jeremiah wrote: "And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more. Even before Jesus, Jeremiah's prophecy revealed that there would be no more need for the Ark of the Covenant in the future. God had a better covenant He would bring to pass -- the new covenant in His Son, Jesus Christ.