270 Jesus, Prophet of Islam
to him, 'How long have you been in this place?' He re
plied, 'For seventy years 1 have been asking Him for
one thing which He has not granted me yet, Perhaps
you, 0 Spirit of God, may intercede for me concerning
it; then possibly it may be granted.' Jesus said, 'What is
your requirement?' He replied, '1 asked Him to let me
taste the amount of an atom of His pure love.' Jesus said
to him, '1 shall pray to God for you about thal.'
50 he prayed for him that night, and God, Exalted is
He, revealed to him, '1have accepted your intercession
and granted your request.' Jesus, peace be upon him,
returned to himto the place after sorne days to see what
the condition of the devotee was, and saw the cave had
fallen in and a great fissure had appeared in the ground
below il. Jesus, peacebe upon him, went down into that
fissure and went sorne leagues in it and saw the devo
tee in a cave under that hill standing with his eyes star
ingandhis mouthopen.ThenJesus, peacebe uponhim,
greeted him, but he did not give him an answer.
While Jesus was wondering at his condition a voice
said to him,'O Jesus, he asked Us for something like an
atom of Our pure love, and We knew that he was not
able for that, so We gave him a seventieth part of an
atom, and he is bewildered in it thus; so what would it
have been like if We had given him more than that?'Whoever is familiar with the main events in the Prophet Muham
mad's life, may God bless him and grant him peace, will already
know that not long after he had begun calling people to worship
God -and only God - he was taken on a miraculous night journey
(al-'isra' wa'l-mi'raJ) on a winged mount called the Buraq with the
angelGabrielto [erusalem-andfromtherethrough thesevenheav
ens, past the limit of forms, to the very Presence of God -not in the
sense of physical proximity of course, for God is already closer to
everyone than their jugular vein, but in the sense of spiritual near
ness and intimacy. In each of the seven heavens, he met one of the
earlier Prophets, peace be on all of them, who had preceded him
and one of these Prophets was Jesus. Thus we know from this that
for the time being at least, Jesus is in one of the seven heavens, in
the Unseen, and as yet has not experienced death.'http://www.islamicbulletin.com