El Vol Nocturn del profeta Muhàmmad
o la nit en què el tawhîd es va encarnar
Leili Castella
Ara ja fa uns dies (el 27 del mes de Rajab que enguany s’ha
correspost amb el 24 d’abril) que es va celebrar un fet d’ importància cabdal
en el món islàmic: el viatge per excel·lència de l’islam, Al-Isrâ' wa-l-Mi'râj , conegut també com el “Vol Nocturn” en
virtut del qual el profeta Muhàmmad va viatjar miraculosament a lloms del seu
cavall mític buraq de Meca a Jerusalem
(al-isrâ’), i d’allà va travessar els
cels (al-mi’râj), fins arribar a la
presència de Déu (Alcorà 17,1). Diu l’eminent islamòleg Seyyed Hossein Nasr, d’aquesta nit beneïda: “this
powerful, central spiritual experience of the Blessed Prophet is the example of
spiritual ascent and the model for spiritual life” (*).
Les conseqüències d’aquest viatge formidable han estat, i
són, inabastables: “The mi’râj”, continua el professor Nasr, “has
served as a source of inspiration for generations of Muslim saints and mystics
and has delineated the Islamic cosmos. Also it is the inner experiences
undergone by the Blessed Prophet during the mi’râj
which are said to be reflected in the movements and litanies of the daily
prayers, the ṣalât or namâz
that is the central and most fundamental rite of Islam”. No en
va una dita cèlebre del profeta de l’islam
afirma que “les pregàries diàries són el mi’râj
del creient”.
Les fonts tradicionals islàmiques reconeixen doncs que
els musulmans poden viure l’experiència del mi’râj, tot
i que només en la seva dimensió espiritual (rûḥânî), mentre que el viatge que va realitzar el profeta Muhàmmad va tenir no
només una dimensió espiritual, sinó
també corporal (jismânî). Això fa,
observa el professor Nasr, que “The mi’râj of the Blessed Prophet, which is
so central to Islam, has become at the same time one of the most difficult elements
in the teaching of Islam to understand for many young Muslims influenced by the
modern scientific world view […] who want to reduce Islam to a rationalism and
empty it of all its beauty and grandeur”. Nasr
adverteix que l’objecte de la ciència moderna és bàsicament l’estudi de la
realitat física, i que per tant exclou altres nivells de la realitat, com pot
ser l’espiritual. El prestigi actual de la ciència ha arribat a tal punt que
s’arriba a considerar irreal tot allò que no és acceptat des del punt de vista
científic.
Cal tenir en compte aquestes observacions per atansar-se
al significat pregon del Vol Nocturn del profeta Muhàmmad i entendre les
següents paraules de Seyyed Hossein Nasr: “As far as the mi’râj
is concerned, it refers to a journey
to the higher states of being and not simply through astronomical space.
Moreover, since the spiritual is the principle of the psychic and the psychic
is the principle of the physical, it is always possible for the lower level of
reality to be integrated and absorbed into the higher. The ascension of the Blessed Prophet
physically as well as psychologically and spiritually meant that all the
elements of his being were integrated in that final experience which was the
full realisation of unity (al-tawḥîd). His corporeal ascent signifies also the
nobility and dignity of the human body as created by God.”
I el professor Nasr acaba així la seva reflexió: “There is nothing
unscientific or illogical about the mi’râj
if one understands something of the multiple levels of the traditional universe
and the limitations of all of modern science to a single level of reality,
namely the physical, no matter how far it is stretched and extended. There is
nothing worse than reducing the majestic events associated with the great
founders of religion to harmless events of “ordinary life” in order to make
them acceptable. This is so much more dangerous at a time when the so-called
“ordinary life” has become for the most part trivial and emptied of the dignity
and beauty which are characteristic of normal human existence.”
(*) Totes les citacions d'aquesta entrada pertanyen a l’obra de Seyyed Hossein
Nasr, Muhammad Man of God, Kazi
Publications, Chicago, 1995, pàgs. 29 a 36.