In essence, Miʿrāj raised up the Prophet ﷺ once. Ṣalāt lowers every believer five times a day. Yet this lowering is the true revolution: a daily lesson in orientation, humility, and the freedom to explore the cosmos without fear. If Islam is to reclaim its historical role in science, it must take this lesson seriously: the heavens are lawful, there are Signs in the heavens and the earth for the Truth, and the human mind is free to investigate them. (And I have made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Qur’an 45:13)
Miʿrāj, Ṣalāt, and their Connection to a Renewal of Natural Sciences in Islam
By Dr Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
God gave the Muslims the keys to the heavens and the earth. The Muslims handed over those keys to the West and retreated into a Hellenistic (Greek) corner.
Isra and Miʿrāj—the Night Journey and Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ—is among the most profound narratives in Islamic tradition. It is interpreted as a miraculous journey through the heavens, culminating in the divine encounter at the Sidrat al-Muntahā, the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary. While it transcends ordinary physical laws, it also conveys deep lessons about human knowledge, orientation, and the structure of reality. When paired with the daily practice of ṣalāt (prayer), Miʿrāj offers an overlooked framework for understanding the cosmos, one that subtly prefigures principles essential for modern science.
Miʿrāj and the Limits of Human Knowledge
Miʿrāj was an event beyond repetition or ordinary observation. It was a miracle. Skeptics in Mecca questioned it using familiar logic: how could one traverse vast distances in a single night, and how could the human body survive such a journey? The Prophet ﷺ did not attempt a physical explanation. Instead, he referred to divine agency: “Glorified is He who took His servant by night from Masjid al Haram to Masjid al Aqsa. We surrounded him with our Grace to show him some of Our Signs. He is indeed the Hearer, the Omniscient” (Qur’an 17:1). This distinction is critical. The Ascension was not an assertion about human capability or natural law; it was a revelation of God’s unlimited power.
Classical Muslim philosophers, most notably Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), interpreted Miʿrāj through a layered ontology. He described the cosmos as consisting of material, psychic, and intellectual realms, each governed by its own principles. Miʿrāj, in this framework, is a transition across levels of existence, not merely a spatial journey. Later thinkers like Suhrawardī emphasized degrees of light as a means of interpreting ascent, seeing Miʿrāj as the soul’s movement toward higher intensity of being. In all interpretations, the key principle is that Miʿrāj exists outside ordinary physics, signaling both human limitation and the legitimacy of investigating the cosmos without fearing contradiction with revelation.
Daily Salat: A Grounded, Universal Practice
While Miʿrāj is unique, its significance is inherent in Salāt, the five daily prayers which were commanded during Mi’raj. Prayer distributes the lessons of Miʿrāj across every believer’s life. Unlike Miʿrāj, which was extraordinary, prayer is accessible to all, yet it preserves the same ontological insight: God is not located in a particular place in space, and spiritual centrality does not coincide with physical centrality.
Muslims pray toward the Kaʿbah in Mecca, a terrestrial point. The direction of prayer—the Qiblah—varies by location and depends on precise solid geometry. The underlying lesson is profound: orientation is relational, not absolute. No cosmic direction is inherently sacred, and human understanding of space is inherently limited. This decoupling of spiritual focus from cosmic centrality subtly prefigures principles of relativity and challenges the notion of a fixed, privileged point in the universe. This powerful insight lifts the curtain from the mistaken Greek notion that the earth is the center of the universe, and all heavenly bodies revolve around it in perfect spheres.
Prayer times, determined by the position of the sun, further demonstrate this balance. The sun serves as a reference for structuring time, not as an object of worship. Nature is observed, measured, and used, but never deified.
Salat’s bodily movements—standing, bowing, prostrating—symbolize moral and spiritual orientation. Prostration, the lowest physical position, embodies humility before God and reverses conventional hierarchies that associate height with proximity to the divine. Prayer teaches verticality in meaning, not spatial ascent, echoing the lessons of Miʿrāj without the need for miraculous travel
Historical Missteps: When Metaphysics was Misunderstood as Physics
Despite its conceptual richness, Islamic engagement with science historically encountered obstacles. Early Muslim astronomers encountered Greek science, particularly Ptolemaic astronomy, which assumed a geocentric universe with nested celestial spheres and perfect circular motion. Initially, this knowledge was beneficial: it introduced predictive models and precise mathematical tools. Over time, however, dogma set in. Space, once understood relationally, was treated as physically fixed. A theological layer was superimposed on astronomy with the assertion that the seven heavens mentioned in the Qur’an were the seven orbits of the planets and the sun. Figuratively, it was an example of projecting the earth upon the heavens as opposed to the Qur’anic vision which projects the heavens upon the earth.
This identification had unintended consequences. Questioning geocentrism or circular motion became theologically risky, as challenging the model felt like challenging revelation. Philosophical inquiry, which had once explored the distinction between natural law and divine exception, became marginalized. Astronomical models froze, and the momentum for conceptual innovation slowed. Scholars such as al-Bīrūnī and Ibn al-Shāṭir challenged Ptolemy mathematically, but these advances did not lead to widespread paradigm shifts. In contrast, Europe, inheriting Islamic astronomical tools but lacking this theological attachment, could eventually adopt heliocentrism and develop modern physics.
Principles for a Renewed Islamic Philosophy of Nature: The Signs in Nature
A renewed Islamic philosophy of nature would recover insights embedded in Miʿrāj and Salāt while restoring the freedom of inquiry lost in medieval times. Several principles emerge:
Laws of Nature Are Descriptive, Not Canonical: The universe operates according to Sunnat Allah, God’s customary order. Physical laws are descriptive, not absolute. They are like arrows pointing to a higher Truth. Physical laws do not connote necessity; they may be derived by statistical processes.
Miracles (muʿjiza) illustrate that God’s will operates at a higher level, outside the physical patterns witnessed by humankind, but this does not restrict human inquiry into natural processes. The results of natural processes become pointers, Signs for a higher Truth.
This is a paradigm shift. It allows science to investigate, model, and revise natural laws. It is in accordance with divine guidance in the Qur’an: “Soon shall We show them Our Signs on the horizon and within their own Selves until it is clear to them that it is the Truth. Qur’an 41:53S “
Metaphysics Must Not Dictate Physics: Revelation conveys meaning, ethics, and limits but does not prescribe scientific models. Nature is lawful, understandable and malleable. Humans can explore it without fear of theological error, as long as they maintain humility before divine knowledge and recognize that natural laws are Signs and they beckon you to horizons yonder. What a sublime thought this is!
Space Has No Moral Privilege: No fixed position in the physical universe is inherently sacred. Direction, altitude, or position has symbolic significance only in the human approach to God (salat), not in physical hierarchy. This principle aligns with relativity and modern cosmology.
Time Is Created and Flexible: Prayer times teach that time is structured and directional, yet human experience of time is relative. A philosophy of nature informed by this principle can accommodate temporal relativity and the arrow of time in thermodynamics.
Mathematics Is Descriptive, Not Sacred: Mathematics models reality, but it is not reality itself. Elegant models may be compelling but empirical correction must always take precedence.
Epistemic Humility: Miʿrāj ends at Sidrat al-Muntahā, a boundary of knowing. Science requires the same humility: a commitment to unceasing inquiry while understanding that the ultimate Truth is beyond the reach of positivistic knowledge.
Implications for Science and Society: the Arrows (Ayahs/Signs) in Nature Pointing to Tawhid
Adopting this philosophy has profound implications. It would encourage innovation in physics, astronomy, and natural philosophy while remaining faithful to Islamic ethics. It avoids two pitfalls common today: forcing miracles into scientific equations, or rejecting modern science as hostile to faith. Instead, it emphasizes complementarity: revelation and science follow different paths but share a commitment to Al Haqq.
For instance, the humility of Miʿrāj encourages epistemic openness, necessary for paradigm shifts in science. Prayer times’ reliance on observation and measurement nurtures the habit of careful empirical study. In each case, spiritual practice reinforces the mindset required for scientific creativity without dictating a particular outcome
Conclusions
Miʿrāj and ṣalāt together form a coherent epistemic framework. Miʿrāj demonstrates the limits of human knowledge and the transcendence of divine power. Ṣalāt internalizes this insight, teaching orientation, humility, and discipline without asserting cosmic centrality. Historically, the potential of these insights to stimulate scientific innovation was constrained by uncritical adoption of Greek cosmology. Today, however, they provide a conceptual foundation for a renewed Islamic philosophy of nature: one that is faithful to revelation, encourages empirical inquiry, respects the laws of nature as Signs to a higher Truth, and embraces human intellectual creativity.
In essence, Miʿrāj raised up the Prophet ﷺ once. Ṣalāt lowers every believer five times a day. Yet this lowering is the true revolution: a daily lesson in orientation, humility, and the freedom to explore the cosmos without fear.
If Islam is to reclaim its historical role in science, it must take this lesson seriously: the heavens are lawful, there are Signs in the heavens and the earth for the Truth, and the human mind is free to investigate them. (And I have made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Qur’an 45:13).
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group.)
