Thekabarnews.com—The Isra Mi’raj happened at a time when the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was not very comfortable. It happened at a time when Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was deeply sad and worn out.

His wife, Khadijah, had died. Abu Talib, his uncle and protector, was no longer there. People in Ta’if flat out rejected his mission. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was going through a terrible time emotionally and socially by today’s standards.

At this point, when remedies seemed most required, there was no immediate help. Comfort, rapid fixes, and quick pain relief were denied. Instead, the order to pray was made clear.

The purpose of Salah was not to reduce suffering but to assist a wounded individual in reorganizing their inner life to maintain their standing.

Salah means development, not evasion

This incident shows a big gap between the spiritual logic of Isra Mi’raj and the logic that runs most of modern life today. Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a bigger and bigger effect on modern civilization, which values efficiency above all else. We need to save time. Less effort is needed. We need to become rid of fatigue.

Isra Mi’raj presents a different way to contemplate meaning. It implies that life does not acquire significance by evasion of burdens, but rather through their endurance alongside Allah Azza wa Jalla.

In this sense, Salah is not a way to escape away from reality. It is a skill that lets you keep going without breaking down.

This faith was not conveyed through a mere revelation. It might have been. Allah Azza wa Jalla could have communicated this knowledge directly. The process would have gone faster, cleaner, and more smoothly. Instead, Allah Azza wa Jalla led a human being—filled with sadness, weakness, and doubt—into the heavens and returned him to the same world. The difficulties remained unresolved. The problems kept getting worse. The situation did not change; the way of living in it did.

Reconsidering the purpose of Salah

If we merely look at results, speed, and efficiency to judge life, we will not see the deeper meaning of Isra Mi’raj.

The person who rose did not want an easier life. He was willing to stay in a state of prostration even when there were no evident reasons to keep going. Salah was never promised to make things easier. It was given as a method to keep significance alive.

This is why Salah can’t just be a sequence of physical actions. It is an act of responding—to a call, to a presence, to a relationship with Allah Azza wa Jalla that does not end when things become tough. Salah does not simplify existence. It makes life livable and, at times, meaningful.

As the world becomes more focused on efficiency, Salah is a subtle way of saying that life should not be measured only by how easy it is. It says that some burdens should not be taken away but should be carried with faith.

Writer: Nadirsyah Hosen