Sakinah Placed in the Heart of the Prophet عليه السلام

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

وعلى آلك واصحابك يا سيدي يا نور الله

فداك ابي وامي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

The Sakinah is an entity mentioned six times in the Holy Quran and corresponds to the Targumic, Talmudic and Midrashic term Shekinah. Interestingly, the term does not actually occur in the Hebrew text of the Bible. This suggests some of the content of the Talmud, Midrash and Rabbinic tradition in general, which they claim is derived from the so-called Oral Torah given to Moses along with the written Torah at Mount Sinai, does indeed have a divine origin. In the Holy Quran the term Hikmah (the Wisdom) is often used in conjunction with Kitab (the Scripture), intimating that divinely inspired teaching and practices were never limited to what is written in the text of the Scriptures, a sharp repudiation of the sola scriptura approach. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Shekinah is: “The majestic presence or manifestation of God which has descended to ‘dwell’ among men...the Shekinah appeared as physical light...The Shekinah tinkled like a bell (Soṭah 9b), while the Holy Spirit also manifested itself to human senses in light and sound. The Holy Spirit had the form of a dove, and the Shekinah had wings.” (v.11, pp.258-259)

Allah, Holy and Exalted is He, says:

ثُمَّ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ سَکِیۡنَتَہٗ عَلٰی رَسُوۡلِہٖ وَعَلَی الۡمُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ

Then Allah sent down His Sakinah upon His Apostle and upon the Believers

(Surah 9 Ayah 26)

And as the Sakinah was upon the Tabut, or Ark of the Covenant carried by the Cherubim Angels, it was also placed inside the heart of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, by the Angels:

فَشَقَّ بَطْنِي فَأَخْرَجَ مِنْهُ فَغُمَّ الشَّيْطَانُ وَعَلَّقَ الدَّمَ فَطَرَحَهَا فَقَالَ أَحَدُهُمَا لِلْآخَرِ اغْسِلْ بَطْنَهُ غَسْلَ الْإِنَاءِ وَاغْسِلْ قَلْبَهُ غَسْلَ الْمُلَاءِ ‌ثُمَّ ‌دَعَا ‌بِالسَّكِينَةِ كَأَنَّهَا رَهْرَهَةٌ بَيْضَاءُ فَادْخِلَتْ قَلْبِي

So he (the Angel) cut open my upper body and removed from it the pollution of Satan and clot of blood. And the first of them said to the other (Angel): “Wash his heart like the washing of a covering.” Then he summoned the Sakinah, as though it was a white kitten, and entered it into my heart (Musnad al-Bazar; v.9, p.436, #4048)