TheIsraʾ andMiʿraj (Arabic:الإسراء والمعراج,al-’Isrā’ wal-Miʿrāj) are the names given tothe narrations that the Islamic prophetMuhammad ascended to the sky during a night journey, had avision of afterlife, and returned. It is believed that expressions without a subject in verses 1-18 ofSurāh an-Najm and some verses of the17th chapter of theQuran, commonly calledSurāh al-’Isrā’,[2] allude to the story.
Ibn Sa'd summarizes the earliest version of the written stories;[3] According to him, the angelsGabriel andMichael accompanied Muhammad to a place in the sacred precinct of theKaaba, between the well ofZamzam andMaqam Ibrahim. There, a ladder (miʿrāj) is said to have been set up by Muhammad and Gabriel, with whose help they ascended to heaven. When he reached the top, Muhammad is said to have met the previous prophets. According to one version of the tradition, Gabriel held Muhammad's hand tightly and ascended with him to heaven.[4] When he reached theSidrat al-Muntaha mentioned in Sura 53, verse 14,[5] Muhammad saw heaven and hell. So, he was required to perform the originalfifty prayers, but negotiated with God to reduce the prayers to 5 and was granted theLast two verses of Al-Baqarah, known as the treasure from God's throne.
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The framework and the details are elaborated and developed[6][7] in variousmiraculous accounts, some of which are based onhadith—alleged reports of the teachings, deeds, and sayings of Muhammad—compiled centuries after his lifetime. In mystical accounts, the Journey is often interpreted as an individual spiritual ascencion.
Hans Wehr says that the 27th night of the month of Rajab chosen for the Miraj is not based on a report and is an arbitrary choice;[8]Ibn Sa'd recorded that Muhammad's Mi'raj took place first, from near the Kaaba to the heavens, on the 27th ofRamadan, 18 months before theHijrah, while the Isra' from Mecca toBayt al-Maqdis took place on the 17th night of theRabi' al-Awwal before theHijrah as two different, unconnected events.[9] InIbn Hisham's account, the Isra' came first and then the Mi'raj, and he put these stories before the deaths ofKhadija andAbu Talib. In contrast,Al-Tabari placed this story at the beginning of Muhammad's public ministry, between his account of Khadija becoming "the first to believe in the Messenger of God" and his account of "the first male to believe in the Messenger of God".[10]
The 27th night of the month ofRajab, is one of the most celebratedholy days and nights in theIslamic calendar.[11]
Al-’Isrā’ literally means "to make someone walk," frequently translated as walking or traveling at night.ʿMiʿrāj literally means "ascending device, ladder"[12] or "ascending place" as countedme'raj, derived fromuruj, "rising" or "going up to a high place".[13] The fact that the general name given to the stories ismiʿrāj rather thanuʿruj may be a reference to the ladder motif in early narratives mentioned above.
TheBait al-Maqdis (the Holy House), inAelia, described in the hadiths related to the Miraj,[14] marking the place where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended toheaven[15] is the Arabic pronunciation of the Hebrew name for theTemple of Solomon.[16][17] The nameAl-Quds, given to the city by Muslims a few centuries later derives from the same root.[18]
TheDome of the Rock, built onthe Muallak (lifted) stone and theAl-Aqsa Mosque (sometimes referred to as "masjid Al-Aqsa"), located on the south wall of the compound, was originally built by the fifth Umayyad caliphAbd al-Malik (r. 685–705)[21] or his successoral-Walid I (r. 705–715) (or both) possibly by political motivations.[22] (See also;Dome of the Ascension)
Another term used today for the Masjid al-Aqsa, which is argued to refer to the whole area ofTemple Mount because there were no buildings there during Muhammad's time, isHaram al-Sharif. This terminology, which emphasizes the site's high sanctity, became popular during theMamluk[23] (1250–1517) andOttoman periods.[24][25][26][27]
The 17th chapter of the Quran takes its name from a word used in the first verse; The name of the sura, which was probably originally called the Surat Banī Isrāʾīl (Arabic:بني إسرائيل,lit. 'The Children of Israel'),[28] during the time of the Companions, gradually became the Surat Al- Isra, and simultaneously, narrations and explanations for Isra began to enter Islamic literature, which is presented as the first stage of the journey, expressed as Isra meaning to make someone walk. The verse is widely considered to refer to Muhammad's miraculous flight fromMecca to Jerusalem at night on the back of a mount calledBuraq. A different interpretation of the verse, the Al-aqsa used in the verse is not associated with Jerusalem, but withAl-Ji'rana, which is located near Mecca[29] based on the hint that Masjid al-Haram is a night walk away from Masjid al-Aqsa inSurah Al-Isra17:1:
Glory be to the One Who took His servant by night fromMasjid al-Haram to theMasjid al-Aqsa whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing
An expression that is connected with the ascention part of the story[30][31] is the subject-unclear poetic expressions in theSurah An-Najm53:13-18.
And he certainly saw that a second time
at the near ofultimate Sidr,
near which is the Garden of Residence
While the Sidr covered by covers!
The sight never wandered, nor did it overreach.
He certainly saw some of his Lord's greatest signs.
Apart from the two verses recorded above, there is no verse in the Quran that is associated with the Miraj. In addition, unlike the references to miracles made to other prophets in the Quran, the verses that deny any miracles of Muhammad outside the Quran attract the attention of some researchers.[35]
All the details in the story come from the anecdotes ofthe biography and hadith collections written a few centuries after Muhammad. The story continues to evolve and change across different geographies and belief groups, as can be seen even in the earliest records.
There are different accounts of what occurred before the Miʿraj. While some narratives speak of purification before ascension, others say these are unconnected; Muhammad's chest was opened up, andzamzam water was poured on his heart, giving him wisdom, before going to prepare him for his ascent.[6] This purification theme is also seen in the trial of the drinks. It is debated when it took place—before or after the ascent—but either way, it plays an important role in asserting Muhammad's spiritual righteousness.[36] Two hadiths considered the most reliable rely onAnas ibn Malik andibn ʿAbbas[37][38] persons who were recorded as children at the time.
Al-Tabari's summary also reflects his choices and is as follows; Muhammad ascends into heaven withGabriel and meets a different prophet at each ofthe seven levels of heaven; firstAdam, thenJohn the Baptist andJesus, thenJoseph, thenIdris, thenAaron, thenAbraham, and lastlyMoses. Then continues to meet God without Gabriel. God tells Muhammad that his people must pray 50 times a day, but on return to Earth, he meets Moses, who tells him persistently, "return to God and ask for fewer prayers because fifty is too many". Muhammad goes back and forth between Moses and God nine times until the prayers are reduced to five daily prayers, and God rewards those prayers with the merit of fifty."[39]
Ibn Abbas's Primitive Versions describe everything Muhammad encountered during his journey through heaven. This includes seeing other angels and the seas of light, darkness, and fire. Muhammad, as companion of Gabriel, met four important angels as he travelled through heaven. These angels were the Rooster angel (whose call influences all earthly roosters), the Half Fire Half Snow angel (an example of God's power to bring fire and ice together in harmony), theAngel of Death, and theGuardian of Hellfire. These four angels are introduced at the beginning of Ibn Abbas's narrative and focus on the angels rather than the prophets. There are ranks of angels in heaven, and he even meets some deeply connected angels calledcherubim.[40] These angels instill fear in Muhammad, but he sees them later as God's creation and not harmful.
Other important details that Ibn Abbas adds to the narrative are theHeavenly host, the final verses ofthe Cow Chapter, and the blessing of the Prophets.[41] In other versions by Ibn Abbas, a transmitter seems to have added to Ibn Abbas' authentic narrative the descent of Muhammad and the meeting with the prophets. These are the stories of the meeting with the prophets and the meeting with Moses, which led to the reduction of the daily prayers, which are not included in Ibn Abbas' primitive version. Whether Ibn Abbas included this in his original narrative or whether it was added by a later transmitter is a matter of debate.[41]
Other reports add more details; theIsraʾ, which was not present in the previous reports of the miraj, is now part of Muhammad's journey fromMecca to "the farthest place of worship", although the city is not explicitly stated. The journey begins while Muhammad is in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, when the Archangel Gabriel arrives and brings the prophets' heavenly mount,Buraq. Buraq carried Muhammad to the "farthest place of worship." Muhammad dismounted, tied Buraq up, and prayed, where he was tested by Gabriel at God's command.Anas ibn Malik narrated that Muhammad said: "Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine, a vessel of water, and a vessel of milk, and I chose the milk. Gabriel said: 'You have chosen the fitra (natural instinct).'" During the second part of the journey, on the "ladder" of Miraj, Gabriel took him to the heavens, where he circled theseven heavens and spoke with the previous prophets:Abraham,Moses,John the Baptist, andJesus.[citation needed]
The most commonly accepted narration includes both the purificacion of Muhammad's heart and going to theAl-Aqsa (i.e. the Farthest or Noble Sanctuary) onBuraq (a winged horse-like creature) accompanied byGabriel (named "Isra meaning night journey"), tying Buraq and leading the prophets such asIbrahim,Musa, andIsa in prayer,[42] ascending to the sky (Miʿrāj) from themuallak (suspended) stone, conversations with Allah, dialogues with other prophetsin the different heavenly layers, seeingparadise andhell, and returning sections.
The belief that Muhammad made the heavenly journey bodily was used to prove the unique status of Muhammad.[16] One theory amongSufis was that Muhammad's body could reach God to a proximity that even the greatest saints could only reach in spirit.[16] They debated whether Muhammad had envisioned God and if he did, whether he did so with his eyes or with his heart.[16] Nevertheless, Muhammad's superiority is again demonstrated in that even in the extreme proximity of the Lord, "his eye neither swerved nor was turned away," whereas Moses had fainted when the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush.[16] Various thinkers used this point to prove the superiority of Muhammad.[16]
The Subtleties of the Ascension by Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sulami includes repeated quotations from other mystics that also affirm the superiority of Muhammad.[43] Many Sufis interpreted the Miʿraj to ask questions about the meaning of certain events within the Miʿraj, and drew conclusions based on their interpretations, especially to substantiate ideas of the superiority of Muhammad over other prophets.[16]
Muhammad Iqbal, a self-proclaimed intellectual descendant ofRumi and the poet-scholar who personified poetic Sufism in South Asia, used the event of the Miʿraj to conceptualize an essential difference between a prophet and a Sufi.[44] He recounts that Muhammad, during his Miʿraj journey, visited the heavens and then eventually returned to the temporal world.[44] Iqbal then quotes another South Asian Muslim saint by the name of 'Abdul Quddus Gangohi who asserted that if he (Gangohi) had had that experience, he would never have returned to this world.[44] Iqbal uses Gangohi's spiritual aspiration to argue that while a saint or a Sufi would not wish to renounce the spiritual experience for something this-worldly, a prophet is a prophet precisely because he returns with a force so powerful that he changes world history by imbuing it with a creative and fresh thrust.[44]
In Islam, whether the Miraj is a physical or spiritual experience is also a matter of debate based on different arguments and evidence. The physical perception of the Miraj may implyattributing a physical space to God, contradicting the understanding of transcendence (tanzih) thatattributed to God in Islam. Many sects and offshoots belonging toIslamic mysticism interpret Muhammad's night ascent to be an out-of-body experience through nonphysical environments,[45][46] stating "the apostle's body remained where it was"[47] while the majority of Islamic scholars claim that the journey was both a physical and spiritual one.[48]
In Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, the structure of theDome of the Rock, built several decades after Muhammad's death, marks the place from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended toheaven. The exact date of the Journey is not clear, but it is celebrated as though it took place before theHijrah and after Muhammad's visit to the people ofTa'if. The normative view amongst Sunni Muslims who ascribe a specific date to the event is that it took place on the 27th of Rajab, slightly over a year before Hijrah.[49] This would correspond to the 26th of February 621 in theWestern calendar. InTwelverIran, Rajab 27 is the day of Muhammad's first calling orMab'as. The al-Aqsa Mosque and surrounding area is now the third-holiest place on earth for Muslims.[50][51]
TheLailat al-Miʿraj (Arabic:لیلة المعراج,Lailatu 'l-Miʿrāj), also known asShab-e-Mi'raj (Bengali:শবে মেরাজ,romanized: Šobe Meraj,Persian:شب معراج,Šab-e Mi'râj) in Iran,Pakistan,India andBangladesh, andMiraç Kandili inTurkish, is theMuslim holiday on the 27th of Rajab (the date varying in the Western calendar) celebrating the Isra and Miʿraj. Another name for the holiday isMehraj-ul-Alam (also spelledMeraj-ul-Alam). Some Muslims celebrate this event by offering optional prayers during this night, and in some Muslim countries, by illuminating cities with electric lights and candles. The celebrations around this day tend to focus on every Muslim who wants to celebrate it. Worshippers gather in mosques and perform prayer and supplication. Some people may pass their knowledge on to others by telling them the story of how Muhammad's heart was purified by thearchangel Gabriel, who filled him with knowledge and faith in preparation to enter the seven levels of heaven. Aftersalah, food and treats are served.[11][52][53]
According to Islamic tradition, a small prayer hall (musalla), what would later become theAl-Aqsa Mosque, was built byUmar, the second caliph of theRashidun Caliphate. Ahadith reports Muhammad's account of the experience:
"Then Gabriel brought a horse (Burraq) to me, which resembled lightning in swiftness and lustre, was of clear white colour, medium in size, smaller than a mule and taller than a (donkey), quick in movement that it put its feet on the farthest limit of the sight. He made me ride it and carried me to Jerusalem. He tethered the Burraq to the ring of that Temple to which all the Prophets in Jerusalem used to tether their beasts..."[54]
Although not in all of them, in some hadiths, the Miraj story is handled and processed independently of Al-Aqsa. Besides that city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any ofits names in Surah Al-Isra 17:1, however, the consensus of Islamic scholars is that Quranic reference tomasjid al-aqṣā in the verse refers to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mentioned in later Islamic literature and in thehadith as the place of Isra and Miʽraj.[55]
Some figures contest the consensus thatAl-masjid al-aqṣā was in Jerusalem and believe it was somewhere other than Jerusalem. This arises from the belief that there's no evidence of aMosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem before theIslamic conquest of the Levant, andUmar's arrival; Thefirst andsecond temples were destroyed by theBabylonians and theRomans, respectively, the latter more than five centuries before Muhammad's life. After the initially successfulJewish revolt against Heraclius, the Jewish population resettled in Jerusalem for a short period of time from AD 614 to 630 and immediately started to restore the temple on the Temple Mount and build synagogues in Jerusalem.[56][57] After the Jewish population was expelled a second time from Jerusalem and shortly beforeHeraclius retook the city (AD 630), a small synagogue was already in place on the Temple Mount. This synagogue was reportedly demolished after Heraclius retook Jerusalem.[58] In the reign of the caliphMu'awiyah I of theUmayyad Caliphate (founded in AD 661), a quadrangular mosque for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers is recorded somewhere on the Haram ash-Sharif.[59] This was rebuilt and expanded by thecaliphAbd al-Malik in AD 690 along with theDome of the Rock.[59][21]
French American AcademicOleg Grabar believed that the QuranicAl-masjid al-aqṣā referred to one of two sanctuaries in a Hijazi village known asal-Juʽranah near Mecca, basing this on the statement of two near-contemporary medieval Muslim travelersAl Waqidi andAl-Azraqi who used the term "Al-masjid al-aqṣā" , and "Al-masjid al-Adna":
Bevan has shown that among early traditionists there are many who do not accept the identification of the masjid al-aqsa, and among them are to be found such great names as al-Bukhari and Tabari. Both Ibn Ishaq anal-Ya'qubi precede their accounts with expressions which indicate that these are stories which are not necessarily accepted as dogma. It was suggested by J. Horovitz that in the early period of Islam, there is little justification for assuming that the Koranic expression in any way referred to Jerusalem. But while Horovitz thought that it referred to a place in heaven, A. Guillaume's careful analysis of the earliest texts (al-Waqidi andal-Azraqi, both in the later second century A.H.) has convincingly shown that the Koranic reference to the masjid al-aqsa applies specifically toAl-Ji'rana, near Mekkah, where there were two sanctuaries (masjid al-adnai and masjid al-aqsa), and where Muhammad so-journed in dha al-qa'dah of the eighth year after the Hijrah.[60]
Israeli political scientistYitzhak Reiter mentions some alternative interpretations among some Muslim sects in the 21st century which dispute that the night journey took place in Jerusalem, believing instead it was either in theHeavens, or inMedina and its vicinity byJaf'ari Shi'tes.[7] Reiter also claimed that the location being in Jerusalem was a tradition invented after Muhmmad's life by theUmayyad Caliphate to divert pilgrimage to either Shi'ite sites such asAl-Kufa, or Mecca when it was held byAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr during theSecond Muslim Civil war[7]
In the 13th century AD, an account of the Isra' and Mi'raj was translated into several European languages—Latin,Spanish andFrench. Known as theBook of Muhammad's Ladder, this account purports to be the words of Muhammad himself as recorded by Ibn Abbas. It was translated byAbraham of Toledo andBonaventure of Siena. It may have influencedDante Alighieri's account of an ascent to heaven and descent to hell in theDivine Comedy.[61]
Similarities to other traditions;Traditions of living persons ascending to heaven are also found in early Jewish and Christian literature.[62] TheBook of Enoch, a lateSecond Temple Jewishapocryphal work, describes a tour of heaven given by an angel to the patriarchEnoch, the great-grandfather ofNoah. According to Brooke Vuckovic, early Muslims may have had precisely this ascent in mind when interpreting Muhammad's night journey.[63]
The similarity of many details in the Miraj narratives toZoroastrian literature is striking. While critics argue that these narratives are a transfer fromZoroastrian literature, another claim argues that the relevant literature was written after Islam.[64]
Bayt al-maqdis /Bēt il-maqdis/ (Pr: O) [51]. No. 3 and 4 are Islamic designations of Jerusalem. The former which has become the regular name of the city among Muslims, is directly inspired by the Jewish epithet of Jerusalem as (ʽyr) hqdš while the latter, which seems to be merely literary, is a rendering of Heb. byt hmqdš (i.e. pars pro toto)
"Al-Masjid al-Aqsa" was the standard designation for the whole sanctuary until the Ottoman period, when it was superseded by "al-Haram al-Sharif"; "al-Jami' al-Aqsa" specifically referred to the Aqsa Mosque, the mughatta or the covered aisles, the site on which 'Umar founded the first mosque amidst ancient ruins.
It is only at a relatively late date that the Muslim holy space in Jerusalem came to be referred to as al-haram al-sharif (literally, the Noble Sacred Precinct or Restricted Enclosure, often translated as the Noble Sanctuary and usually simply referred to as the Haram). While the exact early history of this term is unclear, we know that it only became common in Ottoman times, when administrative order was established over all matters pertaining to the organization of the Muslim faith and the supervision of the holy places, for which the Ottomans took financial and architectural responsibility. Before the Ottomans, the space was usually called al-masjid al-aqsa (the Farthest Mosque), a term now reserved to the covered congregational space on the Haram, or masjid bayt al-maqdis (Mosque of the Holy City) or, even, like Mecca's sanctuary, al-masjid al-ḥarâm.
Mujir al-Din defined al-Masjid al-Aqsā as the entire compound, acknowledging that in common usage it referred to the roofed building at the south end of the compound. As he put it (1999 v.2, 45; 1973 v.2, 11), the jami' that is in the core of al-Masjid al-Aqsa at the qiblah where the Friday service takes place is known among the people as "al-Masjid al-Aqsa", and (1999 v.2, 63-64; 1973 v.2, 24) what is known among the people as "al-Aqsa" is the jami in the core of the masjid in the direction of the giblah, where the minbar and the large mihrab are. The truth of the matter is that the term "al-Aqsa" is for all of the masjid and what the enclosure walls surround. What is intended by "al-Masjid al-Aqsā" is everything that the enclosure walls surround. Mujir al-Din did not identify al-Masjid al-Aqsā by the alternative term "al-Haram al-Sharif". That term began to be used in the Mamluk period and came into more general use in the Ottoman period. He only used the term when giving the official title of the government-appointed inspector of the two noble harams of Jerusalem and Hebron (Nazir al-Haramavn al-Sharifayn). While Mujir al-Din did not explicitly discuss why the masjid of Bayt al-Magdis "is not called the haram" (1999 v.1, 70; 1973 v.1, 7), he may well have adopted the same position as Ibn Taymiyah, his fellow Hanbali in the early 14th century (Ziyarat Bayt al-Maqdis Matthews 1936, 13; Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ashab al-Jahim Memon 1976: 316) in rejecting the idea that al-Masjid al-Aqsa (or the tomb of Abraham in Hebron) can legitimately be called a haram, because there are only three harams (where God prohibited hunting): Makkah, Madinah, and perhaps Täif. However Mujir al-Din was not fully consistent and also used al-Masiid al-Aqsã to refer to the roofed building, as for example when he referred to al-Nasir Muhammad installing marble in al-Masjid al-Aqsà (1999 v.2, 161; 1973 v.2, 92); he used the term al-Jami al-Aqsa in the parallel passage (1999 v.2, 396; 1973 v.2, 271)
Many people think that Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is only the mosque established south of the Dome of the Rock, where the obligatory five daily prayers are performed now. Actually, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is a term that applies to all parts of the Masjid, including the area encompassed within the wall, such as the gates, the spacious yards, the mosque itself, the Dome of the Rock, Al-Musalla Al-Marawani, the corridors, domes, terraces, free drinking water (springs), and other landmarks, like minarets on the walls. Furthermore, the whole mosque is unroofed with the exception of the building of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Musalla Al-Jami`, which is known by the public as Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. The remaining area, however, is a yard of the mosque. This is agreed upon by scholars and historians, and accordingly, the doubled reward for performing prayer therein is attained if the prayer is performed in any part of the area encompassed by the wall. Indeed, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, which is mentioned in Almighty Allah's Glorious Book in the first verse of Sura Al-Isra' is the blessed place that is now called the Noble Sanctuary (Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Ash-Sharif) which is enclosed within the great fence and what is built over it. Moreover, what applies to the mosque applies by corollary to the wall encircling it, since it is part of it. Such is the legal definition of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. Regarding the concept (definition) of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, Shaykh `Abdul-Hamid Al-Sa'ih, former Minister of (Religious) Endowments and Islamic Sanctuaries in Jordan said: "The term Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, for the Muslim public, denotes all that is encircled by the wall of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, including the gates". Therefore, (the legally defined) Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) are two names for the same place, knowing that Al-Haram Ash-Sharif is a name that has only been coined recently.
The revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad [includes] his Night Journey, an out-of-body experience where the prophet was miraculously taken to Jerusalem on the back of a mythical bird (buraq)....
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