TheIsraʾ andMiʿraj (Arabic:الإسراء والمعراج,al-’Isrā’ wal-Miʿrāj) are the names given to the narrations that the prophetMuhammad ascended to the sky during a night journey, sawAllah and theafterlife, and returned. It is believed that expressions without a subject in verses 1-18 ofsurah An-Najm and some verses of 17thsurah of theQuran, commonly calledal-Isra',[2] allude to the story. Framework and the details are elaborated and developed[3][4] in themiraculous accounts, some of which are based onhadith, the reports, teachings, deeds and sayings of Muhammad collected later centuries attributed after him. The story of the journey and ascent are marked as one of the most celebrated in theIslamic calendar—27th of the Islamic month ofRajab.[5]
Ibn Sa'd summarizes the earliest version of the written stories[6] under the title "Ascension and the Order of Prayer" and dated the event to a Saturday, the 17th of Ramadan, eighteen months before Muhammad'sHijrah.[7] 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.[8] When he reached theSidrat al-Muntaha mentioned in Sura 53, verse 14,[9] Muhammad saw heaven and hell. So, he was required to perform the originalfifty prayers, which were reduced to five by the intervention ofMoses.
Sunni culture adds to the story thatAbu Bakr, who heard about the miracle from the pagans, approved the event without question and was given the title ofal-Ṣiddīq, the Veracious.[10] In the version accepted in Sunnism, the story tells of Muhammad's negotiations with God, who ordered him and his ummah to pray 50 times a day under the guidance of the prophet Moses. After repeated back and forth and negotiations, the 50 times a day was reduced to 5.[11] In theAlawite-Bektashi culture there is no place for the five daily prayers and they add to the story that during his meeting with Allah, Allah spoke to Muhammad byAli's voice and that he joined the40's majlis on his return journey, a meeting very important for him. In themirajnamas, religious/political leaders who lived centuries after Muhammad, such asSatuq Bughra Khan,Ahmad Yasawi andJalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, are also included in stories. Thus, the views and practices of these persons are legitimized and included among the fundamental parts of Islamic culture and glorified.[12]
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Whileal-’Isrā’ lit means "to make someone walk" frequently translated as walking or traveling at night; andʿMiʿrāj lit means "ascending device" / ladder"[13] or "ascending place" as counted me'raj, derived from "uruj", lit means rising, or going up to a high place.[14] The fact that the general name given to the stories is Miʿrāj rather than uʿruj may be a reference to the ladder motif in early narratives mentioned above.
There are different accounts of what occurred during the Miʿraj.Al-Tabari's description can be summarized as; 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, thenMoses, and lastlyAbraham. 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 between Moses and God nine times, until the prayers are reduced to the five daily prayers, which God will reward tenfold.[15]
Some narratives also record events that preceded the heavenly ascent. Muhammad's chest was opened up, and Zamzam water was poured on his heart, giving him wisdom, belief, and other necessary characteristics to help him in his ascent. This purification thema 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.[16]
Todays narrations consist of purifying Muhammad's heart, 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,[17] ascending to the sky (Miʿrāj) from the muallak (suspended) stone,[18] conversations with Allah, dialogues with other prophetsin the different sky layers, seeingheaven andhell, and returning sections.
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,[19][20] stating "the apostle's body remained where it was"[21] while the majority of Islamic scholars claim that the journey was both a physical and spiritual one.[22]
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Except for a few verses in the Quran that are thought to refer to Isra and Miraj, the other narratives consist of stories added tothe biography and hadith collections. 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.[23]
Two hadiths considered the most reliable rely onAnas ibn Malik andibn ʿAbbas[24][25] persons who were recorded as children at the time.
The 17th chapter of the Quran takes its name from a word used in the first verse, which is presented as the first stage of the journey, expressed as Isra. However, the Surah was known as the Surah "banu Israel" "Children of Israel" during the time of the companions and the successors,[26][27] and other views state that the relevant verse, together with the verses that follow it, tells about theExodus of theChildren of Israel from Egypt (..his servant means Moses, in this case).[28] According to a different interpretation of the verse through Muhammad, the Al-aqsa used in the verse is not associated with Jerusalem, but with Cirana, which is located near Mecca.[29]
Glory be to the One Who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque 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-free poetic expressions in thesurahan-Najm.
And he certainly saw that ˹angel descend˺ a second time
at the"Sidr" of the most extreme limit ˹in the seventh heaven˺—
near which is the Garden of ˹Eternal˺ Residence—
while the "sidr" was overwhelmed with ˹heavenly˺ splendours!
The ˹Prophet's˺ sight never wandered, nor did it overreach.
He certainly saw some of his Lord's greatest signs.
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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.[35] 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.[36]
Various hadiths add much more details; theIsraʾ, which was not present in the previous hadiths 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]
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.[36]
Another question is whether the Isra and Mi'raj originally occurred together. According toBritannica, in the "earliest interpretations of the Mi'raj", while Muhammad was in the Kaaba in Mecca, Muhammad's body was cut, cleansed and purified by the angel Jibreel, after which Jibreel carried him "directly to the lower heaven". However, at some point "in early Islamic history", this story of purification and ascent to heaven became associated with the story of Muhammad's night journey (Isra) from the "sacred house of worship" to the "other house of worship". Eventually, Muhammad was "carried from Mecca to Jerusalem in a single night by the legendary winged beast Buraq. From Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock is now located, he was escorted to heaven by Jibreel and ascended, presumably by a ladder or staircase (Mi'raj)."."[3]
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.[37] This was rebuilt and expanded by thecaliphAbd al-Malik in AD 690 along with theDome of the Rock.[37][38] 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..."[39]
Although not in all of them, in some hadiths, such as bukhari 3207,[40] 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.[41] 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.[42][43] 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.[44]
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.[45]
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.[4] 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[4]
Traditions of living persons ascending to heaven are also found in early Jewish and Christian literature.[46] 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.[47]
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.[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.[5][52][53]
The belief that Muhammad made the heavenly journey bodily was used to prove the unique status of Muhammad.[54] One theory amongSufis was that Muhammad's body could reach God to a proximity that even the greatest saints could only reach in spirit.[54] They debated whether Muhammad had really seen the Lord and, if he did, whether he did so with his eyes or with his heart.[54] 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.[54] Various thinkers used this point to prove the superiority of Muhammad.[54]
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.[55] 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.[54]
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.[56] He recounts that Muhammad, during his Miʿraj journey, visited the heavens and then eventually returned to the temporal world.[56] 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.[56] 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.[56]
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.[57]
H. Busse 1991, S. 7 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).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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