Isra' and Mi'raj

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the 17th chapter of the Quran, see al-Isra'.

The Israʾ and Miʿraj (

surah An-Najm and some verses of 17th surah of the Quran, commonly called al-Isra',[1] allude to the story. Framework and the details are elaborated and developed[2][3] in the miraculous accounts, some of which are based on hadith, 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 the Islamic calendar—27th of the Islamic month of Rajab.[4]

Ascension of Muhammad, Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul, 18th century (copy of a work probably created in the 8th century)

Ibn Sa'd summarizes the earliest version of the written stories[5] under the title "Ascension and the Order of Prayer" and dated the event to a Saturday, the 17th of Ramadan, eighteen months before Muhammad's Hijrah.[6] According to him, the angels Gabriel and Michael accompanied Muhammad to a place in the sacred precinct of the Kaaba, between the well of Zamzam and Maqam 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.[7] When he reached the Sidrat al-Muntaha mentioned in Sura 53, verse 14,[8] Muhammad saw heaven and hell. So, he was required to perform the original fifty prayers, which were reduced to five by the intervention of Moses.

Jalāl 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.[11]

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Terminology

While al-’Isrā’ lit means "to make someone walk" frequently translated as walking or traveling at night; and ʿMiʿrāj lit means "ascending device" / ladder"[12] or "ascending place" as counted me'raj, derived from "uruj", lit means rising, or going up to a high place.[13] 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.

Journey

There are different accounts of what occurred during the Miʿraj. Al-Tabari's description can be summarized as; Muhammad ascends into heaven with Gabriel and meets a different prophet at each of the seven levels of heaven; first Adam, then John the Baptist and Jesus, then Joseph, then Idris, then Aaron, then Moses, and lastly Abraham. 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.[14]

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.[15]

Todays narrations consist of purifying Muhammad's heart, going to the Al-Aqsa (i.e. the Farthest or Noble Sanctuary) on Buraq (a winged horse-like creature) accompanied by Gabriel (named "Isra meaning night journey"), tying Buraq and leading the prophets such as Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa in prayer,[16] ascending to the sky (Miʿrāj) from the muallak (suspended) stone,[17] conversations with Allah, dialogues with other prophets in the different sky layers, seeing heaven and hell, 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 imply

Islamic mysticism interpret Muhammad's night ascent to be an out-of-body experience through nonphysical environments,[18][19] stating "the apostle's body remained where it was"[20] while the majority of Islamic scholars claim that the journey was both a physical and spiritual one.[21]

Chaghatai with New Persian and Arabic captions. Bibliothèque nationale de France
.
A stone associated with the Miraj in Islamic tradition and blessed; The round hole at upper left penetrates to a small cave, known as the Well of Souls, below.
Dome of the Rock, at the Temple Mount. Build by the Umayyad Caliphate Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna in 691–692 CE, on blessed rock mentioned above.

Sources

Except for a few verses in the Quran that are thought to refer to Isra and Miraj, the other narratives consist of stories added to the 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.[22]

Two hadiths considered the most reliable rely on

ibn ʿAbbas[23][24]
persons who were recorded as children at the time.

The Quran

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,[25][26] and other views state that the relevant verse, together with the verses that follow it, tells about the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt (..his servant means Moses, in this case).[27] 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.[28]

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.

— 
Surah Al-Isra 17:1

An expression that is connected with the ascention part of the story[29][30] is the subject-free poetic expressions in the surah an-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.

— Surah An-Najm 53:13-18
One of the stations of Muhammad's ascent after Al-Aqsa in the "seven heavens"; Sidrat al-Muntaha; The legendary tree in havens,[31] whose branches extend to the last limits of creation;[32] the sacred cedar known as "Allah's Arez" in Lebanon[33] or, in simple translation, the lote tree.

Hadith

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Ibn ʿAbbas Primitive Version

Night journey. Miniature from a copy of al-Sarai's Nahj al-Faradis from The David Collection

cherubim.[34]
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 the Heavenly host, the final verses of the Cow Chapter, and the blessing of the Prophets.[35]

Others

Various hadiths add much more details; the Israʾ, which was not present in the previous hadiths of the miraj, is now part of Muhammad's journey from Mecca 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 the seven heavens and spoke with the previous prophets: Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, and Jesus.[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.[35]

Of mutating hadith

Another question is whether the Isra and Mi'raj originally occurred together. According to

Britannica, 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)."."[2]

Historical (anacronistic) issues / Jerusalem connection

See also: Revisionist school of Islamic studies

In the reign of the caliph

Abd al-Malik in AD 690 along with the Dome of the Rock.[36][37] According to Islamic tradition, a small prayer hall (musalla), what would later become the Al-Aqsa Mosque, was built by Umar, the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate
.

A hadith 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..." [38]

Although not in all of them, in some hadiths, such as bukhari 3207,[39] the Miraj story is handled and processed independently of Al-Aqsa. Besides that city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in Surah Al-Isra 17:1, however, the consensus of Islamic scholars is that Quranic reference to masjid al-aqṣā in the verse refers to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mentioned in later Islamic literature and in the hadith as the place of Isra and Miʽraj.[40] Some figures contest the consensus that Al-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 a Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem before the Islamic conquest of the Levant, and Umar's arrival;

The

Babylonians and the Romans, respectively, the latter more than five centuries before Muhammad's life. After the initially successful Jewish 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.[41][42] After the Jewish population was expelled a second time from Jerusalem and shortly before Heraclius 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.[43]

al-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 and al-Azraqi, both in the later second century A.H.) has convincingly shown that the Koranic reference to the masjid al-aqsa applies specifically to Al-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.[44]

Israeli political scientist Yitzhak 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 the Heavens, or in Medina and its vicinity by Jaf'ari Shi'tes.[3] Reiter also claimed that the location being in Jerusalem was a tradition invented after Muhmmad's life by the Umayyad Caliphate to divert pilgrimage to either Shi'ite sites such as Al-Kufa, or Mecca when it was held by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr during the Second Muslim Civil war[3]

Similarities to other traditions

Traditions of living persons ascending to heaven are also found in early Jewish and Christian literature.[45] The Book of Enoch, a late Second Temple Jewish apocryphal work, describes a tour of heaven given by an angel to the patriarch Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. According to Brooke Vuckovic, early Muslims may have had precisely this ascent in mind when interpreting Muhammad's night journey.[46]

The similarity of many details in the Miraj narratives to

Zoroastrian literature is striking. While critics argue that these narratives are a transfer from Zoroastrian literature, another claim argues that the relevant literature was written after Islam.[47]

Celebrations and reception

Ascent of Muhammad to Heaven (c. 1539–1543), from the Khamseh of Nizami

In Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, the structure of the

Twelver Iran, Rajab 27 is the day of Muhammad's first calling or Mab'as. The al-Aqsa Mosque and surrounding area is now the third-holiest place on earth for Muslims.[49][50]

The Lailat al-Miʿraj (

Muslim holiday on the 27th of Rajab (the date varying in the Western calendar) celebrating the Isra and Miʿraj. Another name for the holiday is Mehraj-ul-Alam (also spelled Meraj-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 the archangel Gabriel, who filled him with knowledge and faith in preparation to enter the seven levels of heaven. After salah, food and treats are served.[4][51][52]

Sufism

The belief that Muhammad made the heavenly journey bodily was used to prove the unique status of Muhammad.[53] One theory among Sufis was that Muhammad's body could reach God to a proximity that even the greatest saints could only reach in spirit.[53] They debated whether Muhammad had really seen the Lord and, if he did, whether he did so with his eyes or with his heart.[53] 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.[53] Various thinkers used this point to prove the superiority of Muhammad.[53]

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.[54] 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.[53]

Muhammad Iqbal, a self-proclaimed intellectual descendant of Rumi 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.[55] He recounts that Muhammad, during his Miʿraj journey, visited the heavens and then eventually returned to the temporal world.[55] 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.[55] 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.[55]

European reception

Illustration of Muhammad on a ladder, from the sole copy of the French Book of Muhammad's Ladder

In the 13th century AD, an account of the Isra' and Mi'raj was translated into several European languages—

Bonaventure of Siena. It may have influenced Dante Alighieri's account of an ascent to heaven and descent to hell in the Divine Comedy.[56]

See also

Notes

References

  1. Surah Al-Isra 17:1
  2. ^ a b Zeidan., Adam. "Miʿrāj". Britannica. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Yitzhak Reiter (2008), Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity, Springer, p. 21.: "The issue of al-Aqsa Mosque's location has been subject to much debate within Islam, and even today there are those who believe it is not in Jerusalem at all, according to one claim, the text was meant to refer to the Mosque of the Prophet in al-Madina or in a place close to al-Madina. Another perception is that of the Ja’fari Shiites, who interpret that al-Aqsa as a mosque in heaven. This interpretation reflects the Shiite anti-Umayyad emotions in an attempt to play down the sacredness of Umayyad Jerusalem and to minimize the sanctity of Jerusalem by detaching the qur'anic al-Masjid al-aqsa from the Temple Mount, thus asserting that the Prophet never came to that city, but rather ascended to the heavenly al-Aqsa mosque without ever stopping in bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem]. Apart from depriving Jerusalem of its major attraction for pilgrims, the Shiite traditions offer alternative pilgrimage attractions such as the Shiite holy city of Kufa, as well as Mecca. However, the tradition about Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem were never suppressed. They were exploited by the Umayyads and continued to be quoted in the tafsir (Qur’an interpretation) collections. The interpretation dating from the Umayyad and Crusader eras, according to which al-Aqsa is in Jerusalem, is the one that prevailed."
  4. ^ a b Bradlow, Khadija (18 August 2007). "A night journey through Jerusalem". Times Online. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference H. Busse 1991, S. 7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Die Angaben in Hans Wehr: Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart (ʿ-r-ǧ): die Himmelfahrt (die Muḥammad von Jerusalem aus am 27. Raǧab unternommen hat) sind entsprechend zu korrigieren. Dies geht nicht auf das Traditionsmaterial, sondern auf den willkürlich festgelegten Festtag der Muslime zurück
  7. ^ H.Busse (1991), S. 8
  8. ^ So in der Übersetzung von „sidrat al-muntahā“ bei Rudi Paret; bei H. Busse (1991), S. 7 steht: Lotusbaum
  9. ^ https://www.islamawareness.net/Isra/miracle.html
  10. ISBN 0-88706-706-9
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  11. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210207124232/http://www.openaccess.hacettepe.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11655/1404/a117bf7a-fac5-4cd7-b6ff-94a54f8d9538.pdf
  12. ^ the Mi’raj, an Arabic word that literally means “ladder” https://www.sufiway.eu/laylatul-miraj-friday-15th-may-2015/
  13. ^ Khan, Asad. "The Miracle of Isra (Night Journey) and Miraj (Ascension". Academia. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  14. ISBN 0-88706-706-9
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  16. ISBN 978-1-349-37460-1
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  17. ^ Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:4:5
  18. ^ Brent E. McNeely, "The Miraj of Prophet Muhammad in an Ascension Typology" Archived 30 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, p3
  19. ISBN 978-0-06-251671-8
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  20. OCLC 257342107. Archived
    from the original on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2012. 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)....
  21. ISBN 978-0-02-865603-8
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  22. ^ the Quran stresses that Muhammad made no miracle other than the divinely claimed miracle of the Quran itself.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10477845.2025.2452714?src=exp-la#d1e136
  23. ISBN 978-0-7914-7518-8
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  24. ^ https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789004194274/Bej.9789004183803.i-504_023.xml
  25. ^ "Soorat al-Isra' is also called Soorat Bani Isra'eel - Islam Question & Answer". islamqa.info. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  26. ^ http://www.englishtafsir.com/Quran/17/index.html
  27. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UxqqZTB4d4
  28. ^ https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/378422
  29. JSTOR 1596216
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  30. ^ Lange, C. (2015). Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press.p. 112
  31. ^ https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3207
  32. ^ https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789004194274/Bej.9789004183803.i-504_023.xml
  33. ^ Farooqi, M.I.H. "Cedar or Lote-Tree in the Light of al-Quran–A Scientific Study". IRFI. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  34. ^ Colby, Frederick S. Narrating Muḥammad's night journey: tracing the development of the Ibn ʿAbbās ascension discourse. State University of New York Press, 2008. p. 36
  35. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7914-7518-8
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  36. ^
    ISBN 90-04-10010-5
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  37. ^ le Strange, Guy. (1890). Palestine under the Moslems, pp. 80–98.
  38. ISBN 983-9154-11-7
  39. ^ https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3207
  40. ^ Historic Cities of the Islamic World edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth P: 226
  41. ^ Ghada, Karmi (1997). Jerusalem Today: What Future for the Peace Process?. pp. 115–116.
  42. ^ Kohen, Elli. "5". History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire. p. 36.
  43. ISBN 9780853235644
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  44. JSTOR 4629098
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  45. ^ Bremmer, Jan N. "Descents to hell and ascents to heaven in apocalyptic literature." JJ Collins (Hg.), The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature, Oxford (2014): 340-357.
  46. ^ Vuckovic, Brooke Olson. Heavenly journeys, earthly concerns: the legacy of the mi'raj in the formation of Islam. Routledge, 2004, 46.
  47. ^ https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/sources/zrisra
  48. ^ Reiter, Yitzhak. "The Elevation in Sanctity of al-Aqsa and al-Quds." Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008. 11-35.
  49. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1. Archived
    from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  50. ISBN 978-0-674-02313-0. Archived
    from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  51. ^ "BBC – Religions – Islam: Lailat al Miraj". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  52. ^ "WRMEA – Islam in America". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  53. ^
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  54. JSTOR 1596216
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  55. ^
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  56. ^ Ana Echevarría, "Liber scalae Machometi", in David Thomas; Alex Mallett (eds.), Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, Vol. 4 (Brill, 2012), pp. 425–428.

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