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This is a sub-article of Muhammad before Medina and Islamic view of miracles.

Isra (Arabic: الإسراء ) is an Arabic word referring to what Muslims regard as Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem — specifically, to the site of Masjid al-Aqsa — mentioned in Surat Al-Isra:

Glory be to Him (God) Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

— Qur'an,

And when We said to you: Surely your Lord encompasses men; and We did not make the vision (literally Ru'ya) which We showed you but a trial for men and the cursed tree in the Quran as well; and We cause them to fear, but it only adds to their great inordinacy

— Qur'an,

Majority of Muslims consider it a physical journey but some refer above verse, to show that it was a dream.

This celebrated event in Islam is considered to have taken place before the Hijra and after Prophet Muhamad's visit to the people of Taif.

It is considered by some to have happened just over a year before the Hijra, on the 27th of Rajab; but this date is not always recognized. In Shi'a Iran for example, Rajab 27 is the day of Muhammad's first calling or Mab'as. However, in many parts of the Muslim world, this date is celebrated as Lailat al Miraj. Some Islamic scholars consider it as a dream. Both opinions are discussed in the article.

The event

Hadith

This event has been discussed in detail in hadith literature. A hadith attributed to Anas bin Malik reports:

The dwellers of the Heaven asked, 'Who is it?' He said, "Gabriel." They said, "Who is accompanying you?" He said, "Muhammad." They said, "Has he been called?" He said, "Yes" They said, "He is welcomed." So the dwellers of the Heaven became pleased with his arrival, and they did not know what Allah would do to the Prophet on earth unless Allah informed them. The Prophet met Adam over the nearest Heaven. Gabriel said to the Prophet, "He is your father; greet him." The Prophet greeted him and Adam returned his greeting and said, "Welcome, O my Son! O what a good son you are!" Behold, he saw two flowing rivers, while he was in the nearest sky. He asked, "What are these two rivers, O Gabriel?" Gabriel said, "These are the sources of the Nile and the Euphrates."

Then Gabriel took him around that Heaven and behold, he saw another river at the bank of which there was a palace built of pearls and emerald. He put his hand into the river and found its mud like musk Adhfar. He asked, "What is this, O Gabriel?" Gabriel said, "This is the Kauthar which your Lord has kept for you." Then Gabriel ascended (with him) to the second Heaven and the angels asked the same questions as those on the first Heaven, i.e., "Who is it?" Gabriel replied, "Gabriel". They asked, "Who is accompanying you?" He said, "Muhammad." They asked, "Has he been sent for?" He said, "Yes." Then they said, "He is welcomed. Then he (Gabriel) ascended with the Prophet to the third Heaven, and the angels said the same as the angels of the first and the second Heavens had said.

Then he ascended with him to the fourth Heaven and they said the same; and then he ascended with him to the fifth Heaven and they said the same; and then he ascended with him to the sixth Heaven and they said the same; then he ascended with him to the seventh Heaven and they said the same. On each Heaven there were prophets whose names he had mentioned and of whom I remember Idris on the second Heaven, Aaron on the fourth Heavens another prophet whose name I don't remember, on the fifth Heaven, Abraham on the sixth Heaven, and Moses on the seventh Heaven because of his privilege of talking to Allah directly. Moses said (to Allah), "O Lord! I thought that none would be raised up above me."

But Gabriel ascended with him (the Prophet) for a distance above that, the distance of which only Allah knows, till he reached the Lote Tree (beyond which none may pass) and then the Irresistible, the Lord of Honor and Majesty approached and came closer till he (Gabriel) was about two bow lengths or (even) nearer. (It is said that it was Gabriel who approached and came closer to the Prophet. (Fate Al-Bari Page 263, 264, Vol. 17). Among the things which Allah revealed to him then, was: "Fifty prayers were enjoined on his followers in a day and a night."

Then the Prophet descended till he met Moses, and then Moses stopped him and asked, "O Muhammad ! What did your Lord en join upon you?" The Prophet replied," He enjoined upon me to perform fifty prayers in a day and a night." Moses said, "Your followers cannot do that; Go back so that your Lord may reduce it for you and for them." So the Prophet turned to Gabriel as if he wanted to consult him about that issue. Gabriel told him of his opinion, saying, "Yes, if you wish." So Gabriel ascended with him to the Irresistible and said while he was in his place, "O Lord, please lighten our burden as my followers cannot do that." So Allah deducted for him ten prayers where upon he returned to Moses who stopped him again and kept on sending him back to his Lord till the enjoined prayers were reduced to only five prayers.

Then Moses stopped him when the prayers had been reduced to five and said, "O Muhammad! By Allah, I tried to persuade my nation, Bani Israel to do less than this, but they could not do it and gave it up. However, your followers are weaker in body, heart, sight and hearing, so return to your Lord so that He may lighten your burden."

The Prophet turned towards Gabriel for advice and Gabriel did not disapprove of that. So he ascended with him for the fifth time. The Prophet said, "O Lord, my followers are weak in their bodies, hearts, hearing and constitution, so lighten our burden." On that the Irresistible said, "O Muhammad!" the Prophet replied, "Labbaik and Sa'daik." Allah said, "The Word that comes from Me does not change, so it will be as I enjoined on you in the Mother of the Book." Allah added, "Every good deed will be rewarded as ten times so it is fifty (prayers) in the Mother of the Book (in reward) but you are to perform only five (in practice)."

Similary hadith is also reported in Template:Muslim.

Synopsis

As Muhammad was resting in the Kaaba, Gabriel came to him, and brought him the winged steed Buraq, who carried him to the "furthest mosque", where he alighted, tethered Buraq, and led other prophets in prayer. He then got back on Buraq, and was taken to the heavens, where he toured heaven and hell (described in some detail), and spoke with the earlier prophets, and with Allah. Allah told him to enjoin the Muslims to pray fifty times a day; however, Moses told Muhammad that they would never do it, and urged Muhammad to go back several times and ask for a reduction, until finally it was reduced to five times a day.

Afterwards, the unbelieving Meccans regarded this as absurd, and some went to Abu Bakr and told him "Look at what your companion is saying. He says he went to Jerusalem and came back in one night." Abu Bakr told them, "If he said that, then he is truthful. I believe him concerning the news of the heavens — that an angel descends to him from the heavens. How could I not believe he went to Jerusalem and came back in a short period of time — when these are on earth?" It was for this that Abu Bakr is said to have received his famous title "Us-Siddiq", The Truthful.

Physical journey or a dream

It is widely believed amongst Muslims that Isra and Mi'raj was a physical journey of Muhammad, but some Islamic scholars consider it as a dream. They point to a verse in Qur'an, ...and We did not make the vision (literally ru'ya or الرُّؤيَا) which We showed you but a trial for men... and a hadith regarding Isra and Mi'raj in Sahih Bukhari, ...Allah's Apostle said, "O Moses! By Allah, I feel shy of returning too many times to my Lord." On that Gabriel said, "Descend in Allah's Name." The Prophet then woke while he was in the Sacred Mosque (at Mecca). Template:Bukhari-usc. They argue that it was a mode of revelation for the Prophet in symbolic form for the guidance of the Muslim nation. This event also foretold Muslims that God would now raise Muslims up as a superpower and Jerusalem would soon fall into their hands, which happened indeed within less than three decades of this event.

Controversy over its historicity

Many non-Muslims regard the incident as implausible. However, while most scholars accept that Muhammad claimed to have made this trip, a few dispute this as well. Some believe that the prophet's journey may have been one of the soul and not necessarily the body. Islamic scholars have debated this issue for centuries.

John Wansbrough (a leading exponent of extreme scepticism regarding early Islamic sources, best known for his theories of extremely late Quranic composition), argues that the entire story of the Isra and Mir’aj constitutes later Islamic scriptural exegesis designed to explain away the vagueness of ayah 17:1 (a literary phenomenon he claims was common in early Islamic and Jewish theology.) He holds that this verse probably does not even refer to Muhammad, and that no evidence links it to Jerusalem: "Far from providing unambiguous witness to the Arabian prophet, this particular scriptural image (israa' bi-abdeehee laylan) is employed, in but slightly varying forms, only to describe Moses' departure from Egypt" (Wansbrough, Quranic Studies).

The term "Masjid al-Aqsa" (the farthest mosque) in the Qur'an

The "farthest Mosque" (al-masjid al-Aqsa) in verse (17:1) of the Qur'an is traditionally interpreted by Muslims as referring to the site at the Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem on which the mosque of that name now stands. This interpretation is already given by the earliest biographer of Muhammad — Ibn Ishaq — and is supported by numerous Hadith. The term used for mosque, "masjid", literally means "place of prostration", and includes monotheistic places of worship such as Solomon's Temple, which in verse 17:7 (in the same sura) is described as a masjid.

Many Western historians regard this as the originally intended interpretation, for instance Heribert Busse and Neal Robinson (see references.)

However, some disagree, arguing that at the time this verse of the Qur'an was recited (around the year 621, unless you believe Wansbrough) many Muslims understood the phrase "furthest mosque" as a poetic phrase for a mosque already known to them, a mosque in Heaven, or as a metaphor. For the following reasons, they find it unlikely that this verse referred to a location in Palestine:But it is also true that initially Muslims used to pray while facing towards "bait-ul-muqadas" or the temple mount or the holy land. Later on the Qibla was changed to Makkah. So it would be wrong to say that in that period muslims had no connection with the mosque in palestine.

1. There were already two places that Muslim tradition of that time period called "the furthest mosque"; one was the mosque in Medina (Arthur Jeffrey, The Suppressed Quran Commentary of Muhammad Abu Zaid, Der Islam, 20 (1932): 306) and the other was the mosque in the town of Jirana, which Muhammed is said to have visited in 630, although Solomon's Temple is of course further than either. (Alfred Guillaume, Where Was Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa? Al-Andalus, (18) 1953: 323–36)
2. When Muslims finally did conquer and occupy Jerusalem, they are not known to have identified the Temple Mount with "the furthest Mosque" until 715.

In 715 the Umayyads built a new mosque on the Temple Mount; they named this Mosque al-masjid al-aqsa, the Al-Aqsa Mosque or "furthest mosque". AL Tibawi, a Palestinian historian, argues that this action "gave reality to the figurative name used in the Koran." (AL Tibawi, Jerusalem: Its Place in Islam and Arab History, Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1969, p. 9.)

The evidence is insufficient to confirm whether a specific meaning had been attached to this verse before the Muslim conquest and occupation of Jerusalem. However, it is known that by twenty-five years after the conquest the account of the Isra and Mir’aj was generally attached to the Temple Mount.

There is an opinion among some Muslim scholars that "the furthest mosque" in Qur'an actually points to the Temple of Solomon and not Masjid Al-Aqsa, which was built by Omer Bin Khattab (c. 581-644), the Muslim caliph who conquered Jerusalem in 637.

Modern Observance

Muslims celebrate this night by offering optional prayers during this night, and in many Muslim countries, by illuminating cities with electric lights and candles.In India this day is observed by taking fast

See also

• Dome of the Rock
• Foundation stone

Notes

1. ^ A Question on the Night Journey of the Prophet (pbuh), understanding-islam.com, Al-Mawrid Institute
2. Shehzad Saleem. Ascension of the Prophet (sws). Renaissance - Monthly Islamic Journal, 8(7-8). July & August 1998
3. Moiz Amjad, The Position of Jerusalem and the Bayet al-Maqdas in Islam, understanding-islam.com, Al-Mawrid Institute

References

• "The Treatise of al-Miraj - from Risale-i Nur"
• "Night Journey"
• The Miracle of al-Isra and al-Mir’aj
• Egyptian Ministry of Culture Publication: The Prophet Muhammad's 'Night Journey' was Not to Jerusalem but to Medina
• The Position of Jerusalem and the Bayet al-Maqdas in Islam
• A. Bevan, Mohammed's Ascension to Heaven, in "Studien zu Semitischen Philologie und Religionsgeschichte Julius Wellhausen," (Topelman, 1914,pp. 53-54.)
• B. Schreike, "Die Himmelreise Muhammeds," Der Islam 6 (1915–16): 1-30
• J. Horovitz, "Muhammeds Himmelfahrt," Der Islam 9 (1919): 159-83
• Heribert Busse, "Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991): 1–40.
• Heribert Busse and Georg Kretschmar, Jerusalemer Heiligstumstraditionen (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1987)
• Heribert Busse, "The Destruction Of The Temple And Its Reconstruction In The Light Of Muslim Exegesis Of Sûra 17:2–8", Jerusalem Studies In Arabic And Islam, 1996, Vol. 20, p. 1.
• N. Robinson, Discovering The Qur'ân: A Contemporary Approach To A Veiled Text, 1996, SCM Press Ltd.: London, p. 192.

External links

• "The Treatise of al-Miraj - from Risale-i Nur"
• "Night Journey"
• The Miracle of al-Isra and al-Mir’aj
• Egyptian Ministry of Culture Publication: The Prophet Muhammad's 'Night Journey' was Not to Jerusalem but to Medina
• The Position of Jerusalem and the Bayet al-Maqdas in Islam

• Muhammad
• Islam
• Qur'an