Isra and Mi'raj
:''This is a sub-article of
Muhammad before Medina and
Islamic view of miracles.
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A 15th century manuscript depicting Muhammad on his journey from Mecca to the Dome of the Rock to heaven. The archangel Jibaril (Gabriel) is seen to Muhammad's right with multiple wings. |
The
Isra and Mi'raj (
Arabic: الإسراء والمعراج ) refer to two parts of a journey the
Islamic prophet Muhammad took in one night.
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 — alluded to in
Surat
Al-Isra:
سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلاً من المسجد الحرام إلى المسجد الأقصى الذي باركنا حوله
Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless.
It is believed to have been followed by the
Mi'raj (Arabic: المعراج ), his ascension to heaven. It is considered to have happened just over a year before the
Hijra, on the 27th of
Rajab; this date is celebrated as
Lailat al Miraj, a holiday in many parts of the
Muslim world. Some Islamic scholars consider it as a dream. Both opinions are discussed in the article.
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 "as-Siddiq", the believer.
Obviously, many non-Muslims regard the incident as implausible
a priori. However, while most scholars accept that Muhammad claimed to have made this trip, a few dispute this as well. Some believe that the prophets 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 idea that the Qur'an was compiled only 200 years after Muhammad's death), for instance, 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).
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 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). . They argue that it was a mode of revelation for the Prophet in symbolic form for the guidance of the
Ummah (Muslim nation). This event also foretold Muslims that God would now rise Muslims as a
superpower and
Jerusalem would soon fall into their hands.
[Ascension of the Prophet (sws), Renaissance - Monthly Islamic Journal, Vol. 8, No. 7-8, July & August 1998[1].][Question on the Night Journey of the Prophet (pbuh)]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:
# 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)# 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
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.
[The Position of Jerusalem and the Bayet al-Maqdas in Islam]Muslims celebrate this night by offering optional prayers during this night, and in many Muslim countries, by illuminating cities with electric lights and candles.
*
"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.also
