Isrāʾ and Miʿrāj (the Prophet Muḥammad’s Night Journey and Ascension)

Narrated by Ibn Isḥāq as preserved by Ibn Hishām (Sīrat Rasūl Allāh) and al-Ṭabarī (Taʾrīkh
al-rusul wa’l-mulūk, Vol. I)

One night in Mecca, while the Prophet Muḥammad was either asleep near the Kaʿba or
resting in the house of Umm Hānīʾ bint Abī Ṭālib, the angel Gabriel (Jibrīl) came to him. His
chest was opened from the throat down to the belly; his heart was removed, washed with
water from the well of Zamzam, lled with faith and wisdom, and replaced. The wound was
then sealed, leaving no scar. Gabriel then brought him a strange, radiant animal known as al-
Burāq—white, between a mule and a donkey in size, with a long stride that reached as far as
its eye could see.

Gabriel told the Prophet to mount. Burāq shied at rst, but Gabriel said, “Woe to you, Burāq!
None has ever ridden you who is dearer to God than he.” The beast trembled and stood still,
and Muḥammad mounted. Accompanied by Gabriel, he set out from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām in
Mecca toward al-Masjid al-Aqṣā in Jerusalem.

Along the way, Gabriel stopped at certain holy places and told the Prophet to pray two rakʿas.
At Yathrib (later Madīna), Gabriel said, “This is the land of your emigration.” At Ṭūr Sīnāʾ,
he said, “Here God spoke to Moses.” At Bayt Laḥm (Bethlehem), he said, “Here Jesus son of
Mary was born.”

When they arrived in Jerusalem, the Prophet tethered Burāq to a ring at the gate of the
sanctuary—the same place, Gabriel said, where the prophets had tethered their mounts. He
entered the mosque, where he found a vast assembly of prophets: Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, and many others. Gabriel took his hand and led him forward to lead them all in
prayer.

After the prayer, Gabriel brought him three vessels: one lled with wine, one with milk, and
one with honey. The Prophet chose the milk. Gabriel said, “You have chosen the tra, the
natural and upright path; had you chosen the wine, your people would have gone astray.”

Then Gabriel said, “This is the gate of heaven.” They began to ascend, beginning the Miʿrāj,
the ascent through the seven heavens.

At the rst heaven, Gabriel knocked for entry. The gatekeeper asked, “Who is it?” “Gabriel.”
“Who is with you?” “Muḥammad.” “Has he been called?” “Yes.” The gate was opened, and
the Prophet saw Adam, the father of humankind, seated and surrounded by souls—those on
his right shining with joy, those on his left gloomy and dark. When Adam looked to his right,
he smiled; when he looked to his left, he wept. Gabriel said, “These are the souls of his
offspring: those on the right are destined for Paradise, those on the left for the Fire.”

They then rose to the second heaven, where the Prophet met Yaḥyā (John) and ʿĪsā (Jesus),
cousins born of miraculous circumstances, who greeted him and prayed for him. In the third
heaven, he met Yūsuf (Joseph), whose beauty was radiant “like the full moon.” In the fourth,
he met Idrīs (Enoch), the ancient prophet of early generations, to whom God said, “We raised
him to a high place.” In the fth, he met Hārūn (Aaron), brother of Moses, surrounded by his
followers who loved him deeply.
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At the sixth heaven, the Prophet encountered Mūsā (Moses) himself. Moses welcomed him
warmly, but as the Prophet passed on, Moses wept. When Gabriel asked why, Moses said, “I
weep because a messenger has been sent after me, and more of his people will enter Paradise
than of mine.”

At last they reached the seventh heaven, where the Prophet met Ibrāhīm (Abraham), reclining
with his back against al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr, the “Frequented House,” a celestial sanctuary
directly above the Kaʿba, which seventy thousand angels enter every day, never to return.
Abraham said, “Welcome, O righteous son and righteous prophet.”

Gabriel then led him to the Sidrat al-Muntahā, the Lote Tree of the Uttermost Boundary,
where all knowledge ends and beyond which none may pass except the Messenger. Its leaves
were vast and its colors indescribable—“like the wings of angels of gold.” At its base owed
four rivers: two visible, the Nile and the Euphrates, and two hidden, belonging to Paradise.

Beyond this point Gabriel stopped. “Advance, O Muḥammad,” he said, “for I cannot pass this
boundary; if I go farther, I will burn.” The Prophet went forward alone, until he was “at a
distance of two bow-lengths or nearer.” There, he experienced the Divine Presence, veiled by
no intermediary, and his heart saw what the eyes could not describe. In this exalted moment,
God ordained for his community fty prayers each day.

When the Prophet descended and met Moses again, Moses asked, “What has your Lord
enjoined upon your community?” “Fifty prayers every day.” Moses said, “Your people will
not be able to bear it. I have tested men before you and dealt with the Children of Israel.
Return to your Lord and ask for a reduction.” The Prophet returned to the Divine Presence,
and the number was reduced by ten. Moses again urged him to ask for fewer. This continued
—back and forth—until the number reached ve. Moses said once more, “Go back, for your
people will not be able to bear even that.” But the Prophet replied, “I am ashamed to return to
my Lord again.” Then a voice declared, “They are ve in practice but fty in reward. My
decree does not change.”

The Prophet then saw Paradise and Hell re. He saw the rivers of Paradise, its palaces, and the
rewards prepared for the faithful; he also saw the torments of those who oppressed the poor,
who neglected prayer, who slandered, who consumed the wealth of orphans, or committed
adultery. He saw a people whose lips were cut with shears of re—those who preached
righteousness but did not practice it. He saw the angels praising God without ceasing, and the
vast number of his own followers compared to the nations of previous prophets.

Returning to Jerusalem, the Prophet again led the prophets in prayer. He then mounted Burāq,
and within moments he was back in Mecca, his bed still warm, before dawn had broken.

When he told the Quraysh the next morning what had happened, they mocked him. “How can
you have gone to Jerusalem and back in one night?” Some who had begun to follow him
turned back in disbelief. They challenged him to describe the Temple at Jerusalem, a place he
had never seen. The Prophet hesitated, but then God brought before his eyes a vision of it so
that he could describe its every detail, even its windows and doors, one by one. They also
asked about a caravan that had left Jerusalem for Mecca. The Prophet told them exactly
where it was and when it would arrive. Days later, it appeared just as he had said, con rming
his account.
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 When Abū Bakr heard the news, he said, “If he said it, then it is true. I believe him in things
even greater than this—revelation from heaven.” From that day, he was called al-Ṣiddīq, “the
truthful one.”

The Companions accepted it as a miracle granted by God, and the Qurʾān referred to it in two
passages. The rst is in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ (17:1):

“Glory be to Him who carried His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest
Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He is
the Hearing, the Seeing.”

The second is in Sūrat al-Najm (53:13–18), which describes his vision at the Sidrat al-
Muntahā:

“And indeed he saw him another time, by the Lote Tree of the Uttermost Boundary, near it is
the Garden of Refuge, when there covered the Lote Tree what covered it. The sight did not
swerve nor go astray. Indeed he saw the greatest of the signs of his Lord.”
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