The Night Journey (Isra & Mi'raj)

The Isra is the night journey from Al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah to Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. The Mi'raj is the ascension from there through the heavens to the presence of Allah. Both happened in a single night, in body and soul, before the Hijrah. Scholars differ on the exact date. It came after the Year of Sorrow, as an honour and a consolation after the loss of Khadijah and Abu Talib and the rejection at Ta'if. Allah says:

Jibril came to the Prophet ﷺ, opened his chest and washed his heart with Zamzam, filling it with wisdom and faith (Bukhari and Muslim). He was then given the Buraq, a white riding animal, and carried to Jerusalem, where he tied it and entered the mosque. There he led all the prophets in prayer (Muslim). He was then offered a cup of milk and a cup of wine and chose the milk; Jibril said: “You chose the natural way (Fitrah)” (Bukhari and Muslim).

From Jerusalem, Jibril took him up through the heavens. At each gate he asked permission, and the Prophet ﷺ met a prophet who greeted him “Welcome to the righteous prophet”: Adam in the first heaven, Yahya and Isa in the second, Yusuf in the third, Idris in the fourth, Harun in the fifth, Musa in the sixth, and Ibrahim in the seventh, leaning on the Bayt al-Ma'mur, which seventy thousand angels enter each day and never return (Bukhari and Muslim). Then he reached the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntaha), beyond which none passes (53:14).

There Allah prescribed fifty prayers a day for the Prophet ﷺ and his Ummah. On the way down, Musa asked him to return and ask for a reduction, saying his people could not bear it, until it became five. Allah said: “They are five, and they are fifty” — five in practice, with the reward of fifty (Bukhari and Muslim). Unlike other commands, which came through Jibril, the prayer was given directly in the highest place, which shows its great rank: it is the first thing we will be asked about.

Besides the prayers, the Prophet ﷺ was given the last verses of Surah Al-Baqarah, and the promise that whoever among his Ummah dies without associating anything with Allah will have their major sins forgiven, by Allah's mercy (Muslim). He was also shown Paradise, Hell and other signs of Allah (53:18), to strengthen his heart and to be a witness for the Ummah.

In the morning the Prophet ﷺ told Quraysh, and many mocked him; some who had believed even left. They asked him to describe Jerusalem, which some of them had visited, and Allah made it appear before his eyes so that he described it exactly (Muslim). When Abu Bakr was told, he said: “If he said it, then it is true. I believe him about news from the heavens, morning and evening.” From then he was called As-Siddiq, the Truthful.

The journey carries lessons for every believer:

• Ease follows hardship: it came right after the Year of Sorrow and Ta'if.
• Prayer is the greatest gift, given directly by Allah. Guard it; it is our own Mi'raj five times a day.
• Al-Aqsa is blessed and one of the three mosques to which a journey is made (Bukhari and Muslim). It belongs in every Muslim's heart.
• Belief in the unseen: like Abu Bakr, we trust the truthful Messenger ﷺ even when reason is surprised.
• Choosing the natural path (the milk) protects us from what harms.
• Allah's mercy lightens the load: fifty became five, with the same reward.