Chapter 12 of 22 · 620-621 CE
Isra' and Mi'raj (The Night Journey and Ascension)
الإسراء والمعراج
In a single night, the Prophet was carried from Mecca to Jerusalem and through the heavens themselves — and one companion's unwavering belief earned him a name that endures to this day.
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سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا
Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs.
— Quran 17:1
A Night Journey After Years of Grief
In the difficult months following the Year of Sorrow and the painful rejection at Ta'if, the Prophet Muhammad ○ experienced one of the greatest miracles of his mission: a single night journey known as Al-Isra, in which he was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Farthest Mosque, Masjid al-Aqsa, in Jerusalem. Tradition describes his travel upon a heavenly steed called Buraq, guided by the Angel Jibril, covering in moments a distance that would ordinarily take weeks by caravan. Coming as it did after such a bruising period of loss and rejection, the journey stood as a profound reassurance from God that the Prophet's mission, however embattled on earth, remained held in the highest regard in the heavens.
Leading the Prophets in Prayer
At Masjid al-Aqsa, the Prophet was met by the gathered spirits of the earlier prophets sent before him, from Ibrahim and Musa to Isa, peace be upon them all, and he led them together in prayer. This moment carried deep symbolic weight, marking Muhammad's role as the final messenger in the same continuous line of prophethood stretching back through the Abrahamic tradition, and affirming that his message was not a break from what came before but its culmination and confirmation, inheriting Jerusalem's sanctity as a place of revelation shared across the prophetic line.
The Ascension Through the Heavens
From Jerusalem began Al-Mi'raj, the ascension through the seven heavens, during which the Prophet is described as meeting various earlier prophets stationed at each level, including Adam, Yahya, Isa, Yusuf, Idris, Harun, and, closer to the highest heaven, both Musa and Ibrahim. Each encounter carried warmth and recognition, particularly his exchange with Musa, who, having experienced the resistance of his own people, urged Muhammad to return again and again to ask God for a reduction in the number of daily prayers being commanded, out of concern for his community's capacity to bear it. The journey culminated at Sidrat al-Muntaha, the utmost boundary of creation, a station of such majesty that even Jibril himself could accompany the Prophet no further.
The Command of Five Daily Prayers
It was during this ascension that the ritual prayer, salah, was made obligatory upon the believers. According to the widely related tradition, the original command was for fifty prayers each day, but on Musa's repeated urging, the Prophet returned again and again to request a reduction, until the number was set at five daily prayers, while God's mercy preserved the reward of fifty for those who performed them faithfully. This night thus fixed one of the central pillars of Islamic worship, a direct link between the believer and God repeated five times daily, its instruction delivered not through an intermediary but in the Prophet's own direct encounter with the divine command.
Disbelief in Mecca and Abu Bakr's Faith
When the Prophet recounted the journey the next morning, Quraysh reacted with open ridicule, certain that no one could travel to Jerusalem and back, let alone ascend through the heavens, in a single night. Some who had wavered in their faith abandoned it altogether over the claim. When doubters rushed to Abu Bakr, expecting him to share their disbelief, he responded instead that if Muhammad himself said it was so, then he believed it without hesitation, adding that he trusted the Prophet's word even in matters of revelation reaching him from the heavens far more distant than Jerusalem. It was this immediate, unwavering acceptance that earned Abu Bakr the title Al-Siddiq, the Truthful and the one who affirms unquestioningly.
In one night that carried him from grief to the edge of creation, the Prophet returned with a gift of worship that would bind every believer to God five times a day, until the end of time.
Sira reports can differ in chronology and detail. Read narrative claims with the cited Quranic passage and the site's editorial methodology in view.