الإسراء والمعراج
al-Isrāʾ wa-l-Miʿrāj
Event
The Prophet’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his ascent through the heavens, reported in the Quran and in hadith.
What it means
The Quran begins chapter 17: “Glory to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed” (17:1). Chapter 53 describes his seeing “at the Lote Tree of the Boundary” (53:13–18). The hadith, such as the long report in Sahih al-Bukhari, add the ascent through the seven heavens and the prayers being fixed at five a day.
Often misunderstood as
That there was no “Farthest Mosque” (al-Aqsa) in Jerusalem in the Prophet’s time.
What the sources say
Masjid means a place of prostration, not a building. The Farthest Mosque is the sacred precinct in Jerusalem where the Temple had stood, which the Prophet’s contemporaries knew as Bayt al-Maqdis. The buildings now called al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock were built later. The Quran’s verse names the place, not a building.