The Night Journey Begins

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) narrates an account recorded in al-Bukhārī, with similar narrations in Muslim and in the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad; in most of the books of hadith these narrations exist. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "While I was in al-Ḥaṭīm, or al-Ḥijr" — the semicircular area close to the Kaʿbah that is part of the original building of the Kaʿbah — he was there at night, and the Messenger of Allah said: "I received a visitor, an angel, who came and opened my chest and pulled out my heart. My heart was placed in a golden basin filled with faith, īmān, and it was washed, then stuffed and replaced. Then I was presented an animal smaller than a horse and larger than a donkey."

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) was narrating this hadith, and his student, one of the tābiʿīn, al-Jārūd, asked Anas ibn Mālik whether this animal was al-Burāq. Anas ibn Mālik said yes. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) described how this animal would take a stride as far as it could see: it would place its hooves at the extent of its sight, wrapping in a single leap the distance one could see or look forward to. It was an extremely fast beast, swift enough that the earth seemed to wrap up in front of it. Jibrīl (peace be upon him) told the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to mount this animal, and then he would guide him.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says in another hadith — recorded in Muslim, a portion not mentioned in al-Bukhārī, for the account of al-Isrāʾ and al-Miʿrāj is found in bits and pieces across different hadiths — that Jibrīl took him to Jerusalem: "I tied my mount at the gates of the masjid, and then I entered and prayed two rakʿah." It is stated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was an imam there, and the people who were following him were the prophets. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said he was led by Jibrīl up into the heavens: "We made it all the way to the gates of the lowest heaven, the nearest heaven." Jibrīl knocked on the gates, and the gatekeepers said, "Who is it?" Jibrīl said, "It is Jibrīl." "And who is with you?" "Muhammad." "Was he given his mission?" Jibrīl said, "Yes." They responded: "He is welcome, and his arrival is a pleasure" — and they opened the gates. No one can pass through unless given permission and clearance; Jibrīl, the angel of Allah who goes up and down the heavens with the revelation, told them who he was so they could let him through, and when they learned that Muhammad (peace be upon him) had already been given his mission as a prophet, they opened the gates at once and welcomed him.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "I went in, and I found there my father Adam (peace be upon him)." Jibrīl introduced him to Adam and said, "This is your father Adam, greet him." "So I said, as-salāmu ʿalaykum. Adam returned the greeting and said, wa-ʿalaykum al-salām, and then Adam said, welcome to my pure son, welcome to the pure prophet." Meeting his own father Adam for the first time, after thousands of years — the greatest of Adam's children meeting the father he had never seen — must have been a moment of great pleasure and happiness for them both, one they might have wished to sit down together and talk over. But the journey of Muhammad (peace be upon him) was on a tight schedule, with a great deal still waiting ahead of him.

Jibrīl carried the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) up to the gates of the second heaven. The same exchange followed — Jibrīl, who is with you, is he a prophet, has he been given a message — and the gates opened. "I went in," the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "and I met Jesus and John, the two cousins" — ʿĪsā and Yaḥyā (peace be upon them); Yaḥyā is referred to in Christian literature as John the Baptist. "And I exchanged greetings with them" — and what are the greetings of Islam? Those of the prophets: as-salāmu ʿalaykum, peace be upon you. That is the greeting.