The Isra and Mi'raj

What the Qur’an affirms

The journey by night from Mecca to Jerusalem, the Isra, and then the ascent through the heavens, the Mi’raj, are reported in the two Sahihs: the Buraq, the heavens, the prophets he ﷺ met (Bukhari 3887; Muslim 162). The books of sira tell it in their turn (Ibn Hisham, I, 399; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 164; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93).

The five prayers

That night the five prayers were prescribed. Al-Bukhari reports the account of the fifty prayers reduced to five (Bukhari 3887; al-Salihi, III, 65).

Awake, in body and spirit

Ibn Kathir holds that the Isra was a journey made awake, in body and spirit, and gives, among others, two reasons. The Qur’an says “His servant”, a word that denotes body and spirit together. And the disbelievers of Quraysh would not have rushed to call it a lie had it been a dream (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 104). Ibn Abbas says the same: it was “a vision of the eyes” (Bukhari 3888).

“It was only a dream.” Ibn Ishaq reports two sayings to this effect. One is attributed to Aisha: “his body was not missing”. But he has it from “someone of the family of Abu Bakr” whom he does not name (Ibn Hisham, I, 399); al-Salihi judges its chain broken, and reports that Ibn Dihya called it fabricated (al-Salihi, III, 70). Ibn Kathir, for his part, reads this saying as meaning a waking journey (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 106). The other saying is attributed to Mu’awiya: “a true vision” (Ibn Hisham, I, 400).

Against the Qur’an, which says “His servant”, and the statement of Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari, a saying with no acceptable chain cannot turn the journey into a dream.

The next morning

According to the account of Umm Hani, the Prophet ﷺ announced his journey the next morning, at the Hatim, before al-Mut’im ibn Adi and others (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 165). It is not alone in this: Ibn Ishaq also reports, from al-Hasan al-Basri and as a mursal, that the Prophet ﷺ told Quraysh of it in the morning (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 95-96).

The starting point, by contrast, is debated. The sources name the Hatim or the Hijr (Qatada hesitates between the two), the house of the Prophet ﷺ (al-Zuhri, from Anas), the ravine of Abu Talib (al-Waqidi), the house of Umm Hani (al-Tabarani). Ibn Hajar, quoted by al-Salihi, reconciles them: he spent the night at Umm Hani’s house, near the ravine, then was brought out to the Mosque (al-Salihi, III, 64).

The date: what is known

Only one thing is agreed: the journey took place after the start of the mission (al-Salihi, III, 64). Ibn Atiyya places it after the tearing of the boycott document and before Aqaba (al-Salihi, III, 65).

For the year, the sources propose at least five dates (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93; al-Salihi, III, 64-65):

• in the first years of the mission (Ibn Asakir);
• about ten years after the start of the mission (Ibn Ishaq);
• sixteen months before the Hijra (al-Suddi);
• one year before the Hijra (al-Zuhri, through Musa ibn Uqba; al-Nawawi; Ibn Hazm reports a consensus on it);
• five years before the Hijra (Qadi Iyad).

For the month, six are proposed: Rabi’ I (al-Zuhri and Urwa; Ibn al-Athir), Rabi’ II, Rajab (al-Nawawi in al-Rawda, following al-Rafi’i), Ramadan, Shawwal, or Dhu al-Qa’da (from al-Suddi) (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93-94; al-Salihi, III, 65-66).

Dates to set aside

The 27th of Rajab, widespread as it is, rests on a hadith of which Ibn Kathir says “its chain is not authentic” (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93). The night of the first Friday of Rajab he rejects more firmly still: “this has no basis” (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 94).

A Monday is also proposed, from Jabir and Ibn Abbas in Ibn Abi Shayba, with a chain that Ibn Kathir calls broken (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93; al-Salihi, III, 66). Copies of al-Nawawi’s fatwas give 27 Rabi’ I (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 93-94; al-Salihi, III, 65-66): one more date, on no firmer footing.

The journey is certain, since the Qur’an affirms it. Its date is not, and we adopt none: nothing can be built on a date that the scholars themselves did not establish.

How this page connects to the others

• Before: The preaching in Mecca and the opposition, the boycott and Ta’if.
• After: Aqaba and the Hijra.
• The whole part: The message and the Hijra.

Sources for this page

• Qur’an: Tanzil text (Uthmani); translation of the meaning by the site.
• Hadiths: Bukhari 3887, Bukhari 3888, Muslim 162.
• Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. al-Saqqa, al-Abyari and Shalabi, Cairo, 1955, I, 399-400.
• Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, Uyun al-athar, Beirut, 1993, I, 164-165.
• Ibn Kathir, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. Mustafa Abd al-Wahid, Beirut, 1976, II, 93-106.
• Al-Salihi al-Shami, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, Beirut, 1993, III, 64-70.
• Research file “The message and the Hijra”, v1.0, 2 November 2026, section 3 and “The date of the Isra”.