Israʾ

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Israʾ (al-Israʾ, Arab., ‘the journey’). The miraculous journey of the Prophet Muḥammad from Mecca to Jerusalem. Qurʾān 17.1 is taken as a reference to this journey, but no details are given. These are to be found in ḥadīth, which tells of Burāq, an animal ‘smaller than a mule but larger than an ass’. Together they travelled through the sky to Jerusalem, from where, after prayer and worship, he made the Ascent (al-Miʿrāj). See also AL-MASJID AL-AQṢĀʾ.