ISRA'

in Islam, the Prophet Muhammad's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. As alluded to in the Qur'an (17:1), a journey was made by a servant of God, in a single night, from the sacred place of worship (al-masjid al-haram) to the further place of worship (al-masjid al-aqsa). Traditionally, there was general agreement that the servant of God was Muhammad and that the sacred place of worship was Mecca. Early commentators, however, interpreted the further place of worship as heaven, and the entire verse was considered a reference to the Prophet's ascension into heaven (Mi'raj), an ascension which also originated in Mecca. In the period of the Umayyad caliphate (661750), the further place of worship was read as Jerusalem. The two versions were eventually reconciled by regarding the Isra' simply as the night journey and relocating the point of Muhammad's ascension from Mecca to Jerusalem to avoid confusion. Some commentators also suggested that the Isra' was a vision sent to Muhammad in his sleep and not an actual journey at all; but orthodox sentiment has emphatically preserved the physical, thus miraculous, nature of the trip. The Isra' story, greatly elaborated by tradition, relates that Muhammad made the journey astride Buraq (q.v.), a mythical winged creature, in the company of the archangel Gabriel. Muhammad meets Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in Jerusalem; he then officiates as leader (imam) of the ritual prayer (salat) for all the prophets assembled and establishes his primacy among God's messengers. See also Mi'raj.