Mohammed's Night Journey

[Peter]

Well it's been a month and a half and I have explored this subject a little more and started a new page on the website. An updated version of this thread follows.
http://www.petewaldo.com/mohammeds_night_journey.htm

The Night Journey

No Muslim can deny the importance of Mohammed's night journey because this flight determined the Islamic rituals of praying five times a day, and performing ablution - or washing before prayer. In other words Mohammed's night journey impacts the lives of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world - five times - each and every day.

sura 17.1 Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).

Mohammed's alleged one-night trip covered the 766 miles from Mecca to Jerusalem, a trip to heaven, and a return to Mecca, and is described in part as follows:

Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0309:
It is narrated on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I was brought al-Buraq Who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof a distance equal to the range of vision. I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait Maqdis in Jerusalem), then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets. I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, and then came out and Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk.

So Mohammed flew on al-Buraq to the temple in Jerusalem, tied it up to a ring "the prophets" had used in the past, and went on in to the Temple to pray. Because of the fantastic nature of Mohammed's claims, some Muslims suggest that this was a vision or dream, but according to perhaps the most widely regarded chronicler of Islam we read:

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 228:
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The sights which Allah's Apostle was shown on the Night Journey when he was taken to Bait-ul-Maqdis (i.e. Jerusalem) were actual sights, (not dreams). And the Cursed Tree (mentioned) in the Quran is the tree of Zaqqum (itself).

Additionally, the rock enshrined in the Dome of the Rock on the temple mount, is supposed to be where Mohammed launched from, on the back of Baraq, for the leg of the trip to heaven. So it would be untenable to suggest that Mohammed's journey was a dream or vision, while at the same time laying claim to a very much physical and tangible launch pad, on the temple mount.

Doubtless there were many skeptics when Mohammed recounted the details of his trip the morning after his night journey on the flying animal. As Dr. Rafat Amari points out in the introduction to "Islam: In Light of History", Abu Bakar (the first assistant of Mohammed who became his first Caliph) confirmed Mohammed's descriptions of the temple he had visited, because Abu Baker claimed he had taken a journey to Jerusalem and had seen the temple himself, and remembered it to be just as Mohammed had described it.

There is, however, a little difficulty with their accounts. The temple had been torn down over 500 years before their claims of first-hand visits to it. Indeed if Mohammed had actually hitched his flying animal outside the Temple where, as he claimed "the prophets" had, during the period in which he said he did, he would have found that the temple mount was being used as a garbage dump. The Muslim's own Caliph Omar would have observed this, when he marched into Jerusalem in 639 AD, not very many years after Mohammed offered his account detailed above.

While Mohammed and Bakr didn't need to fear their largely illiterate followers, traveling the 766 miles from Mecca to Jerusalem to verify their accounts, what excuse do today's Muslims have in this 21st century information age?

For the many accounts of Mohammed's night flight by the chroniclers of Islam please visit the following link to our X-Muslim friends at answering-islam.org. As they also inquire,

"In light of all this, we ask the following questions:

    * What Temple did Muhammad visit, enter and pray at before ascending to heaven?
    * Seeing that the Quran mentions a journey to a Mosque that did not exist during the lifetime of Muhammad, how can you consider the Quran to be 100% the word of God?
    * In light of the fact that both the Quran and the Islamic traditions contain this historical error, how can you trust either source to provide you with reliable information on the life of Muhammad and the first Muslims?
    * Does not the fact that the Quran mentions a Mosque which was only erected in AD 691 prove that there were Muslims who unashamedly and deceitfully added stories to the Quranic text and passed them off as revelation from God?
    * If you cannot find an answer to this historical problem within the Quran, why do you still remain a Muslim?"

For a look at other historical accounts with similarities to Mohammed's please click here.

Indeed, when combined with the "Mecca" page of this site, what we learn is that every Muslim on earth, bows toward the very same black stone moon god idol, that the pagans bowed toward and circumambulated before Mohammed, and the reason that Muslims bow toward that moon god idol five times a day, is because Mohammed claimed to have taken a trip on a flying animal.

Before fundamental, Quran and Hadith following - true Muslims - received Western financing through oil purchase to expand their murder of innocent non-Muslims all around the world - with 2 million killed in the Sudan alone by the Islamic beast during this Islamic Second Jihad - the only thing I would have likely recalled knowing about Arabia would have been what I learned as a child. This would include stories like Aladdin's lamp from which a genie emerged when it was rubbed, and Ali Babba and his magic flying carpet. Perhaps Mohammed and his flying camel make a good addition to my childhood images of Arabia.


Regarding the real reason Muslims pray five times a day, it would seem Mohammed became deeply involved in the second century cult of the Sabians, by way of four of his relatives. This occult cult apparently had so much influence over Mohammed's daily life, that some in his own tribe referred to him as "the Sabian". And guess what? The Sabians had prayed five times a day and performed ablution for centuries before Mohammed.

Excerpt from "Occultism in the family of Mohammed"

"Waraqa was one of the founders of the group called Ahnaf. In the first narration of the life of Mohammed, written by Ibn Hisham in the 8th century A.D.,  we read:

The Honafa', or Ahnaf, was a small group  started when four Sabians at Mecca agreed. Those four were Zayd bin Amru bin Nafil, Waraqa bin Naufal, Ubaydullah bin Jahsh, and Uthman Bin al-Huwayrith.[xxxi][31]

The four founders of Ahnaf were all related to Mohammed. They  were descendants of Loayy, one of Mohammed's ancestors. Furthermore, Waraqa bin Naufal and Uthman Bin al-Huwayrith were cousins of Khadijah. We know this from Mohammed's genealogy presented by Ibn Hisham.[xxxii][32]  Ubaydullah Bin Jahsh was a maternal cousin to Mohammed. Mohammed married his widow, Um Habibeh. All this reveals the close connection between Mohammed and the founders of the group."

"Waraqa was one of the founders of the group called Ahnaf. In the first narration of the life of Mohammed, written by Ibn Hisham in the 8th century A.D.,  we read:

The Honafa', or Ahnaf, was a small group  started when four Sabians at Mecca agreed. Those four were Zayd bin Amru bin Nafil, Waraqa bin Naufal, Ubaydullah bin Jahsh, and Uthman Bin al-Huwayrith.[xxxi][31]

The four founders of Ahnaf were all related to Mohammed. They  were descendants of Loayy, one of Mohammed's ancestors. Furthermore, Waraqa bin Naufal and Uthman Bin al-Huwayrith were cousins of Khadijah. We know this from Mohammed's genealogy presented by Ibn Hisham.[xxxii][32]  Ubaydullah Bin Jahsh was a maternal cousin to Mohammed. Mohammed married his widow, Um Habibeh. All this reveals the close connection between Mohammed and the founders of the group."


Flying camels, or baraqs, were nothing new to Islamic tradition. It was how the Islamic "historians" explained away the transportation impossibilities they had created through their fictional Islamic history. This is how they explained that Abraham traveled the 766 miles (as the crow flies) from Jerusalem to Mecca to visit Ishmael.

In scripture we learn that both Isaac and Ishmael attended the funeral of their father Abraham.

Gen 25:9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which [is] before Mamre;

Well the cave in Hebron is located about 1,000 miles from where Mecca was eventually built in the 4th century AD. With Muslims ridiculous claim that Mecca is where Hagar and Ishmael wound up, they then had to figure a way to transport Ishmael to Hebron. Islamic tradition accomplished this with a flight on a baraq, or winged camel. But the winged camel wasn't invented by the Mohammedans. It is found in Persian Zoroastrian mythology.

Quoting Dr. Amari
"The Pahlavi Texts of the book of Dinkard are Zoroastrian canonical comments on the Avesta, considered part of the Zoroastrian scriptures. It mentioned KaiKhusrois, a mythological prophet who transformed Vae, the god of the air, into the shape of a camel. He then mounted him and went where the immortal mythological Persians dwelt."
_______________________________

Former version of a month and a half ago. Skip this.

sura 17.1 Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).

Muslims are actually compelled to believe that Mohammed flew through the night sky on some horse-like creature. Some accounts claim the beast had wings and others deny this. Unfortunately there are the same number of witnesses of this event as there are witnesses of Gabriel or Allah's voice giving Mohammed one of his "revelations".

In the ninth year of Mohammed's "revelations", about 620 AD, he was supposed to have risen in the middle of the night to visit the Sacred Mosque in Makkah. After a time of worship he fell asleep near the Ka'aba. The angel Gabriel was supposed to have come and awakened him and then led Mohammed to the edge of the sacred Makkan mosque. There was supposed to have been waiting "al-Buraq", a white winged beast "whose each stride stretched as far as the eye could see." Muhammad was supposed to have mounted al-Buraq and traveled northwards with Gabriel to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the Furthest Mosque.

Some may have noticed that it would be difficult for the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to be a very good fit as "the Furthest Mosque", since construction on it wasn't begun until 688AD, decades after Mohammed's death. Claims made regarding the rock in the Dome of the Rock related to Mohammed's night flight were made later, to pretend that Mohammed had been there, so they could make false claims that Jerusalem was one of Islam's holy sites. That it somehow had significance in Islam.

"When they reached Jerusalem the Prophet dismounted and prayed near the Rock. Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets, peace be upon them all, gathered together to pray behind him. Muhammad was presented a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk. The Prophet chose the milk and Gabriel said, 'You have chosen the true religion'."

"The Prophet then embarked on the ascension (Miraj) in which he, peace and blessings be upon him, received the command to pray five times a day....." (this was instead of the whopping 50 times a day that Mohammed had previously dictated) "..... and the revelation encapsulating the beliefs of Islam:"

"The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord. And the believers; each one believes in Allah and His angels and in His books and His messengers. We make no division between any one of His messengers. And they say: We hear and we obey. Oh Lord, grant us Thy forgiveness; unto Thee we return." Qur'an II/285"
http://www.noblesanctuary.com/HISTORY.html


Isn't it peculiar that they blaspheme by saying that they "make no division between any one of His messengers" even though they also believe Jesus Christ was the ONLY person in the history of mankind, to be conceived by a virgin, by the will of God.
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=611.0

Some Muslims that are adverse to believing that Mohammed actually flew through the sky on a horse, try to pass this story off as a metaphor, but how can one claim that a vision or dream can be associated with a physical place - that is the Dome of the Rock? Just won't wash.
_______________________

More on the 5 daily prayers of the cult of the Sabians whose ritual Mohammed lifted for Islam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyqaXCRIotM

_________________________

Addition 1-14-11 from "Prophet of Doom"
http://prophetofdoom.net/Prophet_of_Doom_12_Delusions_of_Grandeur.Islam
Audio version
http://prophetofdoom.net/audio/Prophet_of_Doom_12_Delusions_of_Grandeur.mp3

Delusions of Grandeur

Allah’s House was tainted with the lingering effects of the Satanic Verses so Muhammad needed a new Qiblah - a new direction to go and a new object to exploit. He needed to replace the Ka'aba with a more credible shrine. So the wannabe prophet conjured up one of the most preposterous lies ever uttered in the name of religion. He said that he was flown on a winged steed to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, he was welcomed triumphantly by all the former scriptural big shots. They were waiting for him, assembled in a solemn conclave of prophet solidarity.

His imagination running wild, Muhammad leapt from the Temple Mount skywards, ascending from one heaven to another, finding himself in the presence of Allah, who promptly dismissed him, demanding that Muslims moon him fifty times a day. Hallucination over, Muhammad awoke the following morning in the house of his late uncle Talib. The vision still dancing vividly before his eyes, he cried out to his niece, "Omm Hani, during the night I prayed in the Temple of Jerusalem." She begged him not to expose such frivolity to the Quraysh, but he persisted.

Ishaq:184 "Umm, Abu Talib's daughter, said: "The Apostle went on no journey except while he was in my house. He slept in my home that night after he prayed the final night prayer. A little before dawn he woke us, saying, 'O Umm, I went to Jerusalem.' He got up to go out and I grabbed hold of his robe and laid bare his belly. I pleaded, 'O Muhammad, don't tell the people about this for they will know you are lying and will mock you.' He said, 'By Allah, I will tell them.' I told a negress slave of mine, 'Follow him and listen.'"

As the story spread, Muhammad’s fledgling cadre of followers abandoned him. The disillusionment was confirmed by Katib al Wackidi, "Upon hearing this many became renegades who had prayed and joined Islam." The Sira says: Ishaq:183 "Many Muslims gave up their faith. Some went to Abu Bakr and said, 'What do you think of your friend now? He alleges that he went to Jerusalem last night and prayed there and came back to Mecca.' Bakr said that they were lying about the Apostle. But they told him that he was in the mosque at this very moment telling the Quraysh about it. Bakr said, 'If he says so then it must be true. I believe him. And that is more extraordinary than his story at which you boggle.' Then Allah sent down a Qur'an surah concerning those who left Islam for this reason: 'We made the vision which we showed you only, a test for men. We put them in fear, but it only adds to their heinous error.'" [Qur'an 13:33] Once again, Muhammad flips out and it's everyone's fault but his own. And while it's not surprising anymore, the 13th surah was handed down in Medina, not Mecca.

What's surprising is that the "Thunder" surah actually rebukes Muhammad’s claim of a miraculous journey. After saying, Qur'an 76:4 "Those who deny will wear collars and chains, yokes (of servitude) tying their hands to their necks; they will be the inmates of Hell.... They will witness Our (many) exemplary punishments! Verily, your Lord is severe in retribution," we are told that Muhammad was unable to perform a miracle. Qur'an 13:7 "The unbelievers say, 'Why was no sign or miracle sent down to him by his Lord.' But you are only the bearer of bad news - of warnings." The admission is repeated: Qur'an 13:27 "The unbelievers say, 'How is it that no sign miracle was sent down to him by his Lord.' Say, 'God leads whosoever He wills astray.'" There were deceptions but no miracles.

The Islamic god was not only powerless, he was schizophrenic. Qur'an 13:30 "They do not believe in Ar-Rahman. Tell them, 'He is my Lord. There is no other ilah but He. In Him I have placed my trust.'" The dark lord says to those who are mocking his prophet: Qur'an 13:32 "Many an Apostle have they mocked before you; but I seized them. How awful was My punishment then! ...The unbelievers plot, but for them is torment in this life and a far more severe torture in Hell." Then the spirit of the Qur'an brags, "He sends thunderbolts and smites whom He pleases." Imagine worshiping a god this nasty.

Suggesting that he wasn't always impotent, Ar-Rahman boasts: Qur'an 13:38 "It was not for any Apostle to come up with a miracle or sign unless it was granted by Our permission." But he was capricious and forgetful. "For every age there is a Book revealed. Ar-Rahman abrogates, blots out, or confirms (whatever He wants)." And we better watch out: Qur'an 13:41 "Do they not see Us advancing from all sides into the land (of the disbelievers), reducing its borders (by giving it to believers in war victories)? (When) Allah dooms there is none who can postpone His doom. Sure, they devised their plots, but We are the best schemers." But his con didn't fool very many: Qur'an 13:43 "Yet the disbelievers say: 'You are not a Messenger.' Tell them: 'This Scripture is sufficient witness between me and you.'"

Now that we know there were no miracles, and that these troubled words are the lone witness to the validity of Muhammad’s claims, let's try to make sense of his fictitious journey. As always, it will be difficult to tell where the prophet's imagination subsided and that of the Muslim sages began. For example, when questioned by the Quraysh, we are told that the angel-less and miracle-less messenger convinced his spirit friend to erect a model of Jerusalem in their midst. As further evidence of the Night Journey, Muhammad said that while whizzing over a caravan the noise of his flying steed frightened a camel to death. Upon returning to Mecca, someone is said to have confirmed that a camel had indeed been anxious. It served as proof.

The only other Qur'anic mention of the flight of fancy is found in the 17th surah which opens: "Glory to Him who carried His votary by night from the Sacred Mosque (at Mecca), to the farther Temple, the environs which we have blessed, that we might show him some of Our Signs. Verily He hears and sees."

The six-year-old Aisha, who married the fifty-year-old prophet within days of Khadija's death, said: Ishaq:183 "The Prophet's body remained where it was. Allah removed his spirit at night." In that there was no way to see Jerusalem at night in the seventh century, the cover of darkness must have suited Islam’s demonic spirit. Aisha further indicted her husband's tale with: Bukhari:V4B53N400 "Once the Prophet was bewitched so that he began to imagine that he had done a thing which in fact he had not done." Finishing the job, she said: Bukhari:V4B54N457 "Whoever claimed that Muhammad saw his Lord is committing a great fault, for he only saw Gabriel."

While Aisha's criticism was incriminating, there was a bigger problem. There was no Temple in Jerusalem. Six centuries years before al-Buraq took flight, the Romans destroyed it. By 70 A.D. not one stone stood upon another. And that would make both the Islamic god and his prophet liars.

Bukhari:V4B55N585 "'O Allah’s Apostle! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth.' He said, 'The mosque Haram in Mecca.' 'Which was built next.' He replied 'The mosque of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.' 'What was the period of construction between the two.' He said, 'Forty years.'" No matter how one goes about interpreting these facts and fantasies, Muhammad lied. If the Ka'aba was built by Allah, it was several billion years old. If by Adam, then the year was 4000 B.C. If by Abraham, it was 2000 B.C. If historical evidence is our guide, the year was about 500 A.D. The Temple of Solomon was built in 967 B.C. (precisely 1,000 years before Yahshua's crucifixion and resurrection in 33 A.D.). The Dome of the Rock was raised on the foundations of the Roman Temple of Jupiter in 691 A.D. As for the mosque, Al-Aqsa was constructed over a Roman basilica on the southern end of the Temple Mount many centuries later. Muhammad got the order wrong as well as the gap separating them.

Much more on this propersterous pile of unwitnessed nonsense that Mohammed tried to peddle.
http://prophetofdoom.net/Prophet_of_Doom_12_Delusions_of_Grandeur.Islam

[Peter]

excerpt from page 15-16 "Islam in Light of History" Dr. Rafat Amari

Introduction

"Another reason many people blindly follow the religious doctrines of their fathers is that they are not honest with themselves. They endeavor to defend the enormous mistakes which contradict reality and history by trying to justify them. Abu Baker, the first assistant of Mohammed who became his first Caliph, endeavored to support Mohammed when Mohammed claimed to fly on a winged camel to visit the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, even though the Temple was not in existence at that time. Yet, Abu Baker claimed he also visited the Temple and asked Mohammed to describe it. When Mohammed began describing the doors and other details about the temple, Abu Baker claimed that Mohammed described it correctly according to what Abu Baker himself has seen when he visited the same Temple.9 Nothing could stop Abu Baker from defending Mohammed, even at the cost of presenting lies and claiming to visit a palce which did not exist in his time."

Footnote 9 - Ibin Hasham 2, page 31

And the rock in the blasphemous structure The Dome of the Rock, on the temple mount, is supposed to be where Mohammed launched his winged camel from. The whole purpose of the structure is to enshrine this fable.


The alleged Ascension of Mohammed  to heaven

By Dr. Rafat Amari

Did Mohammed ascend to heaven as the Qu'ran states? Did he do so in a trance? How much was he influenced by the occult? These questions, which are important to the credibility of Islam, are the subject of our study today.

Ascending into heaven was the common way Middle Eastern sects explained how their leaders obtained the religious laws they taught.

Sects that arose in the Middle East before Mohammed put a great deal of emphasis on ascension to heaven. Those who claimed to be prophets within their sects, whether they were mythological figures in their tradition or were given biblical names, all had ascension stories.

Yima, a mythological Persian figure who represented the sun, was visited by the angel Sraosha who accompanied Yima to heaven. Yima was subsequently commissioned to spread the religion on earth.[1]

Zoroaster claimed to have ascended into heaven to obtain a religious law from Ahura Mazda for the nation of Iran.[ii][2] In like manner, Mohammed claimed to have visited heaven where he was commissioned with a religious law for the nation of Islam.

Vohuman, who was the angel that accompanied Zoroastrian figures in their ascension to heaven, is easily compared to Gabriel, the angel of ascension in the Qu'ran.

 The angel Vohuman was aledged to have accompagny Zoroaster to heaven.[iii][3] Vohuman has many affinities with Gabriel in the Quran. First of all, he is the angel who accompagnies those who ascend to heaven.  We find Vohuman descending from his golden throne to  accompany Viraz to heaven into the presence of Ahuramazda.[iv][4]

     The same thing is said concerning Gabriel in the Qu'ran. In Surah 81 and verse 20, Gabriel is described as "the personality with rank who stood before the lord of the throne." He is the one Islam claims accompanied Mohammed in his ascension.

     Another similarity between Vohuman and Gabriel is they were both huge in stature.[v][5] Vohuman is portrayed in the sacred Zoroastrian books as the judge who condemned sinners.[vi][6] In the Qu'ran, Gabriel is the judge who condemns the nations and the cities.

     The word "spirit" is used of both personalities. Vohuman is called "spirit," and the Dinkard, book nine, stresses the importance of loving Vohuman.[vii][7]

     Likewise, in the Qu'ran, we find Gabriel referred to as the "spirit" and sometimes as the "holy spirit." Many of Mohammed's Hadiths stress or focus on the love of Gabriel for mankind even for those in heaven.[viii][8]

     The angels in the Bible are agents who proclaimed a message to a few individuals,  then they returned to heaven. They never drew attention to themselves or claimed a relationship with men. The angels hide themselves, pointing only to God.

     But in the case of Vohuman and the spirit who claimed to be Gabriel in the Qu'ran, they both called attention to themselves connecting men to themselves. This indicates they were negative spirits competing with God rather than affirming Him. In reality,  they behaved like the malignant spirits that possess mediums.


Much much more here
http://religionresearchinstitute.org/Mohammad/ascension.htm

[Peter]

http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/nightjourney.htm

Muhammad's Alleged Night Journey to the Jerusalem Temple

Sam Shamoun

According to the Quran, Allah allegedly took Muhammad on a journey from the Kabah in Mecca to the Temple at Jerusalem:

Glory to (Allah) Who did take His Servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque (Masjid al-Aqsa), whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things). S. 17:1

The Islamic traditions expand on the theme of Muhammad's travel to the Temple at Jerusalem, and even describe some of its features. The following is taken from Ibn Sa'd's Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir Volume I, English translation by S. Moinul Haq, M.A., PH.D assisted by H.K. Ghazanfar M.A. (Kitab Bhavan Exporters & Importers, 1784 Kalan Mahal, Daryaganj, New Delhi - 110 002 India):

Muhammad Ibn 'Umar al-Aslami informed us; he said: Usamah Ibn Zayd al-Laythi related to me on the authority of 'Amr Ibn Shu'ayb, he on the authority of his father, he on the authority of his ('Amr's) grand-father; (second chain) he (Ibn Sa'd) said: Musa Ibn Ya'qub al-Zam'i related to me on the authority of his father, he on the authority of his (Musa's) grandfather, he on the authority of Umm Salamah; (third chain) Musa said: Abu al-Aswad related to me on the authority of 'Urwah, he on the authority of 'Ayishah; (fourth chain) Muhammad Ibn 'Umar said: Ishaq Ibn Hazim related to me on the authority of Wahb Ibn Kaysan, he on the authority of Abu Murrah the mawla of 'Aqil, he on the authority of Umm Hani daughter of Abu Talib (fith chain) he (Ibn Sa'd) said: 'Abd Allah Ibn Ja'far related to me on the authority of Zakariya Ibn 'Amr, he on the authority of Abu Mulaykah, he on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas and others; their consolidated narrations are: The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, was taken by night on the seventeenth night of First Rabi' before Hijrah, and one year before the blockade in the mountainpass of Abu Talib, to Bayt al-Muqaddas. The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, said: I was mounted on a beast whose size was between a donkey and a mule, with two wings in its thighs, which came up to its hoofs and were set in them. When I went near it to ride, it became restive. Thereupon Gabriel placed his hand on its head and said: O Buraq! are you not ashamed of what you are doing? By Allah no servant of Allah has ridden you before Muhammad, more honoured in the sight of Allah. It felt ashamed till it was covered with sweat, and became calm; then I mounted it. It moved its ears, and the earth shrank to such an extent that its hoofs (seemed to touch its surface) at the end of the range of our sight. It had a long back and long ears. Gabriel accompanied me and he never lost touch with me nor did I till we reached Bayt al-Muqaddas; and al-Buraq reached its halting place. It was tied there and it was the place where the beasts... of the Prophets were tied before the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him. He (the Prophet) said: I saw the Prophets who had assembled there for me. I saw Abraham, Moses and Jesus and, I thought there must be some one to lead them (in prayers); Gabriel made me go forward till I offered prayers in front of them and inquired from them (about their mission). They said: We were commissioned with Unity (of Allah).

Some of them (narrators) said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him, had disappeared that night, so the members of family of 'Abd al-Muttalib went out to search him. Al-'Abbas went to Dhu Tuwa and began to shout: O Muhammad! O Muhammad! The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, said: I am here. He said: O my brother's son! You have worried the people since the (beginning of the) night, where had you been? He said: I am coming from Bayt al-Muqaddas. He said: In one night? He said: Yes. He said: Did you experience anything which was not good? He said: I did not experience anything but good. Umm Hani said: He was taken on this journey from our house. He slept that night with us; he offered al-'Isha prayers, and then he slept. When it was pre-dawn we awoke him (to offer) morning (prayers). He got up and when he offered morning prayers he said: O Umm Hani! I offered al'Isha prayers with you as you witnessed, then I reached Bayt Al-Muqaddas and offered prayers there; then I offered morning prayers before you. After this he got up to go out; I said to him: Do not relate this to the people because they will belie you and harm you. He said: By Allah I shall relate to them and inform them. They wondered at it and said: We have never heard a thing like this. The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, said to Gabriel; O Gabriel! my people will not confirm it. He said: Abu Bakr will testify to it; and he is al-Siddiq. The narrator added: Many people who had embraced Islam and offered prayers went astray. (The Prophet continued,) I stood at al-Hijr, visualised Bayt al-Muqaddas and described its signs. Some of them said: HOW MANY DOORS ARE THERE IN THAT MOSQUE? I HAD NOT COUNTED THEM SO I BEGAN TO LOOK AT IT AND COUNTED THEM ONE BY ONE AND GAVE THEM INFORMATION CONCERNING THEM. I also gave information about their caravan which was on the way and its signs. They found them as I had related. Allah, the Almighty, the Great, revealed: "We appointed the vision which We showed thee as an ordeal for mankind". He (Ibn Sa'd) said: It refers to the vision of the eye which he saw with the eye. (pp. 246-248; bold and capital emphasis ours)

The following is taken from Alfred Guillaume's The Life of Muhammad (Oxford Uinversity Press Karachi), which is a translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasulullah:

Ziyad b. 'Abdullah al-Bakka'i from Muhammad b. Ishaq told me the following: Then the apostle was carried by night from the mosque at Mecca to the Masjid al-Aqsa WHICH IS THE TEMPLE OF AELIA, when Islam had spread in Mecca among the Quraysh and all the tribes.

... His companion (Gabriel) went with him to see the wonders between heaven and earth, UNTIL HE CAME TO JERUSALEM'S TEMPLE ...

In his story al-Hasan said: "The apostle and Gabriel went their way until they arrived AT THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM" ... (Guillaume, pp. 181, 182; bold and capital emphasis ours)

We next turn our attention to the sahih hadiths:

Sahih al-Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 233:

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:

The Prophet said, "When the Quraish disbelieved me (concerning my night journey), I stood up in Al-Hijr (the unroofed portion of the Ka'ba) and Allah displayed Bait-ul-Maqdis before me, and I started to inform them (Quraish) about its signs while looking at it."

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 228:

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:

Regarding the Statement of Allah, "And We granted the vision (Ascension to the heavens) which We made you see (as an actual eye witness) was only made as a trial for the people." (17.60)

Ibn Abbas added: The sights which Allah's Apostle was shown on the Night Journey when he was taken to Bait-ul-Maqdis (i.e. Jerusalem) were actual sights, (not dreams). And the Cursed Tree (mentioned) in the Quran is the tree of Zaqqum (itself).

Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0309:

It is narrated on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I was brought al-Buraq Who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof a distance equal to the range of version. I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait Maqdis in Jerusalem), then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets. I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, and then came out and Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk. I chose the milk, and Gabriel said: You have chosen the natural thing. Then he took me to heaven ...

The next set of hadiths all presume the existence of an actual mosque/temple in Jerusalem during Muhammad's time, just as there were actual mosques in Mecca and Medina:

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: The prayer of a person in his house is a single prayer; his prayer in the mosque of his tribe has the reward of twenty-five prayers; his prayers in the mosque in which the Friday prayer is observed has the reward of five hundred; his prayer IN THE MOSQUE OF AQSA (i.e. BAYT AL-MAQDIS) has a reward of fifty thousand prayers; his prayer in MY MOSQUE (the Prophet's mosque in Medina) has a reward of fifty thousand prayers; and the prayer in the Sacred Mosque (Ka'bah) at Makkah has a reward of one hundred thousand prayers.

Transmitted by Ibn Majah. (Al-Tirmidhi, Number 247- taken from the Alim CD-ROM Version)

And:

... Abu Hurayra continued, "I met Basra ibn Abi Basra al-Ghiffari and he said, "Where have you come from?" I said, "From at-Tur." He said, "If I had seen you before you left, you would not have gone. I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, "Only make a special journey to three mosques: the mosque of the Haram (Makka), this mosque (Madina), and THE MOSQUE of Ilya or the Bait al-Maqdis (two names of Jerusalem)." " (He was not sure which expression was used.) ... (Malik's Al-Muwatta, Volume 5, Number 17; taken from the Alim CD-ROM Version)

The following commentary on S. 17:1 is taken from Tafsir Ibn Kathir-Abridged Volume 5, Surah Hud to Surat Al-Isra', Verse 38, abridged by a group of scholars under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, (Darussalam Publishers & Distributors; Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore, July 2000):

<from Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa> means the Sacred House which is in Jerusalem, the origin of the Prophets from the time of Ibraham Al-Khalil. The Prophets all gathered there, and he (Muhammad) led them in prayer in their own homeland. This indicates that he is the greatest leader of all, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon them. (Ibid., p. 551; bold emphasis ours)

Ibn Kathir includes the following hadith:

I remember being in Al-Hijr, and the Quraysh were asking me about my Night Journey. They asked me things about Bayt Al-Maqdis that I was not sure of, and I felt more anxious and stressed then than I have ever felt. Then Allah raised up Bayt Al-Maqdis for me to see, and there was nothing they asked me about but I told them about it. And I remember being in a gathering of the Prophets. Musa was standing there praying, and he was a man with curly hair, as if he were one of the men of Shanu'ah. I saw 'Isa ibn Maryam standing there praying, and the one who most resembles him is 'Urwah bin Mas'ud Ath-Thaqafi. And I saw Ibrahim standing there praying, and for the one who most resembles him is your companion (meaning himself). Then the time for prayer came, and I led them in prayer. When I finished, a voice said, 'O Muhammad, this is Malik, the keeper of Hell,' so I turned to him, and he greeted me first. (Ibid., p. 571; bold emphasis ours)

Finally,

"The truth is that the Prophet was taken on the Night Journey when he was awake, not in a dream, and he went from Makkah to Bayt Al-Maqdis riding on Al-Buraq. When he reached THE DOOR OF THE SANCTUARY, he tied up his animal by THE DOOR AND ENTERED, where he prayed two Rakahs to 'greet the Masjid'...

"Then he came back down to Bayt Al-Maqdis, and the Prophets came down with him and he led them in prayer there when the time for prayer came. Some claim that he led them in prayer in heaven, but the reports seem to say that it was in Bayt Al-Maqdis. In some reports it says that it happened when he first ENTERED...

"Then he came OUT OF BAYT AL-MAQDIS and rode on Al-Buraq back to Makkah in the darkness of the night. As for his being presented with the vessels containing milk and honey, or milk and wine, or milk and water, or all of these, some reports say that this happened in Bayt Al-Maqdis, and others say that it happened in the heavens. It is possible that it happened in BOTH places, because it is like offering food or drink to a guest when he arrives, and Allah knows best." (Ibid. pp. 572-573; bold and capital emphasis ours)

The following citations are taken from 'Abd-Allah Hajjaj's The Isra' and Mi'raj-The Prophet's Night-Journey And Ascent Into Heaven, Dar Al-Taqwa Ltd., London, second edition 1993. All bold emphasis ours:

Jabir Ibn 'Abd Allah heard the Prophet (S) say: "When Quraysh disbelieved me (about the Isra'), I stood up in al-Hijr (the unroofed part of the Ka'bah) and Allah displayed Bayt al-Maqdis to me. So I began to describe its features to them whilst I was looking at it." (Ibid., p. 5)

Al-Hafiz said, Ka'b ibn Ahbar narrated that the gate of heaven called Mas'ad al-Mala'ikah ("The angels' point of ascent") faces Bayt al-Maqdis. The 'Ulama' understood from this that the reason why the Prophet (S) was taken to Bayt al-Maqdis before ascent was so that he could be taken straight up...

Other, weaker, suggestions have also been put forward. For example: so that the Prophet (S) would see both of the Qiblahs on that night; or because Bayt al-Maqdis had been the place to which most of the previous Prophets had migrated, so the Prophet Muhammad (S) had to go there to have the same virtues as they had... (Ibid., p. 15)

It is said that the 'Isra happened twice, and on both occasions the Prophet (S) was awake. On the first occasion, he returned from Bayt al-Maqdis, and in the morning he told the Quraysh what had happened. On the first morning he told the Quraysh what had happened. On the second occasion he was taken to Bayt al-Maqdis, then on the same night he was taken up to heaven... But when he told them that he had traveled to Bayt al-Maqdis and returned in one night, they disbelieved him and asked to describe it, because some of them knew it, and they also knew that he had not seen it before... (Ibid., p. 18)

... I reached Bayt al-Maqdis, where I tied my beast (al-Buraq) to the hitching-post which all the Prophets before me used... Gabriel and I entered Bayt al-Maqdis where we both prayed two Rak'ahas"... "Then I entered the Mosque where I saw all the Prophets praying - some standing, some bowing and some prostrating... When the Prophet (S) reached al-Masjid al-Aqsa, he began to pray..." Another Hadith narrated by Ahmad tells us that when 'Umar entered Bayt al-Maqdis, he said: "I shall pray where the Prophet (S) prayed" - then he went forward to the Qiblah and prayed. (Ibid., p. 28)

'Ayat said: "It is possible that he prayed with all the Prophets IN Bayt al-Maqdis... Those who prayed with him IN Bayt al-Maqdis may have been there as souls only, or in body and soul. It is more likely that he prayed with them IN Bayt al-Maqdis before ascent; but Allah knows best." (Ibid., pp. 28-29)

The Book's glossary notes:

Bayt al-Maqdis: The name used for Jerusalem and in particular for the Mosque from which the prophet Muhammad (S) ascended to Heaven. (Ibid., p. 54)

M.A. Qazi's A Concise Dictionary of Islamic Terms, Kazi Publications, Chicago IL, 1979, p. 39 states:

Al-Masjid-al-Aqsa "The most distant Mosque." The temple at Jerusalem erected by Prophet Solomon (A.A.), also known as "Baitul-Maqdis" or Umar's Mosque.

Finally, Muhammad is purported to have said that a Muslim should visit the following three Mosques:

Sahih al-Bukhari Volume 2, Book 21, Number 281:

Narrated Quza'a:

I heard Abu Said saying four words. He said, "I heard the Prophet (saying the following narrative)." He had participated in twelve holy battles with the Prophet.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Do not set out on a journey except for THREE Mosques i.e. Al-Masjid-Al-Haram, the Mosque of Allah's Apostle, and the Mosque of Al-Aqsa, (Mosque of Jerusalem)."

That the phrase Bayt Al-Maqdis undoubtedly refers to the Temple structure located in Jerusalem as the preceding traditions affirm is further clarified in the following hadith:

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 585:

Narrated Abu Dhar:

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth?" He said, "Al-Masjid-ul-Haram (in Mecca)." I said, "Which was built next?" He replied "The mosque of Al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem)." I said, "What was the period of construction between the two?" He said, "Forty years." He added, "Wherever (you may be, and) the prayer time becomes due, perform the prayer there, for the best thing is to do so (i.e. to offer the prayers in time)."

This would place the erection of the Kabah at approximately 998 BC., since the construction of the first Temple was not completed by Solomon until BC. 951 (cf. 1 Kings 6:1-7:51).

The problem with all of this is that the first Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian armies in 587 BC. Furthermore, General Titus and his Roman soldiers leveled the Second Temple in AD. 70, more than five centuries before this alleged night journey to Jerusalem took place. In fact, the Temple that eventually became Masjid al-Aqsa did not come into existence until AD. 691 when Amir Abd-ul-Malik built it.

These preceding factors make it highly improbable to date Sura 17:1 to the time of Muhammad. This passage could have only been written sometime after the erection of Masjid al-Aqsa. This is further substantiated by the fact that Masjid al-Aqsa contains no early references to the supposed night journey. This is a strange omission since Muslims claim that Masjid al-Aqsa was erected in commemoration of this alleged event. The inscriptions that do mention the night journey are later additions made by Abdul Hamid II in 1876, nearly eleven centuries later.

In light of all this, we ask the following questions:

    * What Temple did Muhammad visit, enter and pray at before ascending to heaven?
    * Seeing that the Quran mentions a journey to a Mosque that did not exist during the lifetime of Muhammad, how can you consider the Quran to be 100% the word of God?
    * In light of the fact that both the Quran and the Islamic traditions contain this historical error, how can you trust either source to provide you with reliable information on the life of Muhammad and the first Muslims?
    * Does not the fact that the Quran mentions a Mosque which was only erected in AD 691 prove that there were Muslims who unashamedly and deceitfully added stories to the Quranic text and passed them off as revelation from God?
    * If you cannot find an answer to this historical problem within the Quran, why do you still remain a Muslim?

May God use this article to bring open-minded Muslims to the truth of his word, the Holy Bible.

In the service of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

Note

One Muslim writer has seen how this Quranic reference and hadiths undermine the veracity of Muhammad's prophethood. Akbarally Meherally has written an article discrediting the hadith narrations that Sura 17:1 refers to a mosque in Jerusalem and tries to prove that this text is referring to a heavenly mosque that Muhammad saw during his night journey.

The main problem with his position is that he assumes that the passages in question (i.e. 53:6-7, 22-23; 81:22-23) all refer to the same event and also assumes that Sura 17:1 refers to the ascent of Muhammad into heaven. Yet he only knows of this alleged journey into heaven because the very hadiths which he now rejects told him so! In other words, without these narrations Meherally would have never known that these specific Quranic text are related, that they refer to Muhammad as the servant whom Allah took on a journey, and that this journey refers to an ascent into heaven.

Articles by Sam Shamoun
Answering Islam Home Page

[Peter]

Another description of the Buraq:

    Then he [Gabriel] brought the Buraq, handsome-faced and bridled, a tall, white beast, bigger than the donkey but smaller than the mule. He could place his hooves at the farthest boundary of his gaze. He had long ears. Whenever he faced a mountain his hind legs would extend, and whenever he went downhill his front legs would extend. He had two wings on his thighs which lent strength to his legs.

    He bucked when Muhammad came to mount him. The angel Jibril (Gabriel) put his hand on his mane and said: "Are you not ashamed, O Buraq? By Allah, no-one has ridden you in all creation more dear to Allah than he is." Hearing this he was so ashamed that he sweated until he became soaked, and he stood still so that the Prophet mounted him.[2]


Abraham

The Buraq was also said to transport Abraham (Ibrahim) when he visited his wife Hagar and son Ishmael. According to tradition, Abraham lived with one wife in Syria, but the Buraq would transport him in the morning to Mecca to see his family there, and take him back in the evening to his Syrian wife.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq

Tarikh al-Tabari, I, page 165\


This mythical flying camel or whatever is also credited with taking Ishmael the thousand miles from Mecca to Hebron to attend Abraham's funeral. Can you imagine 1.5 billion people even those over the age of 8 years old, believing such a thing?