Influence from Earlier Traditions

 

The question of whether the later image of al-Burāq was influenced by earlier religious traditions is not an easy one to answer. While some writers have described it as a case of "borrowing," most historians are more cautious. Similarities between traditions do not, by themselves, prove that one tradition copied another.

 

At the same time, it is important to remember that Islam emerged in Late Antiquity, a period when Jewish, Christian, Persian, and other Near Eastern religious ideas existed alongside one another and often interacted. Scholars such as Gabriel Said Reynolds (2010), Angelika Neuwirth (2010), and Stephen Shoemaker (2018) have argued that the Qur'an and early Islamic traditions are best understood within this wider historical and cultural setting. Against that background, it is not surprising that some features associated with the later image of al-Burāq resemble themes already found in earlier traditions.

 

Jewish and Christian literature written during the Second Temple and Late Antique periods contains numerous accounts of prophets and righteous individuals being taken into the heavenly realm or being granted visions of heaven. The books of 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, and the Apocalypse of Abraham, for example, describe heavenly journeys in which the central figure is guided through different levels of heaven and shown divine mysteries.

 

In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11), while the prophet Ezekiel records his vision of God's heavenly throne borne by extraordinary living creatures (Ezekiel 1). Later Jewish mystical traditions, particularly the Merkabah ("chariot") literature, further developed these themes by describing visionary ascents to the heavenly throne.

 

Early Christian writings also continued this tradition. The Ascension of Isaiah and the Apocalypse of Paul recount journeys through the heavens in which the traveller receives divine knowledge and encounters angels. Although these accounts differ significantly from the Islamic narrative of the Night Journey, they demonstrate that heavenly ascents and divinely guided journeys were already well-established religious themes in the centuries before Islam.

 

The visual world of Late Antiquity was equally rich in symbolic creatures. Across the ancient Near East, Persia, Greece, and Rome, artists regularly depicted winged horses and other composite beings that combined human and animal features. Greek mythology tells of Pegasus, the winged horse associated with divine inspiration, while griffins, with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, frequently appeared as guardians of sacred places and royal power. Sphinxes and harpies were also common figures in Greek art and literature, although they served different symbolic roles.

 

In the Persian world, royal art often featured majestic winged creatures and hybrid animals that represented kingship, divine protection, and the connection between heaven and earth. Similar motifs can also be found in the monumental art of ancient Mesopotamia, where the Lamassu, a winged guardian with the body of a bull or lion and a human head, stood at the entrances of palaces and temples as symbols of divine authority and protection.

 

Another factor that deserves consideration is the growing influence of Persian culture on the development of Islamic civilisation after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. Historians such as Marshall G. S. Hodgson (1974) and Richard N. Frye (1975) have shown that the Islamisation of Persia was not simply a religious transformation. As Persian communities embraced Islam, they also brought with them a rich literary, artistic, and intellectual heritage that became deeply woven into the fabric of Islamic civilisation. Over the following centuries, Persian scholars, poets, calligraphers, and artists played a central role in shaping Islamic culture, particularly in literature, architecture, and manuscript painting.

 

Within this broader cultural setting, several art historians have suggested that Persian artistic traditions influenced the way religious stories came to be visualised. Christiane Gruber (2008; 2012) notes that many of the best-known illustrations of al-Burāq originate from Persian manuscripts produced during the Ilkhanid, Timurid, and Safavid periods. In these paintings, al-Burāq is often depicted with wings, a human face, elaborate ornaments, richly decorated harnesses, and peacock-like features, details that are not found in either the Qur'an or the earliest hadith. Likewise, Oleg Grabar (1987) argues that Islamic art frequently expanded religious narratives through symbolism, imagination, and the adaptation of existing artistic conventions rather than by attempting to produce literal illustrations of sacred texts.

 

The flourishing of illustrated manuscripts under Persian dynasties, particularly during the Timurid (1370–1507) and Safavid (1501–1736) periods, may have further contributed to the widespread popularity of these images. Scholars of Islamic art, including Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom (1995; 2009), have observed that Persian manuscript workshops became major centres for the production and dissemination of religious and historical illustrations throughout the Islamic world. Because many Safavid patrons adhered to Twelver Shiʿism, some historians have wondered whether Shiʿi devotional culture may have encouraged the preservation and circulation of these richly symbolic depictions of al-Burāq.

 

However, the evidence does not support attributing the iconography of al-Burāq exclusively to Shiʿi Islam or to Persian converts. As Gruber (2012) points out, similar images also appear in manuscripts commissioned under Sunni rulers, suggesting that the visual tradition was shared across different parts of the Islamic world. It is therefore more accurate to view the familiar image of al-Burāq as the product of centuries of artistic and cultural exchange. 

Persian artistic traditions undoubtedly played an important role in shaping its visual form, but they did so alongside other Islamic and regional influences rather than as the sole source of its development.