The Qur’anic Account

 The Night Journey is mentioned only once in the Qur'an, in Surah al-Isrāʾ (17:1):

"Glory be to Him who carried His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We might show him some of Our signs."

 

This verse is the foundation of the Islamic belief in the Night Journey (al-Isrāʾ). Yet, despite its importance, it is strikingly brief. The Qur'an tells us that Allah took His servant on a night journey, but it says very little about how the journey took place.

 

What the verse does not say is just as noteworthy as what it does. There is no mention of al-Burāq, nor is there any reference to a horse, mule, donkey, or any other mount. The verse says nothing about wings, a human-faced creature, or any supernatural means of transportation. Instead, the focus remains firmly on Allah's power and on the purpose of the journey, to show His servant some of His signs.

 

This issue has long been recognised by Muslim scholars. Classical commentators such as al-Ṭabarī (839–923), al-Qurṭubī (c. 1214–1273), and Ibn Kathīr (c. 1300–1373) all accepted the Night Journey as a real event. However, when they explained how it took place, they did not rely on the wording of the Qur'an alone. Instead, they turned to hadith reports and earlier narrations to fill in the details. In other words, the Qur'an provides the foundation of the story, while the fuller account, including the description of al-Burāq, comes from later Islamic tradition.

 

Modern Muslim scholars have made the same observation. Muhammad Asad (1980) points out that the Qur'an deliberately leaves the details of the journey unexplained, directing the reader's attention instead to its spiritual significance. Likewise, Fazlur Rahman (1980) argues that the Qur'an often focuses on the theological message of an event rather than providing a complete historical narrative. 


From this perspective, it is significant that the Qur'an never names al-Burāq or describes the means by which the Prophet travelled. Those details belong to the hadith and the later interpretive tradition, not to the Qur'anic text itself.

Location: Jerusalem, Israel

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