Why the Prophet’s Night Journey (Isrā’/Miʿrāj) Is a Post-Qurʾānic Legend

The most famous miracle in Islam is absent from the Qurʾān, unknown in early history, contradicted by archaeology, and fabricated centuries after Muhammad

Introduction

The Event Every Muslim Knows — That the Qurʾān Doesn’t Describe

Every Muslim child is taught the story:

Muḥammad rode a flying creature (Burāq) from Mecca to Jerusalem,
ascended through seven heavens,
met prophets,
received the command for 50 prayers,
negotiated it down with Moses to five,
saw the divine throne,
returned to Earth the same night.

The Isrā’ (night journey) and Miʿrāj (ascension) are treated as:

historically certain,
theologically central,
spiritually foundational,
liturgically significant.

And yet:

The Qurʾān never narrates this story.

The earliest Muslims didn’t know it.
Jerusalem wasn’t even important to Islam at the time.
The legend appears only centuries later.

This is not a forgotten miracle.

This is a constructed narrative, retrofitted into Islam after the religion expanded into formerly Christian and Jewish territories — especially Jerusalem.

This article dismantles the legend piece by piece.

SECTION 1 — The Qurʾān Mentions Only One Vague Line — And It Doesn’t Say What Muslims Claim

The entire Isrā’ story rests on a single ambiguous verse:

“Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque…”
(Q 17:1)

That’s it.

What this verse does not mention:

Jerusalem
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Burāq
a flying mount
the ascension
the heavens
Gabriel
Miʿrāj
50 prayers
Moses
the throne of God

Nothing.

Everything Muslims believe about the event
comes from hadith written 200–250 years after Muhammad.

The Qurʾān’s silence is not an accident.
It exposes the late invention.

SECTION 2 — There Was No “Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Muhammad’s Time

The Qurʾān refers to:

al-masjid al-aqṣā — “the farthest mosque.”

But historically:

There was no mosque in Jerusalem in 620 CE

(the supposed year of the Night Journey).

The buildings called “Al-Aqsa Mosque” and “Dome of the Rock” were:

constructed by Abd al-Malik in 691–692 CE,
70 years after Muhammad’s death,
during the Umayyad civil war,
to compete with Mecca as a pilgrimage site.

This is not disputed.
It is historical fact.

Therefore:

Muhammad could not have traveled to a mosque that did not exist.

The Qur’ān cannot be referring to Jerusalem.

Early commentators admitted this awkward fact.
Later commentators invented theological workarounds.

But the archaeology is clear:

Al-Aqsa did not exist.

SECTION 3 — Early Muslims Didn’t Know the Story — The Legend Doesn’t Appear Until MUCH Later

1. No Companion writings mention the Night Journey.

Because no companion wrote anything.

2. The earliest Muslim historians don’t describe it.

Al-Zuhrī (d. 741) — silent.
Ibn Shihab — silent.
Urwa ibn al-Zubayr — silent.

3. The earliest biography of Muhammad barely mentions it.

Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) gives a vague outline with multiple contradictory versions —
and does NOT include most of the modern details.

4. Bukhari and Muslim (9th century) explode the story.

This is 240 years after the supposed event.

The Miʿrāj legend grows over time:

Early sources: vague, dreamlike.
Middle sources: symbolic ascent.
Later sources: literal flying animal + seven heavens + throne of God.

The more time passes,
the more detailed the miracle becomes —
which is the opposite of historical memory.

This is legendary accretion.

SECTION 4 — The Qurʾān Suggests the Event Was a DREAM, Not a Literal Journey

The Qurʾān mentions the Isrā’ again:

“We showed you the vision (ru’yā) which We made a trial for the people.”
(Q 17:60)

Ru’yā means:

dream,
vision,
symbolic sight.

It does not mean physical travel.

Even early Islamic scholars admitted:

Ibn Abbas: “It was a vision of the eyes in sleep.”
Aisha: “His body did not leave—only his spirit.”
Muawiyah: “It was a true dream.”

Early Muslims did NOT believe in a literal flying animal or bodily ascension.

The physical miracle idea is late.

SECTION 5 — The Miʿrāj (Ascension) Does NOT Appear in the Qurʾān at all

The Qurʾān never says Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Muslim tradition links the Miʿrāj to:

Q 53:1–18 (“near the Lote Tree”),
Q 81, Q 84 (disjoint eschatological scenes),
Q 17:1 (journey to “the farthest mosque”).

But none of these passages mention:

heaven,
ascent,
a ladder,
Burāq,
50 prayers,
meeting Moses,
meeting Jesus,
a throne.

The Miʿrāj is 100% post-Qur’ānic.

Hadith writers stitched together unrelated verses
to fabricate a coherent myth.

SECTION 6 — Why the Legend Was Invented in the First Place

Purpose 1 — To Islamize Jerusalem after its capture

After the conquest of Jerusalem (638 CE), Muslims needed:

a sacred history,
a prophetic connection,
a reason to claim the city over Christians and Jews.

Solution:

Retroactively place Muhammad there.

The Night Journey was a political myth, not historical memory.

Purpose 2 — To create a miracle for a prophet who had none

The Qurʾān repeatedly says Muhammad performed no miracles.

This embarrassed later theologians.

Solution:

Invent a miracle greater than Moses and Jesus combined.

A literal ascent through the heavens grants Muhammad:

cosmic authority,
legitimized leadership,
theological superiority.

This is not history.
This is religious competition.

Purpose 3 — To sanctify prayer and Sharia

The Miʿrāj story claims:

50 prayers → reduced to 5
direct communication with God
divine origin for ritual prayer

This provides a mythological origin for Islamic law.

Late law needs early divine stories.
So storytellers supplied them.

SECTION 7 — The Historical Method Exposes the Myth

Across all disciplines:

The Night Journey does not survive critical scrutiny.

Textual evidence:

The Qurʾān does not narrate it.
The Qurʾān contradicts later versions.
The Qurʾān suggests a dream, not a journey.

Chronological evidence:

No mosque existed at the destination.
No early Muslim text narrates it.
The legend grows over centuries.

Archaeological evidence:

Jerusalem had no Islamic structures in 620 CE.
The Umayyad mosque and dome appear 70 years later.

Comparative evidence:

The Miʿrāj resembles Jewish mystical ascent literature (Hekhalot texts).
It follows patterns of late antique visionary myth.
It reflects theological themes of the Abbasid period, not the early Arab movement.

Historical evidence:

Non-Muslims who lived through the 7th century recorded Arab conquests —
but never mention a prophet flying through the sky or visiting Jerusalem.

Logical evidence:

A physical miracle witnessed by no one
is indistinguishable from a fictional story.

SECTION 8 — The Fatal Problem for Islam

Islam claims:

Muhammad performed miracles.
The Night Journey proves prophethood.
Its story is historically solid.
Its details are divinely preserved.
Its significance is foundational to Islamic law.

But the facts show:

This miracle is a post-Qurʾānic invention

created to fill a prophetic vacuum
and provide political legitimacy for later caliphs.

If the most spectacular miracle in Islam is fabricated,
then:

Prophethood claims collapse.
Hadith authority collapses.
Sharia origin myths collapse.
Tafsir built on these stories collapses.
Any claim of divine preservation collapses.
The Qurʾān’s self-sufficiency claim collapses.

A religion depending on a miracle that never happened
cannot claim historical or theological certainty.

Conclusion

The Night Journey Is Not Memory — It Is Myth

Part 44 concludes with the unavoidable verdict:

The Isrā’ and Miʿrāj are legendary constructions, not historical events.
They do not originate with Muḥammad, the Qurʾān, or the early Muslim community.
They arise centuries later to serve theological and political needs.

The Night Journey:

is absent from the Qurʾān,
contradicts archaeology,
contradicts early Islamic history,
contradicts the earliest Muslims,
contradicts logic,
and reflects myth-making, not revelation.

A miracle invented long after the prophet cannot authenticate that prophet.

The legend of the Night Journey reveals something deeper:

Relentless Reasoning

Thursday, December 11, 2025