The word miʿrāj is on the morphological pattern mifʿāl, derived from the verb maʿarāja (to ascend); it denotes the device by which one ascends, something akin to a ladder, though its exact nature is known only to Allah.

Its ruling is the same as that of all matters of the unseen: we believe in it and do not concern ourselves with how it is.

The leading scholars of transmission agree that the Night Journey (isrāʾ) occurred only once, in Mecca, after the beginning of the Prophet’s mission and one year before the Hijrah—some said a year and two months, as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr reported.

The description of the Night Journey and Ascension as drawn from the texts is as follows:

Al-Hāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr states in his Tafsīr: “What is correct is that the Prophet ﷺ was taken on the Night Journey while fully awake—not in a dream—from Mecca to Jerusalem, riding the Buraq. When he reached the gate of the mosque he tethered the animal there, entered, and, facing its qiblah, performed two units of prayer in greeting of the mosque. Then the miʿrāj was brought to him; it resembled a staircase with rungs upon which he ascended. By it he rose to the lowest heaven and then through the remaining seven heavens. At each heaven he was welcomed by its honoured inhabitants and greeted the prophets who resided there according to their stations, until he passed Moses, the interlocutor with Allah, in the sixth, and Abraham, the Intimate Friend, in the seventh. He ﷺ then surpassed their stations—may peace be upon them and upon all the prophets—until he reached a level where he heard the creaking of the pens [i.e., the pens of destiny] recording what is to be. He beheld the sidrat al-muntahā (Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary), which was enveloped by a magnificent splendour from Allah—golden butterflies and multicoloured lights—and surrounded by angels. There he saw Gabriel in his true form, with six hundred wings, and observed a green expanse filling the horizon. He saw the frequently visited House (al-bayt al-maʿmūr), with Abraham—the builder of the earthly Kaʿba—resting his back against it, for it is the heavenly Kaʿba. Every day seventy thousand angels enter it; once they have worshipped therein they never return until the Day of Resurrection. He also saw Paradise and Hell. Fifty daily prayers were then enjoined upon him, and they were reduced to five as a mercy and kindness to His servants—an emphatic indication of the honour and greatness of the prayer. He then descended to Jerusalem, and descended