It was 619 CE — the Year of Sorrow. Muhammad, already hunted for preaching a faith that threatened Mecca's ruling class, lost the two people keeping him alive. His uncle Abu Talib, who'd shielded him for a decade out of stubborn family love. Then his wife Khadijah, who'd held him after his first encounter with an angel and said, "God will never forsake you." No uncle, no protection. No wife, no refuge. He tried the city of Ta'if for allies. They stoned him until blood soaked his sandals.
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Prophets & Pilgrims·2/3·1′
The place
Old City of Jerusalem
The Night Journey
A grieving prophet, a winged steed, and an ascension through seven heavens that changed the world forever
c. 621 CE (the Isra and Mi’raj); 691 CE (Dome of the Rock construction)Old City of Jerusalem
Moral of the Story
“The deepest revelations come not in moments of triumph but in moments of absolute despair — when everything that sustained us has been stripped away. Muhammad was given the heavens not when he was victorious but when he was broken, not when the world celebrated him but when it cast stones at his feet. The Night Journey teaches that grief, endured with faith, can become the doorway to the infinite.”
Characters
P
Prophet MuhammadA
Angel Jibril (Gabriel)T
The Buraq (celestial steed)P
Prophet Musa (Moses)P
Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)A
Abu Bakr al-SiddiqSource
Quran, Surah Al-Isra 17:1; Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Merits of the Helpers, Hadith 3887 (Night Journey account); Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith, Hadith 162; Ibn Hisham, Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah (Life of the Prophet); al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk (History of Prophets and Kings); Creswell, K.A.C., Early Muslim Architecture (Dome of the Rock); Colby, Frederick, Narrating Muhammad’s Night Journey, 2008; Vuckovic, Brooke Olson, Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns, 2005