Al-Israa� means a trip at night and Al-Me�raj means to ascend upwards.

When a great pressure was forced on the Prophet pbuh after the death of his uncle and protector Abu Talib and his most dear wife Khadijah, Allah desired to honor his Prophet and to lessen down his loneliness so he blessed him with this miraculous journey Al- Israa and Al- Me�raj.

Allah said in the Quran:
Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who Heareth and Seeth (all things).

His Israa� pbuh was from Mecca to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the lesson behind that is that Allah has honored these two places.

The Prophet pbuh said that one wanting to make a religious trip should go to three Mosques: Al-Haram Mosque (Kaaba), Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah.

The meaning of �whose precincts We did bless� in the verse is that Allah has blessed all the places around it like Al-Sham (natural Syria; Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon).

The incidents that occurred with the Prophet pbuh at that night:

1. Two angels came to him and cut open his chest and took his heart out and washed it in a golden bowl full of Eeman (faith), wisdom and Knowledge.

2. Then Jibreel (Gabriel) came to him with a creature called Al-Buraq (a white tall creature with for legs that looks like a donkey or a mule and it flies like a bird one step it makes stretches at the end of what it sees). The Prophet was 53 years old at that time and he was taken form Mecca to Jerusalem at night.

3. While in the way he saw a caravan heading to Quraysh (people of Mecca) and at the head of the caravan was a white camel with hair on its front head. He saluted them and asked them for water to drink and they gave him some water.

4. He arrived at Al-Aqsa Mosque and tied the Buraq at the front door of the Mosque where he entered and prayed two Rakaas to Allah.

5. The Prophet rode the back of Gabriel and ascended to the first sky where he met Adam and saluted him and was saluted back. In the second sky he saw Jesus and Yahya (John) and he saluted them and they saluted him in return. In the third sky he saw Yousef (Joseph) and saluted him and was saluted back. In the fourth sky he saw Idris (Enoch) and saluted him and was saluted back. In the fifth sky he saw Harun (Aaron) and saluted him and was saluted back. In the sixth sky he saw Musa (Moses) and saluted him and was saluted back but when the Prophet moved upward to the Seventh sky Moses cried so Gabriel asked him why? He said Muhammad is raised to a higher degree than mine and his nation is better than my nation. In the seventh sky he saw Ibraheem (Abraham) and saluted him and was saluted back.

6. Then the Prophet pbuh reached a tree called Sidrat Al-Muntaha and it is a very beautiful tree with large leaves like elephants ears and its fruits are so big, like jars, and it has various amazing colors and is full of angels like birds on a tree.
In that tree some of the light of Allah and there he saw Jibreel (Gabriel) in his true form where he had six hundred wings. Then Gabriel came to him with three bowls: one full of wine, another with honey and the other with milk. The Prophet chose milk so Gabriel told him that he chose the natural tendency of man (Islam and Integrity).

7. Allah raised Albait Al- Ma�mur (the House over the heavens parallel to the Kaaba in Mecca for the Prophet) and there the Prophet saw that it is visited each day by 700.000 angels.

8. The Prophet pbuh passed through seven covers alone without Jibreel and he saw the light of Allah and he prostrated for Allah. Allah told to raise his head and to ask anything he wants and the Prophet asked intercession for his nation.

9. Allah imposed on the Prophet and his nation 50 Salat each day. The Prophet went back after that and when he reached the sixth sky Moses asked him about what Allah has imposed on his nation and the Prophet told him about the 50 Salat. Moses said that he knows the nature of people and your nation can�t stand that. So Moses said go back and ask Allah to lessen them down. When he went back Allah made them 40. The Prophet kept coming to Moses and Moses kept telling him to go back to ask for less until Allah made them 5 Salwat (plural of Salat) with the reward of 50 Salat.

10. All showed the Prophet Heaven and Hell and while the Prophet was walking in Jennah (Heaven) he saw a river with banks of pearls and its sand of Musk. The prophet asked Jibreel about this river and Jibreel told him that this river is from Allah to you. (Inshallah he will give a drink from this river to each of his nation in the Day of Judgment).

11. The prophet went back to Jerusalem after that and the all the Prophets came down to him to say good bye where he prayed with them Fajr (dawn) Salat and then he went back to Mecca.

12. In Mecca he met his uncle who was a pagan and told him of what happened to him. His uncle mocked him and called on the people of Mecca to come to listen to Muhammad and that he has gone crazy.
A group of them went to Abu Baker and told him that Muhammad is saying that he went to Jerusalem in one night and came back.
Abu Baker said if the Prophet said that then he is telling the truth. From that day on Abu Baker was named Al-Seddeeq (The one who believes the most).
They asked the prophet to describe Al-Aqsa mosque if he was truthful and he did that in detail.
They asked him about the caravan and he told them about the white camel and that he asked them for water and they gave him some. When the caravan came to Mecca they asked them and they said yes we met a man named Muhammad and we gave him water to drink.

This miracle happened in the 10th year after the Prophet received his first revelation and it occurred to him in person and it was not a dream or a vision by soul.

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