One night, some time before the Prophet ﷺ left Makkah for Madinah, he made a journey Muslims still remember. The first part, from Makkah to Jerusalem, is called al-Isrāʾ, the night journey. The second, up through the heavens, is al-Miʿrāj, the ascension. It was on this journey that the five daily prayers were given.
One verse
A whole surah carries the journey’s name, but only its first verse tells of it.
سُبۡحَٰنَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَسۡرَىٰ بِعَبۡدِهِۦ لَيۡلٗا مِّنَ ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡأَقۡصَا ٱلَّذِي بَٰرَكۡنَا حَوۡلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنۡ ءَايَٰتِنَآۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ
Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing
The Sacred Mosque is the mosque in Makkah around the Kaaba. The Farthest Mosque, al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, is in Jerusalem. The verse opens with subḥāna, “exalted is He”, a word used for what lies beyond human reckoning. And it says why: to show him of Our signs.
Into the heavens
Surah An-Najm describes what he saw at the utmost boundary.
وَلَقَدۡ رَءَاهُ نَزۡلَةً أُخۡرَىٰ
And he certainly saw him in another descent
An-Najm 53:13
عِندَ سِدۡرَةِ ٱلۡمُنتَهَىٰ
At the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary
An-Najm 53:14
لَقَدۡ رَأَىٰ مِنۡ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّهِ ٱلۡكُبۡرَىٰٓ
He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord
An-Najm 53:18
In the sahih collections the Prophet ﷺ describes the journey himself (Sahih al-Bukhari 3887, Sahih Muslim 162a). With Jibril he rose through the seven heavens and met prophets who came before him, among them Adam, ʿIsa, Yahya, Yusuf, Musa and Ibrahim, until he reached the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, Sidrat al-Muntahā. There three vessels were brought to him, of wine, milk and honey. He took the milk:
فَأَخَذْتُ اللَّبَنَ، فَقَالَ هِيَ الْفِطْرَةُ أَنْتَ عَلَيْهَا وَأُمَّتُكَ
“I took the milk, and he said: This is the natural way (fiṭra) on which you and your nation are.”
From fifty to five
The gift he brought back was the prayer.
In the account in Sahih al-Bukhari 3887 the Prophet ﷺ tells how fifty prayers a day were first prescribed:
ثُمَّ فُرِضَتْ عَلَىَّ الصَّلَوَاتُ خَمْسِينَ صَلاَةً كُلَّ يَوْمٍ
“Then fifty prayers every day were made obligatory for me.”
On the way down he met Musa, who told him his people would not manage it and that he should ask for it to be lightened. He went back, again and again, and the number fell until five remained. Musa still advised him to ask for less, but he replied:
قَالَ سَأَلْتُ رَبِّي حَتَّى اسْتَحْيَيْتُ، وَلَكِنْ أَرْضَى وَأُسَلِّمُ ـ قَالَ ـ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزْتُ نَادَى مُنَادٍ أَمْضَيْتُ فَرِيضَتِي وَخَفَّفْتُ عَنْ عِبَادِي
“I have asked my Lord until I feel shy, but I am content and I submit. And when I went on, a voice called out: I have confirmed My obligation and lightened the burden of My servants.”
In another account of the same night (Sahih al-Bukhari 349) God says: They are five, and they are fifty: five in number, fifty in reward. Scholars have also pointed out that prayer is the only obligation given this way, on a journey to the heavens rather than by revelation on earth.
“I was looking at it”
Quraysh did not believe him, so he described the city.
In Makkah many found the story absurd: a journey to Jerusalem and back in one night, a route that took weeks by camel. The Prophet ﷺ told what happened:
لَمَّا كَذَّبَنِي قُرَيْشٌ قُمْتُ فِي الْحِجْرِ، فَجَلاَ اللَّهُ لِي بَيْتَ الْمَقْدِسِ، فَطَفِقْتُ أُخْبِرُهُمْ عَنْ آيَاتِهِ وَأَنَا أَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهِ
“When Quraysh called me a liar, I stood up in al-Ḥijr, and God displayed Jerusalem to me, and I began describing its landmarks to them while I was looking at it.”
When?
Neither the Qur’an nor the sahih hadith say on which day the journey took place, and historians differ on the year and month. It is widely remembered on the eve of 27 Rajab, but that date is a tradition, not something the sources establish. The Islamic calendar on the home page places it around 6 January 2027 following that tradition.
What the sources do establish is something else: the journey and the prayer belong together. Five times a day Muslims remember this night, whether they think of it or not.