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What happened during Muhammad’s Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem?

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Medina, Saudi Arabia: Prophet's Mosque — Muhammad The Prophet's Mosque, showing the green dome built above the tomb of Muhammad, Medina, Saudi Arabia.

The Isrāʾ refers to the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, as alluded to in the Qurʾān (17:1).12

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad traveled in a single night astride Burāq, a mythical winged creature, accompanied by the archangel Jibrīl (Gabriel). Upon arriving at the "further place of worship" (al-masjid al-aqṣā), identified with the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Muhammad met other messengers of God, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. He then officiated as the leader (imām) of the ritual prayer (ṣalāt) for these prophets, an act that established his primacy among God’s messengers.132

While some early commentators interpreted the journey as a vision or a dream, orthodox Islamic sentiment has historically maintained the physical and miraculous nature of the event. This journey is often linked to the Miʿrāj, the subsequent ascension of Muhammad into heaven from the site of the Dome of the Rock.132