Al-Buraq, the Journey to Baitul Maqdis, and Leading the Prophets in Ṣalāh
storySpeaker note: This covers the preparatory phase and the Isrāʾ (night journey) from Mecca to Jerusalem. The most authentic version is from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and related collections.
❧The Second Opening of the Chest
The night began with Jibrīl (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) coming to the Prophet ﷺ. By the most authentic narration, the Prophet ﷺ was in Al-Ḥaṭīm (الحطيم), the semi-circular area outside the Kaʿbah. The Ḥaṭīm is what remains of the original Ibrāhīmic rectangular Kaʿbah that the Quraysh shortened when they rebuilt it due to insufficient funds; praying inside it is equivalent to praying inside the Kaʿbah itself. Another authentic narration says the Prophet ﷺ was in his house when Jibrīl came and the roof opened. Ibn Ḥajar reconciles both: he was in his house, Jibrīl first took him to the Ḥaṭīm, then the journey proceeded.
Jibrīl opened the Prophet's ﷺ chest for the second time. The first opening was at age four or five, when a black spot, the portion of Shayṭān's reach, was removed (see story-splitting-chest). This time there was no black spot to remove; it had been removed long ago. Instead, Jibrīl brought a golden bowl containing either Zamzam water or Imān, in different authentic narrations. There is no contradiction: the bowl contained Zamzam that was filled with Imān. He washed the heart and returned it to the chest.
Why wash it a second time? As Ibn Ḥazm said: had any other human being witnessed even a fraction of what the Prophet ﷺ was about to see, he would have lost his mind. The Prophet ﷺ was about to enter the ʿĀlam al-Ghayb (the Unseen World), a different dimension entirely. Allah was fortifying the Prophet's ﷺ heart for what was coming. The Quran says: مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَىٰ, 'The sight did not waver nor did it exceed.' That steady gaze at extraordinary realities required an extraordinarily prepared heart.
── Al-Buraq ──
Jibrīl then brought the Prophet ﷺ an animal: Al-Burāq (الْبُرَاق). The Prophet's ﷺ own description from authentic ahadith: smaller than a mule, larger than a donkey (دُونَ الْبَغْلِ وَفَوْقَ الْحِمَارِ), pure white (abyaḍ). From the Tirmidhi narration: it had a saddle and a harness. Its speed: it places its hoof as far as the eye can see, a single stride covers the full visible horizon.
Al-Burāq is a physical creature, not a spiritual or mythical being. The popular image of a winged Burāq is not from any authentic narration. It is a created animal that exists in a realm we have no access to; as Allah says: وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ, 'And He creates what you do not know.' Even the Jinn have their own animals (as established from Transcript 12's discussion of Laylat al-Jinn).
When the Prophet ﷺ moved to mount Al-Burāq, the animal reared up, as any creature does when a stranger mounts it. Jibrīl grabbed the harness and rebuked it sharply: أَلَمْ تَسْتَحِي, 'Are you not ashamed?! By Allah, no one has ever ridden you who is more blessed in the eyes of Allah than this rider!' This rebuke shows that Burāq had been ridden before by others (perhaps earlier prophets, the Arabic implies it), and it understood language. Burāq settled, and the Prophet ﷺ mounted.
❧The Journey to Baitul Maqdis
The Prophet ﷺ rode Al-Burāq with Jibrīl escorting him. They arrived at Baitul Maqdis (Jerusalem, the site of Masjid al-Aqṣā).
Important historical context: at this time (approx. 620 CE), there was no standing structure at the site. Under Roman Christian governance, the site of the Jewish Holy Temple had been deliberately desecrated and converted into a rubbish dump, an antisemitic insult codified by imperial decree. There was no Dome of the Rock (built 691 CE), no Masjid al-Aqṣā mosque (built 705 CE), nothing. What the Prophet ﷺ saw and entered was a spiritual reality beyond material perception.
The proof: he says 'I tied Al-Burāq to the animal post that is used by the Prophets.' The post where Sulaymān Alayhi Salām and earlier prophets tied their animals is not physically standing in 620 CE, it had been gone for centuries. The Prophet ﷺ was seeing and interacting with a dimension of Baitul Maqdis that is beyond the physical world. This is of the capacity of Allah to show His servant: linuriyahu min āyātinā.
❧Two Rakʿāt at Masjid al-Aqṣā
The Prophet ﷺ entered and prayed two rakʿāt: ثُمَّ دَخَلْتُ فَصَلَّيْتُ فِيهِ رَكْعَتَيْنِ. This was before Ṣalāh had even been made obligatory (Ṣalāh becomes fard later this same night in the Miʿrāj). Even so, the Prophet ﷺ prayed upon entering, demonstrating Taḥiyyat al-Masjid (the greeting prayer upon entering a mosque), a practice he formally legislated later in Medina.
❧The Prophets Standing and Praying
Inside, the Prophet ﷺ encountered the assembled Prophets and Messengers. In one authentic narration, he turned around after his prayer and saw all of them (جَمِيعَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ). In another version, he saw them already standing and praying as he entered. Among those he specifically identified and described:
Mūsā Alayhi Salām (قَائِمٌ يُصَلِّي): tall, strong, muscular build, brownish complexion, 'as if from the tribe of Shanuʾah' (a tribe whose people were physically familiar to the Ṣaḥābah). The Prophet ﷺ had passed by Mūsā's grave during the journey and seen him praying there as well.
ʿĪsā ibn Maryam Alayhi Salām (قَائِمٌ يُصَلِّي): whitish/reddish complexion (the Arabs described fair-skinned people as 'red' or 'yellow', not white), medium height (shorter than Mūsā), hair glistening as if freshly bathed. He is the only prophet who is still physically alive (raised bodily: إِنِّي رَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ), so he literally descended from the heavens to be present here. His presence symbolizes his ultimate return near the Day of Judgment.
Ibrāhīm Alayhi Salām (قَائِمٌ يُصَلِّي): The Prophet ﷺ described seeing him and said: 'I could not see anyone who more closely resembled Ibrāhīm than myself, and I could not see anyone who more closely resembled myself than Ibrāhīm.' They were effectively mirror images of each other in physical appearance.
The detail that even after death the Prophets are standing and praying is one of the most powerful signs of the centrality of Ṣalāh. Mūsā prays in his grave. The Prophets pray in Baitul Maqdis. As if to say: Ṣalāh is not a worldly act, it is the very nature of the blessed souls.
❧Leading All the Prophets in Ṣalāh
When the time for Ṣalāh came, the Prophet ﷺ was placed as Imām: فَحَانَتِ الصَّلَاةُ فَأَمَمْتُهُمْ. All 120,000+ Prophets and Messengers, every single Nabī and Rasūl who ever lived, stood in one long Ṣaff (row) behind him. The Prophet ﷺ led them all.
The significance cannot be overstated. Every prophet is the Imām of his Ummah, the leader and exemplar of his people. When the Prophet ﷺ leads all the prophets, he is by extension the leader of every Ummah that ever existed. This is the meaning of his own statement: أَنَا سَيِّدُ وَلَدِ آدَمَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَلَا فَخْرَ, 'I am the Sayyid of the children of Adam on the Day of Judgment, and I say this without boasting.' The Isrāʾ makes it literal and visible.
The Quran says both: لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ ('We make no distinction between any of them', i.e., they all have the same message, the same Lord, the same prayer) and تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ('We have preferred some over others', in rank). Both are true. They stand in one Ṣaff as equals in submission; our Prophet ﷺ leads them as the highest in rank.
❧The Two Vessels: Choosing the Fiṭrah
After the prayer, Jibrīl presented two vessels (one authentic narration places this here at Baitul Maqdis; another places it during the heavenly ascent, both are authentic, and as the speaker notes, the minor difference does not affect the lesson). One vessel contained Khamr (wine) and the other Laban (milk). Jibrīl said: 'Choose. And your choice will determine your Ummah.'
At this point in the Meccan period, wine had not yet been prohibited, it was still ḥalāl. The Prophet ﷺ chose the milk without hesitation. Jibrīl said: أَصَبْتَ الْفِطْرَةَ, 'You have chosen the Fiṭrah.'
The symbolism is deep:
Milk: comes from the animal in a pure state, يَخْرُجُ مِن بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَائِغًا لِّلشَّارِبِينَ (Surah Al-Naḥl 16:66): 'From between filth and blood We bring forth pure, wholesome milk for the drinkers.' It nourishes and sustains. A hadith says nothing serves as both food and drink except milk. It is what a child receives in its purest state.
Wine: was once pure (grape juice), then bacteria infested it and it fermented, literally a corruption of what was originally good. It smells repulsive to the uninitiated. When you drink it, it corrupts the mind, makes you act foolishly and lose control. One Ṣaḥābī said: even if wine had not been prohibited, any person of sound intellect (dhū ʿaql salīm) would have avoided it on its own merits.
The Prophet ﷺ said: كُلُّ مَوْلُودٍ يُولَدُ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ, 'Every child is born upon the Fiṭrah.' Like milk: the base state of the human being is pure. It is the environment, the figurative 'bacteria' of corrupted influences, that corrupts it. The Ummah of Muḥammad ﷺ will be upon the Fiṭrah: the pure, unadulterated original nature of humanity. And the 'wine prohibition' that was formalized later in Medina has its root-symbolism here: Jibrīl called milk 'the Fiṭrah' and that is what the Ummah chose.