The Night Journey to al-Aqsa (Surah 17:1)
“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 Quran describes the Isra’ (Night Journey) as movement from al-Masjid al-Haram (Mecca) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa (Jerusalem). At al-Aqsa, the Prophet led all previous prophets in prayer as Imam — a symbolic statement of the Islamic prophetic mission’s encompassing of all prior revelations. The Mi’raj (Ascension to the heavens) then began from Jerusalem.
The combination — Mecca to Jerusalem to the heavens — places Jerusalem at the axis point between the earthly sacred center and the divine realm.
The First Qibla
For the first year and a half of the Medinan period (1 AH / 622 CE - 2 AH / 624 CE), the Muslims prayed toward Jerusalem. The change of qibla to Mecca (2:144) occurred in 2 AH: “We have seen the turning of your face toward the heaven, and We will surely turn you to a qibla with which you will be pleased — so turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram.” Classical commentators identify this change as a theological statement of Islam’s independent identity from Judaism, and a fulfillment of the divine preference for the Abrahamic sanctuary at Mecca.
Prophetic History in Jerusalem
The Quran repeatedly refers to events in al-Ard al-Muqaddasa (the Holy Land):
- Musa commands his people to enter the holy land (5:21)
- Sulaiman builds the temple (bayt al-maqdis)
- Zakariyya’s miraculous son Yahya — born in the sanctuary
- Maryam’s preparation in the sanctuary
- Isa’s healing miracles in Bayt al-Maqdis and its surroundings
See also: Isra Miraj, Prophets In Islam, Seerah Maryam, Fath Mecca, Waqf Islamic, Seerah Salman Farisi