Al-Isrā’ 17:1

The issue

The sura mentions al-Masjid al-Aqšā, or “the Remote Mosque,” as the first destination of Muhammad’s Night Journey from Mecca. Muslim exegetes state the following remarks about this mosque:

The “Remote Mosque” means the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis. It is called “the Remote” because it is the farthest of mosques for visiting. Muslim pilgrims rank Bayt al-Maqdis as the second most important mosque to visit to gain favor from Allah. (The Sacred Mosque ranks first.)

“It is called ‘the Remote’ because of the [long] distance between it and the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca]”.

How can Islamic commentators suggest that the “Remote Mosque” refers to the mosque at Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) when only Christian worship places existed after the destruction of the temple of Solomon in the first century AD? There were no mosques anywhere for Islam, not even in Mecca, during the time mentioned in this verse. Furthermore, al-Aqsā mosque construction started in the Umayyad era and was completed in AH 72/AD 691 during the reign of the fifth Umayyad caliph, ‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwān (AH 25-86/AD 646-705).

So, how could this journey take place to a mosque that was not yet built? Is there an explanation for the mention of al-Masjid al-Aqsā (Palmer trans. “the Remote Mosque”) in a Meccan verse?

It appears that after the Muslims built al-Aqsā mosque, they claimed that Muhammad journeyed to it by night to give the mosque Islamic legitimacy. It is obvious that the story of being taken on a journey by night to Jerusalem and to heaven is “an echo to the journey of [Elijah] the prophet [of the Old Testament] to Sinai [Horeb] to see God (1 Kings 19) and an echo to his being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2)”.

German Orientalist Gustav Weil considers that Q 17.1 was composed and placed in the Qur’ān during the time of Abū Bakr, the first caliph. He adds that it is unlikely that Muhammad would claim for himself such a miraculous journey. In addition, this verse does not logically transition to the following verse, a story of Moses, in the context.

It clearly appears from the content incongruity and rhyme disagreement of the first verse with the following verses that this first verse was added later to the sura. However, Weil’s contention that it was added in the time of Caliph Abū Bakr is debatable. It is likely that the verse was added much later. This verse may have been added during the Umayyad period during the time al-Aqsā mosque was built.

Most Muslim scholars adopt the opinion that right after the Isrā’ (first part of the Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem), the Mi‘rāj, the second part of Muhammad’s Night Journey from earth to heaven, took place. However, the first verse of the sura does not point to the Mi‘rāj; nothing in the sura mentions this second journey of the night. Indeed, in verse 93 of this sura the Quraysh asked Muhammad to ascend to heaven and come back with a book that proves his prophethood. Muhammad bowed out by replying, “Say, ‘Celebrated be the praises of my Lord! was I aught but a mortal apostle?’”

Perhaps the Muslim exegetes who added the story of the Mi‘rāj to the verse’s interpretation were influenced by an Old Testament apocryphal work titled the Third Book of Enoch, which describes the heavenly ascension of Enoch (great-grandfather of Noah) in a fiery chariot (3 Enoch 6.1 and 7.1). (See Gen. 5.21-24.) The stories of this work were known in the Arabian Peninsula.