Palestinians mark Lailat al-Isra and Miraj at Al-Aqsa

JERUSALEM

Tens of thousands of Palestinians on Tuesday evening marked the Lailat al-Isra and Miraj at Jerusalem’s iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque.  

In a statement, Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority (tasked with overseeing the city’s Muslim and Christian holy sites) said an estimated 50,000 Palestinians had come to the mosque to mark the night.

Lailat Isra and Miraj commemorates Prophet Muhammad's nighttime journey from Mecca to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from where he ascended temporarily into heaven.

The holiday is generally observed on the 27th day of Rajab, the seventh month of the Islamic calendar.

In Islamic belief, Prophet Muhammad, after being prepared for his meeting with Allah by the angels Jibrail and Mikhail, traveled on a winged steed named “Buraq” to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where he led other prophets in prayer. 

He then ascended to heaven and later to the Sidraṫ al-Munṫaha, the boundary marking the end of the seventh heaven, where he met and conversed with Allah.