The Buraq (al-Buráq) is the wondrous heavenly steed of Islamic tradition: a swift, radiant mount, white and of dazzling beauty, that carried the Prophet Muhammad on the miraculous Night Journey (the Isrá’ and Mi’ráj) from Mecca to Jerusalem and up through the seven heavens, a being of light swifter than thought, often depicted with wings and a graceful form. It is the heavenly steed, the mount of the Night Journey.
The Steed of the Night Journey
The Buraq (al-Buráq, “the lightning” or “the brilliant one,” from a root meaning lightning or brightness) is the celestial steed of Islamic tradition — the wondrous mount that bore the Prophet Muhammad on the Isrá’ wal-Mi’ráj, the miraculous Night Journey and Ascension. It was brought to the Prophet by the angel Jibril (Gabriel), and it is described as a beautiful, radiant creature: a white (or shining) steed, larger than a donkey and smaller than a mule (or like a horse), of dazzling brightness, with a graceful form — and, in much of the tradition and art, with wings, and sometimes with a face or features of striking beauty.
The Swiftness of Lightning
The Buraq’s defining quality is its supernatural swiftness. It is faster than any earthly creature — swifter than thought or the blink of an eye — its name evoking the lightning. With each stride, the Buraq is said to place its hoof at the farthest point its sight could reach, so that it crosses immense distances in an instant, moving with a speed beyond all earthly measure. Thus it could carry the Prophet across the world and through the heavens in the course of a single night.
The Night Journey and Ascension
The Buraq’s great role is in the Night Journey (Isrá’) and the Ascension (Mi’ráj) — one of the most significant events in the life of the Prophet Muhammad. In a single miraculous night, the Buraq carried the Prophet from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca (the Ka’ba) to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem (al-Aqsa) — the Isrá’ — and from there the Prophet ascended through the seven heavens (the Mi’ráj), meeting the prophets of old and coming into the presence of God, where the daily prayers were ordained, before returning the same night. The Buraq was the mount of this wondrous journey, the steed of light that bore the Prophet between the earthly and the heavenly. As the radiant, lightning-swift heavenly steed that carried the Prophet on the Night Journey and Ascension, the Buraq is one of the most beloved and celebrated of the wondrous beings of Islamic tradition. In the Buraq, Islamic tradition gave form to the heavenly steed — the swift, radiant mount, white and beautiful, that bore the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and up through the seven heavens on the miraculous Night Journey, the steed of the Mi’ráj.