# Qur'an Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746 "2004-03-05T19:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746/1 "2004-03-05T19:31:15Z")
I am writing a paper on Zionism and need to know the Sura (Chapter) from the Qur’an where Muhammad takes his Night Journey to Jerusalem where he ascends to heaven and such. All help greatly appreciated. I have tried searching for it on the internet but still can’t find it. And I don’t want to email my professor the question if I don’t have to. cheers ---
**Author:** ![Zcrysis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zcrysis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zcrysis)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746/2 "2004-03-05T19:39:27Z")
I think what you want is Sura Al-Israa which is the 17th sura. Certainly this is the sura that starts off with it, and from what i can learn from a quick google this is the sura that seems to contain all the desciption of the night journey [Mairaj]. ---
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746/3 "2004-03-05T20:12:41Z")
Thanks, I had that one. I thought there was more explicit one; maybe not. For anybody else - what I am trying to do is show how each faith (Judaism, Xpn, and Islam) have direct spiritual connections with Jerusalem and Palestine in particular. I am using Exodus 3:7-8 for Judaism, Romans 11:26 for Xpn, and thanks to \*\*Zcrysis \*\* Sura 17:1 for Islam. If anybody has better biblical quotes to demostate the spiritual connection to the Holy Land please contribute. ---
**Author:** ![Zcrysis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zcrysis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zcrysis)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746/4 "2004-03-05T21:49:02Z")
Ill lob in again because im actually reading a book about this exact subject at the moment, which is the aptly titled Jerusalem by Karen Armstrong. I dont know exactly how much help it would be but since its sitting almost precisely by my fingertips and claims it wants to deal with why so many faiths assign such spiritual worth to Jeruselem it seems to be a book thats targetted at exactly what you’re trying to cover. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quran-question/232746/5 "2004-03-06T04:31:35Z")
Surat al-Najm (The Star), the 53rd surah, also has a description of Muhammad’s visit to the Divine Presence above the Seventh Heaven. But that was after his Ascent (mi‘râj), after he had left Jerusalem far behind. In the Qur’ân, the only mention of the Night Journey (isrâ’) to Jerusalem is just that one brief verse 17:1. For more detailed stories, you have to look in the hadith literature or the prophet’s biographies like _Sirat Ibn Hisham_. Then there’s the _Mi‘raj-namah_ literature from Central Asia, a good example of which was published as an art book, _The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet: Mirâj Nâmeh_ (New York: George Braziller, 1977). A more easily accessible source would be a biography like _Muhammad: His Life from the Earliest Sources_ by Martin Lings. Speaking of Karen Armstrong, she herself wrote a biography, _Muhammad_. One often finds mention of the discovery by the Spanish Jesuit scholar Miguel Asin Palacios that Dante’s _Divine Comedy_ was based on the model of Andalusian Arab _mi‘râj_ literature, such as that by the great Sufi, Ibn al-‘Arabi. But the Muslim story, in turn, has an interesting parallel with Tantric yoga. The Prophet ascended through the seven heavens on the Buraq, a winged beast with the face of a woman. While in yoga, the _shakti_ (female energy) ascends through the seven _cakra_s to the Divine. As though the Islamic story shared the Hindu theme. Maybe all religions are one in origin, or one in their basic essence.