Description of al-Buraq which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) rode on the night of the Isra’ (Night Journey)

Question: 289763

what is the true description of the Buraq of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)? And did it have wings?

Summary of answer

There is no proof that al-Buraq had two wings, and Allah knows best about that. There is no need for us to be concerned about finding out about something that the clear, sound text of the revelation has not explained to us, when knowing it is of no benefit to our faith and not knowing it will not cause us to miss out on any virtue or good deeds.

Answer

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Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah:

I.

Al-Buraq is a mount that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) rode on the night of the Isra’ and Mi`raj (Night Journey and Ascent to Heaven). An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The linguists said: Al-Buraq is the name of the mount which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) rode on the night of the Isra’. Ibn Durayd said: The word al-Buraq is derived from al-barq (lightning), in sha Allah, because of its speed. It was also said that it is named thus because of its shine and lustre, or because it is white. Al-Qadi said: It may be that it is named thus because it has two colours, as a sheep may be described as barqa’ if there are spots of black in its white wool. He said: In the hadith, al-Buraq is described as white, and the type of sheep that is described as barqa’ (having some black spots) is still regarded as being white.

End quote from Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him).

It may be that it is not a derived word. Ibn Abi Jamrah said: Al-Buraq was given this unique name as an indication of its uniqueness, because there is no report to suggest that anyone owned it, unlike other mounts of different categories. He said: Allah had the power to take the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) up by himself, without al-Buraq, but riding al-Buraq was by way of an additional honour, because if he had ascended by himself, he would have been like one who is walking, and it is more honourable to ride than to walk.

End quote from Fat-h al-Bari, 7/206.

II.

A description of the Buraq that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) rode is given in As-Sahihayn. Al-Bukhari (3207) and Muslim (162) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Al-Buraq – which is a tall white mount, taller than a donkey and shorter than a mule, whose stride reaches as far as he can see – was brought to me, and I rode it until I reached Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). There I tethered it to the ring which was used by the Prophets.”

It was narrated from Anas that Al-Buraq was brought to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on the night on which he was taken on his Night Journey, already reined and saddled. It shied away from him, so Jibril said to it: Are you behaving like this with Muhammad? No one dearer to Allah than him has ever ridden you. And it began to sweat.

Classed as authentic by al-Albani in Sahih at-Tirmidhi.

This and the Prophet’s words “There I tethered it to the ring which was used by the Prophets” indicate that the prophets before our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) had also ridden him.

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said:

An-Nasa’i and Ibn Mardawayh narrated, via Yazid ibn Abi Malik, from Anas, a report in which it says: The prophets before him were given this mount to ride. And something similar is mentioned in the hadith of Abu Sa`id that was narrated by Ibn Is-haq.

This indicates that al-Buraq was prepared for the prophets to ride, contrary to the view of those who deny that.

To sum up:

Al-Buraq is a tall white mount, taller than a donkey and shorter than a mule which places its hoof as far as it can see. It has reins and a saddle, and the prophets (peace be upon them) rode it.

It was narrated by at-Tabarani in Al-Kabir (9976) and by Abu Ya`la in his Musnad (5036) from Ibn Mas`ud, that al-Buraq was brought to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and he and Jibril (blessings of Allah be upon them both) mounted it and it set off with them. When it came to a mountain or hill, its back legs would come up, and when it came downhill, its front legs would come up.

Its isnad includes Hamzah al-A`war, whose hadiths are to be rejected. Imam Ahmad said: His hadiths are to be rejected. Ibn Ma`in said: He is nothing; his hadiths are not to be written down. Al-Jawzjani and ad-Daraqutni said: He is very weak (da’if jiddan). Al-Bukhari said: He is weak and his narration is of no value. An-Nasa’i said: He is not trustworthy.

Tahdhib at-Tahdhib, 10/353.

Al-Albani said in Da`if al-Jami` (131) regarding this hadith: It is very weak.

III.

There is no proof in any hadith, whether it is directly attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or otherwise – as far as we know – that al-Buraq had two wings. Rather that is narrated in some reports that cannot be cited as evidence because of the weakness of their isnads.

Al-Hafiz said in Al-Fat-h (7/206):  In a report narrated by Ibn Sa`d from al-Waqidi with his isnads, it says: It [al-Buraq] has two wings, but I have not seen this narrated by anyone else. End quote.

Al-Waqidi – whose name is Muhammad ibn `Umar – was classed as a liar by Imam Ahmad and others. Abu Dawud said: I do not write down his hadiths and I do not narrate from him; I do not doubt that he used to fabricate hadiths. Bandar said: I have not seen anyone more mendacious than him. Is-haq ibn Rahawayh said: In my view, he is one of those who fabricate hadiths.

See: Tahdhib at-Tahdhib, 9/323-326.

Ath-Tha`labi narrated in his Tafsir (6/56) from Ibn `Abbas a marfu` hadith, which says:

“I saw al-Buraq, a mount which is taller than a donkey and shorter than a mule. Its cheeks were like the cheeks of a man, its tail was like the tail of a camel, its forelock was like the forelock of a horse, its legs were like the legs of camels, its hooves were like the hooves of cattle, its chest was like a red ruby, and its back was like a white pearl. On it was one of the saddles of Paradise, and it had two wings attached to its thighs. It travelled like lightning, and its stride reached as far as it could see.”

Its isnad includes Muhammad ibn as-Sa’ib, who is also known as Abun-Nadr al-Kalbi al-Kufi al-Mufassir. He was a well-known fabricator of hadith. Sufyan said: Al-Kalbi said to me: Everything I narrated to you from Abu Salih is a lie.

Ahmad ibn Zuhayr said: I said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal: Is it permissible to read the tafsir of al-Kalbi? He said: No.

Ibn Hibban said: His religious views and the fact that he is clearly a liar mean that there is no need to say anything else about him. He narrated tafsir from Abu Salih from Ibn `Abbas, but Abu Salih did not meet Ibn `Abbas, and al-Kalbi did not hear from Abu Salih. It is not permissible to mention him in books, so how about quoting his narrations as evidence?

Mizan al-I`tidal, 3/557-559.

Ibn al-Jawzi narrated in Al-Mawdu`at (1/288) a lengthy hadith in which it says: “Allah made al-Buraq available to me; it is better than the entire world. It is one of the mounts of paradise; its face is like a human face, its hooves are like the hooves of horses, and its tail is like the tail of a cow. It is taller than a donkey and shorter than a mule, its saddle is a red ruby, its stirrups are made of white pearls, and it has seventy reins of gold. It has two wings that are decorated with pearls and rubies, and written between its eyes are the words: La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasulullah (There is no god worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).

Ibn al-Jawzi said:

This hadith is undoubtedly fabricated, and how ignorant, inarticulate and inane is the one who fabricated it. Were it not that I accused Ghulam Khalil of fabricating it, for he is uneducated and a liar, I would have said that the one who fabricated it intended to defame Islam with this hadith. End quote.

And Allah knows best.