Isra and Mi’raj
The first art project that I have created is a representation of the isra and mi’raj, which are the night journey and the night ascent of Muhammad, respectively. On the night of the isra, the Prophet began his journey from Mecca, rode to the farthest mosque on earth, and then traveled to Heaven. Along his trip, he encountered major prophets of the past, such as Adam, Abraham, Jesus, and Moses. Eventually, Muhammad reaches God, and he prayed in front of Him and talked with Him. For my project, I created a painting with acrylics, which shows Buraq ascending above the moon and a mosque dome. It should be immediately obvious that I did not paint Muhammad; I did this out of respect for the Muslims who believe that the Prophet should not be represented visually. Historically, the Prophet has been represented, but I thought that it would not be appropriate in this case to paint him. Another aspect that should be obvious is that this scene is fairly realistic (as much as my skills can allow). While some theologians believe that the isra and mi’raj were visions or “out-of-body” experiences, I chose to interpret the journey as a physical journey, so I painted the figures as if they actually underwent the journey.
One of the major features of the isra and mi’raj is a creature named Buraq. Buraq, who is a horse with a human’s head, ferried Muhammad from Mecca to the farthest mosque to the Heavens. During class, we saw several interpretations of Muhammad’s ascent to the heavens, and we saw different artists’ interpretations of the creature Buraq. Several were done is a realistic manner, depicting Buraq as a full-bodied horse with a head; others were more symbolic. I tried to strike a balance between the realist tradition and the symbolic by having the body of Buraq in the painting but not the head. In the lower left-hand corner of the painting, there is a mosque’s dome, which represents the farthest mosque in the world. It is unsure where this place is, although some believe it to be Jerusalem, so I made the dome very nondescript and vague.
This project hopefully captures some sense of the mystical aspects of the night journey that Muhammad took. I was fascinated by this story because of its fantastical elements, and I hope that this shows.