Buraq and
Muhammad
"Yeah! Tonight is my night to
have my story read," Emma squealed with excitement at her sister
Charolette.
"Ugh! Don't remind me. I wonder
if I could convince Dad to read a
different story," Charolette said to her sister, knowing that this
would
aggravate her.
"Oh no you don't. That
isn't going to happen. Dad said tonight
was my night," Emma shouted. She turned towards the door and
screamed,
"DAD, I'm ready for you to read me the story about the Buraq.
Remember
we read Pegasus last night and Charolette picked, and tonight it's my
turn."
"Sweetheart, you don't have to
scream. I can hear you. And of
course I remember what happened last night. Hurry up and get in
bed,"
their Dad said.
He pulled the book down from
the shelf and turned to the chapter and began to read.
Hundreds of years ago there lived a
prophet named
Muhammad. Muhammad lived in the city of Mecca. One night
while he was
asleep, Muhammad was awakened by the archangel, Gabriel. Gabriel
was the brightest angel in heaven. Muhammad woke up as soon as
Gabriel stood next to him. Gabriel told him to prepare himself
because Muhammad would be going on a long journey that night.
Muhammad
started to pack his things when he noticed that Gabriel was holding
the reins to
the most beautiful creature that any person had ever seen. It
looked a
lot like a horse, but there were features about the creature that made
it slightly different from a horse. For starters, Buraq was a
smaller horse, like a miniature pony. It had fur that was milky
white in color, with a yellow-golden tint that made it sparkle like
diamonds as the light shined over it. Buraq's mane was dark as
night
and shiny and so long that it almost touched the ground. One thing that
made this horse different from normal horses was the
fact that it had wings. Not wings like a fairy, but wings like a
bird, except that these wings were much bigger so that they could carry
the
horse.
The wings looked white until light hit them and then every color of the
rainbow would sparkle from them. Buraq had burning red
eyes and the face of a human, but clearly it was not a person.
Plus Buraq
could
speak perfect Arabic. Muhammad was mesmerized by this beautiful
creature.
"Dad, I wish that I had a
horse like Buraq! It sounds like such a pretty animal," Emma squealed
with delight.
Muhammad
ran towards Buraq, wanting to stroke its beautiful fur.
Muhammad's
quickness scared Buraq, and it reared up in
self-defense. Gabriel pulled hard on
the
reins, tring to regain control of Buraq. Gabriel stepped forward
and whispered in
Buraq's ear that the man standing before it was Muhammad, the prophet
of
Allah. Buraq immediately became sorry for its rude behavior and
apologized to Muhammad. Buraq bowed down as a sign of its
apologies, and
so that Muhammad could mount it. They were ready for the journey to
begin.
Buraq
stretched out its massive wings and began to fly. It rose above
the mountains and the desert. The whole country of
Arabia fell silent that night. Not a sound could be heard, not
even
Buraq's wings flapping. They flew through the pitch black sky
until
Buraq landed at what is known as the Noble Sanctuary in
Jeruselum.
Once, there, Muhammad tied Buraq up and left it outside, until he had
finished praying with the other prophets. Once he had finished
this journey, known as the Isra, Muhammad was ready to begin the second
part, known as the Mi'raj. He remounted Buraq and it flew him to
the
heavens. While there, Muhammad spoke
with some other prophets, and he met with Allah. Allah told
Muhammad
that his task was to tell followers that prayers were to be
offered five times a day. After this, Buraq carried Muhammad all the
way
back to his house in
Mecca. Before it left, Buraq bowed before the prophet and was
never
seen again on earth.
"I guess your story wasn't so bad
after all," Charolette said to Emma.
"I told you so. I hope I have dreams about a horse coming to fly
me away in the night," Emma said excitedly, while snuggling up in the
blankets ready to get to sleep.
Author's Notes: For this story
I wanted to focus mainly on how Buraq and
Muhammad met. Muhammad is the main character in the real story,
so I
had to shift views to show that Buraq was the most
important in my
story. I spent a lot of time describing Buraq and how it felt
honored
to fly Muhammad around. Buraq was the reason
why Muhammad was able
to
travel so fast over the vast distances. Buraq, when translated
into English means lightning. I included what
Muhammad's
journey was because I felt it was an important aspect to the
story. Muhammad is the one whose journey is celebrated by the people,
and Buraq
is an important part of that story. Buraq was chosen to
help Muhammad meet
with Allah. Without Buraq's
help, Muhammad would have never been able to make it into heaven or
travel back to his home so quickly. This story is an
important aspect of the Muslim religion. Every year children get
to learn about the story of Buraq at a
mosque. The story of Buraq
is told and then the children are allowed to pray with their parents. I
thought that it was neat that the children get to take part in this
ceremony.
On to the Next Story: Kelpie
Go Back
to My CoverPage
Go Back to My Introduction
Bibliography:
Wikipedia: Buraq
Isra and Mi'raj
Story: Al Burak
Author: James Baldwin
Book: The Wonder-Book of Horses
Year Published: 1903
Web Source: The
Baldwin Project
Image Information:
Muhammad
Ascending on Buraq