Buraq
BURAQ
In sura 17:1 of the Qur?an, the prophet Muhammad, led by the angel Gabriel, journeys in one night (israq?) to "the Far Distant Place of Worship," interpreted as Jerusalem. In the hadith, Muhammad continues on to the heavens (mi?raj), describing his mount as a small white steed, called al-Buraq. Later literary and art-historical traditions give al-Buraq a human face, wings, and dappled coloration. This miraculous steed is depicted in the fourteenth-century world history of Rashiduddin, the fifteenth-century Timurid Mi?rajname, and sixteenth-century Safavid Khamsas of Nizami. Buraq's importance continues today, appearing in Sunni paintings commemorating a hajj to Mecca, or in Shi?ite popular art, which often shows al-Buraq alongside Husayn's horse at Karbala.
Carel Bertram