The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1112 page)

s, numbering
c.
20 million, in India, Pakistan, E. Africa, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. In India, they are known also as Khojas, from the Hindu
caste
originally converted by a Persian Isma‘
l
,
adr al-D
n. Their Im
m is the
Aga Kh
n
.

 
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Isn
d
.

The chain of transmitters of a Muslim
ad
th
.

 
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(
al-Isra’
, Arab., ‘the journey’). The miraculous journey of the Prophet
Mu
ammad
from
Mecca
to Jerusalem. Qur’
n 17.1 is taken as a reference to this journey, but no details are given. These are to be found in
ad
th
, which tells of
Bur
q
, an animal ‘smaller than a mule but larger than an ass’. Together they travelled through the sky to Jerusalem, from where, after prayer and worship, he made the Ascent (al-
Mi‘r
j
). See also
AL-MASJID AL-AQ
’.