Inscription: The night journey
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Photograph of The Great Mosque of Xian, facing the prayer hall of the mosque from the fourth courtyard - Wikimedia
The handwritten Arabic script at the very top of the scroll recounts verses from Sura Al-Isra, the section of the Qur’an describing the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey from the Kaaba to the “Farthest Mosque”, the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and his ascension to heaven.
سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِۦ لَيْلًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْأَقْصَا ٱلَّذِى بَـٰرَكْنَا حَوْلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَآ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ
“Glory be to the One Who took His servant Muhammad by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs." Qur’an 17:1, translated by Dr. Mustafa Khattab https://quran.com/17