The Night Journey and Ascension in Islam: The Reception of Religious Narrative in Sunnī, Shī‘ī and Western Culture 9780755612482, 9781848859869

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PR EFACE

Praise be to God Who took His servant for a journey by night from the sacred mosque to the farthest mosque whose precincts We did bless in order that We might show him some of Our signs, for He is the One Who sees and hears all things. (Qur’a n 17:1) A volume of Biha r al-Anwa r (‘Oceans of Lights’), a collection of H adıth or traditions collected by the seventeenth-century Ima mı  theologian Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı,  contains a very lengthy section on the prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, the isra ’, and subsequent ascension through the seven heavens, the mi’raj. The traditions compiled by al-Majlisı  are fascinating; in their drama and evocative descriptions, the feeling of religious awe they so clearly attempt to communicate, their treatment of transcendental subjects such as God, the angels and Paradise and Hell, the status of the Prophet, the future of Islam and the Muslim community, and the way they have clearly incorporated many aspects of Ima mı  doctrine and practice. They seem, in short, to be speaking to that imaginative faculty in man which becomes religious experience when focussed on the divine, which fosters belief in the reality of things not seen, constitutes the sense of the ineffable and is the catalyst for faith. It encourages and sustains the more intellectual religious impulses, that is, those which can be articulated in language, and indeed all the complexities of theology. It is surely this as much as any other aspect

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of the narratives which has so captivated and enthralled the minds of Muslims. Anyone coming across al-Majlisı’s traditions on the isra ’ and the mi’raj would presume there to be yet more material on the subject and might enquire a little further to see what other versions exist and perhaps to learn what Muslims have to say about them. To do this is rather like opening a door which you expect to lead to a cupboard or small room and finding yourself in a vast hall, shelves of books lining the walls, occupied by people of different times, races, tongues and occupations, some reading, some writing using parchment, paper and keyboard, some debating sedately and some arguing with raised voices. The subject that concerns all is the isra ’ and the mi‘raj. This description is obviously overly poetic, but if I had to sum up in just a few words what the purpose of this book is then it would be to reflect a little of what goes on in that great hall and meeting place. Indeed, the event of the isra ’/mi‘raj is an example of one focus of Muslim thought that has endured over the centuries and is implicated in the very foundations of Islam: H adıth,  the Qur’a n and the characteristics of the Prophet and God. It is as relevant and interesting to the Muslims of today as it was to those of the earliest times; perhaps even more so given the serious and far-reaching discussions over the veracity of H adıth and the religious and political significance of al-Aqsa  mosque in Jerusalem, ‘the city of the isra ’ and the mi‘raj’ situated in ‘the land of the isra ’ and the mi‘raj’. The present book offers an insight into the kinds of intellectual activity engaged in by Muslims, the approaches adopted and the sources of authority resorted to. It is therefore essentially a history of ideas, those ideas concerning specifically the isra ’ and the mi‘raj’. These are examined from the perspective of Sunnı  and Ima mı  Shı’ı  Islam, and are the product of orthodox theologians (‘ulama ’) concerned with Qur’a nic exegesis, H adıth and theology and so on, and more contemporary non-specialist and non-clerical commentators such as Muslim scholars and intellectuals, and even popular views aired on the internet. Its examination of Muslim attitudes to the miraculous, to prophetic tradition and the nature of the Prophet within the context of a major article of faith reveals the tremendous variety within Islam and

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emphasizes the fact that, if further corroboration were needed, Islam is not a monolithic religion of fixed ideas and beliefs. Alongside the investigation of Muslim opinion on the nature and significance of the night journey and ascension we also pay considerable attention to the way the event has been received by Western non-Muslim, usually Christian, commentators, since this forms an essential element within the Western response to Islam and its Prophet.

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CHAPTER 1 THE ISR Ā’ anD THE MI‘R ĀJ

Let the believers listen to the interpretation of the verse on [the Prophet’s] night journey. Let them listen to the reports about his ascension and the signs of his Lord that he witnessed on the earth and in the heavens. The faith of the believer increases by reflecting on these signs, his heart is enlightened and his conviction is strengthened. (Jama l al-Dı n al-Dimashqı )1

The object of the present chapter is to offer the main verses in the Qur’a n and a selection of H ad ıth or traditions, not all considered by Muslims to be equally authoritative, which constitute a reasonably comprehensive idea of the content of the narratives dealing with the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j and around which the discussions in this book revolve. The texts quoted here do not contain any sectarian perspectives, but rather are typical of the numerous traditions which belong to the Muslim community as a whole and not any particular branch within it. Important additional details and variations will be met in subsequent chapters. For the longest and most elaborate account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the interested reader is directed to Reginald Hyatte’s translation of the thirteenth-century French version of the anonymous Halmaereig (Kita b al-Mi‘ra j).  2

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The Night Journey (the Isra ’) The central text regarding the isra ’ is Qur’a n 17 (su rat al-Isra ’) verse 1 which is said to refer to it explicitly: Praise be to God who took His servant for a journey by night from the sacred place of prayer to the furthest place of prayer whose precincts We did bless in order that We might show him some of Our signs: for He is the One who hears and sees all things.   bi ‘abdihi laylan min al-masjid al-ha ra m ila  alSubha n alladhı asra masjid al-aqsa  alladhı  ba rakna  ha wlahu li nurıyahu  min a ya tina  innahu huwa al-samı‘  al-basır. Subsequent traditions corroborate this verse and elaborate on it. Indeed, there is a large number of traditions dealing with the single event of the isra ’ without mentioning the mi‘ra j. The earliest extant account is that recorded by Ibn Isha q (d.151/768) in his biography of Muhammad, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya.3 It is related by the Muslim religious scholar and ascetic al-H asan al-Basrı  (d.110/728), as follows: The Prophet said: While I was asleep in the h ijr,4 Gabriel came to me and roused me with his foot. I sat up but did not see anything and so lay down again. He came to me again and roused me with his foot. I sat up but did not see anything and so lay down again. Then he came to me for a third time and roused me with his foot. I sat up and he took hold of my arm. I stood up next to him and he took me out to the door of the mosque. There was a white animal smaller than a mule but larger than an ass, with two wings on its thighs with which it propelled its legs. It placed its foot as far as it could see. [Gabriel] put me on it. He then went out with me and we kept close together. At this point Ibn Isha q supplies a few words from Qata da b. Di‘a ma (d.117/735) which provide further information on the bura q. Al-H asan’s tradition resumes:

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Then the Prophet and Gabriel continued until they arrived at bayt al-maqdis.5 There he found Abraham, Moses and Jesus along with some [other] prophets. The Prophet led them in prayer and prayed with them. He was then brought two cups, one containing wine and the other milk. The Prophet took the cup of milk and drank it, leaving the wine. ‘You have been rightly guided to true religion (al-fit ra),’ Gabriel said, ‘and your community has been rightly guided Muhammad. Wine is forbidden to you.’ Then the Prophet went back to Mecca. In the morning he told the Quraysh what had happened. Most of the people said, ‘This is clearly nonsense. By God, a caravan takes one month to travel from Mecca to Sha m and one month to return. So how can Muhammad do the journey there and return to Mecca in one night?’ Many of those who had become Muslims apostacized. Some people went to Abu Bakr and asked, ‘What do you think of your companion now, Abu Bakr? He claims that he went to bayt al-maqdis last night, prayed there and then returned to Mecca.’ Abu Bakr replied, ‘You are lying about him.’ ‘Certainly not,’ they said, ‘He is in the mosque right now speaking about it to the people.’ Abu Bakr said, ‘By God, if he said that then he is telling the truth. What is so surprising about it? He tells me that messages come from the heavens to the earth in an hour during the day or the night and I believe him. That is more astonishing than what surprises you.’ Then he went to the Prophet and said, ‘O Prophet of God, have you told these people that you travelled to bayt al-maqdis last night?’ ‘Yes,’ [Muhammad] replied. [Abu Bakr] said, ‘Describe it to me since I have been there.’ Al-H asan said that he was lifted up so that he could see the Prophet as he described it to Abu Bakr. Every time [Muhammad] described something Abu Bakr would say, ‘You are telling the truth. I bear witness that you are the Prophet of God,’ until [Muhammad] had finished. The Prophet said to Abu Bakr, ‘And you, Abu Bakr, are the siddıq.’ 6 It was on that day that he received the honorific al-siddıq.

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The Ascension through the Heavens (the Mi‘raj) The majority of Muslim scholars, both Sunnı  and Shı ‘ ı , maintain that a number of verses of the Qur’a n should be understood as a referring to the mi‘ra j. The key verses are those which open su rat al-Najm (su ra 53) and especially verses 11–18: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

By the star when it goes down Your companion is neither astray nor being misled, Nor does he say anything of his own desire. It is no less than a revelation sent down to him. He was taught by one mighty in power, Imbued with wisdom. For he appeared [in stately form] While he was in the highest part of the horizon. Then he approached and came closer, And was at a distance of two bow-shots or nearer. So did God reveal to His servant what He revealed. The [Prophet’s] heart did not falsify what he saw. Will you then dispute with him concerning what he saw? For indeed he saw him at a second descent, Near the lote-tree of the farthest boundary. Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the lote-tree was shrouded [in wonderful mystery]. His sight never swerved nor did it go wrong. For truly did he see the greatest signs of his Lord.

wa al-najm idha  hawa  ma d a lla sa hi bukum wa ma  ghawa  wa ma  yantiq ‘an al-hawa  in huwa illa  wahy yuh a  ‘allamuhu shadı d al-quwa  dhu  mirra fa astawa  wa huwa bi al-ufuq al-a‘la  thumma dana  fa tadalla  fa ka na qa ba qawsayn aw adna  fa awha  ila  ‘abdihi ma  awha  ma  kadhaba al-fu’ad ma  ra’a  a fa tuma runahu  ‘ala  ma  yara ? wa laqad ra’a hu nazlatan ukhra  ‘inda sidrat al-muntaha  ‘indaha  jannat al-ma’wa  idh yaghsha  al-sidra ma  yaghsha  ma  za gha al-basa r wa ma  ta gha  laqad ra’a  min aya t rabbihi al-kubra 

The identification of these verses with the mi‘ra j is consolidated by constant reference to elements from them in dealing with the event.

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In addition to those ha dıths  which concern only the isra ’, there are also a number of different traditions dealing with the single event of the mi‘ra j without mentioning the night journey to bayt al-maqdis. The following is taken from al-Bukha rı ’s S ah ıh :7 Hudba b. Kha lid from Hamma m b. Yahya  from Qata da from Anas b. Ma lik and Ma lik b. Sa‘sa‘a both of whom related that the Prophet told them about the time that he was taken on the night journey. He said: While I was sleeping in the ha t ım 8 (or perhaps [Muhammad] said the h ijr), someone came to me and split me open from here to here. (At this point, one of the narrators of the tradition, either Anas b. Ma lik or Ma lik b. S a‘sa‘a, interposes: I asked al-Ja rud next to me, ‘What does he mean?’ [al-Ja rud] replied, ‘He means from his throat to his pubic region.’ Or perhaps he said, ‘From his breastbone to his pubic region.’ The account then continues.) He took out my heart and a golden tray full of belief was brought to me. My heart was washed, stuffed [with the belief] and put back. Then I was brought a white animal smaller than a mule but larger than an ass. (At this point al-Ja rud asks Anas b. Ma lik, ‘Is that the bura q?’ ‘Yes,’ Anas replies.) The animal’s step was as far as it could see. I was carried upon it and Gabriel went with me until I reached the lowest heaven. He asked for the gate to be opened. ‘Who is it?’ it was asked. ‘Gabriel,’ he replied. ‘And who is with you?’ ‘Muhammad,’ he replied. ‘Has he been sent for?’9 it was asked. ‘Yes,’ [Gabriel] replied. The narrative then goes on to describe Muh a mmad’s progress through the seven heavens culminating in his eventual audience with God where he receives an injunction that he and his community must perform fifty daily prayers. These details are not dissimilar to those found in the longer traditions quoted below. For now, an extract from

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another tradition which describes only the mi‘ra j is the following, also taken from al-Bukha rı ’s S ah ıh :10 Yahya  b. Bukayr from al-Layth from Yunus from Ibn Shiha b from Anas b. Ma lik who said that Abu Dharr used to report that the Prophet said: While I was in Mecca, the roof of my house was opened and Gabriel descended. After he had opened my chest and washed it with Zamzam water he brought a golden tray full of wisdom and belief, emptied it into my chest and closed it up. Then he took hold of my hand and took me up to the lowest heaven . . .

The Isra ’ and the Mi‘raj In the majority of traditions the horizontal journey of the isra ’ and the vertical ascension to the heavens of the mi‘ra j are combined into a single narrative. It seems that at quite an early stage some traditions of this sort had attained a considerable degree of elaboration and variation. Such is the case with the following, quoted in the Tafsır of ‘Alı  b. Ibra hı m al-Qummı  (d.c.307/919).11 It is originally from a treatise called the Kita b al-Mi‘ra j and attributed to Abu al-H akam Hisha m b. Sa lim al-Jawa lı qı 12  who is said to have related H adıth from the Shı ‘ı  Ima ms Ja‘far al-S a diq (d.148/765) and al-S a diq’s son Musa  al-Ka zim (d.183/799).13 This version therefore belongs to a period not very much later that the earliest extant accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j recorded by Ibn Isha q in his biography of the Prophet. It is on the authority of Ja‘far al-S a diq who said: Gabriel, Mika ’ ı l [i.e. Michael] and Isra fı l brought the bura q to the Prophet of God. One of them held the reins, one held the stirrups and the third smoothed down its cloth. But the bura q became refractory so Gabriel slapped it and said, ‘Quieten down bura q, for no prophet has ridden you nor will ever ride you who is the likes of him.’ At this, [the bura q] accepted him and carried him up a little alongside Gabriel who showed him the wonders (a ya t) of the heavens and the earth.

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[Muhammad] said: While I was on my journey someone called from my right, ‘Muhammad!’ But I did not respond or turn towards them. Then someone called from my left, ‘Muhammad!’ But I did not respond or turn towards them. Then a woman met me with her arms uncovered and she was adorned with all the adornments of the world. She said, ‘O Muhammad, look at me so that I can speak to you.’ But I did not turn towards her. I travelled on and heard a sound that frightened me, but I continued past it. Then Gabriel took me down. ‘Pray,’ he said. So I prayed. ‘Do you know where you have just prayed?’ he asked. ‘No,’ I replied. He said, ‘You prayed in T ayba [i.e. Medina] to where you will emigrate.’ Then I mounted [the bura q] and we travelled for a distance. ‘Descend and pray,’ [Gabriel] said. So I descended and prayed. ‘Do you know where you have just prayed?’ he asked me. ‘No,’ I  ’)14 where replied. He said, ‘You prayed at mount Sinai (t u r sına Moses spoke with God.’ Then I mounted [the bura q] and we travelled for a distance. ‘Descend and pray,’ [Gabriel] said. So I descended and prayed. ‘Do you know where you have just prayed?’ he asked me. ‘No,’ I replied. He said, ‘You prayed in Bethlehem in the region of bayt al-maqdis, where Jesus the son of Mary was born.’ Then I mounted [the bura q] and we travelled until we arrived at bayt al-maqdis. I tied the bura q to the ring to which the prophets used to tie it. Then I entered the mosque with Gabriel at my side. We found Abraham, Moses and Jesus along with other prophets of God who had congregated there for me. The prayer was called and I did not doubt that Gabriel would lead us in it. When they had arranged themselves Gabriel took me by the arm and led me forward and I acted as the prayer leader (ima m). I say this without boasting. Then Gabriel brought me three cups, one containing milk, one containing water and one containing wine. I heard a voice say, ‘If he takes the water he and his community will be drowned. If he

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takes the wine he and his community will go astray. If he takes the milk he and his community will be rightly guided.’ So I took the milk and drank it. Gabriel said, ‘You and your community will be rightly guided.’ Then Gabriel asked, ‘What did you see on your journey?’ ‘Someone called to me from my right,’ I replied. ‘And did you respond to them?’ he asked. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘nor did I turn towards them.’ He said, ‘That was an emissary of the Jews. If you had responded to him your community would have become Jews after you had gone.’ Then he asked, ‘What else did you see?’ ‘Someone called to me from my left,’ I replied. ‘And did you respond to them?’ he asked. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘nor did I turn towards them.’ He said, ‘That was an emissary of the Christians and if you had responded to him your community would have become Christians after you.’ Then he asked, ‘What met you?’ ‘I met a woman who had uncovered her arms,’ I replied, ‘and she was adorned with every adornment. She told me to look at her so that she could speak with me.’ ‘Did you speak to her?’ he asked ‘No,’ I replied, ‘I did not speak to her nor did I turn towards her.’ He said, ‘That was the world. If you had spoken to her your community would have preferred this world to the Next.’ ‘After that, I heard a sound that frightened me,’ I said. ‘Did you hear [that], Muhammad?’ [Gabriel] asked. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘That was a rock that I threw from the edge of Hell seventy years ago,’ [Gabriel] said, ‘That was the sound of it landing.’ They say that the Prophet did not laugh again for the rest of his life. Then Gabriel ascended and I with him to the lowest heaven over which was an angel called Isma ‘ı l. He is the one who ‘snatches away’ and about whom God said: ‘Except he who snatches away, and he is pursued by a flaming fire of piercing brightness.’15 Under his command are seventy thousand angels under each of which are seventy thousand angels. ‘O Gabriel, who is that with you?’ [Isma ‘ı l] asked. ‘Muhammad,’ [Gabriel] replied. ‘Has he been sent for?’ [Isma ‘ı l] asked. ‘Yes,’ [Gabriel] replied. So he opened the door and I greeted him and he greeted me, and I asked for God’s

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forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. Then he said, ‘Welcome to the sincere brother and the virtuous prophet.’ I entered the lowest heaven and the angels received me. All the angels that met me were laughing and rejoicing except one who was the most awesome being I have ever seen, grim faced and wrathful. He greeted me in the same way as the others but he did not laugh and rejoice like them. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked, ‘for I am afraid.’ ‘You should be afraid of him,’ he replied, ‘We are all afraid of him, for he is Ma lik the Keeper of Hell. He never laughs, and since the time that God placed him in charge of Hell he becomes daily more enraged and angry with the enemies of God and the sinners. God exacts vengeance on them with him. If he had ever laughed with anyone before, or were to laugh with anyone later, he would laugh with you. But he does not laugh.’ So I greeted him and he returned my greeting and wished for me an afterlife in Paradise. While Gabriel was there as God described him, ‘obeyed and trustworthy,’16 I asked him, ‘Will you not order him to show me Hell?’ So Gabriel said, ‘O Ma lik, show Hell to Muhammad.’ [Ma lik] removed its cover, opened a door in it and bright flames shot out blazing into the sky. I trembled, thinking that they would consume me. I said to Gabriel, ‘Tell him to replace the cover on it.’ He did this. ‘Go back!’ [Ma lik] ordered [the flames], and they retreated back to the place from where they had emerged. Then I continued until I saw a huge brown-skinned man. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘This is your father Adam,’ he replied. [The souls of] his descendents were passing before him and he was saying, ‘A good spirit and a good smell from a good body.’17 [At this point, as elsewhere, the narrative moves to the third person:] Then the Prophet of God recited from su rat al-Mut afiffın: ‘No, indeed the record of the righteous is preserved in ‘Illıyu  n. What will explain to you what ‘Illıyu  n is? In that place there is a register fully inscribed’18 along with the remaining seventeen verses. [The tradition now returns to the first person:] I greeted my father Adam and he greeted me, and I asked for

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God’s forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. Then he said, ‘Welcome to the virtuous brother and the virtuous prophet, summoned in the virtuous time.’ Then I passed an angel who was sitting with the whole world between his knees. In his hand was a tablet of light with writing on it which he was looking at. He neither turned to the right nor to the left but rather with sadness concentrated only on [the writing]. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘This is the Angel of Death,’ he replied, ‘forever occupied with seizing souls.’ ‘Gabriel, take me close to him so that I can speak with him,’ I said. So he took me closer to him and I greeted him. ‘This is Muhammad,’ Gabriel told him, ‘the Prophet of compassion whom God has sent to His servants.’ [The Angel of Death] welcomed and greeted me. ‘Rejoice, Muhammad,’ he said, ‘for I see all goodness in your community.’ ‘Praise be to God the Benefactor who bestows blessings on His servants,’ I replied, ‘This is by the grace of my Lord and His kindness towards me.’ Gabriel said, ‘This angel has the most arduous work.’ ‘Are the souls taken from everyone who has died or will die in the future?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied. I asked, ‘Do you see where they are and attend to them in your natural form?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. Then the Angel of Death said, ‘To me, the whole world for which God has made me responsible is just like a dirham in a man’s palm which he turns over as he pleases. There is no house that I do not search five times a day, and if the inhabitants are crying over someone who is dead I say, “Do not cry for him, for you will continue to return to me until none of you remain.”’ ‘Gabriel,’ I said, ‘death is the most formidable thing.’ ‘What is after death is more formidable by far,’ Gabriel replied. Then I continued until I came across a group of people in front of whom were tables of good meat and rotten meat. They were eating the rotten meat and leaving the good. ‘Who are they, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘These are those who eat the unlawful and leave the lawful,’ he replied, ‘They are from your community, Muhammad.’ Then I passed an angel whom God had created in an amazing form. Half his body was made from fire and the other half from

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snow. The fire did not melt the snow nor did the snow extinguish the fire. He was calling out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Praised be the One who restrained the heat of this fire so that it does not melt the snow, and restrained the cold of this snow so that it does not extinguish the fire. O God, You who can unite snow and fire, unite the hearts of Your believing servants.’ ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. Gabriel replied, ‘This is an angel to whom God has entrusted the borders of the heavens and the ends of the worlds. Among all the angels of Almighty God he is the best counsellor to His believing servants in the world. He has been calling to them as you hear from the time he was created. There are two [other] angels who call in the heavens. One says, “O God, grant a successor to everyone who is charitable,” while the other says, “O God, bring ruin upon every niggardly person.”’ Then I continued until I came across groups of people who had lips like those of camels. They were gnawing the flesh from their sides and putting it into their mouths. ‘Who are these, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘They are the slanderers and the backbiters,’ he replied. Then I continued until I came across groups of people who were smashing their heads on rocks. ‘Who are these, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘They are those who sleep during the evening prayer,’ he replied. Then I continued until I came across groups of people thrusting fire into their mouths and it was coming out of their anuses. ‘Who are these, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘They are those who unjustly eat of the property of orphans,’ he replied, ‘They eat up a fire into their own bodies and will soon be enduring a blazing fire!’19 Then I continued until I came across groups of people trying to stand up but they could not because of their enormous stomachs. ‘Who are these, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘They are those who devour usury,’ he replied, ‘and they will not stand except as stands one whom Satan by his touch has driven to madness.20 They are like the people of Pharaoh who are brought in front of the fire morning and evening asking, “O Lord, when will be the Hour of Reckoning?”’ 21

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Then I continued until I came across some women hanging by their breasts. ‘Who are these, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘These are those who leave the wealth of their husbands to children who are not theirs,’ he replied. The Prophet of God said, ‘Great is God’s wrath with a woman who introduces into a family [an illegitimate child] who is not one of them and who sees their nakedness and consumes what they have stored away.’ Then I passed some of God’s angels whom God has created as He pleased, and whose faces He has formed as He pleased. There was no part of their bodies that was not praising and glorifying God from every direction and in different voices. The voices were raised in praise and weeping for fear of God. I asked Gabriel about [these angels]. ‘As you see,’ he replied, ‘they have been created such that an angel never speaks to the one next to him. They do not raise their faces to what is above them, nor lower their faces to what is beneath, out of fear of and submission to God.’ So I greeted them and they replied by nodding their heads, not looking at me out of humility. Gabriel said to them, ‘This is Muh a mmad the Prophet of compassion. God has sent him to His servants as a messenger and a prophet. He is the seal of the prophets and their master. Will you not speak to him?’ When they heard this from Gabriel, they greeted me, honoured me and wished me and my community well. Then [Gabriel] took me up to the second heaven. There I found two men who resembled each other. ‘Who are these two men, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘They are two cousins on the maternal side,’ he told me, ‘John [the Baptist] and Jesus the son of Mary.’ So I greeted them and they greeted me, and I asked for God’s forgiveness for them and they asked for God’s forgiveness for me. ‘Welcome to the virtuous brother and the virtuous prophet,’ they said. In [this heaven] there were angels similar to those in the first heaven. They were submissive and God had formed their faces as He pleased. There was no angel among them who did not praise and glorify God in different voices.

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Then we ascended to the third heaven. There I found a man whose handsomeness surpassed that of other men as the moon on the night when it is full surpasses the other stars. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘It is your brother Joseph,’ he replied. So I greeted him and he greeted me, and I asked for God’s forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. ‘Welcome to the virtuous brother and the virtuous prophet,’ he said, ‘summoned in the virtuous time.’ In [this heaven] there were angels who were as submissive as the ones I have described in the first and second heavens. Gabriel told them the same things about me as he had told the previous ones, and they treated me in the same way as the others had. Then we ascended to the fourth heaven. I found a man there. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘This is Idrı s [i.e. Enoch],’ he replied, ‘whom God has raised to an exalted place.’ So I greeted him and he greeted me, and I asked for God’s forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. In [this heaven] there were angels who were as submissive as the ones in the [previous] heavens. They wished me and my community well. Then I saw an angel sitting on a couch under whose command were seventy thousand angels under each of which were seventy thousand angels. It occurred to the Prophet that it was he.22 ‘Stand up!’ Gabriel called to him. Thus, he will stand [there] until the Day of Resurrection. Then we ascended to the fifth heaven. There I found a venerable old man with large eyes. I have never seen an old man more venerable than him. Around him were some people from his community and I was amazed at how numerous they were. ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘This is the one beloved by his people,’ Gabriel replied, ‘Aaron the son of Imran.’ So I greeted him and he greeted me, and I asked for God’s forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. There were submissive angels in [this heaven] like in the [previous] heavens.

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Then we ascended to the sixth heaven. There I found a man whose body was covered with long hairs. If he had been wearing two shirts his hairs would have come through them. I heard him say, ‘The Children of Israel claim that I am the man most honoured in God’s eyes, but this man is more honoured in God’s eyes than me.’ ‘Who is this, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘This is your brother Moses the son of Imran,’ he replied. So I greeted him and he greeted me, and I asked for God’s forgiveness for him and he asked for God’s forgiveness for me. There were submissive angels in [this heaven] like in the [previous] heavens. Then we ascended to the seventh heaven. Whenever I passed an angel he would say, ‘Muhammad, practise cupping and instruct your community to do likewise.’ In [this heaven] there was a man with white hair and a white beard sitting on a chair. I asked, ‘Gabriel, who is this in the seventh heaven at the door of the bayt al-ma‘mu r23 close to God?’ ‘This is your father Abraham,’ he replied, ‘and this is your place and the place of those of your community who fear God.’ Then the Prophet recited, ‘The nearest of kin to Abraham are those who follow him, as also are this Prophet and those who believe. God is the Protector of those who have faith.’24 I greeted him and he greeted me. ‘Welcome to the virtuous brother and the virtuous prophet,’ he said, ‘summoned in the virtuous time.’ There were submissive angels in [this heaven] like in the [previous] heavens and they wished me and my community well. The Prophet said: And in the seventh heaven I saw seas of shimmering lights whose brilliance almost dazzled the eyes. There were also seas of darkness and seas of ice and thunder. Whenever I became afraid or saw something terrifying I asked Gabriel [about it] and he would say, ‘Rejoice Muhammad  and be thankful for the generosity of your Lord and for what He has created for you.’ God strengthened me with His power and assistance, and I was constantly questioning Gabriel and

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amazed. ‘Muhammad,’  Gabriel said, ‘do you not find it tremendous what you see? But this is only a creation of your Lord, so what about the One who created it?! What you do not see of your Lord’s creation is yet more wondrous than this. Between God and His creation are seventy thousand veils (h ija b). I and Isra fı l are the nearest of creation to Him. Between us and Him there are four veils: a veil of light, a veil of darkness, a veil of clouds and a veil of water.’ Amongst the marvels that God had created and used as He pleased I saw a cockerel whose feet were at the very bottom of the seventh region25 and whose head was by the Throne. I also saw one of God’s angels which He had created as He pleased. His feet were at the very bottom of the seventh region and he rose up through the air and into the heavens until the top of his head was near the Throne.26 He was saying, ‘Praise be to my Lord wherever He is, since we do not know where our Lord is because of His magnitude.’ [The angel] had two wings on his shoulders and when he opened them they extended [all the way] to the east and the west. As for the cockerel, at dawn it opens its wings and flaps them and calls out in glorification of God, saying, ‘Praise be to God, the Most Holy King. Praise be to God, the Magnificent, the Supreme. There is no god but God the Living, the Eternal.’ When he says this, all the cockerels on earth give praise, flap their wings and begin to call. Then when the cockerel in heaven falls silent, so do all the cockerels on earth. That cockerel has feathers of the purest white that I have ever seen, while under these it has down of the most vivid green that I have ever seen. Then I continued with Gabriel and we entered the bayt al-ma‘mu r where I prayed two prostrations alongside a few of my companions. Some of these were wearing new clothes while others were wearing worn clothes. The ones with new clothes had entered but had prevented those with worn clothes from following. Then I went out and was taken to two rivers one called Kawthar27 and the other Rahma [‘mercy’]. I drank from the river Kawthar

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and washed myself from the river Rahm  a. The two rivers led me to Paradise and I entered. On its two sides stood my houses and the houses of my wives and its soil was like musk. There, I came across a young woman who was bathing in the rivers of Paradise. ‘To whom do you belong?’ I asked her. ‘To Zayd b. H a ritha,’28 she replied. So in the morning I gave Zayd the good news about her. The birds in Paradise were like Bactrian camels and the pomegranates were like enormous water skins. There was also a tree whose trunk a bird could not fly around in nine hundred years and whose branches extend into all the houses there. ‘What is that, Gabriel?’ I asked. ‘That is the t u ba  tree,’ he replied, ‘God said, “[For those who believe and do good deeds] is blessedness (t u ba ) and a beautiful place of final return.”’29 When I entered Paradise I composed myself and asked Gabriel about those seas with their terrors and marvels. ‘They are the canopies of the veils (h ija b) behind which God conceals Himself,’ he replied, ‘If it were not for these veils the light of the Throne would destroy everything.’30 Then I arrived at the sidrat al-muntaha 31 one leaf of which could provide shade for a whole nation. The distance I was from it was, as God says, ‘two bow-shots or nearer.’32 [God] called to me, ‘“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord.” We have recorded this in su rat al-Baqara.’33 The Prophet said, ‘O Lord, You have given Your prophets wonderful gifts, so give something to me.’ God said, ‘Among the things I have given you are two sayings which are [written] beneath My Throne: “There is no power nor strength except in God,” and “There is no protection from You except in You.”’ [The Prophet] said: The angels also taught me something to say in the morning and the evening: ‘O God, my wrongdoing seeks Your forgiveness, my sin seeks Your pardon, my lowliness seeks refuge in Your power, my poverty seeks refuge in Your wealth, my transient and ephemeral being seeks refuge in Your eternal and everlasting being that does not perish.’

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Then I heard the call to prayer. Giving the call to prayer was an angel I had not seen in the heavens before. He called, ‘God is Great, God is Great.’ And God replied, ‘My servant has spoken the truth. I am Great.’ [The angel] called, ‘I bear witness that there is no god but God, I bear witness that there is no god but God.’ And God replied, ‘My servant has spoken the truth. I am God and there is no other god but Me.’ [The angel] called, ‘I bear witness that Muh a mmad is the Messenger of God, I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.’ And God replied, ‘My servant has spoken the truth. Muhammad is My servant and My messenger and I sent him and chose him.’ [The angel] called, ‘Come to prayer, come to prayer.’ And God replied, ‘My servant has spoken the truth and has summoned people to perform my religious duty. Whoever performs it willingly and seeking the reward of God will have atoned for all his previous sins.’ [The angel] called, ‘Come to salvation, come to salvation.’ And God said, ‘[Prayer] is righteousness, success and salvation.’ Then I acted as prayer leader (ima m) for the angels in the heavens as I had done for the prophets at bayt al-maqdis. After this, I was overcome with an intense longing and fell prostrate on the ground. My Lord called to me, ‘I have enjoined fifty prayers upon every prophet that came before you, and I am enjoining the same upon you and your community. So perform them, you and your community.’ The Prophet said: So I descended until I passed by Abraham, but he did not ask me about anything. Then I arrived at Moses. ‘What have you done, Muhammad?’ he asked. ‘My Lord says that He has enjoined fifty prayers upon every prophet that came before me,’ I replied, ‘and that He has enjoined the same upon me and my community.’ Moses said, ‘O Muhammad, your community is the last one and the weakest. Your Lord does not want to refuse you. Your community is not able to undertake them. So return to your Lord and ask Him to make it easier for your community.’ So I set off back to my Lord. When I reached the sidrat al-muntaha  I prostrated myself on the ground and said,

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‘You have enjoined fifty prayers upon me and my community, but we are not capable of this. So make it easier for me.’ And God reduced the number of prayers by ten. Then I returned to Moses and told him [what had happened]. ‘Go back,’ he said, ‘you are not capable of it.’ So I went back to my Lord and again He reduced the number of prayers by ten. Then I returned to Moses and told him [what had happened]. ‘Go back,’ he said. Each time I went back to God I would prostrate myself on the ground until [eventually] the number of prayers was reduced to ten. Then I returned to Moses and told him [what had happened]. ‘You are not capable of it,’ he said. So I went back to my Lord and He reduced the number of prayers by five. I returned to Moses and told him [what had happened]. ‘You are not capable of it,’ he said. ‘I am ashamed before my Lord,’ I replied, ‘I will bear them with patience.’ Then a voice called out to me, ‘As I have been patient with them. For the five prayers are the equal of fifty, each one being worth ten. Whoever from your community does a good deed I will record it as ten good deeds, and if no good deed is done I will record it as one good deed. And whoever from your community does an evil deed I will record it as a single evil deed, and if he does not do it I will record nothing against him.’ [Ja‘far] al-S a diq said, ‘May God bless Moses for what he did for this community. This is the explanation of “Praise be to God who took His servant for a journey by night from the sacred place of prayer to the furthest place of prayer whose precincts We did bless in order that We might show him some of Our signs, for He is the One who hears and sees all things.”’

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CHAPTER 2 ‘WE GR ANTED THE VISION WE SHOWED YOU AS A TR IAL FOR MEN’ The Proof Texts: Qur’a n and H ad ıth 

The entire Muslim community is obliged to have absolute belief in the traditions of the Prophet . . . a belief which spurns those who have become corrupted and who answer the call of the enemies of Islam. (‘Abd al-H alı m Mahmud) 1 This chapter looks at the textual evidence for the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, that is, the Qur’a n and H adıth,  and explores some of the difficulties which Muslims have identified in these sources and the various solutions suggested. Although we are dealing with views advanced within Islam, other Muslims may well consider some of their proponents to have ventured beyond the boundaries of the acceptable. As for the problem of reconciling what the textual sources have to say with notions of the nature of the physical and spiritual universe, the solutions to this are the focus of subsequent chapters.

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The Proof Texts The most crucial and indisputable proof of the isra ’ is verse 1 of su rat al-Isra ’ (17), sometimes called su rat Banı  Isra ’ ıl, in the Qur’a n. This verse, said to refer to the event explicitly and unambiguously, is the central text regarding the night journey and constant reference is made to it in all discussions on the subject. Regarding the numerous traditions dealing with the event, of whatever source and authority, these are essentially seen to corroborate the fact, elaborate on it and supply the details. As for the mi‘ra j, the majority of Muslim scholars argue that it is confirmed chiefly by ‘sound’ (sah ıh ) H adıth transmitted by trustworthy relators.2 Furthermore, it is not only the authenticity of the individual traditions on the mi‘ra j (and the isra ’) which entails belief in the event, but also their large number. Thus, both the Sunnı s and the Ima mı s consider them to be mutawa tir in that they have been transmitted by so many relators that these cannot have agreed on something that is false. In the words of one Muslim scholar, a mutawa tir tradition is ‘inductively so certain that doubt is almost logically excluded’.3 Alongside the appeal to ‘sound’ Tradition or H adıth,  it is also maintained that although the Qur’a n does not describe Muhammad’s ascension through the heavens and therefore does not provide certain confirmation, nonetheless it does refer to it in a number of places, most particularly in the opening verses of su rat al-Najm.4 These verses are, however, subject to varying interpretations and which of them, if any, relate to the mi‘ra j is the subject of some disagreement. Indeed, given that the Qur’a n openly refers to the isra ’, Muslim scholars have naturally wondered why it does not contain an equally unequivocal text to substantiate the occurrence of the mi‘ra j. This becomes especially problematic since the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j are so intimately associated in most H adıth dealing with the subject. A number of possible solutions have been proposed the most common being that stated, for example, by the Lebanese Ayatollah Ja‘far  ilı  who suggests that the Prophet readily informed Murtad a  al-‘Am

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his fellow Meccans of the isra ’ since it was relatively easy for them to understand and therefore to accept. Even so, most of them refused to believe it and ridiculed him, while those of lesser faith went so far as to renounce Islam. With this in mind, Muhammad could hardly have been expected to talk freely about the mi‘ra j which was far stranger and more incredible. He therefore gradually brought the subject up with his closest companions who were more able to understand it. Then at appropriate times he began to tell other people of it according to what was required by the circumstances.5 Dissatisfied with the sole testimony of H adıth,  and seeking a higher authority, there have been attempts to ground the mi‘ra j within the Qur’a nic text more rigorously. Thus, some commentators have concluded that the first verse of su rat al-Isra ’ itself provides evidence for the mi‘ra j. For example, in his commentary on this verse the Ima mı  theologian Muhammad b. al-H asan al-T usı  (d.460/1067) remarks that he and his fellow exegetes take the phrase ‘in order that We might show him some of Our signs’ to indicate that Muhammad was taken up (‘urija bihi) to the heavens until he reached the sidrat al-muntaha  in the seventh heaven, a journey during which God revealed to him signs of the heavens and the worlds which increased his knowledge and conviction. Al-T usı  adds that rather than serving as proof texts for the mi‘ra j, the traditions merely supply the details of the journey in the same way as they do for the isra ’.6 For most Muslims then, the miraculous night journey and ascension is proven by the Qur’a n and/or H adıth.  For Sunnı  commentators, however, final corroboration is provided by ijma ‘ or the consensus of opinion of the Muslim community, in practice the religious scholars or ‘ulama ’,7 which in effect is the ultimate guarantor of the authenticity of the Qur’a n and H adıth.  The great majority of the Ima miyya also acknowledge the authority of the consensus of their religious scholars, albeit ultimately dependent on ratification by one of the Ima ms, and it is accepted by them as a source of law alongside the Qur’a n, H adıth and ‘aql (reason).8 However, the concept of ijma ‘ has less significance within Ima mı  thought and is therefore infrequently resorted to as confirmation of the isra ’/mi‘ra j within Ima mı  sources.

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The Necessity of Belief Although there are differences of opinion with regard to how exactly the isra ’/mi‘ra j took place, because of what most Muslims consider to be the unimpeachable authority of the sources which testify to it, belief in Muhammad’s night journey to bayt al-maqdis and subsequent ascension through the seven heavens was and remains a fundamental article of faith for the majority of Muslims of whatever persuasion. Indeed, the orthodox view is that it is necessary to believe in this since to deny it would be an implicit denial of the Qur’a n and of sound H adıth,  the chief basis of Islamic law, doctrine and practice. To take some expressions of this view from within Ima mism, the Ima miyya, both early and modern, often quote the Ima m Ja‘far al-S a diq as saying ‘Whoever denies four things is not one of our Shı ‘a: the mi‘ra j, questioning in the grave, the creation of Heaven and Hell and intercession;’9 while the Ima m ‘Alı  al-Rid a  is reported to have said ‘Whoever disbelieves in the mi‘ra j disbelieves in the Prophet of God’10 and ‘Whoever affirms the unity of God and believes in the mi‘ra j . . . is a true believer and is one of the Shı ‘a of the Ahl al-Bayt.’11 Similarly, the modern Ima mı  scholar Shaykh Hana dı  Qa nsu offers the stark choice between either acknowledging the occurrence of the isra ’ or rejecting the Qur’a nic verses which God revealed to His Prophet concerning it.12 As for the mi‘ra j, Qa nsu states that all Muslims must believe in this because it is referred to in the Qur’a n and is confirmed by traditions on the authority of the Prophet and the infallible Ima ms. Whoever rejects the mi‘ra j therefore also rejects these things.13 Regarding those Muslims who challenge the orthodox opinion, they are sometimes categorized differently depending on whether they deny the isra ’ or the mi‘ra j. Thus, it is often stated that because the isra ’ is proved by an unambiguous verse of the Qur’a n and by the many mutawa tir traditions recounting the event anyone who refuses to believe it is ‘outside the religion of Islam’ and is a disbeliever (ka fir). For example, the Sunnı  scholar Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı  (d.819/1416–7) concludes that while those who have agreed upon the truth of the isra ’ are Muslims, those who have not are heretics (zanadiqa)  and apostates (mulh idu n).14 Concerning the mi‘ra j, it is stated that since the Qur’a nic

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verses do not provide conclusive proof of this, the ‘ulama ’ hold that anyone who denies it has merely ‘gone astray’ and is a sinner (fa siq) rather than a disbeliever (ka fir).15 Other commentators are more damning and view belief in the mi‘ra j as fundamentally important as belief in the isra ’. Thus, the modern commentator ‘Alı  Yusuf ‘Alı  states that ‘the mi‘ra j is rejected only by those who reject Islam and is denied only by those who deny Islam’.16

‘Those who deny Islam’ There are a number of groups or sects which claim to belong to Islam but whose inclusion within the Islamic fold the majority of Muslims would have considerable difficulty in acknowledging. The position of some of these groups regarding the mi‘ra j arises from the fact that its proof is attested solely by H adıth,  with what they perceive as the lack of explicit corroboration by the Qur’a n. They include the ‘Submitters’ and the ‘Qur’a nists’ and are of some interest in that their position shows clearly the role of H adıth in establishing the reality of the mi‘ra j. The sect of ‘Submission’ is an international organization established by the Egyptian biochemist Dr Rashad Khalifa. It has followers in many parts of the world including the USA, the UK, India and Nigeria. They acknowledge that Muhammad was a prophet but do not accept any H adıth transmitted on his authority because of the considerable time that elapsed between him and the recording of the traditions. Thus, in his English translation of the Qur’a n, Quran: The Final Testament, Khalifa states that the Qur’a n is complete in all details and should be the only source of religious guidance. Moreover, it states that some enemies of the Prophet, described as ‘human and jinn devils’, will fabricate lies and attribute them to him. This proved to be the case and after the Prophet’s death H adıth,  a ‘satanic innovation’, was indeed fabricated and attributed to him.17 This conclusion is reiterated in Khalifa’s Quran, Hadith and Islam, where he claims that contrary to what most Muslims believe ‘Hadith & Sunna have nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad,’ and that ‘adherence thereto represents flagrant disobedience of God and His final prophet’.18 Given these statements it comes as no surprise that

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Khalifa rejected the mi‘ra j because in his opinion the only evidence for it was in the form of H adıth,  and he criticized the celebrated compiler of Sunnı  H adıth,  Muslim b. al-H ajja j, for inventing an indefensible story about [Muhammad’s] ascension to the heavens on a horse, at the speed of light, and talking God out of 50 Salat prayers. At the speed of light, he would still be traveling within the Milky Way Galaxy.19 Khalifa’s uncompromising stance did not, however, dissuade him from claiming the ‘miracle’ of his own bodily ascension or mi‘ra j to ‘some place in the universe’ which he said took place during his pilgrimage to Mecca on 3 Dhu al-H ijja 1391 (20 January 1972) and during the course of which he met all the prophets, including Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Aaron, David and Noah, and was introduced to them as God’s Messenger of the Covenant while one by one they came towards him, looked in his face and nodded their heads. The only prophet whose name Khalifa asked about was Abraham, since he was much taken aback by the strong resemblance Abraham bore to himself, his father and his uncles.20 As for the so-called ‘Qur’a nists’ with a claimed ten thousand followers in Egypt, this group was established by the Egyptian Dr Ahmed Subhy Mansour (Ahmad Subhı  Mansur), formerly a professor of Islamic history at the University of al-Azhar but dismissed in May 1987 for his rejection of prophetic H adıth and his conviction that the Qur’a n was the sole source of Islamic law. As might be expected, Dr Mansour readily acknowledges the miracle of the isra ’, but as with Rashad Khalifa, his conviction in the spurious nature of H adıth and denial that the beginning of su rat al-Najm relates to the mi‘ra j has led him to denounce it as a ‘myth’ (ust u ra) and a ‘fairy tale’ (khura fa).21

Problems with the Traditions While few would go to the extremes of the Submitters and the Qur’a nists some Muslims have expressed grave concerns about the veracity of the H adıth dealing with the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j and

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especially as concerns the latter. This seems to be particularly pronounced in more recent times as witnessed in the corresponding stress that the necessity of belief in the isra ’/mi‘ra j receives from modern commentators. These expressions of doubt are symptoms of a growing scepticism about affairs of religion and the spirit and is a product of a number of developments including Westernization and the rise of modern science. Another, more immediate and prosaic reason is the comparatively free access that Muslims of all schools of thought and tendency have to expressing their views in books, articles and on the internet – what might be called the democratization of religious discourse which is no longer the sole preserve of the orthodox religious elite or ‘ulama ’. Although the modern period has seen an increase in the number and intensity of attacks on the traditions, this is not to say that grave doubts were not raised by earlier scholars. One of the first signs of this is seen in that the early Khawa rij are said to have denied that the mi‘ra j occurred22 as did the Mu‘tazila since they claimed that it was based on the evidence of isolated (a ha d)  traditions which are not mutawa tir. They did, however, believe in the isra ’ since it was attested to by the Qur’a n.23 Another indication of scepticism is perhaps seen in a couple of traditions quoted by the Ima mı  scholar Ibn Ba bawayh (d.381/991). The first is a statement attributed to Ja‘far al-S a diq and mentioned above in which he says that anyone who disbelieves in the mi‘ra j is not one of the Shı ‘a,  which might be taken to indicate that some at least of the early Shı ‘a were uncertain of the reality of the mi‘ra j. In the second, a certain ‘Abd al-‘Azım  b. ‘Abd Alla h al-H asanı  is seen similarly to stress that ‘the mi‘ra j is true, questioning in the grave is true, Paradise and Hell are true, the sirat (path) is true, and the Hour is certainly coming’ and which once again might be understood as an emphatic confirmation of the truth of something about which reservations were being expressed.24 Also indicative of the existence of a certain scepticism is a treatise called Kita b Ithba t al-Mi‘ra j (‘Book Proving the Mi‘ra j’)  which Ibn Ba bawayh mentions in his al-Khisa l.25 Somewhat later, during the time of the well-known Sunnı  H adıth expert Ahmad b. al-H usayn al-Bayhaqı  (d.458/1066), it is also clear that some of the traditions dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j were considered to be inventions. Thus,

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al-Bayhaqı  records a ha dıth in which Muhammad is told that some people from his community are relating incredible things concerning the isra ’ on his authority. Muhammad replies, ‘Those are traditions of the story-tellers’ (dha k ha dıth al-qussa s).26 In another place, al-Bayhaqı  also acknowledges that traditions with weak isnads  are related about 27 the mi‘ra j. The sixth/twelfth-century Ima mı  theologian and Qur’a nic exegete al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı  (d.548/1153) similarly acknowledges the dubious nature of some of the traditions when he remarks that a few of the Companions of the Prophet who transmitted them have added or omitted things (zada   ba‘d uhum wa naqasa ba‘d uhum). He divides the traditions into four types: 1. those traditions which are certainly true due to their being mutawa tir and because it is generally agreed that they are true (iha tat al-‘ilm bi sihh a tihi). By this al-T abarsı  means ijma ‘ or the consensus of opinion of Ima mı  scholars. Such traditions state, for example, that Muhammad was taken on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j ‘in body and spirit’ (‘ala  al-jumla); 2. those traditions which are sanctioned by reason (tujawwizuhu al-‘uqu l) and which are not incompatible with the basic principles of rationality and other traditions (la  ta’ba hu al-usu l al-‘aqliyya wa al-naqliyya). Thus, the Ima miyya confirm these traditions and assert that the mi‘ra j occurred while Muhammad was awake and not asleep. Some such traditions also state that he journeyed through the heavens and saw the prophets, the sidrat al-muntaha , the Throne, Paradise and Hell; 3. those traditions which outwardly appear to contradict some of the basic principles of Islam (al-usu l) but which may be interpreted (yumkin ta’wıluha  ) such that they are in accord with what is reasonable, with the truth and the evidence. Some of these state, for example, that Muhammad saw people enjoying themselves in Paradise and others being tortured in Hell, that he saw what they looked like or was told their names; 4. those traditions which are transparently incorrect, whose interpretation shows only that they are great deviations from the truth, and

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which should not be transmitted. These state, for example, that Muhammad spoke openly with God, saw Him and sat with Him on His throne and similar things which anthropomorphize God.28 Traditions of the latter type, and the products of the story-tellers whom the Prophet is reported to have accused of fabricating H adıth in his name, are perhaps those which occur in Sunnı  collections of forged H adıth (mawd u ‘a t), such as the Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t of Abu  al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzı  (d.597/1200). For instance, Ibn al-Jawzı  remarks that the following is an invention since the relator, ‘Umar b. Ibra hım,  was a liar who forged traditions: When I was taken up to the heavens I said, ‘God, make ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib my successor.’ But the heavens shook and the angels from every side called out to me, ‘O Muhammad, recite “You do not wish for something unless God wishes for it” and God has willed that Abu  Bakr al-Siddıq will succeed you.’29 He dismisses the following tradition on the grounds of both its untrustworthy relators and its content: The Prophet was taken up to the seventh heaven and God showed him some of the wonderful things in each heaven. On the following morning, when he began to tell the people about the marvels of his Lord, some of the Meccans called him a liar while others believed him. Then a star fell down from the sky. The Prophet said, ‘The owner of the house on which that star falls will be my successor.’ So they searched for it and found that it had fallen on ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib’s house. The people of Mecca said, ‘Muhammad has gone astray (d alla), has been misled (ghawa ), has shown favouritism (hawa ) for the people of his family and preference for his cousin ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.’ At this point was revealed the Qur’a nic verse ‘By the star when it goes down, your companion is neither astray (d alla) nor being misled (ghawa ), nor does he say anything of his own desire (hawa ). It is no less than a revelation sent down to him.’30

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Ibn al-Jawzı  remarks that it is absurd to think that a star could fall on someone’s house and then remain there to be seen. In his al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, Muhammad b. Yusuf  al-Sha mı  (d.942/1535–6) quotes a number of spurious traditions from Ibn al-Jawzı’s work and adds a few more in the process, including: ‘On the door of Paradise I saw written in gold: “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the beloved of God. ‘Alı  is the friend of God. Fa tima is the maid servant of God. Al-H asan and al-H usayn are the dearest companions of God;”’ ‘On the leg of the Throne I saw written “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Prophet of God. I have supported him with ‘Alı  and have assisted him with ‘Alı;”’  ‘[Muhammad said], “When I was taken up to the heavens the earth wept;”’ ‘[Muhammad said], “When I was taken on the night journey Gabriel immersed me in light;”’ ‘[Muhammad said], “On the night I was taken on the isra ’ God sent me to Gog and Magog;”’ ‘[Muhammad said], “I continued to yearn for the white cockerel which was underneath the Throne;”’ ‘On the night he was taken on the night journey wearing a crown of pearls he saw his Lord;’ ‘[Muhammad] perspired and from a drop of sweat God grew a sweet smelling violet;’ ‘When the Prophet was taken on the night journey God revealed to him the call to prayer (adha n). He descended and taught it to [the muezzin] Bila l;’ ‘The Prophet greeted the sun which was wearing a wondrous cloak;’ ‘[Muhammad] prayed with the angels;’ and ‘Gabriel said to the Prophet, “Ask God to allow me to spread out my wings for your community when they are on the sira t  [the bridge to Paradise] so that they can cross over on them.”’ 31 Elsewhere, in his commentary on su rat al-Isra ’ the celebrated exegete and historian Ibn Kathır (d.774/1373) quotes a number of ha dıths  on the isra ’/mi‘ra j at the end of which he makes adverse comments. For example, after citing a tradition from al-Nasa ’ ı’s canonical collection of Sunnı  H adıth,  the Sunan, he remarks that it contains ‘some objectionable terms and strangeness (ghara ba)’,32 while a further tradition from the same source contains ‘very strange things’.33 Another tradition includes ‘things that are false’,34 a tradition related by al-T abarı  in his Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n is ‘very long and contains some strangeness’,35 while in addition to having ‘some objectionable terms

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and strangeness’ yet another tradition ‘appears to be a concoction of other traditions or a dream or a story other than that of the isra ’’.36 Such adverse comments and criticisms continued and towards the end of the eighteenth century the Persian theologian Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı  (d.1110/1699 or 1111/1700) felt himself compelled to attack both those who doubted the veracity of the traditions and a number of his fellow Ima mıs who followed them. He states that the night journey and ascension are proved by the Qur’a nic verses and by the mutawa tir traditions from the Shı‘a and the non-Shı‘a (al-kha ssa wa al-‘a mma). To deny these miraculous events results from a lack of adherence to the H adıth of the Ima ms, weak faith or allowing oneself to be misled by the seductions of the false philosophers. Moreover, doubting the truth of the mutawa tir traditions on the subject can lead to the rejection of all other traditions which supply the foundations of religion. Traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j are more numerous than those dealing with the basic doctrines of Ima mism, and al-Majlisı  wonders how some Ima mıs can adhere to the latter and yet deny the former.37 In more recent times, Ibn al-Khatıb,  whose H aqa ’iq Tha bita fı  al-Isla m is a sustained polemic on the fabricated nature of some H adıth,  states that he accepts the occurrence of the isra ’ on the basis of the Qur’a nic verse which refers to it, but regarding the mi‘ra j he maintains that a Muslim accepts the truth of this only in his soul and his heart confirms it. That is, it is not based on rational criteria. Indeed, the traditions on the mi‘ra j are characterized by their ‘great conflict with reason and sensitivity (dhawq), and their great divergence from the most basic precepts of the praise and reverence which are due to God and to His Prophet’,38 so much so that when a Muslim reads them he is overwhelmed with despair and seized with mental anguish! This despair and anguish are not caused by the Prophet’s ascension to the heavens, for he is worthy and deserving of this. Rather, they are caused by the traditions, as you will see, being full of lies and teeming with falsehoods and errors.39 It also becomes clear that Ibn al-Khatıb holds the H adıth on the isra ’ to be of the same nature. He is well aware of the contentious nature

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of his views, remarking that ‘it will start an endless war against me with no clemency. Some people will call me an unbeliever, a sinner, an atheist, a heretic and all the insults and curses that the dictionary contains.’ 40

Attack and Vindication So far, we have seen that some Muslims have expressed serious misgivings about the authenticity of a number of the traditions on the isra ’ and especially the mi‘ra j. The following section provides more detail on the specific issues that critics have raised. These generally fall into a number of categories. Thus, the traditions have been condemned due to their clearly fantastic nature, the gross material terms used in their descriptions, their adulteration with Christian and especially Jewish material, their perceived incompatibility with conceptions of the physical universe, with the Qur’a n and with the ‘established truths of religion’ and the glaring inconsistencies and contradictions between them. Other Muslims intent on preserving the integrity of the traditions have provided responses to these attacks and we mention a number of these. Their remarks should be taken as representative of a wider body of opinion. 1. ‘Gratuitous and Imaginary Fancies’ A significant number of Muslim commentators, particularly in more recent times, would readily concur that much in the traditions concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j owes more to imagination than fact. One such belonging to the later modern period is the Indian reformer and modernist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (d.1898). Khan wished to offer a rational interpretation of religion by reconciling modern scientific thought with Islam, and as part of this endeavour tackled the issue of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j. In an article on the subject published in 1870 he went so far as to assert that all the traditions dealing with it are ‘utterly false and wrong, and undoubtedly spurious, apocryphal, and highly reprehensible’ 41 and ‘so contrary not only to reason, but to the primitive and

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fundamental dogmas of the religion itself, that it becomes impossible to repose the least particle of faith in them’.42 As to how the traditions arose, Khan writes: It appears to us that these traditionists have picked up this thing from the Koran, and that thing from the hadeeses, having gleaned one matter from other oral traditions, and another matter from other sources, and, supplementing all these by their own gratuitous and imaginary fancies, have coined a story.43 Moreover, he found nothing amiss in entertaining this conclusion and remarked that even though a Muslim might reject all the traditions on the isra ’/mı‘ra  j this would not militate against his faith.44  ilı  has echoed More recently, the Ima mı  Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Am Ahmed Khan’s assessment. He argues that it is not now possible to provide an accurate description of the isra ’ and the mir‘a j since with the passage of time the traditions have become corrupted and embellished by storytellers and those who transmit them, indeed by the enemies of Islam who attempt to distort the religion and make it appear to contain ‘fables and fairytales’.45 Another contemporary Ima mı  cleric, Ayatollah Na sir Maka rim Shira zı  (1927–), remarks that the traditions on the mi‘ra j, like so many other subjects, have been the target of forgers who have ‘embellished them with undue excesses’.46 While yet another Ima mı  cleric, Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı  states that H adıth on the isra ’/mi‘ra j contains ‘fantastical elements concocted by the imaginations of those who trade in traditions (tujja r al-aha dı  th)’.  47 The extended narrative accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j have attracted particular censure. This is especially the case regarding the sometimes highly embellished versions favoured by the mystics, such as those recorded by the Sufı  ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-S affurı  (d.884/1479).48 For example: When God ordered Gabriel to get the bura q he went to Paradise and found forty thousand bura qs. On the top of their foreheads was written ‘There is no god except God. Muhammad is the Messenger of God.’ Amongst them he saw a bura q that was crying

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and had separated itself from the others and was alone. He had stopped eating and drinking. Gabriel asked him why he was in such a state. The bura q replied, ‘I heard the name of Muh a mmad forty thousand years ago, and my yearning for him has prevented me from eating and drinking.’ So Gabriel chose that bura q. The bura q was larger than an ass but smaller than a mule. Its face was like that of a human being. It had large black eyes and delicate ears. It was similar to a peacock with wings like blossoms, a body of red sapphire and coral and a head of oily and pure musk. Its neck was of amber and its ears and shoulders were of white pearls strung together with golden chains each decorated with sparkling jewels. It wore a saddle of brocade. Its step was as far as its eye could see. Gabriel put on it a saddle of red sapphires and reins of chrysolite . . . When Gabriel descended [to Muhammad in Mecca], he said, ‘Get up, you who are sleeping!’49 One contemporary scholar who has studied a few of the more literary manifestations of the narrative is Nadhır al-‘Azma whose al-Mi‘ra j wa al-Ramz al-S u fı50 focusses on those accounts which emerged within the Sufı  tradition like that of al-S affurı  above. He notes that the forty or so traditions narrated by the Companions, the Successors and the Successors of the Successors identify the basic parts and structure of the night journey and ascension. Subsequently, however, onto this framework were added other elements which describe such events as Muhammad’s visit to Paradise and Hell, his appearance before God, the episode of the five daily prayers, Gabriel as the Prophet’s guide and the bura q. Al-‘Azma does not hypothesize as to when these additions occurred, but it was certainly by the time of Ibn Isha q since the first complete account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j appeared in his al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya. He goes on to say that the emergence of the genre of literature concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j was due to the interest paid to it by scholars of H adı th,  biographers of the Prophet, theologians, legal specialists, Sufıs and literateurs. Each of these groups took the components of the narrative and refashioned them in accordance with its own particular views and preoccupations, and within this new narrative dealt with the legal, intellectual, mystical or other issues that it was interested in.51

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An example which al-‘Azma cites of a novel and spurious element in the narrative which was not in the earliest traditions is the description of the throne of God about which the Qur’a n says ‘His throne extends over the heavens and the earth.’52 One account provides the following description: The throne is carried by eight angels of different kinds – two of them in human form, two in the form of lions, two in the form of eagles and two in the form of oxen – all devoting themselves to the service of God and asking Him to provide sustenance for humans, lions, birds and beasts of burden.53 As to the sources of these ‘novelties’, al-‘Az ma concludes that they are derived from the Qur’a n, H adıth,  popular beliefs and notions concerning the angels, Paradise and Hell. It is also probably the case that some details, such as the depiction of the throne, originate from ancient pagan Semitic, Christian and Hebrew sources. Muslim relators of traditions, storytellers and mystics made use of the effects these have on popular imagination and created new narratives cast in an Islamic and monotheistic guise.54 Another modern critic, Dr ‘Alı  Hasan ‘Abd al-Qa dir, identifies further components. He observes that the narrative of the isra ’/mi‘ra j developed from the brief and vague allusions in the Qur’a n to the later elaborate accounts as a result of commentaries (tafa sır) and interpretations (ta’wıla t) of the Qur’a n, attempts to harmonize (jam‘) the different versions so as to create a single coherent narrative, and imagination which imbued the isra ’/mi‘ra j with a wealth of incidents, details and descriptions. He also identifies the influences of Illuminism, Zaradashtism and Neo-platonism. The greatest change that the narrative has undergone, however, is the literary form which was adopted to describe the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the artistry and the metaphorical and figurative language in which it is constructed. All these things were designed with the aim of providing the general public with a complete story which satisfies the needs of their imagination rather than their religion. As to when the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j assumed this form, ‘Abd al-Qa dir says that it was in the second/tenth century as can

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be seen in al-T abarı’s Qur’a nic commentary Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n in which he combines different traditions.55 Even Najm al-Dın al-Ghaytı’s celebrated al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j has received adverse comments on account of the fantastic nature of the descriptions it contains,56 as has by far the most widely-read narrative of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the so-called Kita b al-Mi‘ra j said to have been authored by the Prophet’s cousin and one of the acknowledged greatest scholars of early Islam, ‘Abd Alla h ibn ‘Abba s (d.68/687–8).57 2. Judeo-Christian Adulterations: Isra ’ ıliyya  t One of the main issues that arises in modern discussions on the veracity of H adıth in general and traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in particular concerns their adulteration with isra ’ıliyya  t, that is, material originating from the Judeo-Christian tradition rather than from within Islam. Thus, in addition to denouncing the materialistic descriptions found in traditions dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j, ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r also maintains that they show signs of the ‘fingerprints of the Jews who converted to Islam or who pretended to convert to Islam’ and who borrowed material from the Torah and the New Testament. One result of their pernicious tampering is the Prophet’s description of Adam as being in the original form in which God had created him, that is, in God’s own form. No Muslim can believe that Muhammad would ever anthropomorphize God in such a way. But although Islam does not claim that Adam was created in God’s likeness, this is found in the Torah.58 Al-Sahh a r goes on to state that the chief evidence that the Jews forged or corrupted traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is their imitation of the Revelation of John at the end of the New Testament.59 One consequence of this imitation is the description of heaven as having ‘doors’. The Jews are also responsible for the notion that the mi‘ra j is like a ladder with steps which could be climbed up and which they acquired from Jacob’s dream in the Torah or Old Testament where he climbed up to heaven on a ladder, and the angels descend to earth on the same ladder.60 The main context in which isra ’ıliyya  t, and in particular Jewish interpolations, have been identified is the role of Moses in

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Muhammad’s appeals to God to have the number of daily prayers reduced from fifty to five. It is remarked that this does not conform with the received doctrines of Islam in that it appears to cast Moses as superior to Muhammad and as his teacher. Almost four centuries ago, Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı  (d.1066/1654) said that a number of Qur’a nic commentators had attributed this episode to the Jews.61 It is indeed also mentioned by al-Sahh a r who wonders why Moses was chosen to do this rather than Abraham the father of the prophets.62 Another contemporary scholar who similarly considers this episode to be an example of isra ’ıliyya  t is Ahmad Shalabı, a lecturer in History and Islamic Civilization at Cairo University, who in his Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı  devotes a section to the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, 63 ‘one of the most important events witnessed by Islam’. Shalabı  remarks that in addition to it presenting Moses as the Prophet’s teacher and as knowing more about Muhammad’s community than Muhammad did, it inappropriately describes Moses as ‘restraining’ the Prophet when he returned to him after speaking with God.64 S a lih Abu Bakr finds further evidence of isra ’ıliyya  t in the traditions in the statement that on the night of the mi‘ra j Moses cried because he had fewer followers in Paradise than Muh a mmad. He remarks that Moses could not have known how many people were in Paradise – only God knows this. Thus, to attribute this knowledge to Moses indicates that it is a fabrication of the Jews.65 As for responses to these accusations, those of Dr Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib (1940–), the Director of the Department of Islamic Law at Cairo University, can be taken as typical. In the coming pages we will have occasion to make frequent reference to ‘Abd al-Muttalib whose book Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j was expressly written to defend the integrity of the Sunna which was called into question most especially by recent attacks against the traditions on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. 66 In the present context, he maintains firstly that Moses urging the Prophet to return to God to ask for a reduction in the number of daily prayers does not elevate him above the Prophet. On the contrary, it reveals that the Children of Israel were too weak to perform the prayers which God enjoined on them. If the Jews had forged this element, they would surely have done so in a way which was more favourable to them and

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showed that they obeyed God, whereas what we have here demonstrates the opposite. The reason why Moses advised Muhammad to return to God was primarily because Moses’ community had been charged with too onerous a burden of prayers and he thus felt compassion for Muhammad’s community.67 Regarding Moses being aware of how many people were in Paradise, it would not be difficult to know that Muhammad’s followers are more numerous than those of Moses, since Muhammad is a prophet for all people until the Day of Resurrection, whereas Moses was a prophet only for the Children of Israel. If the Jews were involved in fabricating this then once again they would have glorified themselves by saying that there were more of them in Paradise.68 3. Gross Materialistic Descriptions As with the great majority of Muslim commentators who find much that is objectionable in the isra ’/mi‘ra j traditions, the Egyptian author and critic ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r does not doubt the real physical occurrence of the event. He acknowledges that the true basic accounts are to be found in the Qur’a n in su rat al-Isra ’ and su rat al-Najm, but observes that many details were subsequently added by storytellers who found the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be fertile ground for their tales and thus related a number of objectionable (mana kır) and anomalous (ghara ’ib) traditions which were spuriously ascribed to the Prophet.69 In particular, the storytellers took some Qur’a nic verses which metaphorically describe things that happen in the Hereafter and attempted to give them a tangible form. They did this, for example, with verses such as ‘Those who devour usury will not stand except as stands one whom Satan by his touch has driven to madness’70 and ‘those who unjustly eat of the property of orphans, eat up a fire into their own bodies. They will soon be enduring a blazing fire!’71 Moreover, even though this latter verse was not revealed in Medina when the ascension took place, but rather in Mecca some two years later, it still forms part of the traditions on the mi‘ra j. 72 An even more sustained attack on the traditions on the basis of their material depictions is that of Ahmad Shalabı, whom we have already met above. Like al-Sahh a r and most others, Shalabı  states at the outset

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that he believes that the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j both occurred in body and spirit since the Qur’a n says as much. His criticisms in this regard, however, are firstly that the bura q, something pertaining to heaven, is portrayed as a riding animal which was tethered to the door of the masjid al-aqsa  or to a hole in a rock. The traditions which state this are fabricated (mawd u ‘).73 Shalabı  also finds the material descriptions of Gabriel knocking on the doors of the heavens and the subsequent questions asking who he is, who is accompanying him and whether Muhammad has been sent for to be similarly spurious.74 Furthermore, since the Qur’a n describes the moon as being in the heavens (‘Do you not see how God has created the seven heavens one above the other, and made the moon a light in their midst?’75 and ‘Blessed is He who made constellations in the skies and placed therein a lamp and a moon giving light.’76), does this mean that when the Americans travelled to the moon they had to knock on the door of heaven to gain entry? Who opened the doors for them? Likewise, the traditions refer to God as if He occupies a place to which Muhammad is journeying, whereas religious scholars maintain that God is in every place or does not occupy a place.77 Thus, these images in the traditions are totally repudiated by the Qur’a nic text and by Islamic thought.78 More extreme still, because of the terms in which it is couched, is the attack against the material terms used to describe the isra ’/mi‘ra j launched by a certain Abu Samad (Abu S amad) on the website ‘FreeMinds’ (‘a place to discover Islam based on God alone’). The site is the mouthpiece for an unorganised group of ‘God alone’ Muslims, considered deviant by most believers and who, like the ‘Submitters’ and the ‘Qur’a nists’ mentioned above, reject H adıth and maintain that Islam should be based only on the Qur’a n. Taking as his starting point su rat al-Isra ’ verse 60 (‘We granted the vision [ru’ya ] which we showed you as a trial for men’) and the fact that the Qur’a n asserts that Muhammad was an ordinary human being who could not work miracles, Abu Samad claims that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was some kind of vision or mystical experience. He also provides a list of twenty-eight questions which he asks of the traditions and which, in addition to dealing with familiar issues like the Prophet’s subservience to Moses and the reduction in the number of daily prayers from fifty to five, include ‘Why

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did Gabriel enter the house by breaking through the roof? Was the landing imperfect? Who repaired the breakage before anybody could see the defect?’ ‘It is told that Burraq would not allow our prophet to ride him till Gabriel twisted its ears. Did Allah send a special animal that would not do its duty until its ears are twisted?’ ‘How did all other prophets come to Jerusalem? Did they come in spiritual form or in physical form? If they came in physical form, then resurrection or Qiyama had taken place already because the dead prophets were brought back to life in their earthly bodies. If they came in physical form, what kind of transportation did they require? More Burraqs? Or only a few large burraqs like jumbo jets? Remember that we are talking about 124,000 prophets;’ How big was the Aqsa mosque at that time? Could it really hold 124,000 prophets? Football stadiums in this country can barely hold such large numbers of spectators;’ ‘Why did Gabriel stop at each gate? I thought his style is to pierce through the roof. Probably, the roof of heaven is made out of a different grade of concrete so Gabriel would have hurt himself.’ 79 The extreme sarcasm displayed by Abu Samad is not unknown in non-Muslim commentators, but it is rare among Muslims. The accusation that H adıth on the isra ’/mi‘raj contains gross materialistic descriptions, in particular the adverse comments of Ahmad Shalabı  mentioned above have received a sustained and detailed riposte from one of Shalabı’s colleagues at Cairo University, Raf‘at ‘Abd al-Muttalib. The general tenor of ‘Abd al-Muttalib’s rejoinder is characteristic of many of the arguments of those who wish to maintain the integrity of the traditions in that it revolves around the essentially unknowable nature of the things described and the distinction between the allegorical language sometimes used and the literal understanding on which criticisms are often based. Thus, regarding Shalabı’s claims that the material terms used to describe the bura q, the doors of heaven and such like prove that the traditions are false, ‘Abd al-Muttalib replies that something spiritual may indeed be described in material terms as is found, for example, in the Qur’a n. Regarding the doors of heaven, the Qur’a n says ‘We opened the doors of heaven with water pouring forth.’80 This does not mean that there are doors of heaven like the doors of our houses. It is a physical description of the barriers which encompass the

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heavens and which one cannot pass through or see beyond without permission. Likewise, Gabriel asking for the doors of heaven to be opened and the subsequent questioning does not indicate that the traditions are false. We do not know, for example, how much the angels knew, what the guardians of the heavens had to do, whether they could have known that the visitor was Gabriel and that Muhammad was with him. Did they have to open the doors of heaven when anyone merely knocked? Were they able to identify who was knocking? The angels do not possess unlimited knowledge. Also, what are the barriers between the heavens like? Since we do not know the answer to these questions we cannot say that the traditions are false. All we can be sure of is that the guardians of heaven were previously aware of who Gabriel and Muhammad were because when Gabriel told them who he was and that he was with Muhammad they opened the doors, as if they had been told to do this when they had identified them.81 Regarding Shalabı’s assertion that the traditions contradict the Holy Qur’a n which states that the moon is in the heavens, ‘Abd al-Muttalib replies that Muhammad’s journey was to non-material worlds such as Paradise, the places of the prophets, the bayt al-ma‘mu r and the sidrat al-muntaha . All this is the ghayb or the transcendental. The Americans did not and will not see the ghayb. The Qur’a nic verses which Dr Shalabı  quotes do not indicate that the moon is in the heavens. Likewise, neither the Americans nor anyone else have passed through them. What these verses mean is that God created the moon ‘alongside’, ‘with’ or ‘at the same time as’ (ma‘a) the heavens not ‘inside’ (fı ) them. This use of language is often found in Arabic. Alternatively, some scholars say that the moon is in the lowest heaven (al-sama ’ al-dunya ) so we could conclude that it is situated before the barriers which cannot be passed except by asking for the doors to be opened.82 Finally, as to the argument that the traditions portray God as occupying place and that this conflicts with the Qur’a nic verse ‘His throne extends over the heavens and the earth’, ‘Abd al-Muttalib replies that scholars understand such descriptions metaphorically and not literally, as in the phrase ‘And your Lord comes’83 among other examples.84 All objections to the materialistic descriptions found within the traditions are, of course, founded on a literal understanding of their

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contents. Like Ahmad Shalabı  and others, most pre-modern scholars also adopted a literal approach. However, some did not. One such was Muhyı  al-Dın al-Nawawı  (d.676/1278) who comments regarding the well-known preliminary to the Prophet’s night journey: As for the physical description of faith and wisdom being put in a vessel and poured out even though these are abstract concepts, this means (and God knows best) that the tray contained something which resulted in complete belief and wisdom. They were called ‘belief’ and ‘wisdom’ because they brought these about. This is an excellent use of figurative language.85 4. The Traditions Conflict with Reason The criticisms under this heading are clearly related to those concerning the material descriptions sometimes found in the traditions, since it is only when viewing these descriptions as literally true that questions arise as to their compatibility with logic and rationality. Ibn al-Khatıb draws attention to a few seeming illogicalities including the archangel Gabriel who resides in the heavens and who delivers God’s revelations needing permission to enter the heavens,86 Almighty God being bargained with87 and the Nile and the Euphrates being in heaven when they are clearly on earth.88 Similar are his remarks concerning what carried the Prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem on the night journey. If it was some kind of mount called the bura q, then why should Muhammad be concerned that it would run away into the desert as happens with highly-strung animals? Most horses and other riding animals will stand by their owner. Also, in one tradition it is reported that Gabriel went up to a rock in the bayt al-maqdis, made a hole through it with his finger and tethered the bura q there. How could Gabriel, who can lift up a town and all the things and people in it to the clouds and turn it upside down, be afraid that the bura q will escape from him? On the other hand, if it was an angel that was charged with carrying the Prophet, as some traditions state, then why was the angel treated like a dumb beast?89 Another who has entered the fray on this topic is Ayatollah Ja‘far  ilı. In particular, he asks a number of questions about Murtad a  al-‘Am

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the reduction of the number of daily prayers from fifty to five. Firstly, if God thought it best (maslaha ) to enjoin fifty prayers then why did He go on to reduce them to five? On the other hand, if it was best to have five, why did God enjoin fifty, then forty, then thirty and so on? He notes that the Ima mı  scholar al-Sharıf al-Murtad a  (d.436/1044) explained this by saying that although initially it was best to have fifty prayers this changed when Muhammad returned to ask for a reduc ilı  remarks, however, that this answer is similarly probtion.90 Al-‘Am lematic since the Prophet knew that God only issued laws in accordance with what was preferable at the time, so his returning to ask for a reduction meant that he was asking God to make a law which was not in accord with what was preferable at the time. In the same way, Moses’ advice to ask for a reduction because the Muslim community would not be able to bear so many prayers indicates that he thought that this legislation was not in accord with public interest (maslaha ), but it is impossible for God to issue such a law.91 Likewise, how did Moses know that Muslims would not be able to perform so many prayers while God did not? And would God have enjoined something which could not be done? Also, how could God forget the failure of the Children of Israel to perform what He asked them and then ask the same thing of Muhammad’s community? Why did the Prophet not immediately realise that fifty was too many, and how did he remain unaware that the number was too large every time he was given a reduction? If Moses had not continually urged Muh a mmad to return to God would the Muslim community now be having to pray fifty times a day? Why did God not reduce the number of prayers to five immediately and not force Muhammad repeatedly to descend and ascend?92 The characteristic and comprehensive response to objections like those above is that of ‘Abd al-Muttalib who maintains that they are merely the result of dealing with the unknowable world of the ghayb in the same way as we deal with the physical world of the mundane.93 5. The Traditions Conflict with Each Other One of the most damning criticisms of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, and one of the most intractable, is the often contradictory nature of the

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information they provide. This has received attention from the earliest times up to the present and is dealt with by many of those who have commented on the subject. Typical in this regard are the remarks of the shaykh of al-Azhar ‘Abd al-Jalıl ‘Isa : Despite the fact that al-Bukha rı  quotes them, there are seven other versions in different chapters [of al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh ] and all of these differ as regards the year, month and day that the isra ’ took place, how it occurred, the place where the angel went to the Prophet, whether the bura q was tied to the rock, who tied it and how, and concerning the Prophet returning to God to ask for a reduction in the number of prayers. According to scholars of H adıth,  such a conflict between versions of a tradition serve to deny them being classed as ‘sound’ (sah ıh ) or ‘good’ (ha san).94 Elsewhere, Ahmad Shalabı  refers to the different places the prophets are reported to occupy in the heavens, some being said to be both in the first heaven and also in the second heaven,95 while Muhammad al-S a diq ‘Urjun draws attention to the ‘great disparity’ in the sequence of events found in the traditions, their styles, the events and facts they describe, sometimes supplying more information sometimes less, paying little attention to some things and stressing others.96 As for the responses to such criticisms, the most frequent and consistent is to attempt to harmonize the apparent contradictions.

Harmonization ( Jam‘) In Sunnı  Islam the first test in judging the authenticity of a tradition is to assess the reliability of the persons in the chain of transmission (the isnad)  concerning such issues as their dates of birth and death, their occupations, social status, places of residence, intelligence, memory and religious and political affiliations. Once this has been satisfactorily completed and the trustworthiness of the transmitters, and hence of the ha dıth,  is assured, it sometimes occurs, as we have seen above, that two or more ‘sound’ traditions contradict each other or are at variance in some manner. However, being as it is considered

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impossible for two or more traditions judged to be authentic on the basis of their isnads  to be at odds with each other any contradiction must be more apparent than real. The role of the scholar is therefore to resolve the apparent discrepancies. Numerous Sunnı  scholars of H adıth have addressed the issue of conflicting traditions and have devised rules and methods for dealing with the various problems. Of these the best known is the originator of the methodology, Muhammad b. Idrıs al-Sha fi‘ ı  (d.240/819) the author of Ikhtila f al-H adıth,  alongside ‘Abd Alla h b. Qutayba (d.276/889) who wrote Kita b Ta’wıl Mukhtalaf al-H adıth,  Abu Ja‘far  r, and Abu al-Faraj al-T aha wı  (d.321/933) who wrote Mushkil al-Atha ibn al-Jawzı  (d.597/1290) the author of al-Tahq ıq fı  H adıth al-Khila f. The attention of these and others resulted in the science of mukhtalaf (or ikhtila f) al-H adıth.  This recognises three methods of reconciling apparently contradictory traditions: tarjıh , which posits the probability that one tradition is more plausible than another; naskh, which is the subsequent abrogation of one or other of the traditions by the Prophet; and jam‘, which is a harmonization of the traditions on the basis of linguistic or circumstantial considerations. Attempts at harmonization should always take precedence over tarjıh  and naskh since these latter require the rejection of one or more of the traditions. Thus, al-Sha fi‘ı  is quoted as saying that when traditions are irreconcilable the more trustworthy one may abrogate the others, but when it is not possible to judge between them in terms of reliability, or compatibility with the Qur’a n or other traditions of the Prophet, or the number of Companions who relate them, then none of the traditions should be given preference over the others. The general rule is that ‘Whenever it is possible to apply two traditions, this should be done so that neither of them neutralizes the other.’97 Just as with the Sunnıs, the Ima miyya too found the existence of apparently divergent ‘sound’ traditions to be a serious impediment to the creation of a coherent system of law and doctrine. Thus, also like their co-religionists, Ima mı  scholars attempted to define principles for dealing with this. Muhammad al-T usı  (d.460/1067) is considered to be the first to reconcile Ima mı  traditions in his canonical collections of practical H adıth called Tahdhıb al-Ahk a m and al-Istibsa r fı 

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ma  ukhtulifa min al-Akhba r. The principle of naskh or abrogation is also resorted to, but this is limited to traditions transmitted by the Prophet since the Ima ms are considered only to be able to elaborate the Sharı‘a and not revoke it. As regards H adıth from the Ima ms, when the Ima miyya do not reconcile apparently divergent traditions from these by resorting to the concept of taqiyya or dissimulation when under threat or for some other worthy reason, like the Sunnıs they use the principle of jam‘ or harmonization.98 They consider it an impossibility that two or more explicit statements from an Ima m should be at variance with each other since this would be tantamount to the Ima m contradicting himself, which is inconceivable.99 As to those apparently conflicting traditions concerning specifically the isra ’/mi‘ra j, a Sunnı  commentator outlines the difficulty of the harmonization process: So great are the differences between the traditions on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j in their descriptions of facts and circumstances that it is very difficult for the most skilful Muslim scholars, both ancient and modern, including Qur’a nic exegetes, specialists in H adıth,  intellectuals, theologians and historians to harmonize these traditions and make them conform with each other.100 Nevertheless, there have been and continue to be many attempts at harmonizing the traditions by addressing contradictory statements on such as Muhammad’s seeing God,101 the number of veils (h ija b) behind which God is concealed,102 who rode with Muhammad on the bura q,103 where the bura q was tied,104 the number by which the daily ritual prayers were successively reduced,105 the starting point of the journey,106 the opening of Muhammad’s breast,107 and the place, number and contents of the cups offered to the Prophet.108 In the following we will examine one typical example to illustrate the kind of problems encountered and the solutions adopted. As will be seen, the harmonization of the ‘sound’ traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is more problematic for the Sunnıs since the Ima miyya typically resolve the whole issue by positing a number of separate occurrences of the journey each of which answers to any variations found within the corpus.

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The Number of Occurrences of the Isra ’ and the Mi‘ra j One way which many scholars, both Sunnı  and Ima mı, have attempted to reconcile differences in the traditions is to propose that the isra ’ and/or the mi‘ra j occurred on more than one occasion. In this, the traditions are considered not to be describing competing versions of a single night journey and ascension but rather different instances of the event. Initially this view seems to have been shared by the Sunnıs and the Ima miyya, but with the passage of time the Sunnıs have largely achieved a consensus that it is not the case, while the majority of Ima mı  commentators continue to maintain it up to the present time. To deal with the issue firstly within Ima mism, it appears that at least some early Ima mı  scholars considered that there had been more than one isra ’/mi‘ra j. Thus, around the beginning of the fourth/tenth century the Qur’a nic exegete ‘Alı  b. Ibra hım  al-Qummı  (d.c.307/919) refers to two occurrences. He relates a tradition in which Muh a mmad says that God summoned ‘Alı  to be with him in seven different places. One was when Muhammad was taken on his night journey to the heavens (usriya  bı  ila  al-sama ’), and another was when he was taken on a night journey for the second time (h ına  usriya  bı  fı  al-marra al-tha niya).109 Al-Qummı  does not go on to assert that other night journeys and ascensions did not also take place. But a little later, Ibn Ba bawayh (d.381/992) records a tradition on the authority of Ja‘far al-S a diq (d.148/765) in which the Ima m says that the Prophet ascended to the heavens one hundred and twenty times and on each occasion God enjoined upon him the authority (wila ya) of ‘Alı  and the Ima ms more than He enjoined upon him the religious duties (al-fara ’id).110 We can see the mechanics of the process of harmonizing traditions in the comments of the Ima mı  scholar Ra dı  al-Dın ibn T a wus (d.644/1266). After relating a tradition on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, he remarks: Perhaps this isra ’ occurred on a separate occasion to the one which is well known, for the information it provides is different. Perhaps the prophets mentioned in this tradition are not the same as those in the other account because the prophet soldiers (al-anbiya ’ al-ajnad)  here number 100,000 while the number of

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prophets (nabı ) in the other tradition is twenty-four. Perhaps the prophets in this tradition are messengers (mursalu n) . . . 111 Similarly revealing is the reasoning of Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı. In one place in his Biha r al-Anwa r he refers to the tradition quoted above by Ibn Ba bawayh in which the Prophet is said to have ascended one hundred and twenty times.112 Elsewhere, however, he cites another tradition also on the authority of al-S a diq in which the Ima m is reported to have said that the Prophet was taken on the isra ’/mi‘ra j only twice. To resolve the contradiction al-Majlisı  suggests that the journey could have begun twice in Mecca while on the other occasions it began in Medina, or Muhammad ascended two times to God’s throne and the rest to the heavens, or two times in body and the rest in spirit, or the two times are what the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j speak about while the rest are not documented.113  ilı  also makes The modern Ima mı  scholar ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Am explicit the procedure by which he concludes that there were many occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. He bases his analysis on traditions cited in Ima mı  sources such as al-T abarsı’s Majma‘ al-Bayan and Ibn Ba bawayh’s ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘ and his Ama lı, and refers to many Sunnı  sources such as al-T abarı’s Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı Tafsır al-Qur’a n, Ibn Sa‘d’s al-T   aba qa t al-Kubra , al-Suyutı’s al-Khasa ’is al-Kubra  and Ibn Athır’s al-Ka mil fı  al-Ta rıkh.  Traditions from these describe different places from where the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j started including the Sacred Mosque (al-masjid al-ha ra m), a place called al-Abtah, the h ijr, the house of Umm Ha ni’, the ravine (shi‘b) of Abu T a lib and Muhammad’s own house in Mecca. They also identify a number of dates when the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j took place including at the beginning of Muh a mmad’s prophetic mission, two or three years after this, one year and a few months before the hijra, eighteen months before the hijra, two years  ilı, all before the hijra or six months after the hijra. According to al-‘Am 114 these refer to different occasions of the isra ’/mi‘ra j.  ilı  occasionally Also interesting is the method by which al-‘Am arrives at different dates of the journeys since it relies on an unconditional acceptance of the truth of the traditions and a literal understanding of their import. This is normal. For example, he relates a tradition

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on the authority of Ja‘far al-S a diq which indicates that Muhammad was taught the ritual prayers and the call to prayer (adha n) during his  ilı  then mentions that other traditions ascent to the heavens. Al-‘Am state that prayer was enjoined at the very beginning of Muhammad’s prophetic calling when he prayed with ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib and the angels during the day. Thus, he concludes, the isra ’/mi‘ra j must have occurred  ilı  then quotes a further tradition on the authorat this time. Al-‘Am ity of the Ima m Muhammad al-Ba qir, al-S a diq’s father, which among other things states that Muhammad undertook his journey at night, and that ‘a number of prophets gathered in bayt al-maqdis, Gabriel gave the call to prayer and the Prophet came forward and prayed with  ilı  maintains, that it was a separate occurthem’. This shows, al-‘Am rence of the isra ’/mi‘ra j since in this account the journey took place at night, the prayers had already been enjoined and the call to prayer was known.115 He then goes on to cite a popular tradition which mentions that when Muhammad returned to earth after his ascension he had sexual intercourse with his wife Khadıja and she became pregnant with Fa tima. Now, it is known from circumstantial evidence provided by other traditions that Khadıja became pregnant with Fa tima some five years after the beginning of Muh a mmad’s prophetic calling. Thus,  ilı  concludes, this must also have been a separate occurrence of al-‘Am the isra ’/mi‘ra j. 116  ilı  There are other differences within the traditions which al-‘Am considers also indicate a number of separate journeys. For example, some traditions state that the Prophet returned from bayt al-maqdis without ascending to the heavens, other traditions state that he ascended from it, while yet others report that he ascended to the heavens from the Sacred Mosque (al-masjid al-ha ra m). There is also the number of different methods by which Muhammad made the journey. These include riding on the bura q, on the bura q until the masjid al-aqsa  and then on a mi‘ra j (ladder) or a sullam (flight of stairs) to the heavens, or Muhammad was carried by Gabriel, or carried specifically on Gabriel’s right shoulder, or on Gabriel’s back, or Gabriel led him by the hand, or he was transported in what resembled a bird’s nest.  ilı  concludes that there is nothing to prevent us from believing Al-‘Am that Muhammad ascended once or a few times on the bura q, another

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time on Gabriel’s shoulder, then on a mi‘ra j, then on a sullam, and then led by Gabriel’s hand – ‘indeed however God willed’.117 In contrast to his fellow Ima mıs, al-T aba taba ’ı  was more conservative in his calculations and thought it most likely that the isra ’/mi‘ra j occurred only twice; once starting from the Sacred Mosque (al-masjid al-ha ra m) and going to bayt al-maqdis, in accord with the explicit text of the Qur’a n, and once from the house of Umm Ha ni’. He argues that two journeys are, moreover, confirmed by the Qur’a n in sura t al-Najm which states, ‘indeed he saw him at a second descent’. The fact that Muhammad was taken on the isra ’/mi‘ra j twice explains a few of the discrepancies between the traditions, since some would be referring to the first journey, some to the second, and some to what Muhammad saw on both occasions.118 More conservative still is Ayatollah Ja‘far  ilı  who posits that there was only one isra ’/mi‘ra j. He Murtad a  al-‘Am refers to al-T aba taba ’ ı’s conclusion that there were two journeys, one from the Sacred Mosque and one from the house of Umm Ha ni’, but harmonizes this by saying that perhaps on that night the Prophet left the house of Umm Ha ni’ for the Sacred Mosque and from there began his miraculous journey.119 Turning now to the Sunnı  position, like their Ima mı  counterparts it seems that a number of early Sunnı  scholars also reached the conclusion that there were multiple occurrences of the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j. This was also a result of attempting to explain the inconsistent reports of the various traditions. For example, in his Sharh  al-Mustafa  Abu Sa‘ ıd al-Nıs a burı  al-Kharkhushı  (d.406/1015) remarks that the Prophet made several ascents (ma‘a rıj), some while asleep and some while awake.120 Similarly, the Egyptian Qur’a nic exegete ‘Alı  b. Burha n al-Dın al-H alabı  (d.1044/1634) attributed to al-H a timı  al-Sufı  (i.e. Ibn ‘Arabı  [d.630/1240]) the belief that there were thirty occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and to have based this calculation on the fact that the traditions are related by thirty Companions of the Prophet, thus making each tradition refer to a discrete journey.121 The H adıth scholar Shiha b al-Dın Abu Sha ma (d.655/1268) is also alleged to have reckoned that the mi‘ra j occurred many times on the basis of the different ways that Muh a mmad is said to have ascended to heaven.122

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Proposing the incidence of a multiplicity of bodily journeys was, however, unusual among earlier Sunnı  commentators. The objection to this is seen in the comments of a certain Ibn ‘Ima d al-Nu‘ma nı  regarding the claim that Muhammad undertook the isra ’/mi‘ra j four times whilst awake: This is due to the number of traditions on the isra ’ and the differences in the accounts, since some of the traditions mention things that the others do not, while others leave out things which the others do not leave out. This does not indicate that there was more than one journey . . . Whoever makes every account of the isra ’ into a separate journey has strayed far from the truth, because Muhammad is introduced to the prophets in all the accounts and the prayers are enjoined upon him in all of them. How can this be maintained? It is inconceivable.123 Similarly, the much-respected jurisprudent and H adıth scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d.751/1350) condemned some of his fellow Muslims for interpreting the traditions too literally. He wrote: This is the method of feeble-minded scholars of traditions from the literalist (z a hirı ) school. When they come across a tradition whose wording contradicts some other traditions they maintain that it refers to a separate occurrence. For them, the more the traditions vary the greater the number of separate occurrences.124 Another esteemed scholar, the Qur’a nic exegete and historian Ibn Kathır (d.774/1373), was of the same opinion. In his al-Bida ya wa al-Niha ya, he criticizes some people for believing that the night journey and ascension took place on three separate occasions since the traditions can be taken to indicate even more than three and why should these not also be taken into account? If one wishes to harmonize the traditions in this way there is no reason to stop at three.125 Echoing the words of al-Nu‘ma nı, Ibn Kathır concludes that it is wrong to make each tradition a separate event since in every one Muhammad

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meets the prophets and in every one the prayers are enjoined upon him – ‘How can this happen a number of times? It is absolutely impossible!’126 No doubt in response to considerations expressed by such as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Ibn Kathır, while medieval Sunnı  scholars might at times suggest that there was more than one isra ’/mi‘ra j, the commonly-held view was that all but one of these were affairs of the spirit, visions or dreams, the physical journey taking place only once. Thus, the Sufı  and legal scholar ‘Abd al-Wahha b al-Sha‘ra nı  (d.973/1565) reportedly maintained that the isra ’/mi‘ra j occurred thirty-four times, only one of these being in body while the remainder were in spirit.127 Similarly, Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı  remarks that other Sunnıs held there to have been twenty-four occurrences of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j, while others said thirty occurrences, but only one of these was in the flesh while the remainder were visions of some kind. The proof that at least one journey was done in spirit is seen in the words of ‘A’ isha: ‘The Prophet’s body remained where it was but God took his spirit on a night journey.’128 An even more widely-held and thus more typical belief among earlier Sunnı  scholars is that H adıth points to Muhammad being taken on the isra ’/mi‘ra j two times one of which he undertook in his body while awake and the other while asleep. The latter experience is commonly said to have been in the form of a dream or an ‘inner vision’ (ru’ya ) and was to prepare the Prophet for the actual physical journey in the same way that he had a dream or inner vision to prepare him for the commencement of God’s revelations. Those Sunnıs who held this view include an anonymous group mentioned by ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Suhaylı  (d.581/1185),129 the theologian and mystic Abu al-Qa sim al-Qushayrı  (d.465/1072)130 and his son Abu Nasr b. al-Qushayrı  (d.514/1120),131 the Successor Ibn Maysara,132 the H adıth scholar and Qur’a nic exegete al-H usayn al-Mas‘ud al-Baghawı  (d.561/1122),133 the jurisprudent and H adıth scholar Muhyı  al-Dın al-Nawawı  (d.676/1278)134 and the jurisprudent, H adıth scholar and exegete ‘Izz al-Dın Ibn ‘Abd al-Sala m (d.660/1261) who is said to have concluded that there were two occurrences of the isra ’, one from Mecca which was connected with the mi‘ra j and during which the daily prayers were

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enjoined, and the other from Medina while Muhammad was asleep.135 Indeed, the report that Ibn ‘Arabı  considered there to have been thirty occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is contradicted by another which says that he believed in two journeys, one while asleep and the other while awake.136 Finally, al-Muhallab b. Abı  Sufra (d.435/1042–3), a commentator on al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh , mentioned that a number of scholars held this opinion, which was ‘most correct since the sense of the traditions conform with it’.137 One of the most notable advocates of this view is the celebrated H adıth expert and Qur’a nic exegete Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqala nı  (d.852/1449). Al-‘Asqala nı  notes that the majority of H adıth scholars (‘ulama ’ al-ha dıth),  jurisprudents (fuqaha ’) and scholastic theologians (mutakallimu n) have asserted that the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j both took place on the same night while Muhammad was awake, in body and spirit, after he began to receive revelations. This is in conformity with the obvious meaning (z awa hir) of ‘sound’. H adıth,  does not conflict with rationality such that it requires interpretation (ta’wıl),  and so there is no need to doubt it. On the other hand, the differences between the traditions have led some scholars to infer that a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j took place on more than one occasion. This, according to al-‘Asqala nı, is ‘preposterous’. How can one believe that there were a number of occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in every one of which Muhammad asks about each prophet, the inhabitants of every heaven ask ‘Has he been sent for?’ the five daily prayers are enjoined and so on? It is inconceivable that such things could be repeated while Muhammad was awake, but it is possible that they happened in a dream and then later in reality in the same way.138 Thus, al-‘Asqala nı  is led to acknowledge that the Prophet might have experienced one instance of the isra ’/mi‘ra j while asleep. After quoting a tradition which states that the angels Gabriel and Mika ’ıl came to take Muhammad at noon when he is sleeping in his house in Mecca,139 he remarks that if we accept this tradition then it is clear that it must refer to another instance of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j because it states that the journey occurred at noon and was from Mecca and this contradicts what the ‘sound’ traditions say. Perhaps this was done during sleep while the others refer to a journey while awake, or vice versa – ‘Only God knows.’140

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While the conclusion of medieval Sunnı  scholars that there was more than one isra ’/mi‘ra j also has its proponents in the modern period,141 a general consensus has subsequently emerged that there was only a single journey. For example, ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r supports this view and remarks that if it had occurred more than once then Muhammad would have told his community of it and people would have related traditions saying as much.142 Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib similarly rejects this method of harmonizing the traditions and states that the majority opinion is that the isra ’/mi‘ra j occurred only once (al-jumhu r ‘ala  anna al-isra ’ wa al-mi‘ra j waqa‘a marratan wa h idatan). Like some of his predecessors, ‘Abd al-Muttalib also notes the implausibility of a repetition of events, of the angels repeatedly asking ‘Has he received his mission?’ or ‘Has he been sent for?’ (wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi?),143 and the five daily prayers being repeatedly enjoined and their number reduced. Also like some of his predecessors, he accounts for the discrepancies in the traditions as being due to Muh a mmad recounting the events of the isra ’/mi‘ra j to his Companions at different times and tailoring the account to meet the ability of his listeners to understand and to what he considered was important to say at the time. This explains why, for example, some traditions state that the Nile and the Euphrates are in heaven next to the sidrat al-muntaha  while others state that only their sources are found there and yet others do not mention them at all, or why some traditions state that to the right and left of Adam are the souls of his descendents while other traditions simply omit to mention it.144 The traditions which indicate that Muhammad ascended to the heavens directly from Mecca are merely shorter versions of the full account which includes the horizontal journey to bayt al-maqdis.145

A Basic Version The former Grand Ima m of al-Azhar, shaykh Dr ‘Abd al-H alım  Mahmud (d.1978), has argued that although there are numerous traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, some of which are ‘sound’ (sah ıh ) and some ‘good’ (ha san), and they vary in length between long and short, and some mention things that others omit, the fact is that they all agree on the main details.146 Indeed, one result of doubts about the veracity

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of certain elements within the traditions is that a number of Muslim commentators have offered what they consider to be a basic version of the event which contains all the points on which the various traditions agree and omits the remainder as possibly spurious. This is a particularly Sunnı  endeavour since, as we have already remarked, the Ima miyya typically harmonize the traditions by concluding that they refer to different occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. This basic version has as its foundation verses from the Qur’a n which are associated with the isra ’/mi‘ra j along with H adıth cited in the canonical collections of al-Bukha rı  and Muslim. For example, after highlighting the contradictions between the traditions of thirteen Companions and abstracting the elements that they all agree upon, Ibn Kathır offers the following account, often cited by later Sunnı  commentators, which he claims is ‘the truth’: [The Prophet] was taken on a night journey while awake, not asleep, from Mecca to bayt al-maqdis riding the bura q. When he arrived at the door of the mosque he tied his mount to it and entered. He prayed two prostrations (rak‘a) at the prayer niche. Then the mi‘ra j was brought. This was like a ladder with steps upon which one climbs. He went up it until he reached the lowest heaven and then the rest of the seven heavens. The inhabitants of each heaven met him. He greeted the prophets who were situated in the heavens in accordance with their status until he passed by Moses in the sixth heaven and Abraham in the seventh. Then the Prophet surpassed their station and that of the other prophets and reached the level where he heard the scratching of pens, that is, the pens of destiny which record what will be. He saw the sidrat al-muntaha  which God had shrouded with an immense and magnificent veil of gold and many colours and which was surrounded by angels. There he saw Gabriel in his original form with six hundred wings. He also saw a green carpet (rafraf) which blocked the horizon. He saw the bayt al-ma‘mu r with Abraham the builder of the earthly Ka‘ba leaning his back against it because it is the heavenly Ka‘ba. Each day seventy thousand angels enter it to give praise and do not emerge from

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it until the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet also saw Paradise and Hell, and God enjoined fifty prayers upon him which He reduced to five out of compassion and kindness to those who believe in Him . . . Then the Prophet descended to bayt al-maqdis along with the prophets. He prayed there with them when it was the time for prayer . . . After this, he left bayt al-maqdis, mounted the bura q and returned to Mecca in the dark of night just before daybreak. But God knows best.147 One modern scholar whom we have seen to be very critical of many of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is Abu al-Majd H araka. Leaving aside any element of which he is not absolutely sure lest he introduce fantasies, he also offers a version which he believes is certainly correct: (1) The Prophet was taken on a night journey from Mecca – (2) probably once only – (3) while he was awake – (4) in spirit and body – (5) one year before the hijra – (6) by means of the bura q the true nature of which is known only to God – (7) to bayt al-maqdis. (8) Then he was then taken up through the heavens, one after the other – (9) until he reached the sidrat al-muntaha  – (10) where the prayers were enjoined upon him and his community. (11) Then he returned to Mecca – (12) on the same night. (13) In the morning he informed the people of God’s favour to him. (14) But the polytheists led by Abu Jahl called him a liar. (15) Showing great faith, Abu Bakr believed him, while some Muslims with weak faith apostacized. (16) The Qur’a n provides a very brief reference to the miracle.148 Those scholars whose keen distrust of the traditions leads them to reject much of their contents naturally offer even briefer versions of the journey. One such is Dr ‘Abd Alla h Mahmud Shiha ta who omits all details regarding the mi‘ra j which receive no explicit corroboration in the Qur’a n. Thus, after quoting a number of relevant traditions, he remarks: What is accepted by the Muslim people is that [the Prophet] was taken on a night journey while awake, not asleep, from Mecca to

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bayt al-maqdis riding the bura q. When he arrived at the door of the mosque he tied his mount to it and entered. He prayed two prostrations (rak‘a) at the prayer niche. Then he was taken up to the heavens. He returned from there, mounted the bura q and went back to Mecca before daybreak.149 Similar is Dr Ahmad Shalabı,  one of the foremost modern critics of the traditions. Like Shiha ta he views the H adıth on the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be so contradictory and logically inconsistent that it is an unreliable guide as to what really took place. He therefore also recommends that only those details mentioned in the Qur’a n should be acknowledged and underlines the sentence, ‘We consider it necessary to believe in the occurrence of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j and to be satisfied with the general description contained in the Holy Qur’a n without entering into any details.’150 Another staunch critic of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Syed Ahmed Khan, was of the same mind and basing himself solely on Qur’a n 17:1 states that ‘All that Mohammedans must believe respecting the Meraj’ is that the Prophet saw himself, in a vision, transported from Mecca to Jerusalem, and that in such a vision he really beheld some of the greatest signs of his Lord.151

In Defence of H adıth  Since the Middle Ages Sunnı  Muslims have maintained the integrity of the six canonical collections of H adıth,  and especially the S ah ıh of al-Bukha rı.  These works are viewed as containing an authentic record of the Prophet’s customary behaviour, his sayings and doings, or Sunna. The same applies to the Ima miyya and their collections of H adıth,  particularly the ‘Four Books’ based on the authority of the Prophet and the Ima ms. These collections have not, however, been totally immune from criticism especially during the last century or so. Thus, some theologians, historians and other scholars have begun to attack the unquestioning acceptance of many traditions, or more fundamentally,

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the state of mind which refuses to question them, as an impediment to progress and modern scientific thought. Indeed, one of the main areas of concern in recent discussions within Islam continues to be the authenticity of H adıth.  It is within the context of these discussions that the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j have come to transcend their apparently limited scope and have assumed more far-reaching significance. While the wholesale dismissal of H adıth for such as the Submitters and the Qur’a nists necessarily entails a denial of the mi‘ra j, for others the rejection of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j has a much wider import than simply refusing to believe that the event took place; it may also entail a damning rejection of all the H adıth found in the S ah ıh s of al-Bukha rı  and Muslim since the inclusion of forgeries in their collections might well be taken to undermine their criteria for selecting ‘sound’ traditions. This in turn challenges the validity of the whole corpus of H adıth which serves as a supplement to and elucidation of the Qur’a n and as the prime source of Islamic ritual and law, the Sharı‘a.  It was in response to this predicament that some five and a half centuries ago Muhammad b. ‘Alı  al-S a lihı  (d.842/1438) wrote his al-Ifra j fı  Takhrıj  Aha dı  th Qissat al-Mi‘ra j the aim of which was to defend the H adıth on the isra ’/mi‘ra j which feature in the S ah ıh s of al-Bukha rı and  Muslim and thereby remove suspicions concerning the authenticity of the other traditions found in these works. As the author explains, he was prompted to do this by someone who doubted that the angels used the term ahlan (marha ban wa ahlan) (‘welcome as one of our family’) when they greeted Muhammad in the heavens, an element which occurs in al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh , and someone else who doubted that the cups were offered to Muhammad in the heavens after he had visited the sidrat al-muntaha  having already been offered to him in bayt al-maqdis, an element which occurs in traditions cited by both al-Bukha rı  and Muslim. Al-S a lihı remarks that if traditions containing these episodes can be rejected even though they appear in the two S ah ıh s , then people will certainly reject other things in the S ah ıh s too.152 Among contemporary Muslims who have also attempted to maintain the integrity of the H adıth corpus in terms of a defence of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is Abu al-Majd H araka in his al-Isra ’

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wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Mawd u ‘iyya. He approaches his task by attempting to weed out the spurious descriptions of the event, both those that are already part of Muslim culture and those that are invented every year by writers and story-tellers during the annual festival of Laylat al-Mi‘ra j. He calls for a wholesale and detailed reassessment of the H adıth dealing with the subject in order to separate the true from the false and proposes that a team of religious scholars should be involved.153 Similarly, Raf‘at ‘Abd al-Muttalib was prompted to write his Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j in response to recent attacks on the Sunna which primarily took the form of highlighting the spurious nature of the H adıth on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. He concentrates on traditions which are considered to be ‘sound’ and mutawa tir, especially those of al-Bukha rı  and Muslim, but also those contained in the Sunans of al-Nasa ’ ı,  al-Tirmidhı,  Ibn Ma ja and Abu Da wud, the Musnad of Ahmad ibn H anbal and to a lesser degree the Muwatta ’ of Ma lik b. Anas. ‘Abd al-Muttalib pays special attention to a book whose aim he perceives to be ‘to deceive Muslims by making them doubt the second source of Islamic law, that is, the noble prophetic Sunna’ and which was to be achieved by criticizing the traditions on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. 154 This is al-Ad wa ’ al-Qur’a niyya fı  Iktisa h  al-Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ıliyya  wa Tathır al-Bukha rı minha ,155 written by the Egyptian S a lih Abu Bakr. The book was subsequently banned by alAzhar because of its attack on al-Bukha rı ’s S ah ıh . S a lih Abu Bakr had formerly been a member of the Islamic society Jama ‘at Ansa r al-Sunna in Alexandria but was expelled from this on the book’s publication. The stakes are potentially high, and while some Muslim scholars have readily denounced such as the Kita b al-Mi‘ra j attributed to Ibn ‘Abba s as spurious and have criticised the traditions and expressed doubts concerning their veracity, they have largely been intent on defending the integrity of the H adıth corpus as a whole and all that this implies. Thus, an outspoken critic of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j like Dr Ahmad Shalabı  still finds it necessary to offer a vindication of al-Bukha rı  and Muslim. He remarks that although we might concede that a few forged traditions have found their way into the collections, this in no way affects the remainder of the corpus. The existence of a

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small error in a book does not detract from its value since all books apart from the Qur’a n contain things which are correct and things which are false and it is unreasonable to elevate al-Bukha rı to the same degree of infallibility as the Qur’a n.156 Ibn al-Khatı b is another ardent critic of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j. However, despite the fact that he has been accused of attempting to undermine the authenticity of ‘sound’ H adıth,  157 he is well aware of the implications his criticisms have and is careful to exonerate al-Bukha rı  and Muslim from any fault, noting that they only record a few fabricated traditions among the tens of thousands of ‘sound’ ones. All men make mistakes, even the prophets. Furthermore, even though al-Bukha rı  and Muslim’s collections contain fabrications this does not entitle everybody to criticise those of the Prophet’s traditions which leading scholars have judged to be sound, since doubting the H adıth of the Prophet is the same as doubting him.158 Other commentators give similar warnings. For example, the  ilı  remarks that while it might Ima mı  scholar ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Am not be possible to swear by God that a certain tradition is true or false one should nevertheless not encourage people to doubt the words of the Prophet claiming that you are a reformer (mujaddid) since in reality you are nothing but a ‘mouthpiece of the orientalists and the missionaries’.159 *** Once the Qur’a nic verses on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j have been acknowledged and the H adıth has been authenticated there still remains the fundamental question of the nature of the journey that Muhammad undertook from Mecca to Jerusalem and thence through the seven heavens. The answers that Muslims have arrived at form the subject of the following two chapters.

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CHAPTER 3 THROUGH SPACE AND TIME

The Muslim community believes that this journey was in both body and spirit and that for this reason it is one of the wonderful miracles with which God honoured [the Prophet]. (Muhammad Sa‘ı d Ramad a n al-Butı)1 The previous chapter examined the textual evidence for the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j as found within the Qur’a n and H adıth and investigated a number of problems which Muslims have raised especially concerning the traditions. They criticized these on the basis of their contents which were seen as containing the imaginary constructs of story-tellers and forgers who described the intangible and transcendent world of the heavens in material terms, as adulterated with isra ’ıliyya  t or JudeoChristian motifs, and as being incompatible both with logic and with each other. The focus of the present chapter and the one which follows is different in that the Muslim commentators generally do not question the authenticity of the traditions but rather accept them as literal and accurate descriptions of the events. The issue now is understanding how these descriptions relate to this world and the Hereafter: are they to be taken literally in whole or in part? Are they scenes from a vision or some kind of ecstatic mystical experience? Or are they some kind of figurative representation of an underlying reality? Of all the contentious issues concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j none has received and continues

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to receive as much attention as the manner in which it was performed. The results of the debate between those who stress a physical journey and those who do not continue to be of great interest and concern for many Muslims, due to their implications for the corroboration of the status of the Prophet, ‘Alı  and the Ima ms, their validation of basic beliefs and practices of Islam, and the Muslim and Palestinian right to Palestine, Jerusalem and al-Aqsa  mosque. Here, we concentrate on one solution to the problem which is that at least on one occasion the isra ’/mi‘ra j was an actual physical journey through space and time. It was undertaken by Muhammad in the same body he used on earth with no alteration or substitution, indeed in the clothes he was wearing when Gabriel first appeared to him in Mecca. This remains the orthodox opinion and the one adopted by the majority of Muslims up to the present time.

Early Difficulties Many traditions report that when Muhammad returned from his journey and informed his fellow Quraysh in Mecca about it most of them refused to believe him: Some of them clapped their hands together and some of them put their hands to their heads in astonishment. They shouted and were amazed. Al-Mut‘im b. ‘Adı  said, ‘O Muhammad, what you have said prior to today is nothing compared to what you are saying now. I swear that you are a liar.’2 This incredulity is also clearly seen in the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j provided by Ibn Isha q (d.151/768), the author of the earliest extant biography of the Prophet. He relates a tradition narrated by al-H asan al-Basrı  (d.115/734) which states that Muhammad returned to Mecca after his night journey to bayt al-maqdis and went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning he told the Quraysh where he had been. Most of the people refused to believe him, asking how he could have done this in a single night when it takes a camel a whole month to travel to Palestine and a month to return. At this point al-H asan al-Basrı  adds,

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‘And many people who had become Muslims apostacised.’3 Ibn Isha q cites another tradition by the Prophet’s cousin Umm Ha ni’ in which she reports that he slept in her house on the night of the isra ’. When they awoke in the morning he told her that during the night he had visited bayt al-maqdis and prayed there. He got up to leave but Umm Ha ni’ grabbed the hem of his robe and said, ‘By God, don’t inform anyone about this because they will call you a liar and insult you.’4 Whether these traditions really originated with al-H asan al-Basrı  and Umm Ha ni’ or not, the fact that they were current and available for Ibn Isha q to cite indicates that some people recognised the difficulties in accepting the account. In fact, although by the time of Ibn Isha q there appears to have been general acknowledgement that the isra ’/mi‘ra j had taken place in some manner or other there was still uncertainty as to exactly how. Indeed, it is clear that Ibn Isha q himself is unsure about what to make of it. His whole treatment of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j is full of doubts and misgivings, highlighting the difficulties that the Quraysh had in believing the account and presenting alternative views. Thus, he mentions a tradition from the Prophet’s wife ‘A’ isha in which she says, ‘The Prophet’s body remained where it was but God took his spirit on a night journey’5 and another from Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n (d.64/680) who, when asked about the Prophet’s night journey, replied, ‘It was a true vision (ru’ya  sadiqa)  from God.’6 Similarly, he quotes al-H asan al-Basrı  as saying that it was because of the consternation over Muhammad’s claims that God revealed the verse ‘We granted the vision (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men’7 also indicating that the journey was a vision of some kind. It is unusual for Ibn Isha q to offer his opinion on the material he presents regarding Muhammad, but in the context of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j he seems to feel obliged to comment and to indicate his own uncertainty: It was undoubtedly an act of God that He took [Muhammad] on a night journey as He pleased (kayfa sha ’a) . . . 8 ‘As He pleased’ here indicates that Ibn Isha q left open the question as to how the journey was performed. He also adds ‘Only God knows

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how [the isra ’/mi‘ra j] happened and how he saw what he saw. Whether he was asleep or awake, it was all true and actually happened’9 and regards the journey as ‘a trial, a test and a matter of God’s power and authority. It contains a lesson for the intelligent and guidance, mercy and confirmation for those who believe.’10 Perhaps another sign of Ibn Isha q’s conviction that the isra ’/mi‘ra j took place but qualms about exactly how it happened is seen in that he makes much of Abu Bakr’s uncritical belief in Muhammad’s account and his receiving the honorific al-siddıq (‘the trusting’) as a result.

Towards a Physical Isra ’/Mi‘raj: Material Evidence is Provided As already remarked, even if we are sceptical regarding the attribu tions to ‘A’isha, Umm Ha ni’, Mu‘a wiya and al-H asan al-Basrı,  their traditions may be taken as articulating conclusions reached within the Muslim community in the first hundred years or so after the death of the Prophet. They suggest that up to the time of Ibn Isha q it was not considered obligatory to believe in the physical nature of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j. However, during this same period rational proofs of a physical journey were desired and the supply met the demand. Evidence of this is already seen in Ibn Ish a q’s report. Thus, he records that in response to the scornful scepticism of his fellow Meccans, Muhammad provided various pieces of evidence to substantiate his claims. For example, Abu Bakr, who had previously visited bayt al-maqdis and thus could corroborate what Muhammad said, asks him to describe it. At this, an image of the place materializes before Muhammad’s eyes and he is able to answer correctly all the questions put to him.11 Ibn Isha q cites another tradition narrated by Umm Ha ni’ in which she urges Muhammad not to speak to the people about his visit to bayt al-maqdis. When Muhammad insists that he will inform them, Umm Ha nı  orders an Abyssinian slave girl of hers to follow him and listen to what transpires. The people ask Muhammad for proof of his journey and he tells them that while travelling he had passed a caravan from which a camel bolted and that he had shown them where it was, and also that he had passed another caravan from which he had taken some water. When the two caravans arrive in Mecca the merchants confirm the Prophet’s

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report.12 A similar tradition states that Muhammad informed the Meccan polytheists that while on his journey he passed by one of their caravans, and he was able to tell them when it would arrive in Mecca and that it would be led by camel whose hide was tinged with black and which carried a black cloth and two black sacks. When the day arrived the people waited and watched until it was almost the middle of the day. Then the caravan approached led by the camel which the Prophet had described.13 Similarly, it is said that on the night of the isra ’/mi‘ra j the Prophet’s uncle and protector Abu T a lib was unable to find Muhammad. Fearing that the Quraysh had abducted him he gathered seventy men from his clan the Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib and ordered each of them to sit with a man from the Quraysh. He told them that if they saw him returning with Muhammad then all was well, but if not they were to kill the Qurayshite sitting next to them. Abu T a lib eventually found Muhammad at the door of Umm Ha ni’s house after he had descended on the bura q.14 In an alternative tradition it is merely stated that Muhammad was missed, that the Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib searched for him, and that he was eventually found by ‘Abba s b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib.15 Elsewhere, Umm Ha ni’ herself is reported to have missed the Prophet in the middle of the night and was unable to sleep for fear that the Quraysh had seized him.16 Circumstantial evidence is also provided by a non-Muslim witness, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. It is reported that when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius received a letter from Muhammad asking him to submit to him and to accept Islam, he summoned a number of Arab merchants who were in Syria at the time so as to learn more about the man who had written to him. Among these merchants was Abu Sufya n who was not a Muslim, was an enemy of the Prophet and wished to show that he was untrustworthy and a liar: [Abu Sufya n] said, ‘O king, shall I will tell you something about him which will show you that he is a liar?’ ‘What is it?’ the Emperor asked. He replied, ‘He claims to us that he left our land, the ha ram [i.e. Mecca], travelled to this mosque of yours, the  ), in a single night and then returned mosque of Jerusalem (Iliya

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to us before morning.’ Standing next to the Emperor was the Patriarch of Jerusalem who said, ‘I remember that night.’ The Emperor looked at him and asked, ‘What do you know of it?’ [The Patriarch] replied, ‘I used not to go to sleep at night until I had locked the doors of the mosque. On that particular night I had locked all the doors apart from one which I could not close. I asked all my assistants and those who were with me to help me with it, but we could not move it. It was as if we were trying to shift a mountain. So I called for the carpenters to come and repair it. They had a look at it and said that the lintel and indeed the building itself had pressed down onto it and that they could not move it until the morning. So I left it open. In the morning I found that the rock in the corner of the mosque had a hole in it which bore signs of having been used to tether an animal. I said to those who were with me, “That door must have jammed open for a prophet who prayed in our mosque last night.”’17 Further non-Muslim testimony is seen in that when the Muslim conquerors laid siege to Jerusalem in 17/638, the inhabitants were reported to be prepared to conclude a peace treaty with them because they knew how important the place was to Muslims as the destination of the Prophet’s night journey.18 Finally, in yet another tradition, forty Jews made their way to Medina to see the magician (ka hin), the liar (kadhdha b), Muhammad in order to prove that he was a charlatan. They told Muhammad that Moses is better than him because God spoke to Moses whereas He had not spoken to him. The Prophet remarked that he had been given something better than that, and when they enquired what this was he replied with the Qur’a nic verse ‘Praise be to God who took His servant for a journey by night from the sacred place of prayer to the furthest place of prayer whose precincts We did bless in order that We might show him some of Our signs: for He is the One who hears and sees all things.’ Muhammad continues: I was carried on Gabriel’s wings up to the seventh heaven and reached the sidrat al-muntaha  near which is the jannat al-ma‘wa . I stood next to the leg of the Throne and from it [a voice]

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called: ‘I am God. There is no god but Me, the Peace, the One who Assures, the Protector, the Mighty, the Omnipotent, the Powerful, the Merciful, the Compassionate.’ I saw Him with my heart and did not see Him with my eyes. This is better than what happened to Moses. At this, the Jews reply, ‘You are telling the truth Muhammad. It is written down in the Torah.’19

Rational Arguments The evidence which the Prophet is said to have produced for the doubting Quraysh is cited up to the present time in support of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j. It was not long, however, before the need was felt to complement this with other, perhaps more persuasive, proof. Indeed, for some it seemed imperative to provide further confirmation of the corporeal nature of the journey if the special status of the event in Muhammad’s life and in Islam was to be maintained. To this end, numerous scholars of major and minor importance and from different schools of thought have throughout the ages exercised their knowledge and intellect, the earliest and most influential of these being the celebrated Qur’a nic exegete and historian Muhammad b. Jarır al-T abarı . Muhammad b. Jarır al-Tabarı  (d.310/923) By the beginning of the fourth/tenth century it is clear that although doubts still persisted as to the reality of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and particularly the mi‘ra j, 20 at least some commentators were convinced not only that it took place but also that it was a physical journey performed by Muhammad in his body. Indeed, Ibn Dih y a remarks that this was the position of ‘most of the pious forebears, the legal scholars (fuqaha ’), experts in H adıth,  Qur’a nic exegetes and scholastic theologians (mutakallimu n), indeed all the Ahl al-Sunna’.21 That this was so is also seen in the earliest recorded rational arguments in support of the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j – those of Muhammad b. Jarır al-T abarı  (d.310/923) in his Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n.

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As is often the case, in his discussion al-T abarı  constantly refers to the isra ’ but it is clear that he intends both the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j since his commentary on su rat al-Isra ’ includes many traditions relating to the ascension through the heavens. Here, as in many other contexts, the terms isra ’ and mi‘ra j are used interchangeably, the one also indicating the other. Regarding the nature of the Prophet’s journey, al-T abarı  makes his position clear at the outset: In our view the truth is that God took His servant Muhammad on a night journey from the masjid al-ha ra m to the masjid al-aqsa , as God has informed His servants and as the traditions from the Prophet clearly state, that is, that God carried him on the bura q until it brought him there. He prayed there with the prophets and the messengers, and God showed him some of His signs.22 He then outlines four points which he claims confirm that it took place in the body.23 Although these have inevitably been augmented over time, they have been reiterated by most subsequent proponents of the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j both Sunnı  and Ima mı .24 They are: 1. If the journey had not been undertaken in body then it would not be proof of Muhammad’s prophethood. 2. If it had been a dream, the Meccan idolaters would not have contested what Muhammad said, since no one would deny that one could dream about something that is one year’s travel away let alone what is only a month’s travel away or less. 3. God states in the Qur’a n that He took His ‘servant’ (‘abd) on a night journey. He did not say that He took the ‘spirit’ (ru h) of His servant. No one may interpret the explicit words of God to mean something else. 4. The H adıth transmitted by the Prophet reveal that God took him on a night journey on the bura q, and if it had taken place in spirit the bura q would not have been needed since riding animals carry only bodies:

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If those who claim that [Muh a mmad’s] spirit was taken on a night journey say that this means that he had a dream in which his body was taken on a night journey on the bura q, they would be refuting the sense of the Prophet’s traditions which state that Gabriel put him on the bura q . . . 25 This and the following comments constitute a fifth argument for a physical journey: ‘. . . and this contradicts the obvious meaning of the Qur’a nic text and the traditions from the Prophet and the leading Companions and the Successors with unbroken chains of transmission.’ That is, when the Qur’a n and H adıth are understood literally they point to a physical journey. Al-T abarı  does not make this line of reasoning explicit but it is in fact the most compelling of all arguments. Al-T abarı  is satisfied that his point has been proven and while citing evidence to the contrary sees no need formally to respond to this. Thus, he observes that those who support the idea of a non physical isra ’/mi‘ra j quote the traditions of the Prophet’s wife ‘A’isha (‘The Prophet’s body remained where it was but God took his spirit on a night journey’) and Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n (‘It was a true vision [ru’ya ] from God’), first cited by Ibn Isha q. He also relates a tradition attributed to Muhammad’s contemporary H udhayfa b. al-Yama n in which he states that ‘The Prophet did not go to bayt al-maqdis. If he had God would have ordered that you perform your prayers there just as you must by the Ka‘ba.’26 Al-T abarı  also mentions Ibn Isha q’s reference to the Qur’a nic verse ‘We granted the vision (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men’ in which it is implied that the term ru’ya  (‘vision’) indicates a non-physical journey. After al-T abarı  While al-T abarı’s arguments in support of the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j have remained relevant up to the present time and continue to be cited by modern commentators, the theologians, Qur’a nic exegetes and other scholars who came after him inevitably developed these arguments and advanced further proofs. Moreover, they saw fit to provide a critique

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 of the traditions of ‘A’isha and Mu‘a wiya which are still evidence of major importance for those who argue for a non-physical journey,27 or obstacles to be overcome by those who argue the contrary. Dealing first with the rebuttal of the traditions, Ibn Dihy a’s  (d.663/1236) criticism of the tradition of ‘A’isha is typical and often repeated. He remarks that its chain of transmitters (the isnad)  does not contain anyone who is trustworthy or a known authority, Ibn Isha q  merely stating, ‘Someone from Abu Bakr’s family said that ‘A’isha used to say . . .’ In fact, the judge Abu al-‘Abba s b. Surayj (d.306/918) condemned the tradition as being a forgery invented just so as to oppose ‘sound’ traditions. Furthermore, argues Ibn Dihya, although  the Prophet married ‘A’isha in Mecca she was only six or seven years old at the time and he did not consummate the marriage with her until he had moved to Medina after the isra ’/mi‘ra j had taken place.  What he means is that while in Mecca ‘A’isha was too young to have been sharing a bed with Muhammad such that she could know that his body remained where it was at night.28 These criticisms have continued into modern times with little variation or addition.29 As far as the Ima mı s are concerned, however, there is little to say about it since  ‘A’isha, who fought against ‘Alı  at the Battle of the Camel (36/656), is by them held in universal condemnation. As for the tradition of Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n, the most common accusation is that Mu‘a wiya was not a Muslim at the time of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j and therefore not a reliable witness, and also that Ya‘qub b. ‘Utba b. al-Mughı ra b. al-Akhnas (d.128/745) who relates the statement from Mu‘a wiya did not come into contact with him and thus his testimony is unreliable.30 As before, the situation is simpler for the Ima mı s who are the least likely to value the testimony of someone who fought against ‘Alı  at the Battle of Siffı n (36–7/657). Thus, al-Majlisı  (d.1110/1699 or 1111/1700) merely remarks that Mu‘a wiya was untruthful and thus no traditions can be accepted from him.31 As noted above, al-T abarı  also mentions Ibn Isha q’s reference to the Qur’a nic verse ‘We granted the vision (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men’ in which it is implied that the term ru’ya  indicates a nonphysical journey. Once again, while al-T abarı  did not deal with this it has been addressed by many subsequent commentators. For instance,

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‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Suhaylı  (d.581/1185) contends that rather than indicating a vision, ru’ya  means seeing with the eyes and he quotes a line of poetry as evidence. In fact, al-Suhaylı  maintains, the Qur’a nic verse in question actually proves that Muhammad performed the journey while awake (and hence in body) since had it been a dream it would not have constituted a ‘trial for men’ such that some of them renounced Islam.32 This view receives further support from the Ima mı  Qur’a nic exegete al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı  (d.548/1153) who maintains that one possible understanding of the term ru’ya  here is the ‘seeing of the eye’ (ru’yat al-‘ayn) mentioned in the verse telling of the night journey from Mecca to bayt al-maqdis and thence to the heavens in one night (that is, 17:1 ‘in order that We might show him some of Our signs’ where ‘We show [him]’ [nurıhi]  is taken to mean ‘make [him] see’). Al-T abarsı  also proposes an alternative explanation in which the verse is taken to refer to a dream which Muhammad had while still residing in Medina and which concerned his eventual triumphant return to Mecca and the battle of H udaybiyya.33 The meaning of the term ru’ya  has remained a bone of contention for those championing a physical journey up to the present time, although little new has been added to the traditional arguments formulated by such as al-Suhaylı.34  Turning now to the evidence for a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j adduced by some of al-T abarı ’s successors, in a further articulation of the argument first advanced by al-T abarı  that holding the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be a dream contradicts the explicit meaning of the Qur’a nic text and the traditions, Abu al-Qa sim al-Qushayrı  (d.465/1072) states that the obvious sense of the first verse of su rat al-Isra ’ is proof that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was corporeal since it contains no mention of a ‘vision’ (ru’ya ). Similarly, the phrase ‘in order that We might show him some of Our signs’ indicates a physical journey because what is seen in a dream cannot be described as ‘signs’ (a ya t). Also, ‘that We might show him’ would only be used in the context of someone who was awake. As for the opening verses of su rat al-Najm (Qur’a n 53:1–18), these likewise indicate a physical event since if it had been a dream or some kind of spiritual experience this would conflict with the literal meaning of these verses.35 To reconcile this understanding with those traditions in which Muhammad says that he was ‘between sleep and wakefulness,’ ‘asleep in the ha t ım’  and

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‘asleep in the h ijr,’ al-Qushayrı  suggests that perhaps the Prophet was indeed initially asleep, but when the angel came to him he woke up and made the journey in body. Aside from this, at other times he could have performed similar journeys in a dream.36 Another proof which relies on a correct understanding of the Qur’a nic text was forwarded by Ibn Kathı r (d.774/1373) who remarks that the praising of God in the phrase subh a na Alla h in su rat al-Isra ’ verse 1 (‘Praise be to God [subh ana  Alla h] who took His servant on a journey by night . . .’) would not be used in reference to a dream37 but rather only in connection with miraculous signs (al-a ya t al-‘az ıma  al-kha riqa) and this proves that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was undertaken in both body and spirit.38 Not all the evidence for a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j relied on a correct understanding of the Qur’a n and H adıth however. Thus, the Sunnı  scholar Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı  (d.819/1416–17) states that one indication that Muhammad undertook his miraculous journey in his body is that the marks of the stitches on his breast were still visible and were seen by many of his Companions;39 while Ibn Dihya remarks that the fact that Muhammad was able to provide material evidence of his journey proves that it was done in the body.40

Two Key Elements in the Arguments There are two fundamental assumptions which al-T abarı  and many subsequent scholars take to be axiomatic and which constitute the main evidence for a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j. These are firstly the imperative to view the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a miracle; and secondly the tendency to view the text of the Qur’a n and H adıth as literally true and in no need of allegorical interpretation. Since these inform much of the reasoning on the subject it is appropriate to have a closer look at them. 1. The Miracle of the Night Journey and Ascension The Qur’a n refers to a number of miracles or ‘signs’ that were performed by the prophets who preceded Muhammad, such as Moses’ staff turning into a serpent (7:107) and Jesus raising the dead and

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healing the blind (3:49). Thus, miracles have a place within Islamic tradition and Muslim scholars have for a long time believed that God grants miracles to His prophets to confirm that they are genuinely receiving revelations from Him. The Sunnı  scholar Rizq Hayba summarises this view: We have learned from the history of nations that every community has had a messenger who claimed prophethood and that they asked him for proof of what he claimed. They were quite entitled to ask for this proof since they had no other way of verifying that he was a prophet other than this . . . He would produce the proof in the form of some miracle or other, whether this was the miracle they had asked for or not.41 This is reiterated by the Ima mı  Muhammad H usayn al-T aba t aba ’ı  (d.1981) who similarly observes that the claim to be a prophet is in need of proof and this is why ordinary people always sought miracles from the prophets. This is only logical since the receipt of revelation which the prophet claims is not to be found among normal human beings but is rather an invisible power which God miraculously bestows on His prophets. When this is the case, the prophet should ask God for another miracle at the beginning of his mission, or according to the demand of the people, in order to prove his prophecy, as testified by the Qur’a n which relates that prophets performed miracles at the beginning of their mission or after their followers had requested them.42 But while the Qur’a n attributes miracles to the earlier prophets, it states that Muhammad did not perform any (7:109; 13:7, 38). It refers to the splitting of the moon (54:1) and the isra ’ but does not explicitly state that these were miracles or provide sufficient detail to conclude this or indeed suggest that they were perceived as such by Muhammad’s contemporaries. Muh a mmad’s only miracle was the Qur’a n itself (2:23) which contained ‘signs’ or a yas (24:1; 31:2; 41:3). Indeed, in a number of places in the Qur’a n it is made evident that during Muhammad’s lifetime the fact that he was only a man was an obstacle to his being accepted as Prophet by his fellow Meccans

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who wanted a worker of miracles.43 However, this need was not to be thwarted by apparent assertions to the contrary found in the Qur’a n, and the desire first expressed by the Quraysh was soon fulfilled. Thus, it is clear from the large role that miracles play in al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya that by the time of Ibn Isha q, a century or so after the death of the Prophet, the image of Muhammad as miracle worker was already well developed. Aside from the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j Ibn Isha q mentions many other miracles including those that accompanied Muhammad’s birth, his becoming invisible to enemies, his powers over nature, his feeding many people with little food and so on.44 Now, inasmuch as a miracle is a ‘violation of the laws of the universe by means of which God confirms His prophets’45 so the prophethood of Muhammad received its ultimate confirmation by his being taken in body and spirit on the night journey and ascension through the heavens, one of the greatest if not the greatest miracle after the Qur’a n. As al-T abarı  remarks: There is no sense in holding that [Muhammad’s] spirit was taken on a night journey and not his body because if this was the case it would not contain the necessary proof of his prophethood nor evidence of his calling (risa la).46 Or as Muhammad Sa‘ ıd Ramad a n al-Butı  puts it: ‘The Muslim community believes that this journey was in both body and spirit and that for this reason it is one of the wonderful miracles with which God honoured [the Prophet].’47 Other scholars agree, such as the Ima mı  theologian Abu Ja‘far Muhammad al-T usı  (d.460/1067) who similarly refers to the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a clear demonstration of Muh a mmad’s prophethood,48 al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı,49 Muhammad S aba h Mansur50 and Muhammad Abu Fa ris51 to name but a few. The logical relationship between the need to ascribe miracles to the Prophet as confirmation of his status and the assertion of a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j is seen in that when the isra ’/mi‘ra j is not viewed as a miracle it is typically, although not invariably, interpreted as non-physical. As we shall see in the following chapter which deals with non-physical interpretations of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, these are often posited by Muslims

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who see Muhammad as an ordinary man, albeit chosen by God to communicate His final revelation, but unable to work miracles. They reject what they perceive as the legendary material in his biography and wish to emphasize the human nature of his prophethood. In this, they are writing from a perspective far removed from that which informed the classical biographies such as that of Ibn Isha q. 2. A Literal Understanding The second crucial point raised by al-T abarı  and other commentators is that the isra ’/mi‘ra j cannot be interpreted as a dream since ‘this contradicts the obvious meaning of the Qur’a nic text and the traditions’. This literalist approach to the sacred texts has proved to be one of the most persuasive arguments for a physical journey. In both Sunnı  and Ima mı  Islam, scholars have always given priority to the external (z a hir) meanings of the words of the Qur’a n and H adıth even though many would claim that there is also an ‘inner’ or esoteric (ba tin) meaning which can only be uncovered by an effort of interpretation (ta’wıl). Indeed, most works of usu l al-fiqh or legal theory stress that the external or literal meaning is the default. To take Ima mı  usu l al-fiqh as an example, one of the main concerns of the legal scholar is considered to be establishing the obvious or evident meaning of a tradition according to its normal usage. It is this obvious meaning which has primacy when using a tradition in the formulation of legal principles. According to the Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Muhammad al-Ba qir al-S adr (d.1980), the pre-eminence of the obvious meaning of a tradition is based on two premises: 1). the normative conduct of the Companions of the Prophet and the Ima ms was based on the obvious meaning of the Qur’a n and the Sunna, and this is confirmed by the historical records of their practice; and 2). the Companions of the Prophet and the companions of the Ima ms followed this principle in the presence of the Prophet and the Ima ms and these latter did not criticise their behaviour, thus showing that they were acting correctly.52 The Ima mı  scholar H usayn  ilı  sums up the approach: Bandar al-‘Am It is a correct and established rule that everything which is explicitly stated (dalla ‘alayhi z a hir al-lafz), whether in the Holy

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Qur’a n or the noble H adıth,  and which does not conflict with something even more explicitly stated must be accepted. It is not permissible to interpret it differently (ta’wıl) or reject it merely because it seems improbable or is unfamiliar and unusual.53 This same principle has also remained the orthodox opinion among Sunnı  scholars. In addition to the remarks of al-T abarı  above, we can see it at work in the statements of other Sunnı  commentators regarding specifically the isra ’/mi‘ra j. For example, while examining a tradition quoted in Muslim’s S ah ıh  which refers to the gates of heaven which Muhammad passes through, al-Qa dı  ‘Ayya d (d.544/1149) observes that ‘The fact that the doors of heaven . . . are mentioned in the tradition is proof that the heavens contain real doors (abwa b ha qıqiyya)  and angels who guard them.’54 Elsewhere, regarding the fact that the traditions reveal Muh a mmad’s breast to have been split open on three separate occasions Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqala nı  (d.852/1449) remarks: We should accept everything that has been related concerning the splitting open of the Prophet’s chest, the taking out of his heart and all other extraordinary events. We should not try to explain them away as being allegorical because God is perfectly capable of doing such things and nothing is impossible for Him.55 More recently, the late Grand Ima m of al-Azhar, ‘Abd al-H alı m Mahmud (d.1978), concluded that Prophet performed the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j in both body and spirit since ‘the explicit meaning of sound traditions’ (z awa hir al-akhba r al-sah ıh a ) indicates it and ‘one must not deviate from this’.56 This line of reasoning is also implicit in Muhammad Sulayma n al-Nashara tı ’s statement that part of the evidence that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was undertaken in both body and spirit is what the two shaykhs (i.e. al-Bukha rı  and Muslim) have related, that is, in the literal understanding of the H adıth they cite.57 Thus, while some would argue for an allegorical understanding, the majority of Muslim scholars have always held the traditions and Qur’a nic references to the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be literally true and it is this exegetical principle which lies behind many of the discussions on the

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subject. This is equally true of the Islamic mystics or Sufı s who, while often employing the mi‘ra j narrative as an allegory for the ascension of the human soul towards God, nonetheless still attest to the physical fact of Muhammad’s journey.58

Science and the Isra ’/Mi‘raj 1. Early Formulations We have already noted that the arguments advanced by al-T abarı  in favour of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j have continued to be cited up to the present time, and we have provided examples of further proofs that have been adduced to complement these. However, of all the additional evidence both for and against a corporeal journey none has been so productive and irresistible as the appeal to scientific and cosmological notions of the day. In this, rational justification and criticism reached another level of sophistication. One of the earliest authorities who refers to the existence of arguments from science is al-Qushayrı. The allusion is rather vague but it does show that at least some opponents of the physical mi‘ra j were utilizing current cosmological theories to support their view. He states that those who reject the mi‘ra j on rational grounds (min jihat al-‘aql) are heretics and those who believe that the universe was formed naturally and not by a Creator (the taba ’i‘u n). These hold that there is a sphere of fire around the sphere of air that surrounds the earth. Earth is the lowest sphere and it is to this that all heavy material things naturally fall.59 Although al-Qushayrı  does not mention it, this is clearly based on Aristotle’s (d.322 BC) geocentric model of the universe in which earth forms a centre surrounded by consecutive spheres of air, water, fire and finally æther which contains the stars and is the abode of the divine. The argument to which al-Qushayrı  alludes was perhaps that material things (e.g. the Prophet’s body) are by their very nature forced to reside at the centre, at the point farthest away from the divine which they are unable to reach. Many of the objections that medieval scholars raised concerning the physical mi‘ra j were based on another cosmological system, that of

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the Greek astronomer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy (d.c. AD 165) who, basing himself on Aristotle, also put forward a geocentric model of the universe.60 He proposed that the universe was composed of a series of crystalline spheres at the centre of which was the earth. These spheres encompassed one another like the layers of an onion and to these were attached the heavenly bodies of the moon, the sun, the planets and the fixed stars. The concentric crystalline spheres could not be pierced or repaired if pierced. Now, if this model was correct it clearly had serious implications for the mi‘ra j. The problem was, if Muhammad’s body ascended through the heavens does this mean that he pierced the spheres, and if he did pierce them did they seal back together or is there still a hole? If there is still a hole, where is it and why do we not see it? On the other hand, if the hole sealed up then the impossible has happened!61 Fakhr al-Dı n al-Ra zı  (d.606/1209) About a century or so after al-Qushayrı, the great Persian theologian, philosopher and Qur’a nic exegete Fakhr al-Dı n al-Ra zı  (d.606/1209) articulated a number of arguments for a physical journey which marked a notable departure from those advanced by al-T abarı  and which were to prove very influential with subsequent commentators. Al-Ra zı  was concerned to demonstrate the possibility of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j in rational terms and thus drew from current scientific concepts. As with all later scholars, the main issue for al-Ra zı  was to address the problem of the great speed which Muhammad would have had to attain in order to complete his journey within the space of a single night. It is worth examining al-Ra zı ’s arguments since they have been much quoted by subsequent scholars, both Sunnı  and Ima mı, including such as Abu Sa‘ıd al-Bayd a wı  (d.685/1286), Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı  (d.819/1416–17), Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sha mı  (d.942/1535–6), Nur al-Dı n al-Ujhurı  (d.1066/1654) and Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı  (d.1110/1699 or 1111/1700). In particular, al-Ra zı ’s approach to demonstrating the ‘inherent possibility’ (mumkina fı  nafsiha ) of the speed required has provided the methodological basis for most later arguments.62 There are seven points:

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1. In one night the great celestial sphere (al-falak al-a ‘z am) (in which resides the divine) traverses a distance of almost half the circumference of its orbit around the earth. It is an established fact that the diameter of a circle is a third and one seventh the length of the circumference (i.e. the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its cir1 cumference is 1:3 –). 7 The Prophet ascended from Mecca to above the great celestial sphere, and thus travelled only half the diameter of the orbit of that sphere. If the great celestial sphere moves half its orbit in one night, then to travel only half the diameter (i.e. the radius) of the orbit would take much less than one night. This is conclusive proof that ascending from Mecca to what is above the Throne in one third of a night is possible. And if this is so, then its occurring in a complete night is even more possible.63 2. Al-Ra zı  adduces further proof from astronomy. He notes that the diameter of the sun is some one hundred and sixty times longer than the diameter of the earth. Since the sun rises in a very short time this proves that the tremendous speed at which Muh a mmad must have travelled is possible.64 3. Al-Ra zı  adds that if the Prophet’s ascension to the heavens in one night is impossible then it is also impossible that Gabriel descended from the Throne to Mecca, and if we agree with this then we have rejected the prophethood of all the prophets since we have denied that Gabriel is able to descend in order to convey God’s revelations. Indeed, believing in the mi‘ra j is a prerequisite to accepting the basis of prophethood. If it is argued that Gabriel is not a corporeal body which moves from place to place and what is intended by ‘Gabriel descending’ is the removal of the physical veils (al-hu jub al-jusma niyya) from Muhammad’s spirit so that it was able to receive revelations via Gabriel, this contradicts the concensus of the majority of Muslims who consider that Gabriel has a body and physically descends.65 4. Followers of most religions admit the existence of the devil and believe that he moves from the east to the west in order to whisper in people’s hearts. If they acknowledge the tremendous speed that the devil must attain in order to do this, then they cannot doubt the tremendous speed attained by the greatest of the prophets. Al-Ra zı 

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notes that some people might argue that the angels and the devils have subtle spiritual bodies (jism latıf) and this is why they can travel at such speeds, whereas human bodies are heavy and dense (jism kathıf) and cannot move at similar speeds. In response, he says that he has mentioned the speed of the angels and the devils simply to demonstrate that such speeds are inherently possible.66 5. The Qur’a n states that the wind was able to carry Solomon great distances in short periods of time.67 Indeed, the senses reveal that the wind can travel very far in just a moment. Once again, this shows that such tremendous speed is intrinsically possible. 6. Al-Ra zı  notes that the possibly of such great speed is seen in how ‘one who had knowledge of the Book’ transported the throne of Queen Bilqı s (i.e. the Queen of Sheba) from the furthest regions of Yemen to Syria in less than the twinkling of an eye.68 7. Some people claim that humans and animals see things by means of rays emitted by the eyes which fall on the thing seen. If this is correct, then when we open our eyes and see, for example, a man the rays from our eyes travel to him in an instant. This also proves that such tremendous speeds are intrinsically possible.69 Having now proved that tremendous speed is possible, al-Ra zı  moves on to demonstrate how Muhammad could actually have travelled at this speed. He remarks that since all bodies are of essentially the same nature, the speeds which are possible for some bodies are possible for all bodies including that of Muhammad. Moreover, God is able to do all things.70 He concludes that ‘From all these considerations it is certain that the mi‘ra j is something inherently possible.’ He then adds a final observation regarding the amazing nature of the isra ’/mi‘ra j noting that it cannot be denied on this basis since all miracles have this in common, such as Moses’ staff changing into a serpent and swallowing seventy thousand ropes and rods and then immediately changing back again.71 If merely being amazing was enough to constitute a refutation of miracles then it would clearly be wrong to believe in them, even though miracles form part of the proof of prophethood. But if being amazed does not constitute a refutation of miracles then there is no reason to doubt the Prophet’s night journey and ascension on this basis.72

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Al-Ra zı ’s arguments were to be reiterated over the centuries, indeed until the scientific notions he relied on were superceded by more modern understandings. The influence is seen, for example, in the next notable scholar who recognised the value of concepts from astronomy for demonstrating the possibility of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j, that is, the great Persian Qur’a nic exegete Na sir al-Dı n al-Bayd a wı  (d.685/1286). In his Tafsır al-Bayd a wı  remarks that most people maintain that the Prophet was taken in his body to bayt al-maqdis and was then raised up to the heavens until he arrived at the sidrat al-muntaha . The Quraysh were astonished at this and claimed that it was impossible, but the impossibility is removed by what is proven by astronomy. He then proceeds to repeat al-Ra zı ’s argument about the diameter of the sun being some one hundred and sixty times longer than the diameter of the earth, and how its lower edge reaches the same place as its upper edge in less than a second. 73 One thing that al-Ra zı  neglected to do was to provide a riposte to those who denied the Prophet’s bodily ascension to the heavens on the basis of the impossibility of piercing the celestial spheres. This was, however, countered by the eighth/fourteenth century theologian Sa‘d al-Dı n al-Tafta za nı  (d.793/1389–90). In his reply, al-Tafta za nı  once again makes use of an argument advanced by al-Ra zı, that is, that all bodies are essentially alike in substance thus what goes down must come up, and that anyway God can do all things: The claim that the mi‘ra j is impossible is wrong because it is based on philosophical principles regarding the impossibility of the heavens (samawa t) being pierced and then sealing up again. But those of sound belief consider that this does indeed occur. Heavenly bodies and non-heavenly bodies are very much alike since they are composed of the same substances. Because of this close resemblance, what applies to one necessarily applies to the other. Thus, if it is possible for heavenly bodies to pierce through the spheres then it is also possible for non-heavenly bodies to do the same. God can make all things possible and thus He can pierce the heavens. He has told us of this and we must believe it.74

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Some three and a half centuries after al-Ra zı, Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sha mı  (d.942/1535–6) was still repeating his arguments.75 To these he adds the incredible speed of the sun, the moon and the stars moving from the east to the west over a distance that man could not traverse in many years.76 Even later, towards the middle of the eighteenth century, al-Ra zı ’s contention that the speed at which rays leave the eye in order to see proves that exceptional speed is inherently possible was used by al-Majlisı  who, however, replaces al-Ra zı ’s ‘man’ with ‘the planet Saturn’.77 Inevitably, not all subsequent commentators relied solely on al-Ra zı  to provide them with a scientific rationalization of the physical isra ’/ mi‘ra j. In his al-Wah ıd fı  Dhikr [Sulu k] Ahl al-Tawh ıd the Egyptian scholar ‘Abd al-Ghaffa r b. Nuh  al-Qusı  (d.708/1308) addresses the issue of how something that takes a long time may be made to take a short time. He uses the technological advances he was familiar with and notes that if one wanted to write out the Qur’a n by hand it would take at least one week, but if the text was engraved on a printing plate it could be printed on a piece of paper in the blinking of an eye.78 2. Science, Technology and the Isra ’/Mi‘ra j in the Modern World In the previous chapter we saw how the modern period has witnessed an increase in the frequency and intensity of attacks on the traditions dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j with many Muslims dismissing them due to their fantastic and imaginary nature, their illogicality and incompatibility with what is known of the physical world. It was suggested that this cynicism is a symptom of a growing disillusionment with religion and with spiritual affairs in general. This is a product of a number of developments including Westernization or modernization according to which some Muslims, especially the youth, consider that in order to be a participant in the developing world they must embrace the practices, models of behaviour and ideologies of the West. Also included in this is the adoption of modern approaches to knowledge, that is, modern science as an objective explanatory source for natural and social phenomena. Of course, all this is part of the much broader debate concerning the relationship between science and revelation and

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which involves issues such as whether their respective methodologies are essentially incompatible, and whether their interests overlap in some respects. Of particular relevance in the present context is the debate as to the possibility of reconciling the findings of modern science with the truths of religion and vice-versa. The fear is that science will be seen to conflict with and therefore undermine the truths of religion, to render the explanations provided by the holy scriptures and indeed God Himself as mere superstitions or at best irrelevant to the contemporary world. The attempt to confirm the physical fact of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in terms of modern science is analogous to contemporary Islamic discussions on the connection between the Qur’a n and science. This is approached in a variety of ways, the most common being to prove the divine nature of the Qur’a n through modern science. Thus, science is used to corroborate and confirm the truths of religion, the existence of God, life after death and the content of the holy scriptures. The process works both ways, and the connection also entails that the Qur’a n is said to speak of such things as sub-atomic particles, black holes, quasars, embryology and the respiration of plants.79 The need to locate the isra ’/mi‘ra j within a rational scientific framework is seen in the following in which the Pakistani Sunnı  theologian, jurist and Sufı  Muhammad Karam Sha h al-Azharı  (d.1998) outlines the position of those who deny that a physical journey took place: Let us for a moment ponder over the statements of those people who reject the mi‘ra j – and other miracles – purely on the basis that they are contrary to reason. The claim of these people is that the peerless union and aptness, the incomparable arrangement and uniformity within the system of the universe is a just witness to the notion that this system is bound to a set of rules and codes that are called the ‘laws of nature’. The laws of nature are inexorable therefore any change or alteration in them is impossible; otherwise, the entire structure of the universe will become confounded. For this reason, human intellect does not recognise miracles as they oppose the laws of nature. The mi‘ra j is also a miracle and therefore it is – through intellect – absurd.80

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Similarly illustrating the desire for scientific verification felt among the general Muslim population, one contributor to the website ‘Ask Dr. Laleh’ where people can question Dr Laleh Bakhtiyar the ‘renowned Muslim scholar and psychoanalyst’ on matters of religion and spirituality, asks: Dear Dr. Laleh: Assalam alaykum. My scientist husband and I have this continuous argument every year when it is time to celebrate our beloved Prophet’s Nocturnal Journey (miraj). While he is a good Muslim, husband and father, it is difficult for him to accept this event. How can I help him?81 It is to counter this ‘absurdity’ and to remove the scepticism of the good Muslim mentioned above that Muslims from all over the Islamic world including the Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Malaysia, have recourse to arguments drawing from scientific and technological advancements, even organizing seminars such as that convened by the Bangladesh Islamic Foundation in Dhaka in 2003 and called ‘Miraj in the Eyes of Science.’82 In all of this it is often remarked that although there may have been reasons for doubting the mi‘ra j in the past, with the advancements of modern science and technology there is no longer any excuse.83 Discoveries and advancements are yet to be made and ‘a day will come in which modern science or technology or the natural sciences or metaphysics will confirm this event more conclusively’.84 Moreover, if man is able to achieve such things then so can God: What do the doubters of these two miracles say regarding the creations of man such as jet planes and the huge rockets which travel thousands of miles in a short time? If it is within man’s power to do this is it impossible for the Creator of man and the Originator of power and fate to give His Prophet a bura q on which to cover this distance in a very short time?85 As we saw with the Egyption scholar ‘Abd al-Ghaffa r al-Qusı, mentioned above, who drew the analogy of block printing, the arguments

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are necessarily framed in terms of available knowledge. Thus, although some of al-Ra zı ’s arguments are still occasionally reiterated today they have been adapted to more recent scientific and technology developments and are quoted by such as the contemporary scholar Muhammad Sulayma n al-Nashara tı  alongside references to airplanes and satellites.86 Similarly, of the numerous articles and essays on the subject there is ‘Launch of Measat-1 should dispel Narrow-minded Notions’ by Dr Syed Othman Alhabshi, the Deputy Director-General of the Institute of Islamic Understanding in Malaysia and which uses the launch of a Malaysian satellite and other related facts to demonstrate the feasibilty of the mi‘ra j; 87 and the newsletter for the Islamic website ‘al-Huda’ which features an article called ‘The First Man in Space’ in which the author Nasir Shamsi also argues for a physical mi‘ra j. 88 As recognized by al-Ra zı, of all the problems which ensue from positing a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j by far the most problematic is how Muhammad’s body could actually have performed the journey. If this cannot be demonstrated, then the inevitable result would be to deny the event altogether or to conclude that it was some kind of dream or mystical experience. Thus, ‘Abd Alla h Shiha ta draws attention to the fact that Jupiter moves at a speed of 30,000 miles per hour, that is, nine miles for every breath that a man takes. Moreover, it is 1400 times larger than the earth. Since God causes this immense body to cover such tremendous distances in mere moments, He can certainly take His Prophet on a night journey from Mecca to bayt al-maqdis in accordance with laws we know nothing about. Shiha ta also remarks that there is nothing in the discoveries of science concerning the laws of gravity, the solar system, the constellations of stars, the elements that make up the planets, the laws of motion, the atmospheric strata, the measurement of velocity or anything connected to them that militates against the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. 89 Usually, the arguments which deal with the isra ’/mi‘ra j in terms of modern science and technology, and indeed all arguments which approach the subject from a rational perspective, are at least ostensibly not designed to demonstrate that it actually happened since this is left to the proof texts of the Qur’a n and H adıth or to the faith of the believer. They are primarily attempts to remove the physical

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constraints from the journey and occasionally to describe how it could have taken place. It is thought that those who deny the physical isra ’/ mi‘ra j do so because they cannot conceive of it happening: ‘The way to prove a thing rationally is firstly to prove that it is possible and then to prove that it actually happened.’90 Similarly, many people do not know the difference between something that is impossible to imagine and something that is actually impossible and they treat them both as the same.91 The task then, is to show the possibility, thus, proponents of scientific arguments typically state that they are trying to render the implausible plausible and the inconceivable conceivable. Having said this, it is sometimes difficult to see some of the discussions as anything but attempts at describing how the isra ’/mi‘ra j actually occurred. Finally, it should be noted that the appeal to modern science can be a two-edged sword. Thus, after discussing the tremendous size of the universe, the speed required to traverse it and the fact that the bura q could not have flown with wings in the vacuum of outer space, the Bengali rationalist philosopher Aroj Ali Matubbar (d.1985), an advocate of modern science who held that religion should be based on reason and criticised religious fundamentalism and superstition in religion, concludes that a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j is ‘unfeasible in reality’.92

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As for it being in soul only or in both body and soul, this is a controversial point that needs not to be tackled strictly. One can adopt either view, but one is to bear in mind at the same time that Alla h Almighty is able to do everything and that the Prophets’ visions, according to scholarly agreement, are true. (Shaykh ‘Atiyya S aqr)1 In the previous chapter we examined one way that Muslim commentators have correlated H adıth dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j with knowledge of this world and the Next. We saw that the view adopted by the majority is that the traditions and relevant verses of the Qur’a n are to be taken as faithful and accurate descriptions of what took place. Certainly, some of the traditions may refer to experiences of the Prophet while asleep or as some kind of vision as a precursor or preparation for what was later to come, but on at least one occasion the Prophet was taken in his body on a night journey and ascension through the heavens, he travelled through physical space and time and the greatest signs of his Lord which he was shown were tangible, actually happened and were really there. In what follows we explore other responses to the controversial issue of how to understand the traditions concerning the isra ’ and particularly

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the mi‘ra j. Indeed, all possible permutations have been advocated. Thus, the traditions are seen as describing a dream whilst asleep, a ‘true vision’, some kind of mystical experience or a locomotive journey of Muh a mmad’s spirit. Similarly, the world to which the Prophet travelled has been construed in concrete physical terms or as a world of transcendent realities. In this way the Prophet’s journey was not subject to natural laws, and the prodigious events that occurred can be explained as having taken place in an alternate universe subject to its own rules and conventions. Those who advocate these views are arguably adopting a similarly rational approach to their fellow Muslims who attempt to demonstrate the inherent feasibility of the isra ’/mi‘ra j on scientific and technological grounds, and both parties are intent on maintaining the integrity of the Qur’a nic references and the traditions. Often, one crucial difference between them, however, is that while the conclusions of the former are chiefly a consequence of the primacy afforded to a literal understanding of the explicit meaning of the holy texts and the desire that Muhammad be distinguished and supply proof of his prophetic call by a miracle from God, many of those who refuse to consider the isra ’/mi‘ra j in material terms see the holy texts as speaking in metaphors and would typically deny that Muhammad’s status was in need of confirmation by any miraculous or supernatural event. It must be admitted that it is often difficult to understand exactly what commentators intend when they speak of a dream, a vision or a spiritual journey. The distinctions between them, insofar as distinctions exist, are characteristically not defined and in the treatment of some scholars their meanings often coalesce. Indeed, many of the individuals who feature here are not professional theologians, philosophers, psychologists or overly concerned with closely delineating the nuances of religious experience. What they are essentially striving to express is that while the isra ’ and/or the mi‘ra j might not have been events involving the physical transport of the Prophet they were nonetheless real occurrences of tremendous importance.

Pre-Modern Proponents of a Non-Physical Night Journey and Ascension As has already been noted, one method adopted by both Sunnı  and Ima mı  scholars to reconcile differences in the traditions describing

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the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j is to propose that one or both of the journeys occurred more than once. The Ima miyya typically assert that on each and every occasion they were undertaken in body, whereas it is more common for the Sunnı s who subscribed to this notion to state that one or more journeys were physical while the remainder were visions or dreams of some kind. Among the Sunnı s who are recorded as holding this opinion are such as the Successor Ibn Maysara, Abu Sa‘ ıd al-Nı sa burı  al-Kharkhushı  (d.406/1015), Abu al-Qa sim al-Qushayrı  (d.465/1072) and his son Abu Nasr b. al-Qushayrı  (d.514/1120), al-H usayn al-Mas‘ud al-Baghawı  (d.561/1122), Ibn ‘Arabı  (d.638/1240), ‘Izz al-Dı n b. ‘Abd al-Sala m (d.660/1261), Muhyı  al-Dı n al-Nawawı  (d.676/1278) and ‘Abd al-Wahha b al-Sha‘ra nı  (d.973/1565). There were others, however, who considered that at no time was Muhammad taken on the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j in body. References to specific individuals among the earliest Muslims who may have enter tained this view include the Prophet’s wife ‘A’isha who is quoted as saying, ‘The Prophet’s body remained where it was but God took his spirit on a night journey’2 and Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n (d.64/680) who, when asked about the Prophet’s night journey, is said to have replied, ‘It was a true vision (ru’ya  sadiqa)  from God,’3 and perhaps al-H asan al-Basrı  (d.115/734) who reportedly stated that it was because of the consternation over Muhammad’s claims that God revealed the verse ‘We granted the vision (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men.’4 Ibn Isha q (d.151/768) seems to have been uncertain as to how it was accomplished, remarking that God took Muhammad on a night journey ‘as He pleased (kayfa sha ’a)’.5 He also adds ‘Only God knows how [the isra ’/mi‘ra j] happened and how he saw what he saw. Whether he was asleep or awake, it was all true and actually happened.’6 All this suggests that up to at least the time of Ibn Isha q some people within the Islamic community considered that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a non-physical experience. There are scattered references to later Muslims who refuted the corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j. For instance, the theologian and Sufı  Abu al-Qa sim al-Qushayrı  (d.465/1072) mentions that most of the Rawa fid (i.e. Shı ‘ites) and the Mu‘tazila claimed that Muhammad’s body did not leave Mecca but rather he was taken up in his spirit (‘urija bi ru h ihi

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du na jasadihi) or what he experienced took place in a vision or dream (ru’ya ) which he saw in his sleep (fı  mana mihi). After he awoke, Muhammad told his companions what he had seen in his sleep (ma  ra hu fı  nawmihi).7 Elsewhere, the Ima mı  scholar Ibn Shahra shub (d.588/1192) remarks that there were various opinions concerning the mi‘ra j: the Khawa rij denied it while the Jahmiyya8 claimed that the Prophet undertook it ‘in spirit and not body, by way of a vision’ (bi ru h ihi du na jismihi ‘ala  tarıq al-ru’ya ).9 Further evidence is circumstantial and relies on the presumption that arguments advanced in support of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j must have been addressed to people who refuted this. For example, a number of elements within the earliest extant traditions quoted by Ibn Isha q in his biography of the Prophet might be taken as responses to those who denied the occurrence of the isra ’ in whatever form, or alternatively those who acknowledged that it took place but doubted its corporeal nature. There is, for instance, the material proof of the bodily isra ’, such as Muhammad drinking water belonging to a caravan while on his journey to the bayt al-maqdis and his informing the people of another caravan where to find a lost camel.10 Similar is the account of the Patriarch of Jerusalem who reports that a door in the mosque was jammed open on the night of Muhammad’s journey to allow him to enter, and furthermore that the rock in the corner of the mosque had a hole in it which bore signs of having been used to tether an animal.11 Also of relevance in this context are the arguments of Muhammad b. Jarı r al-T abarı  (d.310/923) in his Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n which support the notion of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j and which may imply that some Muslims rejected this, preferring perhaps to view it in more metaphysical terms. Other instances which might indicate the existence of such conceptions is the reference in Sharı k’s tradition, recorded by al-Bukha rı  in his S ah ıh , to Muhammad being asleep in the Sacred Mosque (masjid al-ha ra m) when the angels came to him and his waking up in the same place after the journey was completed, and the statement in the same tradition that Muhammad’s ‘eyes were asleep but his heart was not. This is the case with prophets: their eyes sleep but their hearts do not.’ Likewise, another tradition recorded by

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al-Bukha rı  has the Prophet saying that when Gabriel came to him he was in a state ‘midway between sleep and wakefulness’.12 Other circumstantial evidence of those who rejected a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j may also be seen in the rational arguments for a physical understanding which appeared subsequent to al-T abarı  and advanced by such as al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı (d.548/1153),  ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Suhaylı  (d.581/1185), Fakhr al-Dı n al-Ra zı  (d.606/1209), Ibn Dihya (d.663/1236), Ibn Kathır (d.774/1373), Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı  (d.819/1416–17), Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sha mı  (d.942/1535–6) and ‘Alı b.  Burha n al-Dın al-H alabı (d.1044/1634).  Of somewhat later provenance is the Risa la fı Daf‘  Istiha lat Isra ’ Muha mmad (‘Epistle Refuting the Impossibility of Muhammad’s Isra ’’) by a certain Muhammad b. ‘Umar (d.1069/1658). As for the rejection of a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j among the Ima miyya, we have already noted in a previous chapter how towards the end of the seventeenth century Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı  (d.1110/1699 or 1111/1700) attacked those who held this view and those who ‘interpret it as a spiritual ascension or having taken place while asleep’.13 Somewhat later S adr al-Dı n al-Qummı (d.1160/1747) wrote his al-Mi‘ra j al-Jusma nı  (‘The Physical Mi‘ra j’)  in which he stresses that one of the necessities (d uru riyya t) of our school of thought (madhhab) is the one physical mi‘ra j (al-mi‘ra j al-wa hid al-jusma nı ) which took place on the bura q and which is referred to in su rat al-Isra ’ in which is a statement to this effect, and that [Muhammad’s] soul was also taken up to His heavens (‘urijat bi ru hihi ila sama ’ihi).14 Another Ima mı  also arguing for a physical mi‘ra j is Ja‘far b. Abı  Isha q 15 al-Barujardı  (d.1247/1831) in his al-Mi‘ra j or al-Mi‘ra jiyya.  Ibn Sına   and the Mi‘ra j Na ma Thus, it seems that while most Muslims may have asserted at least one corporeal occurrence of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, this opinion was never held universally. It is likely, however, that many of those who opposed

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the consensus of the majority were reticent to express their doubts in the face of orthodox opinion. One opponent of received wisdom who did venture to do so is the celebrated Muslim physician and philosopher Ibn Sı na  (Avicenna) (d.428/1037) who composed a short treatise in Persian called the Mi‘ra j Na ma in which he provides a rational interpretation of the night journey and ascension on the basis of a previously outlined philosophical framework. This represents the first sustained piece of writing which unequivocally denies the physical nature of the event.16 In fact, Ibn Sı na  was at first clearly reluctant to give his opinion on the subject, saying ‘I was constrained from doing this because of the dangers involved . . .’17 What finally changed his mind was his employment as physician to ‘Ala ’ al-Dawla Muhammad (d.433/1041), the ruler of Isfahan, a position that Ibn Sı na  held for the last fifteen years or so of his life. Nonetheless, his reservations can still be sensed in the introductory remarks to the Mi‘ra j Na ma: I enjoin that these words be withheld from the foolish, and uninitiated ignoramuses. For reticence with outsiders in (revealing) truths is one of the religious duties. The Seal of the Apostles, upon whom be blessings and peace, said, ‘Do not cast pearls before the feet of dogs.’ It has also been said, ‘Secrets protect us from outsiders!’ And it has been said, ‘Keep your secret, even from your lord!’ May that person who would reveal these words to every inferior person be unsuccessful, because he or she would be a traitor and scoundrel. ‘Whoever betrays us, is not of us.’ That person would fall into perdition, and perdition and punishment would come to the writer as well. It is evident that the ‘outsiders’ who Ibn Sı na  has in mind are those who believe in a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j and a literal understanding of the H adıth which refers to it. He concludes his warning: When a rationalist explains an intelligible, only (another) rationalist should peruse it, so that it does not disturb sensual-minded outsiders.18

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An exposition of Ibn Sı na ’s philosophical system, conceptual framework and theory of prophethood in terms of which he engages with the isra ’/mi‘ra j are clearly beyond the present concerns. For our purposes we may describe Ibn Sı na ’s understanding of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as the Prophet’s ‘contemplation’ of the Holy Presence. Regarding the circumstances under which prophets may achieve this state, Ibn Sı na  offers some remarks which are surely related to discussions as to whether the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j took place while Muhammad was asleep or awake: But this state varies. Either it occurs in sleep, since in wakefulness the preoccupations of the senses and the multitude of activities become a hindrance; or it occurs in wakefulness, since in sleep the imaginative faculty predominates; or in each it is full and true.19 Ibn Sı na ’s views on the traditions concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j can be seen in his comments regarding the forms of discourse which the prophets must adopt in order to communicate their experiences. He remarks that when prophets wish to convey the truth of the ‘divine Command’ they inform the community of it in material terms.20 He amplifies this a little later on by saying that what the prophets perceive from the Holy Spirit is pure ‘intelligible’ (ma‘qu l), that is, that which is abstract and can only be comprehended by the intellect; while what they tell the community so that they can understand is the ‘sensible’ (mahs u s), that is, that which is amenable to the external senses. Indeed, the Prophet is quoted as saying that God ordered the prophets to speak to people ‘according to the capacity of their intellects’.21 What Ibn Sı na  is stating here is that Muhammad’s experience of the isra ’/mi‘ra j was abstract and transcended what can be put into words. In order to convey this experience to others, however, he was obliged to use concrete and material terms along with ‘the adornment of the imagination and estimation’. It can be assumed from this that Ibn Sı na  considered at least some of the traditions dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j not as subsequent fabrications but as issuing from Muhammad in an attempt to communicate what he perceived of the divine. What is certain, however, is that as far as Ibn Sı na  was concerned, the journey

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was manifestly not corporeal. He illustrates this point by way of an analogy. He remarks that one can only reach Baghdad by taking the road that leads there, and one can only reach Samarqand by taking the road that leads there. Similarly, if one wants to beat gold into gold leaf one does so by using the appropriate tools and not those designed for carpentry or tailoring. In a like manner, if one wishes to reach the place that the intellect reaches it is impossible to do this in the human body since it is not a place bounded by physical dimensions and time. Moreover, the human body is a dense substance and cannot quickly cover distances that can only be traversed slowly.22 Thus, Ibn Sı na  states that there are two types of ascension: a corporeal ascension of the body which occurs by movement through space in time, and a spiritual ascension by means of the intellect. The former is in order to perceive material things through the senses, while the latter is in order to perceive ‘intelligibles’ through the soul. He concludes: Since the conditions of the Ascension (mi‘ra j) of our Prophet are not in the sensible world, it is known that he did not go in body, because the body cannot traverse a long distance in one moment. Hence, it was not a corporeal ascension, because the goal was not sensual. Rather, the ascension was spiritual, because the goal was intellectual.23 Variations on a Theme Rather than Ibn Sı na ’s transcendental ‘state’ in which the Prophet perceived metaphysical truths some medieval Muslims conceived the alternative to a physical isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j to be an analogous locomotive outreaching of the spirit. The Sunnı  jurist and Qur’a nic exegete Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d.751/1350), although professing to believe in a physical journey,24 describes this point of view with such persuasion and conviction that it appears he might have had some sympathy  with it. Thus, regarding the traditions attributed to ‘A’isha, Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n and al-H asan al-Basrı  which state that the Prophet undertook the isra ’ in spirit (bi ru h ihi) while his body remained where it was or that it was a vision (ru’ya ) of some kind, Ibn Qayyim remarks

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that what they intended by this was not that the Prophet had a dream (mana m) of the journey in which the angel of dreams (malak al-ru’ya ) presented images to him. Rather, they meant that his spirit was transported on a night journey. Indeed, he says, there are two opinions regarding the isra ’/mi‘ra j. One is that the Prophet was taken in spirit and body, while the other is that his body remained where it was while his spirit was actually ‘taken on a night journey and lifted up’ (usriya biha  wa ‘urija biha ). In this latter, the Prophet’s spirit experienced things similar to what the soul does when it leaves the body after death (al-mufa raqa). Indeed, when his spirit ascended through the seven heavens and eventually stood before God it was of the same nature as the soul after death. What happened to the Prophet on his journey was, however, more wonderful than what happens to the soul when it leaves the dead body. No one but him had his spirit taken to the heavens before death. The spirits of the prophets went there only after they departed from their bodies, but the Prophet’s spirit ascended there and returned while he was still alive.25 Shortly after Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, his fellow Qur’a nic exegete and historian Ibn Kathı r (d.774/1373), who similarly considered the isra ’/mi‘ra j to have been undertaken in the body albeit perhaps preceded by some kind of vision whilst asleep, also refers to attempts to view it if not in material terms then at least as a passage of the spirit rather than a mere dream. Probably taking his cue from Ibn Qayyim, he suggests that we need not interpret ‘A’ isha’s statement that it was not Muhammad’s body but rather his spirit that made the journey as implying that he was asleep, as Ibn Ish a q understood it. The journey could in fact have been undertaken by his spirit while he was awake; he could have ridden the bura q, gone to Jerusalem, ascended into heaven and seen all that he did while awake and not asleep. This  might well be what was intended by ‘A’isha and those who agreed with her.26 We will shortly see that the views reported by Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Kathı r are a precursor to modern theories propounded by such as Muhammad H usayn Haykal in which the miracle of the physical ascension is replaced with the ‘tremendous spiritual perfection’ of the Prophet as demonstrated by his non-physical ascension.

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‘Inspiration or Revelation raised in Degrees’: Voices from the Indian Subcontinent The above discussion would seem to indicate that from the earliest times there have been those Muslims who would deny what was to become the orthodox belief in the bodily isra ’/mi‘ra j. This is evident from the brief references in Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, Ibn Sı na ’s philosophical treatise the Mi‘ra j Na ma, the vague allusions by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Ibn Kathır and the existence of a body of apologetic and polemical literature which argues for the corporality of the event. There is, however, no way of knowing how common this view was since apart from Ibn Sına  ’s Mi‘ra j Na ma and  what can be inferred from the terse statements attributed to ‘A’isha, Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n and al-H asan al-Basrı  and vague allusions to the Rawa fid , the Mu‘tazila and the Jahmiyya, there is no evidence of others who embraced it. Likewise, aside from the Mi‘ra j Na ma and the reports of Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Kathır there is little information regarding how those who insisted on the non-physicality of the isra ’/mi’ra  might have justified their position or conceived of the alternative. The situation is very different in the modern period. As a result of the modernist trend in Islam and the liberalization of religious thought many individuals have emerged who openly reject the orthodox conviction of a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j and propose an alternative understanding arguably more in keeping with contemporary critical and scholarly attitudes. Moreover, due to the ready access to the media, these individuals have been able to make their views public. Not least among them are a number of well-known scholars from the Indian Subcontinent whose intellectual response to the diffusion of Western culture under the long period of British control and colonization was a modernist and rational version of Islam. In this, they wished to create a synthesis or reconciliation between Islam and contemporary Western values, science, technology, politics, law and education. One result of this which is relevant to the present purposes was a reinterpretation of the sacred texts of the Qur’a n and H adıth,  including a rational approach to the miracles attributed to the Prophet.

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Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (d.1898) One of the most influential Indian reformers and modernists was Syed Ahmed Khan (d.1898) who upheld at best an allegorical interpretation of the miracles ascribed to Muhammad. In his A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed Khan seems to be particularly sensitive to Western criticisms of the Prophet based on the absurdity of the things said about him, and defending him against such accusations undoubtedly played a part in his approach. Thus, he rejected miracles ‘because the Qur’a n does not support the happening of events or occurrences that are against the laws of nature’.27 Khan could, however, accept as miracles those events which although ‘unusual and unexplained’ nonetheless remained ‘within the confines of the law of nature’.28 This attitude is seen in all Khan’s works, not least in the essay he wrote in 1870 called ‘Essay on Shakki-Sadar and Meraj’.29 Khan’s aim in writing his essay was to provide a satisfactory explanation of the opening of Muhammad’s breast and the isra ’/mi‘ra j since ‘by their far-fetched expositions and absurd reasonings’ commentators had ‘increased the obscurity, instead of removing doubt or correcting error’.30 As we saw in Chapter 2, Khan is highly critical of the traditions on the subject which he says contradict each other and vary so much that they are of no validity and do not provide a sound basis for understanding the events. He refers, however, to the traditions cited in Ibn Ish a q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, al-T abarı’s Tafsır and elsewhere quoting Anas b. Ma lik, Qata da b. Di‘a ma, al-H asan al-Basrı, Umm Ha ni’, Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n and H udhayfa b. al-Yama n which are the earliest accounts of the night journey and ascension and which state that the Prophet was asleep when the journey took place or that it was a vision. He notes that if these traditions are genuine then the isra ’/mi‘ra j must certainly have been a vision or a dream. On the other hand, if the traditions are thought to be false, then they at least indicate that during the lifetime of the Prophet people believed the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be a vision or dream, that is to say, the traditions articulate the general consensus. He goes on: Some doctors, however, who, in point of time, flourished after these above-mentioned, maintained that everything stated as

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having occurred during the Meraj, was in the body. For this assumption of theirs they possess no authority, either from the Holy Koran, or from the hadeeses, but merely assert it after a philological and somewhat warm discussion upon the use of certain words.31 Khan is here referring to contentions that the verb asra  as found in Qur’a n 17:1 means ‘to travel by night’ and therefore must indicate an actual journey, that the word ‘abd (‘servant’) in the same verse applies to the body and soul together, and that although the word ru’ya  in 17:60 (‘We granted the vision [ru’ya ] which we showed you as a trial for men’) is commonly used to mean a dream or a vision it may also indicate the act of seeing with the eyes. Those who entertain this view explain the traditions which state that Muhammad was asleep by proposing that the isra ’/mi‘ra j might have commenced while he was still asleep but he soon woke up, or that he might merely have been lying down like someone asleep. Khan gives his judgement on these arguments: It must be clear to every person who can reason at all, how weak and unsatisfactory are the grounds above-mentioned, but it must be remembered that they were brought forward by only those persons who, blinded as they were by religious zeal and fanaticism, maintained that everything pertaining to religion, however absurd, ridiculous, or impossible that thing might be, must be believed as true.32 He himself considers the isra ’/mi‘ra j to have been a vision or ‘dream of the Prophet’. As to what the vision or dream consisted of, he notes that the Qur’a n says nothing about it except that Muhammad saw ‘some of God’s greatest signs’.33 Syed Ameer Ali (d.1928) Another notable exponent of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a vision was the Indian jurist and religious scholar Syed Ameer Ali (d.1928) whose The Life and

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Teaching of Mohammed or The Spirit of Islam was once a bestseller throughout the Muslim world and is considered by some to be the greatest single work on the liberal interpretation of Islam. In it, Ali rejects miracles and states that the Prophet himself denied that he had the power to work them relying instead on his teachings to prove the truth of his divine commission.34 As for the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Ali refers to this as that notable vision of the Ascension which has furnished worlds of golden dreams for the imaginative genius of poets and traditionists. They have woven beautiful and gorgeous legends round the simple words of the Koran . . . 35 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (d.1958) Like Syed Ahmed Khan and Syed Ameer Ali before him, the Indian scholar Maulana Abul Kalam Azad also deemed the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be some kind of vision. Azad is primarily known for his educational and political activities, being a leader of the movement for Indian political independence and subsequently a strenuous opponent of the partition of India. But Azad was also a notable scholar of Islam who was influenced by the rational approach of Syed Ahmad Khan. Azad’s major work as a religious thinker is the incomplete Tarjuma n al-Qur’a n, a translation and commentary on the holy text in Urdu which was originally published in three volumes between 1930 and 1939. His rationalism emerges in his commentary to su rat al-Isra ’ where he states ‘We cannot venture to take any definite view of [the night journey] since we cannot comprehend things of this nature.’36 However, he subsequently mentions the claim attributed to Ibn ‘Abba s that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a vision which the Prophet had in his wakeful moments during the night, and seems to agree with this, noting ‘When the companion of the Prophet of this status is so definite about it, it was futile on the part of other commentators to wrangle over it.’37 Fazlur Rahman (d.1988) Another Muslim scholar of interest here is the Punjabi-born intellectual and modernist Fazlur Rahman (d.1988). His Islam, published in

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1966,38 is an attempt to reformulate the classical Islamic heritage in terms acceptable to contemporary Muslims by using the apparatus of modern critical historical enquiry. As regards the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Rahman refers to this in the context of his remarks that the Muslim orthodoxy guaranteed the objectivity of Muhammad’s spiritual experiences by demonstrating that their source was external to the Prophet; they were not merely subjective and reducible to visions, quasi-dreams or illness. For example, in an attempt to provide the revelations with an external reality apart from the person of Muhammad a good deal of H adıth came into existence which graphically described the Prophet talking to the angel in public and provided physical descriptions of him. This is despite the fact that the Qur’a n says ‘We sent him [the angel] down upon your heart that you may be a warner.’39 Rahman goes on to maintain that this also applies to the other religious experiences of Muhammad. He refers specifically to ‘an important transforming experience or perhaps a series of such experiences’ of Muhammad mentioned in a number of su ras of the Qur’a n (17:1; 53:5–18; 81:23) where he saw something ‘at the farthest end’ or ‘on the horizon’, which, Rahman maintains, ‘shows that the experience contained an important element of the ‘expansion’ of the self’. However, particularly after the formation of an ‘orthodoxy’ this spiritual experience of Muhammad was translated by tradition into the doctrine of a physical, locomotive ‘ascension’ to heaven. Later were supplied all the graphic details of the animal which the Prophet rode during his ascension, of his journey through the seven heavens and his conversations with the previous prophets from Adam to Jesus. Rahman concludes: We may first concede the fact, which is rarely realized by the opponents of an ‘orthodoxy’, that a religion cannot live on purely ‘spiritualized’ dogmas and that reification is necessary even if only to serve the purpose of a ‘vessel’ for the spirit. We may further insist that it is really impossible to hold that something should occur of a purely spiritual nature without a physical concomitant, and we might even assert that a single event may be called spiritual or physical according to its setting or context, yet in either case the doctrine of a locomotive mi‘ra j or

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‘Ascension’ developed by the orthodox (chiefly on the pattern of the Ascension of Jesus) and backed by H adıth  is no more than a historical fiction whose materials come from various sources.40 Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar (1945–): Muhammad the Holy Prophet The Pakistani scholar and one-time district judge in Singapore, Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar, also believes that the isra ’/mi‘ra j occurred as some kind of vision. In his Muhammad the Holy Prophet Sarwar acknowledges his debt to Muhammad H usayn Haykal’s H aya t Muha mmad (to be discussed shortly) and his agreement with Haykal’s views. Consequently, he eschews all mention of the miraculous and deals with Muhammad as a man, albeit of the most exemplary kind.41 As for the isra ’/mi‘ra j about which various books have been written and controversies arisen, Sarwar claims that modern science has now come to the rescue and made it very much easier to understand than it was for early generations. Sarwar states that the invention of television and radio which can bring images and sounds from thousands of miles away has provided us with a new perspective on the things seen and heard by Muhammad on his journey. Similarly, we are now aware that the act of seeing consists of ‘certain movements of rays or extremely small corpuscles of atoms of matter’ reaching our eyes. As for the object of vision, this does not have to be immediately before our eyes, indeed, it may be anywhere so long as the rays or corpuscles emanating from it are able to reach us. This clearly has implications regarding Muhammad’s experience, implications that were not available to early Muslims who understandably insisted that the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j were actual physical events since they were incapable of explaining them in any other way. Moreover, as regards the issues of time and space, our understanding of these is also conditioned by our knowledge that they acquire new meanings in a dream. We might dream for only a few seconds but in the dream days and months have passed. Likewise, we often dream that we can fly and move from one place to another in an instant. In short, Sarwar concludes that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a ‘spiritual vision’ of the Prophet. It was ‘Inspiration or Revelation raised in

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degrees’. The prophets are not scientists or philosophers and yet they are told things about the realities of the universe far more difficult to understand than the theories proposed by these. The prophets can only be assured of the truth of what they are told through actual experience, and this is possible only in a spiritual vision: ‘It was, therefore, not necessary for Muhammad’s corporeal self to be carried round the universe, the universe could be brought round to him . . .’ 42 Sarwar maintains, however, that what Muhammad experienced was not a mere dream: It was the glory of God revealed to the most glorious of men. Muhammad’s eyes and ears were, for the time being, freed from the shackles of time and space and he beheld the sun, moon, earth and the heavenly bodies go round as one would behold them if one was in space and not bound to this earth. He saw the past of human generations and their future. He saw the prophets of all ages and what they had accomplished. He saw the angels of God carrying out their duties and the laws of God working to their destined end.43 Moreover, since the isra ’/mi‘ra j was such a profoundly spiritual affair, the descriptions of it are necessarily metaphorical and Muslims should not enquire too deeply into it and raise controversies about it.44 Only God understands the real nature of such as the sidrat al-muntaha  and the bayt al-ma‘mu r.45

‘No Barriers of Time or Place’: Some Arab Voices It is not only on the Indian Subcontinent that the orthodox view of a purely physical isra ’/mi‘ra j has been challenged; similar conclusions have also found a home in the Arab Middle East. Once again, the arguments are often addressed to modern educated Muslims who wish to view their religion shorn of what some see as the myths and superstitions of an earlier age. What follows is a selection of some typical Arab proponents of a spiritual night journey and ascension.

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Muhammad H usayn Haykal (d.1956): H aya t Muha mmad In 1934 the official journal of al-Azhar, Nu r al-Isla m, printed the following request addressed to the Egyptian shaykh of al-Azhar Yusuf al-Dujwa  (d.1946): There is a group of schoolteachers who deny the mi‘ra j and claim that it is impossible. The most religious and moderate amongst them say that the isra ’ was performed in spirit and not in body. We would like you to prove it with convincing evidence so as to put a stop to the arguments and dispute. We are waiting for what your eloquent pen writes and for your comprehensive explanation as always . . . 46 Although it is unlikely that the Egyptian Muhammad H usayn Haykal (d.1956) was a member of the group mentioned in the above appeal, the appearance of his article on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in April 1932 might well have contributed to the writer’s disquiet and desire for a solution. Haykal was a lawyer, journalist, government minister and novelist who among other things is remembered as the author of the first modern sıra,  H aya t Muha mmad, one of the most important Egyptian biographies of the Prophet and an esteemed classic throughout the Muslim world. Although the complete book did not appear until 1935, the first part of what was to become H aya t Muha mmad was published in 1932 in a series of articles in al-Siya sa al-Usbu ‘iyya, a weekly literary supplement to the daily newspaper al-Siya sa al-Yawmiyya. The article dealing specifically with the isra ’/mi‘ra j was among them. Haykal’s aim in writing H aya t Muha mmad was different from that of the classical authors in that he wanted to present a rational and historical-critical study of Muhammad’s life and thereby depict him in a way that would be acceptable to modern educated Muslims. By these means he wished also to counter the influence of Western criticism by using the same Western scientific criteria for his study. Indeed, Haykal wrote at a time far removed from that in which the Prophet’s life was seen as full of miraculous events, as exemplified in Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, al-Bayhaqı’s Dala ’il al-Nubuwwa and other such works.

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Thus, Haykal ignored many miracles noting that the Qur’a n contains no reference to Muhammad having performed these and that he himself denied possessing the power to do so. The Qur’a n does, however, refer to the miracles of prophets who came before Muhammad and Haykal remarks that because of this earlier Muslims had also required the same kind of physical wonder-working from their Prophet, so as to prove his claim to be in receipt of revelations from God. So they believed what was related about Muhammad’s miracles even though they are not mentioned in the Qur’a n. In their view, the more miracles there were, the more proof there was for the perfection of his mission and the more faith people had in it.47 According to Haykal, while the earlier prophets were granted miracles so that men might believe in them, this changed with Muhammad where reason (‘aql) began to play a much larger role, along with feeling and spirit. The main difference between Muhammad and the prophets who preceded him is that he was the seal of the prophets and the first prophet sent by God to all people and not only to his own community. For this reason, God wanted the miracle of Muhammad to be a human and rational miracle the like of which no man or jinn could ever perform. This miracle is the Qur’a n revealed to the illiterate prophet (al-nabı  al-ummı ). There was no need of another miracle apart from the Qur’a n: it is the greatest miracle that God permitted and His conclusive proof to mankind.48 Thus, one example of Haykal’s scientific methodology is his approach to the miracles attributed to Muhammad which he either rejects or else attempts to explain in natural, psychological or rational terms. The night journey and ascension are viewed in this context. After relating an account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j borrowed from Émile Dermenghem’s The Life of Mahomet, Haykal remarks that it is the duty of the historian to question the accuracy of the account and to ask what might be correctly attributed to Muhammad and what is the result of the imaginations of the mystics and others. As to how the journey took place – whether the isra ’/mi‘ra j was undertaken in body or in spirit or whether the isra ’ was in body and the mi‘ra j in spirit – evidence can be advanced for all these interpretations. Haykal himself, however, is convinced that it was a purely spiritual experience. He

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 supports this conclusion with the traditions of A’isha and Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n, with Qur’a n 17:60 (‘We granted the vision [ru’ya ] which we showed you as a trial for men’) and with what the Qur’a n states which was often repeated by the Prophet: ‘I am but a man like yourselves except that it has been revealed to me that your God is one God’ (18:110). Haykal admits that someone like himself who believes that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a spiritual experience has more than anyone else to ask what the significance of the event is. He then proceeds to answer this question: The isra ’ and the mi‘ra j have a highly exalted meaning within the spiritual life of Muhammad and a significance that is greater than people’s conceptions many of which are the result of the fertile imaginations of those dealing with the subject. In the hour of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j this mighty spirit gathered within itself the unity of being (wahd at hadha   al-wujud)  and reached the height of perfection. In this hour there stood before the intellect and spirit of Muhammad no barriers of time or place or other obstacles which render our judgement in life relative and restricted within the confines of our senses, our reason and our powers of understanding. In this hour all the boundaries fell away before Muhammad’s sight, the whole universe was united in his spirit and he perceived it from its eternal pre-existence to its eternal duration. He saw how its unity developed towards perfection by means of goodness, kindness, beauty and truth in their struggle against and triumph over evil, deficiency, ugliness and deception through the blessings and forgiveness of God. 49 Haykal finds it hardly surprising that those who came after Muhammad were unable to comprehend the power of his understanding of the ‘unity of the universe in its perfection and its striving to achieve that perfection’ since our comprehension of reality is always circumscribed by our abilities. Thus, blind men will offer various descriptions of an elephant in accord with the part of it they touch; one will say it is a rope because he came across its tail, another will say it is tree trunk because he came across its leg, while a third will

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say it is pointed like a spear because he came across its tusk, and so on. The difference between the images the blind men have of the elephant and the image that is formed by someone with eyesight is similar to the difference between Muhammad’s understanding of the true nature of the unity of the universe and existence and the understanding of the significance of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j which many people are able to attain. Haykal then tackles some possible objections to an isra ’ performed only in spirit. Those who maintain that the isra ’ was a physical event support their view by saying that when the Quraysh heard about Muhammad’s night journey they asked him for proof of this, so he told them about a camel which had strayed from a caravan and which he guided them to and that he had taken a drink from another caravan. When the Quraysh asked the two caravans about these things they both confirmed what Muhammad had said. According to Haykal, however, such occurrences are hardly surprising in the light of what modern science has learnt concerning those in a hypnotic trance being able to relate incidents that happen in faraway places. Much more wonderful is ‘a spirit which unites the spiritual life of the whole universe and which is enabled by the power granted by God to come into contact with the secret of life from the eternal pre-existence of being to its eternal duration’.50 Haykal also resorts to the findings of modern science to demonstrate the feasibility of a spiritual isra ’/mi‘ra j: In the present age science confirms the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j in the spirit. Where perfect powers come together rays of truth are spread. Thus, the coming together of the powers of the universe in a certain form enabled Marconi, when he transmitted a strong electric current from a ship moored in Venice, to light up Sydney, Australia, by the power of the ether. In our time science confirms the theories concerning mind reading, the transmission of sounds through the ether by means of radio and the transmission of pictures and writing. In the past such things were mere fantasies. Every day our science continues to reveal the hidden powers of the universe.

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If a spirit attained the same power and capacity as did the soul of Muhammad, and God took him on a night journey from the masjid al-ha ra m to the masjid al-aqsa  whose precincts He did bless in order that He might show him some of His signs, then that is something which science confirms.51 Since the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a spiritual journey, Muhammad’s meeting with the prophets was also spiritual: Muhammad’s halt on Mount Sinai where God spoke to Moses, and in Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and that spiritual meeting in which Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, and Abraham were brought together in prayer, is a powerful image of the unity of the religious life as one of the bases of the unity of the universe in its eternal movement towards perfection.52 Very often, the Qur’a n quotes the disbelievers as saying that Muhammad is merely a man and they use this as a reason for continuing to reject him. While this was a cause of disbelief for the early Meccans, for modern Muslims such as Haykal it is a cause of the greatest admiration. ‘Alı  ‘Abd al-Jalıl Ra dı  Haykal’s fellow Egyptian Dr ‘Alı  ‘Abd al-Jalıl Ra dı  is a former lecturer in physics at ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo. He is one of the leading Arab proponents of and writers on spiritualism and is currently president of the Ahra m Spiritualist Society ( Jamı ‘at al-Ahra m al-Ru h iyya). In his H aya t Muha mmad al-Ru h iyya Dr Ra dı  states that the isra ’ to the bayt al-maqdis could have taken place either in spirit or in body and spirit together. As for the mi‘ra j, however, he maintains that it was without doubt undertaken solely in spirit since the Prophet’s body was subject to the usual laws of physics which would not permit it to ascend through the doors of heaven. Furthermore, there are a number of Qur’a nic verses which state that the angels ascend to the heavens by means of ladders (ma‘a rij), for example: ‘The angels and the spirit

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ascend to Him in a day equal to fifty thousand years.’53 From this it is clear that when the Prophet ascended to the heavens it must also have been in his spiritual body (jismuhu al-ru h ı ). This is likewise apparent from the traditions which describe his meeting with the previous prophets. These were spirits (arwa h) and not physical entities and therefore the Prophet must have been in a similar state. If we assume that the prophets were in material form, then he must also have been in material form like them, but in this case the meeting could only have been on earth and not in the heavens and the traditions which mention it cannot be true.54 Salım  al-Ja bı  (1928–) One contemporary scholar who has written in some detail specifically about the isra ’ is the Syrian Salım  al-Ja bı  (1928–). In his extended commentary on su rat al-Isra ’ he remarks that most of the pious ancestors have misunderstood the meaning of the first verse of the su ra and that this has had disastrous consequences for the Islamic community.55 He does not explain what he means by ‘disastrous consequences’ but it can be presumed that he is alluding to the increasing rejection of the supernatural in matters of faith and the resulting disillusionment with religion within the Muslim world, and perhaps the one thousand years of Western criticism of Muhammad and Islam often on the basis of the literal understanding of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. To remedy this, al-Ja bı  hopes that those who love the true religion will benefit from what God has opened his eyes to in his commentary, that is, that the isra ’ was a dream. But that it was a dream does not entail that it was a mere trifle. Indeed, the status of Muhammad as Prophet is still maintained in this interpretation since although the isra ’ is no longer a miraculous transport of the body it was nonetheless a profound revelatory experience. As for the evidence for this assertion, al-Ja bı  has a number of things to say. First, he discusses the phrase in verse 1 of su rat al-Isra ’ ‘Praise be to God who took His servant for a journey by night’ (alladhı  asra  bi ‘abdihi laylan) and argues that the term laylan (‘by night’) cannot be understood as an adverb modifying the verb asra  since this verb

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already means ‘to travel by night’.56 In his opinion, laylan must have some bearing on Muhammad’s inner state, that is, indicating to the reader that the isra ’ was performed while he was asleep in the house of Umm Ha ni’ in accord with the tradition which states as much.57 Al-Ja bı  also addresses the term ‘abd (‘servant’) which has been a key element in arguments supporting a physical journey since at least the fourth/tenth century with al-T abarı, it being maintained that this a reference to Muhammad’s body. According to al-Ja bı, however, this is spurious since the term is not only applied to someone who is awake but also when they are asleep. Moreover, the term ‘abd essentially applies to the spiritual being of a person, the soul, rather than the body which is merely an instrument. The soul is transported by the physical body when the body is awake, but when it is asleep the soul moves by virtue of a body of a different nature.58 Regarding the evidence that Muhammad provides for the doubting Quraysh, this also does not constitute proof for those who wish to argue for a physical journey. For example, Muhammad saw a caravan which was looking for a runaway camel, but this kind of material representation occurs in the dreams of prophets and pious believers in order that God can confirm to them His power and presence. Al-Ja bı  remarks that he himself has had personal experience of this. Further proof of al-Ja bı’s contention is supplied by the traditions  of Umm Ha ni’ and ‘A’isha and Qur’a n su rat al-Najm verse 60: ‘We granted the dream (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men’ which is taken to refer to the isra ’.59 He then examines the phrase in Qur’a n 17:1 ‘that We might show him some of Our signs’ and asks what the nature of these ‘signs’ might be. Seeing an old woman on the way to bayt al-maqdis, hearing a call from the Devil, receiving greetings from dead prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus, drinking a cup of milk, praying in a mosque which had not yet been built and acting as prayer leader for all the dead prophets – these cannot have been actual events but must rather have taken place in a state of sleep. Moreover, they must have some significance since if not they would not be ‘signs’ but merely ‘scenes’ (mana zir). If this dream (ru’ya ) was God speaking to His Prophet from behind the veil then it would contain reference to some future events which God had decreed and which in

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time would come to pass. This would then prove that what God had shown to His Prophet in a dream were visible manifestations of some of His Divine Attributes. In this case they would be ‘signs’ which fully confirmed the omnipotence and divine wisdom of God.60 Indeed, what distinguishes Muhammad from other humans is that he received revelations from God, that is, that God used to talk to him and this sometimes occurred in dreams. For example, while Muhammad was in Mecca he dreamt that he saw in Abu Jahl’s house a grape vine on which was a bunch of ripe grapes. He was surprised at this since grapes are the fruits of Paradise while Abu Jahl was one of the people of Hell so how could he have them in his house? Then, after Muhammad had conquered Mecca and Abu Jahl’s son ‘Ikrama gave him his oath of allegiance Muhammad realised that this explained his dream of the bunch of grapes, that is, that through the dream God had told him that ‘Ikrama would become a Muslim. The Prophet did not understand what God had told him until ‘Ikrama pledged allegiance to him. Thus, we cannot necessarily understand everything that God shows in true dreams except when He reveals it to us.61 Although the isra ’ occurred in a dream it was nevertheless a revelation (wahy ) from God, and for this reason we must try to understand the significance of the events of the isra ’ as recounted in the traditions. Al-Ja bı  then proceeds to offer his understanding of the significance of the isra ’. This essentially revolves around the Children of Israel having violated the contract which God concluded with Moses and which stated that they should be true servants of God. The night journey also reveals the retaking of Jerusalem and the return of the Land of Canaan to its original owners, that is, those who answer the call of Islam. It also reveals that a day will come when Islam will be pre-eminent among all religions even though Jews and Christians will oppose this.62 Further details of al-Ja bı’s commentary need not detain us here. The important point is that although some modern commentators might deny the physical isra ’ (and mi‘ra j) and hence the miracle, as we saw with Haykal above they are still able to demonstrate how the night journey reveals the special status of Muhammad as Prophet. Al-Ja bı  does not venture an opinion about the nature of the mi‘ra j, but it is not difficult to imagine that he would construe this in similar terms.

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Nadhır al-‘Az ma (1930–) Al-Ja bı’s contemporary and fellow Syrian Nadhır al-‘Az ma, a poet and scholar of Arabic and comparative literature, views the mi‘ra j as a dream or vision: From the point of view of its meaning, the mi‘ra j is nothing but a dream/vision (ru’ya ) which Muhammad saw at a time of hardship and difficulty. But it was a dream/vision dealing with man’s relationship to his heritage, to existence, to God and to his fellow men.63 For al-‘Az ma, the subsequent literary manifestations of the mi‘ra j are to be taken as allegories or metaphors on the same lines as the Ancient Mesopotamian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Ah m  ad al-Ah s a’ ı  (d.1241/1826) and the World of Hu r qalya  Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa ’ ı  (d.1241/1826) is the most important representative of the Ima mı  gnostics and the eponymous founder of the Shaykhiyya, a subdivision of the Ima mı  Shı‘a.  He was born in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula but left there when approaching middle age and moved to Karbala ’ in Iraq where his teachings attracted around him a group of disciples. Eventually, his fame spread to Persia and he was invited there by the Qajari ruler Fath ‘Alı  Sha h (r.1797–1834) and finally settled in Yazd. As to al-Ahsa ’ ı ’s methodology in his religious teachings, one of his main preoccupations was to achieve a reconciliation between faith and reason and to interpret what he perceived as the irrational doctrines of Islam in rational terms.64 In this, he utilized the concept of the world of hu rqalya  which he also called the ‘world of similitudes’ (‘a lam al-mitha l) and which corresponds to the world of barzakh in orthodox Islamic eschatology. It is an intermediary world between the physical world and the spiritual world. He further held that everything in the physical world has a counterpart in the world of hu rqalya . Thus,

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all humans have two bodies, one in the physical world and one, ‘the subtle body’, in the hu rqalya .65 It is in the hu rqalya  that the hidden Twelfth Ima m is in occultation awaiting the time when he will return to earth as the Mahdı  and will fill the world with justice and equality just as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny. Thus, the Imam is not hiding on earth and is not a physical body. Similarly, resurrection is not a physical event but is to be understood as something that will happen to men’s ‘bodies’ in hu rqalya . Likewise, Heaven and Hell are states within each individual in hu rqalya . Although al-Ahsa ’ ı  did not identify himself with the minority Akhba rı  school in Persia he was nevertheless attacked by the Usulıs 66 since his ideas conflicted with two basic doctrines of Usulı  belief, that is, he categorically denied the possibility of a bodily resurrection and, most objectionable, maintained that the isra ’/mi‘ra j had also taken place within hu rqalya  and had been a spiritual rather than a physical event.67 It was because of these deviations, particularly the latter, from the majority Ima mı  opinion that he was castigated by the orthodox Usulı  theologian Mullah H a jj Taqı  Burgha nı  of Qazvin who refused to sit down to a meal with him and issued a takfır against him, that is, declared him to be a ka fir or unbeliever.68 Sayyid Ka z im al-H usaynı  al-Rashtı  (d.1259/1843 or 1260/1844), a pupil of al-Ahsa ’ı  and subsequent leader of the Shaykhiyya movement, wrote a strenuous defence of al-Ahsa ’ı’s views on the isra ’/mi‘ra j called Kashf al-H aqq fı  Masa ’il al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. 69 But despite this, condemnations of this aspect of al-Ahsa ’ı’s teachings did not cease and have continued into modern times. One contemporary Ima mı  critic of al-Ahsa ’ ı  is Ayatollah Ja‘far al-Subha nı  who, under the heading Naghma Shadhdha  (‘A Strange 70 Tune’) accuses him of adopting a ‘strange tune’ in his claims that Muhammad undertook the mi‘ra j in his hu rqalya  body which resembles the body. He notes that some people defend al-Ahsa ’ ı  by arguing that what he meant was that the mi‘ra j was undertaken in the ‘elemental body’ (jusmaniyyan ‘unsuriyyan) and that this conforms with orthodox opinion. But the body that al-Ah s a ’ ı  describes is not a physical entity but is rather the barzakh body, that is, the body adopted in that transitional reality between the purely spiritual world and the purely

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material world, and this contradicts the obvious meaning of the traditions and the Qur’a n whose use of the term ‘abd indicates a physical journey. Also, the Qur’a n was addressed to the Arabs of that time but they had no knowledge of hu rqalya  and the Qur’a n would not refer to something unknown. Al-Subha nı  similarly takes issue with al-Ahsa ’ ı ’s use of hu rqalya  to overcome the problems a body would have in negotiating the concentric spheres surrounding the earth since a body in hu rqalya  would not need to break through these and they would not need to be sealed up again. This refers to the geocentric model of the universe proposed by the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy and to which al-Ahsa ’ ı  clearly subscribed. Al-Ahsa ’ ı  held that when someone rises up from the earth, at every stage of the ascent he discards what that stage contains. Thus, when he reaches the sphere of air he discards all the air within him; and when he reaches the sphere of fire he discards all the fire within him. Then when on his descent he returns to the sphere of fire he regains the fire inside him, and when he returns to the sphere of air he likewise regains the air. Thus, when the Prophet ascended to the heavens, in each sphere he discarded one of the four elements in its corresponding sphere and his body became free of the elements. Regarding this, al-Subha nı merely observes that the inspiration behind al-Ahsa ’ ı’s ideas was a cosmological theory which is now known to be spurious.

A Corporeal Night Journey but a Spiritual Ascension As often seen in preceding chapters, of the two journeys performed by the Prophet the mi‘ra j has proved to be by far the most contentious. Over the centuries Muslim scholars have generally been convinced of the physical reality of the isra ’ on the basis of the explicit and indisputable evidence of verse 1 of the Qur’a nic su rat al-Isra ’, of the ‘sound’ (sah ıh ) H adıth which testify to the fact, and the material proof which Muhammad provided. Added to these is the ability of the intellect and imagination to entertain the feasibility of such an event. As regards the mi‘ra j, on the other hand, few scholars would argue that it receives unambiguous confirmation in the Qur’a n; rather, it is chiefly authenticated by ‘sound’ traditions transmitted by trustworthy

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relators. These traditions have, however, often been criticised in terms of the implausibility of what they profess to describe, their materialistic depictions of the Afterlife, their corruption with Christian and Jewish interpolations and their contradictory nature. Similarly, the Prophet provided no evidence for the mi‘ra j as he did for the isra ’. But perhaps most problematic of all barriers to accepting a physical ascension has been explaining how Muhammad’s body could actually have undertaken the journey. Indeed, from the earliest discussions up to the present time defending the physical mi‘ra j has exercised the minds of Muslim theologians, Qur’a nic exegetes, philosophers, mystics and other commentators and they have resorted to concepts drawn from cosmology, science and technology in an effort to provide confirmatory evidence. It is as a result of these difficulties concerning the mi‘ra j that disbelief in it is generally considered to be less heinous than disbelief in the isra ’. Thus, while someone who rejects the mi‘ra j has merely ‘gone astray’ or is a sinner (fa siq), someone who denies the reality of the isra ’ is a disbeliever (ka fir), a heretic (zindiq) and an apostate (mulh id). Predictably enough, a number of Muslims have dealt with the certainty about the isra ’ and corresponding difficulties with the mi‘ra j by proposing that while Muhammad undertook the former in his body the latter took place only in spirit. In this way the apparent physical impossibility of an ascension through the heavens is circumvented and a satisfactory non-material conception of the people and places Muhammad witnessed there readily presents itself. Rebuttals of those who adopted this solution occur in the works of a number of early scholars, such as the Sunnı  Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı  (d.819/1416–17) who refutes the contention that if the mi‘ra j had been a physical ascension then it would surely have been referred to in the Qur’a n since it would have been more wonderful than the isra ’ which does receive a mention. He states that the reason the night journey to the masjid al-aqsa  is mentioned in the Qur’a n is that this could be confirmed by the Quraysh since they were familiar with Jerusalem and could verify Muhammad’s description of it. The mi‘ra j, on the other hand, is not mentioned because the Quraysh knew nothing about the kingdom of heaven and thus could not corroborate what Muhammad said. Moreover, al-Nu‘ma nı  argues, neither the Qur’a n nor H adıth contain

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any reference to the isra ’ being in body and the mi‘ra j in spirit.71 Two centuries later, ‘Alı  b. Burha n al-Dı n al-H alabı  (d.1044/1634) dealt with the argument that the reason why the Meccans disputed with Muhammad about the isra ’ but not the mi‘ra j was because the former was claimed to have been performed in the body and thus open to empirical verification, while the latter was a spiritual experience, purely subjective, and thus could neither be refuted nor confirmed. In response, al-H alabı  remarks that Muhammad did not inform the Meccans about the mi‘ra j at this time because he wanted them first to come to believe in the isra ’. Only when they showed signs of accepting this did he tell them about the mi‘ra j. This is the reason why the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j are referred to in different places in the Qur’a n. Furthermore, the people would not have asked the Prophet for evidence of the mi‘ra j because they had no idea what the heavens were like and could not confirm anything he said.72 Just as with the denial of the physical nature of both the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, so with the corporeal night journey and spiritual ascension — its proponents only really become visible in the modern period. The following three individuals may be taken as representative. Muhammad Abu Zahra (d.1974) The late Egyptian scholar of Islamic law and shaykh of al-Azhar Muhammad Abu Zahra is one who draws a distinction between the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. He considers that the isra ’ was certainly performed in body and spirit; the term ‘abd in Qur’a n 17:1 being proof of this, the obvious meaning of the verse indicating as much, as does the evidence which Muhammad himself provided to the doubting Quraysh. As for the mi‘ra j, however, this was performed only in spirit (bi al-ru h) 73 According to Abu Zahra, one and was a ‘true vision’ (ru’ya  sadiqa).  confirmation of the non-physical nature of the mi‘ra j is located in the Qur’a nic verses which relate to Muhammad’s ascension. Thus, the verse ‘The [Prophet’s] heart did not falsify what he saw’ (ma  kadhaba al-fu’ad ma  ra’a ) (53:11) shows that Muhammad perceived the ‘greatest signs’ with his heart and not with his eyes, and this can only occur when the seeing is done in the spirit. Similarly, when God refers to

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actual physical sight He adds a negation. Thus, the verse ‘His sight never swerved nor did it go wrong’ (ma  za gha al-basar wa ma  tagha ) (53:17) means that Muhammad’s sight never did these things because his sight was not involved; or perhaps the reason his sight did not swerve nor go wrong was because it did not try to see what it could not. Abu Zahra adduces other evidence too. Thus, while it is stated that on his ascension through the heavens Muhammad met the prophets Adam, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and others, this must refer only to their spirits since their bodies will be resurrected by God on the Day of Resurrection. It is far-fetched to suppose that He resurrected them just to return them to the grave. There is not a single tradition, not even a ‘weak’ (d a‘ıf) one, that asserts as much.74 Muhammad H usayn al-T aba taba ’ ı  (d.1981) Al-T aba taba ’ ı  is one of the most important contemporary Ima mı  thinkers and, like shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa ’ ı,  also one of the few identifiable Ima mı s to consider the possibility that the mi‘ra j was some kind of transport of the spirit. He has no doubt that the isra ’ was physical, maintaining that the clear meaning of the Qur’a nic verse and the traditions indicate beyond doubt that Muhammad was taken on his night journey in both spirit and his body. Al-T aba taba ’ ı  also maintains that the occurrence of the mi‘ra j cannot be doubted due to the obvious meaning of su rat al-Najm and the numerous traditions concerning it. He considers, however, that it is permissible to believe that this occurred as an ascension of the spirit but not in the manner of a vision or a dream while asleep. If this were the case, then it would not be a manifestation of God’s omnipotence and would not be the honouring of the Prophet indicated by the Qur’a nic verses which deal with it. It is possible that the Prophet ascended in his noble spirit to a place beyond this material world, a place inhabited by revered angels, a place which is the destination of deeds and where fate is decreed. This is where he witnessed the greatest signs of his Lord, where the reality of things and the consequences of actions were made visible

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to him, where he saw and conversed with the souls of the great prophets, met and talked with the cherubim . . . 75 Muhammad Amın Jabr The final example of a Muslim commentator who holds the isra ’ to have been a physical journey while the mi‘ra j was a spiritual experience is Muhammad Amı n Jabr. In Jabr’s opinion both the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j were essentially journeys of the ‘hidden heightened consciousness’ (al-wa‘y al-‘a lı  al-ka min) which resides in the farthest reaches of the soul. The journey took place in physical form on the isra ’ when the body could have been present in two places at the same time, and in non-physical form on the mi‘ra j when the body remained where it was in a state of sleep or something very like sleep. This is what the Prophet meant when he said that he was between wakefulness and sleep: the spirit was a form of heightened consciousness and a state  of awareness. It is in this way that Jabr explains ‘A’isha’s statement that on the night of the isra ’/mi‘ra j the Prophet’s body did not leave his bed. Thus, according to Jabr, the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j differ in one fundamental respect: place, distance and time are integral to the isra ’, whereas these are not characteristics of the mi‘ra j since this is a description of the Prophet’s spiritual state.76

E pur si muove! We have already introduced a number of early Muslims who argued for a physical locomotive isra ’/mi‘ra j such as al-T abarı , al-T abarsı, Fakhr al-Dı n al-Ra zı  and Ibn Kathı r, and the later Muhammad b. ‘Umar, S adr al-Dı n al-Qummı  and Ja‘far b. Abı  Isha q al-Barujardı. Similarly, we mentioned some modern scholars who argued for the same, these including Bediuzzaman Sa‘ ı d Nursı, ‘Abd al-H alı m Mahmud, Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı, ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r and Muhammad Sa‘ ı d Ramad a n al-Butı  about whom we have more to say shortly. Indeed, as a response to the increasing number of Muslims who insist on the non-corporality of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the ranks of these apologists have swelled considerably in more recent times and this has

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resulted in the appearance of hundreds of books and articles written by both Sunnı s and Ima mı s, religious scholars and otherwise, which deal in some measure with the subject. One Muslim commentator numbers them in the thousands.77 One centre from which numerous books arguing for a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j have issued is the foremost seat of Sunnı  religious learning in the world, al-Azhar University in Cairo. These books include al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j by Mustafa  Ahmad al-Rifa ‘ ı  al-Labba n published in 1932, Risa lat al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j by ‘Alı Muhammad Sha kir published in the following year, Afd al Minha j fı  Ithba t al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j by ‘Abd Alla h al-Mara ghı  published in  by Muhammad 1948,78 and Asra r al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j Jasadan wa Ru han Fahmı  ‘Abd al-Wahha b published somewhat later in 1979.79 An example of a modern refutation of the notion that the mi‘ra j was a spiritual experience is that of ‘Abd al-H amı d al-Sahha r. He draws attention to verse 12 of su rat al-Najm: ‘Will you then dispute with him concerning what he saw (ma  yara )?’ The usual understanding of this is that it refers to the Meccans who denied that Muhammad had been taken on the mi‘ra j, but al-Sahha r argues they would not have disputed with Muhammad over a dream. He also asks those who doubt that the mi‘ra j was undertaken in the body whether they therefore think that Muhammad saw Gabriel in a dream as described in the following verse of the same su ra: ‘For indeed he saw him (ra’a hu) at a second descent.’ If so, then do they also doubt that he saw Gabriel when he appeared before him in the cave at H ira ’ to deliver the revelations as referred to in verses 6–7: ‘For he appeared while he was in the highest part of the horizon’? On both occasions Gabriel appeared in his true form, and both occasions are associated with each other in the Qur’a n.80 Some arguments were directed against the views of specific individuals especially when these were seen to be influential. In this context we have already referred to the criticisms levelled against Ahmad al-Ahsa ’ ı by  Ayatollah Ja‘far al-Subha nı . In particular, due to his reputation and the consistent popularity of his H aya t Muha mmad, the views of Muhammad H usayn Haykal have attracted a considerable and often vociferous response. One contemporary scholar who takes issue with Haykal is the Syrian Fa tima Muhammad Ma rdı nı. She remarks that a few modern biographers of the Prophet have presented the miracle

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of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as an hour of time in which all bounds and restrictions disappeared before the Prophet’s understanding, in which the whole universe was gathered within his spirit and which he perceived in all its eternal existence. Haykal is one of these. She quotes a passage from his H aya t Muha mmad in which Muhammad’s experience is described as portraying the ‘spiritual unity of the eternal pre-existence of being to its eternal continuance’ and as ‘a powerful image of the unity of the universe in its continuous movement toward perfection’. Ma rdını   likens this to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana which entails the merging of the individual with the whole universe and his becoming one with the Supreme Purpose and the Most Sublime Protector. It is the unity of the Creator with the created which is achieved through spiritual purity. But, she asserts, many religious scholars have rejected the notion of the unity of being (wahd at al-wujud).  They have demonstrated its invalidity and falseness, have shown its incompatibility with Islam, how it is a remnant of ancient philosophies and how the only people who speak of it are exponents of Sufism.81 Haykal also earned the censure of the Saudi Arabian scholar ‘Abd Alla h al-Qasımı   (d.1996) who wrote a series of articles which were later collected together and appeared in a book entitled Naqd Kita b   accuses H aya t Muha mmad first published in 1935.82 Al-Qasımı Haykal of presenting Muhammad as a statesman and a leader but not as a prophet. In particular, he criticises him for not allowing that Muhammad was involved in any miracles, with specific focus on the isra ’/mi‘ra j and the splitting of Muhammad’s breast, apart from his reception of the revelation of the Qur’a n. Indeed, for many the main objection to Haykal and others who deny the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j is that they are removing the miraculous from the event with all that this implies regarding proof of the Prophet’s mission. Thus, the Pakistani theologian Mufti Zubair Bayat remarks that they have attempted to ‘scuttle the reality’ of Muhammad’s ascension by claiming that it was nothing but some kind of vision and ‘Had it been merely a spiritual/dream experience, what element of wonder is left in it anymore?’83 Another Sunnı  theologian who takes this view is the Syrian Muhammad Sa‘ ıd Ramad a n al-Butı  (1929–). In a section of his Fiqh

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al-Sıra dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j al-Butı  addresses the manner in which a number of modern commentators have approached the issue of the Prophet’s miracles. Some of them are eager to portray Muhammad as an ordinary human and go to great lengths to demonstrate that his life involved no supernatural occurrences or miracles, indeed that he denied that he could perform them, attached no importance to them and paid no attention to those who demanded them. In short, these scholars encourage their audience to think that the Prophet’s life was totally devoid of the miracles and signs with which God confirms His true prophets.84 Al-Butı  goes on to explain that the view of Muhammad as merely human originated with Western scholars who disbelieved in miracles, such as the French philosopher Auguste Comte, the Scottish philosopher David Hume and the Hungarian orientalist Ignaz Goldziher. Unfortunately for the world of Islam, some Muslims subsequently adopted their ideas and enthusiastically propagated them, the only reason for this being ‘infatuation with their false rhetoric and the dazzling sight of the scientific renaissance which swept over Europe’. Among these Muslims were Muhammad ‘Abduh, Muhammad Farıd Wajdı 85  and Muhammad H usayn Haykal. Regarding Western perceptions of Muslims al-Butı  continues: Then those certified sceptics found in what some Muslims themselves say new avenues for their intellectual imperialism and for raising doubts among Muslims about their religion, thus releasing these cynics from having to resort to their ancient tradition of direct attack on the religion of Islam and inculcating their godless ideas in Muslims’ minds. As a result, [some Westerners] began to ascribe certain qualities to the Prophet, such as ‘heroism’, ‘genius’ and ‘leadership’,86 and to praise and extol him in these terms. At the same time, they were concerned to portray his life as divorced from the miracles and supernatural events which defy rational understanding so that in time they could create a new image of the Prophet in Muslims’ minds. Thus, while there could be an image of ‘Muhammad the genius’ or ‘Muhammad the leader’ or ‘Muhammad the hero’87 there must under no circumstances be an image of ‘Muhammad the Prophet

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and the Messenger.’ By promoting the titles ‘genius’ and ‘hero’, all the true characteristics of prophethood which are prerequisites of revelation, and all that is transcendental and miraculous, are cast into the world of the ‘mythological’.88 Al-Butı  further emphasizes that the denial of miracles and the supernatural is tantamount to the destruction of the meaning of prophethood itself, which is the same as rejecting religion even though some orientalists do not draw this conclusion explicitly but rather content themselves with demonstrating the Prophet’s intelligence, the extent of his genius, his courage and political acumen. They supply the premises rather than draw the conclusion, but the conclusion logically follows after the premises have been accepted.89 The debate continues, with arguments even appearing as graffiti on the shelves of university libraries. Thus, in a copy of Fazlur Rahman’s Islam where he remarks that the doctrine of a locomotive mi‘ra j is no more than a historical fiction, someone has underlined ‘fiction’ and added the comment ‘After the ascension to the moon in 1969 by Neil Armstrong, there is no reason why miraj should not be accepted.’90

Attempts at Compromise The kind of criticisms outlined above have not fallen on deaf ears. Thus, a few scholars have tried to maintain what the majority of Muslims consider to be the fundamental article of faith in a truly locomotive and bodily isra ’/mi‘ra j, while at the same time avoiding the impossibility of a physical ascension and the problematic descriptions of the Afterlife. They have frequently achieved this by utilizing the concept of the world of the spirit proposed by such as al-Ahsa ’ ı  above. Elsewhere, a number of commentators have supplemented this by proposing that the Prophet’s body underwent some kind of change which enabled him to perform the journey. A Human Body in the World of the Ghayb The compromise solution adopted by the contemporary Ima mı  scholar Ra’ ısa Qassa m is essentially a synthesis of the ideas of al-Ahsa ’ ı regarding 

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hu rgalya , which she refers to as the world of the ghayb, alongside notions borrowed from the other Ima mı  scholars Muhammad al-T aba taba ’ ı  and Ayatollah Ha dı al-Mudarrisı  . The discussion begins with an exposition of the two different worlds which constitute reality: The person who lives in the physical world finds himself totally within its confines to the point where his first impulse is to conceive of reality (al-wujud)  as composed solely of matter. But there is logical and empirical evidence which proves that reality is not restricted merely to physical things and energy but rather is much more extensive than that. In fact, there are two kinds of reality: the material and the abstract (al-mujarrad). The Qur’a n refers to these and calls them the world of the ghayb (‘a lam alghayb) and the ‘empirical world’ (‘a lam al-shahada).  The world which is tangible is the ‘empirical world’ which can be confirmed by the senses. The world which is not open to the senses is that of the ghayb which is hidden from us.91 She goes on to explain that although the existence of the physical universe can be directly ascertained by experimentation and the use of instruments, the world of the ghayb is known indirectly through inference and demonstration (burhana). Belief in the existence of the ghayb is essentially an act of faith, a religious imperative, and moreover is a prerequisite for belief in the existence of God and His characteristics, spirits, angels, Paradise, Hell and the world of barzakh. Qassa m does not make her argument explicit, but we are to understand that it is the world of the ghayb, in particular that part of it called barzakh, that the Prophet visited on his night journey and ascension. Barzakh is described as a ‘world of abstractions (mujarrada t)’ lying between this world and the Hereafter. It is also known as the world of similitudes (al-‘a lam al-mitha lı ) because the images and forms it contains resemble those of the physical world. It is not, however, material like the mundane world and has different qualities and characteristics. It is a world which begins at the hour of death and ends at the hour of resurrection from the grave: ‘Before them is barzakh until the day they are resurrected . . .’92 In the world of barzakh the body is a

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similitude (badan mitha lı ) which looks exactly like our bodies but is different in composition since there are no physical bodies in barzakh rather only ethereal bodies like air.93 Regarding actions, intentions and thoughts in barzakh, Qassa m explains that they assume material form and become concrete. Furthermore, This is not just what appears to be the case – it actually takes place. It might be imagined that the effect that intentions and thoughts have on men’s actions disappear when the actions cease, but the fact is that they do not. In barzakh they assume an appropriate material form, like on the Day of Resurrection when they appear next to the one responsible for them in the assembled rank.94 Quoting directly from al-T aba taba ’ ı ’s description of the world which Muhammad visited while on the mi‘ra j, but without acknowledging her source, Qassa m adduces that it was in the world of the barzakh that Muhammad met the earlier prophets, talked with the angels and saw the ‘greatest signs of his Lord’. Also like al-T aba taba ’ ı, she maintains that the names given to things witnessed by Muhammad, such as the angels, the Throne, the pen and the veil, do not point to actual physical objects but are rather terms used to denote intangibles within a non-material reality which are not perceptible to the ordinary senses and are not subject to physical laws.95 Thus, the scenes which Muhammad witnessed on the isra ’/mi‘ra j and which have caused so many problems for commentators become explicable as the expression of the abstract in concrete terms. These scenes include those which provide a physical portrayal of the rewards and punishments for certain deeds in the Hereafter, such as the people who were planting seeds and harvesting on the same day and whenever they harvested the seeds grew again, and the people who were smashing their heads with rocks and their heads immediately became whole so that they could smash them again. By positing that these events took place in barzakh, Qassa m and others like her are able to refute those who point to such descriptions as evidence of the fabrications of storytellers and Jews, such as ‘Abd al-H amı d al-Sahh a r, Ahmad Shalabı, Muhammad

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b. al-Khatıb and ‘Abd al-Jalıl ‘Isa , or such as Nadhır al-‘Azma who sees the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j as essentially products of popular imagination, folklore and mysticism.96 The thesis also goes some way to supplying an answer to those who feel obliged to claim that the journey took place in a dream, such as Salım  al-Ja bı. This then is the world which Muhammad traverses on his earthly and celestial journey, but as to how he undertook this journey – it was in both spirit and in body. As noted above, Qassa m quotes verbatim al-T aba taba ’ı’s description of the non-material world of the mi‘ra j. However, she is careful to add to al-T aba taba ’ı’s depiction of the manner in which the Prophet ascended (‘in his noble spirit’) the words ‘pure body’ (i.e. ‘the Prophet ascended in his noble spirit and pure body’). She does not describe Muhammad’s body as like those in the world of barzakh, that is, as some kind of ethereal image of his earthly form, but is very emphatic about the real physical nature of the event and adduces a considerable amount of supporting evidence. In particular, she utilises a number of arguments initially advanced by the Ima mı  cleric Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı  in his al-Mi‘ra j: Rih la fı  ‘Umq al-Fad a  wa al-Zaman.97 Thus, she asserts that the traditional description of the bura q indicates that it refers to an airplane or a spaceship; that the description of the vehicle which transported Muh a mmad to the heavens in terms of ‘like a bird’s nest’ indicates that the Prophet rode inside it so as to protect him from the dangers of space flight; and that the two angels who greeted Muhammad when he entered the spaceship were perhaps its pilots.98 Moreover, the journey took place according to the unchanging laws of physics.99 It is not only Ima mıs who resort to the concept of the world of the ghayb or barzakh in this way. Two Sunnı  scholars who do likewise are Amın Duwayda r and Abu al-Majd H araka. Duwayda r defines it as the period between death and the Day of Resurrection. According to him, it was the life of the barzakh which Muhammad experienced during the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. Thus, he saw the prophets and the souls of humans after their death, and deeds portrayed in material terms as God wished them to be and so on.100 As for Abu al-Majd H araka, we have already had reason to mention him a number of times in a previous chapter. It was noted that

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although he is very critical of H adıth on the isra ’/mi‘ra j he nonetheless believes it was a corporeal journey and considers that a reappraisal of the traditions dealing with it needs to be undertaken so as to separate the spurious from the genuine. Elsewhere, he addresses the content of the genuine (sah ıh ) traditions as found particularly in the canonical Sunnı  collections of Muslim and al-Bukha rı  and states that what they report must be accepted since they cannot be doubted. Thus, for example, H araka acknowledges the existence of the bura q, the Nile and the Euphrates in the seventh heaven and the episode detailing the reduction in the number of daily prayers. However, he argues that these and other descriptions must not necessarily be understood as literally true but rather as allegories. H araka understands the problems inherent in this. For example, while discussing the various interpretations of ‘coming closer’ (tadalla ), he remarks: It will be noticed that the interpretations we tend towards are the result of a literal and materialistic approach in which symbolic descriptions of the extensive world of spiritual things are understood in physical terms. In fact, when dealing with this episode we have no choice but to do this since our concepts which are derived from the physical world in which we live, the world of the senses (‘a lam al-shahada),  might in no way help us to understand the reality of what actually transpired. This is beyond our powers of comprehension. We must therefore borrow images from the world of the senses in order to describe the world of the ghayb.101 Thus, according to H araka, while the Prophet’s journey was done in the body the destination was the spiritual world, the world of the ghayb. Although Qassa m and H araka formulate arguments for both the bodily nature of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and for the spiritual nature of the world through which the Prophet travelled, they do not demonstrate how the physical and the spiritual interact, that is, how a spiritual world could be the destination of a physical journey. In this discussion,

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as elsewhere, are seen the effects of attempting to combine the orthodox belief in a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j – thus maintaining the miraculous nature of the event in accord with the literal meaning of the traditions – with an approach which satisfies the dictates of rationality, logic and science. The upshot is not always satisfactory to either. The Body Transformed Other scholars have sought to avoid the apparent incongruity of a physical entity traversing the world of the spirit by maintaining that while the Prophet did indeed travel to this world his body was subject to some kind of change to enable him to undertake the journey. One such is Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib. He has no trouble in accepting the physical nature of the isra ’, noting that the Prophet’s journey took place on earth while he was in human form and was thus subject to the laws governing humans. It was because Muhammad was in human form that the events of the night journey to bayt almaqdis occupied a period of time, even though the actual travelling took no time since it was achieved by the power of God.102 As regards the ascension through the heavens, however, ‘Abd al-Muttalib has a different opinion: But when the Prophet travelled to the heavens and met the prophets who had died before him and the angels, something changed in his being. It was as if he cast off his human state and partly assumed that of an angel which can see by itself. It is for this reason that God said ‘he saw’ rather than ‘We showed him.’ [God would have said this latter] if the Prophet had retained his human form as on earth since in this case it would have been necessary to amend the laws governing sight and what is seen. But in the heavens [the Prophet] assumed a different form. He was able to see by himself because he had left his human state behind on earth and had become like an angel. This angelic quality prevailed in the Prophet and he was able to see.103 In ‘Abd al-Muttalib’s energetic defence of ‘sound’ H adıth which recounts the events of the isra ’/mi‘ra j he is maintaining the authenticity of the

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text, that is, that the phenomena described in the traditions are true accounts whatever they mean. Indeed, in a number of places he makes it clear that he views the world to which Muhammad travelled as a spiritual one of which we have little knowledge. Thus, things are mentioned that we cannot understand such as Adam seeing the souls of the faithful in Paradise on his right side and the souls of the disbelievers in Hell on his left. The problem is that both those who criticise elements within the traditions and the scholars who defend them apply concepts belonging to the material world of matter to the world of spirit and thus conclude that Adam’s spirit could not see things that were outside the heaven he was situated in, that he was unable to see something at a great distance and that the regions of heaven were physically closed off from each other such that the spirit could not move between them. They imagine that the Adam whose soul was transported to the heavens is of the same nature as the Adam who was once on earth. ‘Abd al-Muttalib remarks that if people realised that the soul is God’s affair and that man knows nothing about it, some of them would not object to the traditions as being literal descriptions and others would not take it upon themselves to answer these objections.104 There would be no problem with the H adıth concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j if it was understood as providing information about transcendental things (ghayb) we have never seen. A number of elements within the traditions should be understood as not literally true and referring to material objects or actual events, but as a figurative use of language. These include the doors and roofs of heaven, the veils (hu jub) behind which God is concealed, Gabriel asking permission to enter the heavens and the episode regarding Moses and the reduction in the number of daily ritual prayers from fifty to five.105 Another contemporary Sunnı  scholar who articulates views similar to those of ‘Abd al-Muttalib is Muhammad Muba rak al-Mazyudı. He differs from the former however, in that he also considers that the Prophet undertook the isra ’ in a body transformed, as he did the mi‘ra j. Al-Mazyudı  notes that there are two main opinions on the issue: some people state that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was performed in body and spirit, and some say in spirit only. But as far as he is concerned, Muslims are not in a position to reject either of these positions since there exists no

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unambiguous text which can decide the issue either way. In effect, like ‘Abd al-Muttalib, he is attempting to confirm the ijma ‘ or consensus of the scholars that the journey was physical while at the same time effecting a reconciliation between the two views he mentions above. In addition, al-Mazyudı  is able to provide a context in which the contents of the traditions can be understood, and also to avoid the problems associated with the seemingly impossible nature of the journey. The cue for al-Mazyudı’s interpretation is the tradition quoted by al-Bukha rı  in which the mi‘ra j commences when Muhammad was ‘midway between sleep and wakefulness’.106 What the Prophet is describing here is ‘drowsiness’, a condition during which a person possesses the qualities of both being asleep and being awake. At this time the connection between the spirit (ru h) and the body is at its strongest. During wakefulness the spirit remains inside the body, while during sleep it comes out but remains in contact with the body (al-Mazyudı  quotes ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib as saying that when one is asleep the spirit comes out but its ‘rays’ [shu‘a ‘] remain in the body). In this inbetween state dreams may occur that are different in nature from those experienced while asleep and from daydreams, and there are numerous examples of inspiration coming to creative people by means of these dreams. When the sleeper wakes up the spirit returns to the body quicker than a flash. What Muhammad experienced on the isra ’/mi‘ra j were spiritual visions (ru’an ruh iyya) but not divorced from the body. Indeed, the body was more present than during sleep. The Prophet’s body was, however, divested of many physical impediments in order to enable it to attain a spiritual form. Indeed, the purer and freer from sins the body is the more effective the spirit becomes within the body when a person is awake, and the more ethereal and spirit-like becomes the body. That the Prophet attained the necessary degree of purity is confirmed in the words of the tradition: ‘Then inside his breast was washed with Zamzam water and filled with wisdom and faith.’ On the basis of the above, al-Mazyudı  is able to conclude that The Prophet was taken on the isra ’ [and mi‘ra j] in body and spirit, but his body was not in the same corporeal state as that

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of an ordinary man. Rather, God divested it of all the physical ‘veils’ (hu jub maddiyya),  that is, the ‘natural laws’ which govern material things on earth so that it could become more ethereal and unrestrained but without losing its ability to enable Muhammad to see with his eyes as referred to in ‘His sight never swerved nor did it go wrong.’ The body can see things and the spirit can see things. As for the Prophet, he achieved a third state which distinguished him from all other men, that is, a state in which all obstacles between spirit and body disappear so that the body is able to approach the nature of the spirit while still retaining some of its individual characteristics.107 Other commentators also understand a corporeal isra ’/mi‘ra j to entail some kind of physical change. Thus, a Pakistani website referring to the Shab-e-Meraaj (i.e. the festival of Laylat al-Mi‘ra j) states: On this night Hazrat Jibriel (Aleih-l-Salam) along with two other angels visited the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) while he was asleep in the Hateem (part of Holy Kaabah). The angel then operated [on] his heart in order to make [the] Holy Prophet’s material body capable of travelling in space with the required velocity . . . By incorporating changes in the body, it was probably converted from material into [a] lightning (Noorani) body to withstand the journey into space. It may be remembered that the material bodies of people destined for heaven would also be changed to lightning bodies after the gathering in ‘Maidaan-eHashr’ (the place of great gathering on the Judgement day) and before taking them to heaven.108

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CHAPTER 5 R ATIONALIT Y, THE INEFFABLE AND FAITH

The intellect is like a riding animal: it can take you to the sultan’s door but cannot take you inside. (Muhammad Mutawallı  al-Sha‘ra wı)1 We have now explored some of the main approaches adopted by Muslim commentators towards the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. It has been seen that the majority view is that although a number of the traditions might be interpreted otherwise, on at least one occasion they refer to the Prophet’s actual physical night journey and ascension. An alternate view which also receives much support is that while the authenticity of the traditions is generally not to be questioned, what they indicate is a dream, a vision, a mystical experience or an transport of Muh a mmad’s spirit, this being especially the case regarding the mi‘ra j. Likewise, the world to which the Prophet travelled has been understood as one of transcendent realities subject to its own conventions and laws, and the depictions of it are allegorical representations of the essentially unutterable. In what follows we examine another typical way in which Muslims have viewed the events of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, that is, to declare that all attempts to understand them rationally are futile and indeed sometimes contrary to true belief.

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A Journey into the Unknownable The isra ’/mi‘ra j was a journey into the ineffable, the transcendent (ghayb) or an alternative reality and thus any attempt to comprehend or describe it from the perspective of man’s limited experience and knowledge is futile. This, of course, includes comparisons drawn from the physical sciences. In his discussion of the limitations of the scientific approach to religion, and even the threat of science, the Iranian philosopher, scholar of comparative religion, Islamic spirituality and science, Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1933–) echoes the thoughts of many Muslim commentators. He notes that despite the central place of the mi‘ra j within Islam, many modern Muslims who are influenced by the scientific worldview find it to be one of the most difficult elements to understand. Nasr complains that some of those Muslims who wish to view Islam in purely rationalistic terms and thus empty it of its ‘beauty and grandeur’ have also attempted to explain the mi‘ra j in a similarly rationalistic way. He argues, however, that the aim of modern science is to study the physical world and that it is unable to deal with other levels of reality such as the spiritual. But because modern science is unable to compehend certain things does not mean that they do not exist. If one understands that reality is composed of many different levels and that modern science is restricted to only one of these, that is, the physical universe, then one will see that there is nothing unscientific or illogical about the mi‘ra j. Science has today such prestige that people assume that whatever is not studied by it is unreal and illusory. In fact, according to Nasr, this is the great tragedy of modern science which makes it such a destructive force despite its positive aspects. Nasr maintains that the ascension through the heavens was not merely a journey through astronomical space but was to the ‘higher states of being’. The Prophet ascended physically as well as spiritually at a time when all the elements of his being, both psychic and physical, were integrated ‘in that final experience which was the full realization of unity (al-tawh ıd)’.  He goes on: There is nothing worse than reducing the majestic events associated with the great founders of religion to harmless events of

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‘ordinary life’ in order to make them more acceptable. This is so much more dangerous at a time when the so-called ‘ordinary life’ has become for the most part trivial and emptied of the dignity and beauty which are characteristic of normal human experience.2 Another who questions the rational approach to understanding the isra ’/mi‘ra j is Amın Duwayda r, an historian of Islam and author of a popular biography of the Prophet published in the late 1950s. He remarks that there is perhaps no issue in Islam more contentious that the Prophet’s night journey and ascension and this is largely due to people attempting to understand it in rational terms. Duwayda r therefore asks whether the intellect (al-‘aql) is suitable for the task, intellect being defined as the power of understanding in man whereby he is able to make distinctions, to assess, to measure, to weigh, to draw conclusions from premises, to form wholes out of their parts and to ‘make judgements about information received via the senses’.3 For Duwayda r, this last point is crucial. He argues that regarding aspects of the material world the intellect is dependent upon the senses and can only exercise its function on the basis of information which they provide. As for what lies beyond the physical world, that is, the world of the ghayb with its heaven and hell, angels and jinn, the intellect is unable to understand anything about it since it is not accessible to the senses. Thus, there is no role for the intellect concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j. The only way that the intellect can acquire knowledge about the world of the ghayb is to be told about it by trustworthy sources who have the ability to reach that world, that is, the prophets and messengers of God who receive information about the metaphysical world through divine revelation. Regarding knowledge of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, the only option the intellect has is to believe the information given by a trustworthy source, that is, the Prophet of God.4 Approaches like that of Nasr and Duwayda r which argue against a material understanding of the traditions and their empirical verifiability inevitably beg the question of what exactly the words of the traditions mean. One commentator who has tackled the issue of how the ineffable has been communicated is the Egyptian ‘Abd al-H amıd

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al-Sahh a r whose al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j is largely a refutation of any attempt to view the event using concepts drawn from human experience. As mentioned in Chapter 3, al-Sahh a r rejects the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j since they are clearly informed by the knowledge and outlook of the age in which the relators of the traditions lived and describe events and circumstances in language relating to human faculties and senses. Thus, the heavens are envisioned in terms of the earth, with rivers (the Nile and the Euphrates which were known to the relators), with doors upon which one knocks like a house, and with Muhammad bargaining with God over the fifty prayers like a merchant would, the relators themselves being largely merchants and thus conceiving of the exchange in a way familiar to them. Similarly, in accord with current notions, the ascension was necessarily thought to have been made by a ladder or on a riding animal called the bura q. But, al-Sahh a r notes, the Qur’a nic verse referring to the isra ’ makes no mention of Muhammad being carried on something. On the contrary, the Prophet traversed cosmic space by means of the unlimited power of God within existential realities different from the narrow confines of those on earth. It is hardly feasible that God’s transporting of His Prophet on the night journey and ascension was an event open to the senses or subject to the laws which govern physical objects.5 Finally, we might mention the Egyptian theologian Muhammad Mutawallı  al-Sha‘ra wı  (d.1998) who acknowledges that the isra ’ is open to rational proofs but these are not drawn from science. They are the speed of the journey which was such that only God could have brought it about, Muhammad’s description of bayt al-maqdis to the doubting Quraysh and his account of the caravan which he saw en route.6 As to how the journey occurred, however, we should not ask since it is beyond human understanding. God can do as He pleases and is not subject to any laws because He created them. He can change any natural laws as He sees fit, as when He gave miracles to His prophets. For example, the defining characteristic of fire is that it gives off heat, but when the disbelievers threw Abraham into the fire God ensured that he remained unharmed.7 Al-Sha‘ra wı  claims that questions such as why the isra ’/mi‘ra j occupied a period of time when God could have made His Prophet perform the journey in no time have been posed by

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orientalists who hope by this to destroy the miraculous. But in fact their questions merely highlight the miraculous nature of the event. In such a way does God employ the unbelievers in His service.8

Taqrıb al-Mu‘jiza t ila  al-‘Uqu l : An Uneasy Distinction Notwithstanding the criticisms of the rational-scientific viewpoint noted above, such is its temptations that Muslim commentators sometimes appear to be advancing a explanation based on reason while still maintaining the necessity of unquestioning belief in the isra ’/mi‘ra j and its essential ineffability. Thus, although they insist that acknowledging the occurrence of the night journey and ascension is still fundamentally a matter of faith and indeed a test of faith, at the same time they adduce evidence for the feasibility of a bodily ascent so as to counter the arguments of those who deny it on physical grounds. At times, the irreconcilability between scientific and technological justification of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and its essential unknowable and miraculous nature can lead to apparent contradictions where commentators on the one hand adopt a highly rational and scientific approach but at the same time are unwilling to deny its ineffability. This is witnessed in the treatment of Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı  (1945–) who is generally quite careful to assure his readers that his scientific analysis in no way challenges the miraculous nature of the event.9 It is also clear, however, that his reasoning is so detailed that it has to be construed as a rational explanation rather than a demonstration of plausibil ilı, an advocate of the scientific ity. Similarly, H usayn Bandar al-‘Am approach who derives some of his arguments from al-Mudarrisı, goes into great detail describing the physical and material means whereby Muhammad ascended in body through the heavens, but elsewhere states that miracles are performed without any physical agency but  ilı  also calls the destination of the rather by the will of God.10 Al-‘Am journey the ghayb (the transcendent) thus moving from the concrete to the metaphysical and thereby rendering the arguments ultimately no more enlightening than the view that belief in the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j is an unquestioning act of faith.11

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Sometimes there appears to be a genuinely contradictory stance. The Iranian cleric Mullah Fayd al-Kasha nı  seems to criticise the contention that the isra ’/mi‘ra j occurred in accord with physical principles. Regarding Qur’a n 17:1 he states that God starts the verse with the word subha n which denotes the fact that Alla h is free from all deficiencies. But God does not stop there, rather He makes the ascension the reason for His greatness by saying ‘made to travel’ (asra ) so that others do not imagine that the journey was the result of natural causes and performed according to the usual means of transportation. This would have rendered the Prophet’s journey as something capable of being denied. On the contrary, the journey was accomplished by the power of God and His specific and special blessings.12 Al-Kasha nı  then proceeds to put forward a case for the physical possibility of the mi‘ra j, noting that the cosmological system of Ptolemy which seemed to present an obstacle to Muhammad’s ascension was debunked a long time ago, and mentioning such things as the speed of light, the launching of Sputnik and exploration of the moon and that this scientific progress and advancements in technology are clear proof that such a celestial journey is feasible.13 Al-Kasha nı  thus exhibits the recurring phenomenon that those who propose a scientific explanation for the Prophet’s ascension also often simultaneously reject this or at least maintain that it is not the main reason for belief. Similar is the contemporary Syrian scholar Fa tima Ma rdını   who remarks that if a human can create something like a miracle then it is no longer a miracle. Those who attempt to explain the Prophet’s miracles in purely material terms on the basis of the scientific laws of nature have therefore clearly deviated from the truth. It is no use for them to allege that they want to make miracles more rationally acceptable (taqrıb al-mu‘jiza t ila  al-‘uqu l) so as to gain the belief of men of science, since apart from some miracles being scientifically impossible it presents a distorted picture of them.14 Then, shortly afterwards, Ma rdını   goes on to remark that in the past some people doubted the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j because they were unable to conceive of man covering a great distance in a short period of time, or escaping gravity and breaking through the atmosphere. At present, however, man with his limited powers has been able to land on the moon, to

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place equipment and apparatus on Mars, and his jet planes and rockets quickly cover thousands of kilometres. She asks, if man is capable of achieving these things then cannot the Creator of man give His Prophet a bura q on which to cover all these distances in a similarly short time? When man sees that he is able to do what was previously thought impossible, and is convinced of God’s ability to do all things, then he must believe that the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j are undoubtedly true and that there is absolutely no conflict between these events and rationality and science.15 As a final example we might note a brief news item which appeared in the Bangladesh Observer of 25 September 2003 concerning the seminar ‘Miraj in the Eyes of Science’ organised by the Bangladesh Islamic Foundation in Dhaka. The report summarized the general findings of the seminar: The speakers at the seminar said that holy Miraj is considered as a unique incident in the Muslim world as well as in human history. ‘Modern science proves that the incident of Miraj is not an impossible thing,’ they said, adding that it is not a thing of scientific analysis but a matter of belief and conviction.16 Indeed, a number of Muslims state that the isra ’/mi‘ra j cannot be both unknowable and at the same time understandable in rational terms. Some observers might ask why one should demonstrate that man can travel millions of miles in a short period of time, and how his body could withstand the journey, and then go on to say that none of this actually applies to the isra ’/mi‘ra j and that it did not take place in this way. In this, there would seem to remain that leap of faith which the commentators wish to bridge, that gap between a possible rational explanation and the means by which the event actually occurred. One scholar who deals with this is ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r, already mentioned above. He notes that if the early relators of traditions had been aware of modern scientific and technological advancements they would have described the isra ’/mi‘ra j in these terms as some Muslims do today. But this is equally spurious. The achievements of man and

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the actions of God are totally different. Some people have in good faith attempted to make it easier to conceive of the isra ’ from Mecca to bayt al-maqdis. They have said that although the speed needed to complete such a long journey was once baffling and incomprehensible, it became increasingly less so with the use of steam power, then ordinary airplanes, then jet planes, then radio-controlled rockets. After the appearance of these inventions and innovations it is possible to believe in the fact of the isra ’ without hesitation.17 But those people, acting in all sincerity, who want to make the isra ’ more acceptable by showing that comparable things are demonstrated by modern science, are deluding themselves. No matter how much the isra ’ is related to scientific knowledge, the materialists who only acknowledge what is tangible will never believe in it. No matter how much science and technology progress or how many strange and wonderful discoveries are made, these things will always be different from the miracles that God performs on behalf of His prophets. These miracles are not based on scientific laws and precepts and are not the result of any agency or instrument that man is able to produce.18 ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Najja r is of the same opinion. Some say that Muhammad’s corporeal ascension through the heavens is supported by the modern sciences since astronauts have landed on the moon and are conquering space, but the Prophet’s ascension was different since it was a miracle and miracles are not governed by the law of cause and effect. There is a difference between a miracle and a scientific act, that is, scientific acts can be repeated, but miracles cannot; they occur only once. Moreover, the sciences can be developed and advanced; miracles cannot. The splitting of the moon, for example, occurred only once, as did Muhammad’s ascension through the heavens.19

A Test of Faith In a book written for children aged from ten to sixteen which describes the celebrations of Laylat al-Mi‘ra j (the Night of the Mi‘ra j) in Egypt, a father tells his young son and daughter the story of the Prophet’s miraculous night journey from Mecca to the Masjid al-Aqsa  in Jerusalem and subsequent ascension through the heavens. When he

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has finished the account of the journey to Jerusalem, his son Sa mı puts up his hand to ask a question: ‘Was the Prophet’s night journey done in his spirit and not his body, or in his spirit and body together?’ At this, a look of irritation appeared on the face of his father. This made Sa mı  lower his head in embarrassment, thinking that he had said something disrespectful or irreligious. His father replied, ‘Son, that is a question that is only asked by those weak in faith, because God is able to do all things . . .’20 The aspect of faith has always been fundamental. Indeed, in one of the earliest recorded traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j preserved by Ibn Isha q (d.151/768) Abu Bakr is taken to symbolise this: Every time [Muhammad] described something Abu Bakr would say, ‘You are telling the truth. I bear witness that you are the Prophet of God,’ until [Muhammad] had finished. The Prophet said to Abu Bakr, ‘And you, Abu Bakr, are the siddıq [‘the trusting’].’ It was on that day that he received the honorific al-siddıq. 21 This incident is often cited to depict Abu Bakr being the archetypal Muslim who accepts what the Prophet tells him on faith. Similar are the traditions which present Abu Jahl, one of the Meccan leaders most hostile to Muhammad, and the idolatrous Quraysh as the opposite side of the coin. An early tradition concerning this, often repeated in subsequent works up to the present time, is recorded by the theologian Ahmad b. H anbal (d.241/855) in his Musnad. It describes how Abu Jahl pretends to believe Muhammad’s account of the night journey to Jerusalem so as to encourage him to repeat his story to the Quraysh. When he does so ‘some of them clapped while others put their hands on their heads in astonishment at his lies and claims’.22 Elsewhere, Ibn Isha q regards the Prophet’s night journey and ascension as ‘a trial, a test and a matter of God’s power and authority. It contains a lesson for the intelligent and guidance, mercy and confirmation for those who believe.’23

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The tension within modern Islam, and indeed other religions, between the desire for a more rational/scientific-based belief and the traditional emphasis on faith which does not rely on logical proof or empirical evidence perhaps receives no better exemplification than in discussions concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j. As always, there are degrees of opinion and these vary between those who seem to deny any role to rationality and those who acknowledge that it can serve as the door to religious belief. On the one extreme are those who fear that rationalism and scientific methodology, often viewed as imports from the Western world, will inevitably lead to atheism and emasculate the miraculous. Not only are comparisons with the physical sciences and modern technology sometimes deemed to be futile, but they are also dangerous since they reduce the transcendent to the level of human experience, challenge the omnipotence of God and remove a vital dimension from the ‘religious’, that is, belief based on faith. Some commentators therefore attack what they consider to be the dangers of materialism and deny that it is possible to demonstrate the truth of the isra ’/mi‘ra j by rational means. The contemporary scholar ‘Abd al-Hila l Nurı, for example, states that those who deal with the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j in terms of logic and rationality are materialists who want to destroy religion and deny revelation.24 Although less anti-rational than some commentators, the abovementioned al-Sha‘ra wı  sees belief in the isra ’/mi‘ra j as fundamentally a matter of faith. The journey took place at night when no one could witness it who could then confirm it. Why did it not take place in daylight in front of everyone so that there could be no denying it? The miracles of other prophets were performed in the presence of people, such as Abraham escaping unharmed from the fire,25 Moses dividing the sea26 and the many miracles of Jesus.27 The Prophet performed numerous miracles that people witnessed such as splitting the moon,28 a spring flowing from his fingers,29 feeding many people with only a little food30 and so on. Despite this, the disbelievers did not believe but rather accused him of being a sorcerer.31 Indeed, rather than convincing people miracles were interpreted away. The people of Thamud asked their prophet to make a camel out of rock and when he did this they were not convinced.32 And soon after Moses divided the sea with

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his staff those who were with him came across some people worshipping idols and joined them in this.33 It is for this reason that when the Meccans asked Muhammad to perform particular miracles God did not do it because in the past men had not been convinced by tangible miracles perceptible by the senses.34 God wanted the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be a proof of faith that would remain until the Day of Resurrection. So he made it unseen (ghayb) albeit with material evidence so that it could be discussed rationally and be a doorway to faith. Faith comes about by means of rational evidence that what is unseen has really taken place, even though we cannot perceive it.35 Elsewhere, the former Grand Ima m of al-Azhar, Dr ‘Abd al-H alım  Mahmud, says that all the controversy and questions surrounding the isra ’/mi‘ra j, such as whether it was in body or spirit, whether it was a dream and so on only arise where faith is weak. The isra ’/mi‘ra j has a spiritual significance and provides spiritual lessons regarding such as morals, repentance, jihad and especially prayer. Any discussion as to how the isra ’/mi‘ra j was performed militate against this spiritual nature.36 We can perhaps leave the last words to the seventeenth-century scholar Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı  (d.1066/1654) who remarks: If it is said that the Prophet was a human being and it is impossible for human beings to ascend into the air just as it is impossible for riding animals to do the same, the reply is that a human being does not ascend by himself but rather the thing that makes him ascend and transports him is the power of faith which is granted him. The Prophet was not taken on a night journey until his breast was filled with faith and wisdom. When he was full of faith and wisdom he possessed that power which could transport him and others. Faith and its power enable one to progress and to ascend.37

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CHAPTER 6 THE ISR Ā’ AND THE MI‘R ĀJ IN IM Ā M Ī SHĪ‘ISM

When I was taken on the night journey to the heavens whenever I passed by an angel he asked me about ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib to the point where I thought that in heaven ‘Alı’s name was better known than mine.1 Whereas the traditions and accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j within Sunnı  Islam have received a certain amount of scholarly attention in the West, those located within Ima mı  Shı‘ism  have been almost completely neglected.2 This is despite the fact that traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j are equally prominent within Ima mism and moreover reflect the Ima mı  worldview more comprehensively than they do that of Sunnı  Muslims. Shaykh Hana dı  Qa nsu estimates that there are some three hundred traditions concerning the isra ’/mi‘ra j related by the Ima ms.3 Similarly, at the beginning of the one hundred and twenty pages of traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j collected by the Persian theologian Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı  (d.1110/1699 or 1111/1700) he remarks that if he quoted all the traditions on the subject it would ‘become a large volume’ so he limits himself to mentioning only some of the traditions that ‘describe and confirm the mi‘ra j’. 4 A further indication of the role that specifically the mi‘ra j plays within Ima mism can be seen in that this theme occurs in approximately ten percent of the traditions regarding ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib in Ibn T a wus’ (d.664/1266) al-Yaqın bi Ikhtisa s Mawla na 

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‘Alı  bi Imra al-Mu’minın and the companion volume al-Tahs ın li Isra r ma zada  min Akhba r Kita b al-Yaqın. 5 In the following we examine the function of the isra ’ and especially the mi‘ra j within Ima mı  Shı‘ism,  highlighting those areas in which it stands in contrast to the Sunnı  view and examining how Ima mı  doctrine is reflected in the content and understanding of the narratives. Indeed, it could be said that this chapter demonstrates how religiopolitical views may affect the content of H adıth,  in this case that concerning the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. In order to investigate the Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j a few words are in order regarding the Ima mı  branch of Shı‘ism.  The Ima mı  Shı‘ites  or Ima miyya form the vast majority of Shı‘ites  and are the most important of the branches of Shı‘ism  in terms of size and 6 political significance. As a result, they often refer to themselves, and are referred to, as simply ‘the Shı‘a’.  They consider that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad the political and religious leadership of the Muslim community belonged as of divine right to ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, and to ‘Alı’s descendents. The three caliphs who succeeded Muhammad (Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthma n) are considered to have ignored Muhammad’s explicit designation of ‘Alı  as his successor and to have usurped his claim. The Ima miyya are also known as the ‘Twelvers’ (ithna ‘ashariyya) because they acknowledge a line of twelve Ima ms whom they recognise to have been the ultimate temporal and spiritual leaders of the Muslim community during their lifetimes. The Ima mate was hereditary and passed from father to son except in the case of the second and third Ima ms al-H asan and al-H usayn who were brothers. The twelve Ima ms are ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib (d. 40/661), al-H asan (d.50/670), al-H usayn (d.61/680), ‘Alı  Zayn al-‘Ab idın (d.95/713), Muhammad al-Ba qir (d.114/733), Ja‘far al-S a diq (d.148/765), Musa  al-Ka zim (d.183/799), ‘Alı  al-Rid a  (d.203/818), Muhammad al-Jawa d (d.220/835), ‘Alı  al-Ha dı  (d.254/868) al-H asan al-‘Askarı  (d.260/874) and Muhammad al-Mahdı  who disappeared into the Lesser Occultation (al-ghayba al-sughra ) in 260/874 and then into the Greater Occultation (al-ghayba al-kubra ) in 329/941. This latter occultation will continue until the end of time when the Mahdı  will reappear, render his followers victorious

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and fill the world with justice and equality just as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny. The most fundamental aspect of Ima mism, the fulcrum around which all other doctrines revolve – whether these relate to cosmology, law, politics, ethics, ritual observances or eschatology – and which provides the raison d’être for Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is the doctrine of the Ima mate. This body of lore, theory and description is absolutely central to Ima mı  thought and stands in marked contrast to the Sunnı  concept of the leadership of the Muslim community. The doctrine of the Ima mate is indeed essentially what distinguishes the Shı‘a from the Sunnıs. The Ima ms have been granted certain characteristics by God. They are of impeccable virtue and are leaders and teachers of Islam. After the death of the Prophet the responsibility of guiding to salvation and propounding and elucidating the divine law fell to the Ima ms. It is for this reason that Ima mı  theologians consider it to be a logical necessity that the Ima ms, along with Muhammad and the other prophets, are immune from sin (ma‘su m) and to be infallible in their judgements. God has commanded that they be obeyed and it would be incompatible with God’s justice if there were the possibility of error. Similarly, because the Ima m has spiritual authority over the Muslim community he must necessarily be chosen by divine decree. In his credo or exposition of Ima mı  Shı ‘ite  beliefs, Ibn Ba bawayh (d.381/991), one of the most imporant formulators of Ima mı  doctrine, has the following to say regarding the twelve Ima ms: Our belief regarding them is that they are in authority. It is to them that Alla h has ordained obedience, they are the witnesses for the people and they are the gates of Alla h and the road to Him and the guides thereto, and the repositories of His knowledge, and the interpreters of His unity. They are immune from sins and errors; they are those from whom ‘Alla h has removed all impurity and made them absolutely pure’;7 they are possessed of [the power of] miracles and [irrefutable] arguments; they are for the protection of the people of this earth just as the stars are for the inhabitants of the heavens.8

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Elsewhere, it is stated that the Ima m is a cosmic necessity: ‘If the earth were without an Ima m, it would cease to exist’9 and ‘If there were only two men left on the earth, one of them would be the Ima m.’10 The above may be contrasted with the Sunnı  conception of the leadership of the Muslim community, that is, the caliphate. According to established doctrine, the Sunnı  office of the caliph is a temporal one and its holder is charged with mundane duties such as the protection of Muslims from attack, the administration of justice, the maintenance of peace and order, the protection of property, the collection of taxes, state finances and the supervision of the functions of state. The religious or more spiritual functions receive little emphasis and the caliph possesses no divine or sacred characteristics. Matters pertaining to religion are the province of theologians and jurisprudents and the caliph does not participate in the formulation of law. Similarly, although dynastic succession soon became the norm, in theory the Sunnı  caliph is chosen by consensus and not by divine injunction. This occurred on several occasions when the ruling caliph died without designating an heir and the choice was left to the community, or at least its leading representatives. The Sunnı  concept of the leadership of the Islamic community as a temporal office to a large extent explains why the Sunnıs have not exploited the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a vehicle for confirming the legitimacy of the caliph. This is in distinct contrast to the Ima mıs who use the traditions to corroborate the divine nature of the Ima m’s authority, and especially that of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib. In this way, a link is established between the Ima m’s authority and the divine will. If the leaders of the Sunnı  community did play a greater role in the narratives at one time, they have been largely expurgated in the extant versions, perhaps because the notion of their role changed before the traditions were written. Some traces still remain, however, regarding the Ra shidun caliphs. As we will see, within the modern Ima miyya there is a variety of perspectives on the nature of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and hence on its meaning and significance. For example, although the Ima mı  consensus remains that at least on one occasion the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a real physical journey,

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some dissenting voices have been raised most notably that of the Persian gnostic Ahmad al-Ahsa ’ ı  (d.1241/1826) who maintained that it was a spiritual event. He has been followed more recently by such as  ilı  and ‘Alı  H ubb Alla h all of whom, Ra’ ısa Qassa m, H usayn al-‘Am while maintaining the essentially corporeal nature of the mi‘ra j, depart from a literal understanding of the traditions by adopting a metaphysical understanding of the heavenly regions through which Muhammad travelled in terms of the barzakh and the ghayb. Similarly, while the modern theologian Muhammad H usayn al-T aba taba ’ ı  stresses that the isra ’ was a physical journey, he considers it permissible to believe that the mi‘ra j was some kind of spiritual experience.11 Notwithstanding the above remarks, the majority of Ima mı  scholars have always maintained the veracity and literal truth of the corpus of traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j recorded in the authoritative Ima mı  collections of H adıth compiled by such as Muhammad b. al-H asan al-T usı  (d.460/1068), Ibn Ba bawayh and Ibn T a wus. This approach is still dominant and modern Ima mı  commentators continue to quote the traditions in their works and to cite them as confirmation of the central tenets of their faith. Indeed, over and above their role as repositories of motifs, traditions and ideas, these traditions are part of the religious experience of the Ima miyya, a way of legitimising and articulating this experience. They enshrine Ima mı  doctrine and visions of the sacred. In this chapter we examine the form this took, its manifestation as texts. Finally, it is perhaps unnecessary to note that while the non-Ima mı  observer might see the beliefs of the Ima miyya being reflected in their traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, they, on the other hand, would take the opposite view and would claim that their beliefs reflect what is stated in the traditions.

Imamism  and Sunnism In addition to highlighting some of the central tenets of Ima mı  thought and belief, traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j also serve to demonstrate how close Ima mism is to Sunnism and also reveal some of the main differences between them.

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A Shared Heritage What were later to become the more or less well-defined groups of the Sunnıs or Ahl al-Sunna and the Shı‘a (the Ima miyya and other denominations) were not so clearly delineated in earlier times. In the century or so following the death of the Prophet various political and religious trends became apparent within the Muslim community which were to coalesce and eventually result in a distinctly Shı‘ı  perspective of Islam. For the Ima miyya, the Twelvers, this process could not, of course, become complete until after the occultation of the twelfth Ima m in 260/874. Throughout this early period of growth, and indeed subsequently, those individuals and groups who associated themselves with nascent Shı‘ı  thought and sentiment and contributed to its development did not operate in isolation from the wider community of Muslims. They lived in the same environment, were subject to the same conditions and to a great extent shared the same attitudes as their co-religionists. This common heritage has resulted in many common characteristics between Shı‘ism  and Sunnism. The rulings of legal scholars are a case in point, it often being remarked that the differences between Sunnı  and Ima mı  law are no greater than the differences between the various schools of law within Sunnism itself.12 Even in doctrinal or dogmatic matters which would appear to be the strict province of the Ima miyya there is considerable overlap, the differences often being due to emphasis and interpretation. Thus, there are numerous traditions within Sunnı  compilations of H adıth which testify to the great esteem in which ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib was held by the community at large. A tradition such as the ha dıth al-manzila in which the Prophet tells ‘Alı  that he has the same status (manzila) with him as Aaron had with Moses and which for the Ima mıs serves as a crucial proof text for their contention that Muhammad explicitly designated ‘Alı  as his successor, is recorded by both al-Bukha rı  and Muslim in their canonical compilations of H adıth as well as occurring in other important Sunnı  collections. Similarly, the ha dıth al-thaqalayn in which Muhammad indicates the unique status of his family (ahl al-bayt or ‘itra usually understood to mean his cousin and son-in-law ‘Alı, his daughter and Alı’s wife Fa tima, and their two sons al-H asan

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and al-H usayn) is recorded by Muslim, al-Tirmidhı, al-Nasa ’ ı  and others. In addition to demonstrating the great esteem and affection that Muhammad had for ‘Alı, the Sunnı  collections also contain traditions in which he said that ‘Alı  was to be the walı  (‘friend’) of all the believers after his death, and that ‘Alı  was the mawla  (‘friend’ according to the Sunnıs or ‘master’ according to the Ima miyya) of all those whose mawla  is Muhammad. In a like manner, the Sunnı  compilations include many traditions which describe the great love that Muhammad had for his two grandsons al-H asan and al-H usayn and the virtues of the household of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt).13 As regards the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, insofar as these contain elements which are acceptable to both the Ima miyya and the Sunnıs they are likewise more or less identical. Among many other common themes in both Ima mı  and Sunnı  traditions is that Muhammad is accompanied on his journey by Gabriel, he rides the bura q to bayt almaqdis, on the journey there he is called by envoys from Judaism and Christianity and by ignoring them avoids his community becoming Jewish or Christian, he prays in front of the prophets, he is offered two or three cups of water, milk and/or wine to drink and chooses the one most propitious for the future of the Muslim community, he meets a number of prophets in the heavens, on the instigation of Moses he negotiates with God to have the number of daily prayers reduced from fifty to five, and on his return to Mecca he provides evidence of his journey to the sceptical Quraysh by describing bayt al-maqdis and the caravans he encounters en route. Moreover, even though the traditions might be related by Ima mı  authorities, typically the Ima ms themselves, and occur in Ima mı  works, or be related by Sunnı  authorities and occur in Sunnı  works, they are often expressed in identical phrases. This would seem to indicate that many traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j issued from the broader Muslim community, were acceptable to the generality of Muslims regardless of religious or political affiliations, and were only subsequently appropriated by one party or another. Indeed, leaving aside the identity of the relators of the traditions, it is often difficult to speak of specifically Shı‘ı  or Sunnı  versions.14

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In fact, the Ima mı  sources are often content to cite H adıth dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j which are related by Sunnı  authorities. This is because these traditions do not generally contain juridical material relating to canon and civil law and ritual practice (‘ibada  t) which must almost invariably be based on the authority of one or other of the Ima ms. The Ima miyya are much less rigorous concerning non-legal traditions, that is, doctrinal or dogmatic H adıth relating to theology, prophetology and the Ima ms, such as those relating to the isra ’/mi‘ra j. The Ima mı  reliance on traditions on the authority of a number of Companions of the Prophet, mostly considered not to be Shı‘ı , may be seen in that the authoritative Ima mı  Qur’a nic exegete al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı  (d.548/1153) in his commentary on su rat al-Isra ’ does not refer to the many traditions on the authority of Shı’ite  relators, including the Ima ms. He addresses his remarks only to traditions related by certain of the Companions.15 Similarly, in his al-Yaqın Ibn T a wus often relies on non-Ima mı  relators. Many modern Ima mı  scholars do likewise.16 Finally, not only is the form and content of Ima mı and Sunnı traditions often more or less the same, but Ima mı commentators frequently hold identical views regarding them. For example, in preceding chapters we have seen that the Ima miyya typically hold to the literal occurrence of the isra ’/mi‘ra j on the same basis as do the Sunnıs, that is, the Qur’a n and H adıth,  and consider belief in the miracle to be a fundamental article of faith. They also express the same doubts as do the Sunnıs regarding some traditions or episodes within them, such as the role of Moses and the gradual reduction in the number of the daily prayers from fifty to five. They are likewise equally eager to deny any anthropomorphic view of God which the traditions seem to imply. Diversity and Disagreement Nonetheless, it is evident that where Ima mı  doctrine differs fundamentally from that of the Sunnıs this directly affects the content of the traditions. A case in point concerns the account of Gabriel preparing Muhammad for the journey by splitting open his breast, washing inside with water from the well of Zamzam and filling it with wisdom

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and belief. This is a much-quoted element within the Sunnı traditions and clearly refers to the initiatory purification of Muhammad before he commences his miraculous journey. The Sunnıs have no prima facie objection to this act of purification with its implication that the Prophet was not previously unblemished, since in general they maintain that the Prophet was sinless or infallible only in the delivery of God’s revelations. Aside from this, he sinned and made mistakes more or less like other men, although there are differing views as to the extent of this. For the Ima miyya, on the other hand, the consensus was eventually reached in about the middle of the fourth/tenth century that all the prophets are sinless and infallible even prior to them becoming prophets. A corollary of this is that no Ima mı  traditions mention the episode of the splitting of Muhammad’s breast. Usually the Ima mı  sources simply neglect to mention the event, but probably because of its popularity in Sunnı  traditions at least one leading scholar has attempted to refute it. Thus, in al-T abarsı’s four-fold classification of traditions relating to the isra ’/mi‘ra j he places traditions which mention the splitting of Muhammad’s breast among those which are ‘transparently incorrect’, whose interpretation shows only that they are ‘great deviations from the truth’ and which should not be transmitted: ‘Muhammad was already virtuous and purified of every sin and blemish, and anyway, how can the heart be cleansed of its beliefs with water?’17 Similar is the episode in which Abu Bakr receives the wellknown honorific al-Siddıq (‘the Trusting’) as a result of his belief in Muh a mmad’s miraculous journey. Once again, this is a very common element in Sunnı  versions of the traditions and indeed provides the explanation for the origin of the honorific. However, since the Ima mıs have an unfavourable view of Abu Bakr and consider him to have usurped ‘Alı’s right to succeed Muh a mmad as leader of the Muslim community, they do not record the episode featuring him in their traditions. At least, at least one Ima mı  scholar has attempted explicity to refute the tradition. The Lebanese theologian Ja‘far Murtad a   ilı  remarks that the isra ’ occurred three years after the comal-‘Am mencement of Muhammad’s prophetic mission, that is, according to historical reports, after some forty men had accepted Islam. Also

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according to historical information, Abu Bakr did not become a Muslim until some fifty men had accepted Islam which was about five years after Muh a mmad began to receive revelations. The isra ’ therefore took place a long time before Abu Bakr became a Muslim and so he cannot have acted in the way described by the traditions nor received his title at that time.18 Not only is Ima mı  thought reflected in the content of the traditions, but it also occasionally directly affects the approach to the nature of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. We have elsewhere remarked that the Ima miyya are in general agreement that at least one occurrence of the isra ’/mi‘ra j took place in body as well as spirit. While this has also always been the position of the majority of Sunnıs, they have experienced considerable problems in reconciling this view with traditions related by the Prophet’s wife  ‘A’isha, his cousin Umm Ha ni’, Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n and al-H asan al-Basrı  which depict Muhammad as having performed the isra ’/mi‘ra j in spirit, in a vision or a dream. A further tradition which Sunnı  commentators have to deal with is that of Sharık b. ‘Abd Alla h b. Abı  Namir, considered ‘sound’ (sah ıh ) by al-Bukha rı, and which similarly implies that the Prophet merely dreamed the events of the journey.19 The Ima mıs, however, have been able to adopt the belief in a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j with less associated problems from the textual standpoint since they do not accept the testimony of the narrators of the traditions which present such difficulties for Sunnı  scholars. Thus,  ‘A’isha, the woman cursed by the Shı‘a,  who fought against ‘Alı  at the Battle of the Camel (36/656), and ‘Alı’s enemy Mu‘a wiya b. Abı  Sufya n who fought against him at the Battle of Siffın (36–7/657), are not acceptable authorities because of their active opposition to the succession of ‘Alı  after Muhammad.20 Similarly, the traditions related by al-H asan al-Basrı  and Sharık are disregarded by the Ima mıs since they are not obliged to accept the testimony of a non-Shı‘ı which is not compatible with their views. Competing Traditions As we have said, there was a common pool of traditions on the isra ’/ mi‘ra j which was the property of the Muslim community as a whole,

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and the religio-political tendencies which were later to crystalize as the Ima miyya and the Ahl al-Sunna resorted to this and utilised it. But while the content of the traditions often served the interests of all parties and was therefore left unchanged, in other cases the context of the isra ’/mi‘ra j was seen as fruitful for the expression of various viewpoints both political and religious. Occasionally, the purpose was mundane, such as the angels insisting to the Prophet that he and his community must practice cupping.21 More usually, however, weightier issues are articulated, especially within the traditions dealing with the mi‘ra j. Some of the major concerns of the Muslim community find expression within the miracle of the isra ’/mi‘ra j not least of these being the identification of the rightful leader of the community after Muhammad. Thus, quite a few of the ‘forged’ traditions collected by the Egyptian theologian Jala l al-Dın al-Suyutı  (d.911/1505) on the virtues (mana qib) of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthma n and ‘Alı  place them within the context of the mi‘ra j. 22 Similarly, in much the same way as the supporters of ‘Alı, some members of the Sunnı  community which endorsed the first three caliphs sought to emphasize the theocratic nature of their authority by recourse to the mi‘ra j. For example, the H adıth scholar Muhammad al-Sha mı  (d.942/1535) records the following tradition which he considers to be a forgery: When I was taken on the night journey I asked Gabriel, ‘Will there be a Reckoning (h isa b) for my community?’ ‘There is a Reckoning for everyone in your community’, he replied, ‘apart from Abu Bakr.’23 Partisan accounts such as the above also frequently illustrate how those who championed the legitimacy of the Rightly-guided caliphs as rightful heirs of the Prophet and those who considered that ‘Alı  had a prior claim often resorted to the same basic corpus of traditions, adding and subtracting elements in accord with their views. 1. The Houri Thus, one theme within the Sunnı  corpus is that when Muhammad ascended to the seventh heaven and then entered Paradise, he saw a

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young woman. He asked her to whom she belonged, and she replied that she belonged to Zayd b. H a ritha.24 This has a number of counterparts in which Zayd b. H a ritha is replaced by the fourth caliph ‘Uthma n b. ‘Affa n. Ibn al-Jawzı  (d.597/1200) records in his Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t: When I was taken on the night journey to the heavens I went to the seventh heaven and an apple fell into my lap. When I picked it up it broke open and a houri came out laughing loudly. ‘Tell me, to whom do you belong?’ I asked her. ‘To the murdered martyr ‘Uthma n b. ‘Affa n,’ she replied.25 This same theme finds a parallel in a number of Shı‘ı  traditions of which the following is an example. The Prophet said: When I was taken on the night journey to the heavens, Gabriel took me by the hand and led me into Paradise. He sat me down on one of the carpets there and gave me a quince. This split in half and out came a houri whose eyelashes were like the tips of an eagle’s wings. ‘Peace be upon you, Ahmad,’ she said, ‘Peace be upon you, Messenger of God. Peace be upon you, Muhammad.’ ‘Who are you, may God have mercy on you?’ I asked. ‘I am the one who is willing, the one who pleases,’ she replied, ‘God has created me from three things. The lower part of me was made from musk, the top of me was made from camphor and my middle was made from amber. I was soaked in the juice of living creatures. Then God said, ‘Be!’ and I became. I was created for your cousin, your heir (wası ), your successor (khalıfa)  ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.’26 Occasionally, the houri is created for ‘Alı’s son al-H usayn. The Prophet relates that while on the mi‘ra j he entered Paradise: I went forward and came across some apples the size of which I had never before seen. So I picked one up, broke it apart and out came a houri whose eyelashes were like the tips of an eagle’s wings. ‘To whom do you belong?’ I asked her. ‘To your son, the murdered al-H usayn b. ‘Alı,’ she replied.27

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2. The Prophet’s Rightful Heir As we will see in more detail later, the primary focus of the Ima mı  traditions on the mi‘ra j is to demonstrate that God decreed that ‘Alı  should be the Prophet’s successor. In the context of the mi‘ra j, God says: O Muhammad, I have made ‘Alı  your heir (wası ), your helper (wazır) and your successor (khalıfa)  after you.28 Such Ima mı  traditions are countered by the following Sunnı  version: When I was taken up to the heavens I said, ‘O God, make ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib my successor.’ But the heavens shook and the angels from every side called out to me, ‘O Muhammad, recite ‘You may not wish for something unless God wishes for it’ and God has willed that Abu Bakr al-Siddıq will succeed you.’29 3. The Voice of the Prophet’s Heir In a Sunnı  tradition, Muhammad relates that when he reached the farthest extent of his journey through the heavens: Someone called to me in the voice of Abu Bakr, ‘Stop. Your Lord is praying.’ I was amazed to hear Abu Bakr’s voice and I said to myself, ‘Has Abu Bakr preceded me [here]?’30 This is echoed in a Shı‘ı  tradition referring to ‘Alı: When the Prophet was asked in what voice God had addressed him on the night of the mi‘ra j, I heard him reply, ‘He spoke to me in the voice of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib. I asked Him, “O God, is it You or ‘Alı  who is talking to me?”’31 And in another tradition also concerning ‘Alı, Muhammad says: I found myself with an angel who was sitting on a pulpit of light with the other angels surrounding him. ‘Gabriel, who is that

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angel?’ I asked. ‘Go up and greet him,’ he replied. So I went up and greeted him, and it was my brother, my cousin ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib. ‘Gabriel,’ I said, ‘has ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib preceded me to the fourth heaven?’32 4. Names Written in Heaven A Sunnı  tradition records that Muhammad said: I was taken up to the heavens and in every heaven I passed through I found written the names ‘Muhammad the Prophet of God’ followed by ‘Abu Bakr al-Siddıq.’  33 This has a Shı‘ı  counterpart: On the night of the mi‘ra j when I was taken up to the heavens I saw written on the gate of Paradise: ‘There is no god but God. Muhammad is the Messenger of God. ‘Alı  is the beloved of God. Fa tima is the maiden of God. Al-H asan and al-H usayn are the sincere friends (safwa) of God. May God curse all who dislike them.’34 There are also the Sunnı  traditions: When I was taken on the night journey I saw a green cloth on the Throne on which was written in white light ‘There is no god but God. Muhammad the Prophet of God. Abu Bakr al-Siddıq. ‘Umar al-Fa ruq.’35 When I was taken on the night journey I saw written on the Throne ‘There is no god but God. Muhammad the Prophet of God. Abu Bakr al-Siddıq. ‘Umar al-Fa ruq. ‘Uthma n unjustly killed.’36 which have the Shı‘ı  counterpart: When I went past the sidrat al-muntaha  and arrived at the Throne of the Lord of the Worlds, I found written on one of

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its legs: ‘There is no god but God, Me Alone. Muhammad is my beloved and my closest friend from my creation. I have supported him with his helper (wazır),  his brother, and have assisted him with him.’37 If the following is authentic, then opposing traditions such as the above were in existence at least as early as the time of the sixth Ima m Ja‘far al-S a diq (d.148/765). A certain al-Qa sim b. Mu‘a wiya relates: I said to Abu ‘Abd Alla h [al-S a diq], ‘These people are relating traditions in their versions of the mi‘ra j (ma‘a rijuhum) that when the Messenger of God was taken on the night journey he saw written on the Throne “There is no god but God. Muh a mmad is the Messenger of God. Abu Bakr al-Siddıq.”’  ‘Good God!’ [al-S a diq] said, ‘Have they changed everything, even that?!’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. He said, ‘When Almighty God created the Throne, He wrote on it ‘There is no god but God. Muhammad is the Messenger of God. “Alı  is the Amır al-Mu’minın . . .”’38

The Content of the Imam  ı  Traditions In the following we explore some of the most common themes found within the Ima mı  corpus of H adıth on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. It should be noted, however, that it is chiefly, though not exclusively, when dealing with the mi‘ra j rather than the isra ’ that the Ima mı  and the Sunnı  versions differ. This is because the mi‘ra j is located within the heavenly realms and so serves as the ideal context for eliciting the divine appointment of and recognition of ‘Alı  and the Ima ms by God, the angels and the prophets, and the close connection indeed almost identification of ‘Alı  with Muhammad in the eyes of God, the angels and the prophets. Other frequently occurring motifs within Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j not dealt with here include such as references to the asha b al-kisa ’,39 to the Shı ‘ı  community of believers,40 to the mosque of Kufa,41 to Qumm,42 that the conception of Fa tima, Muhammad’s daughter and the mother of the Ima ms, was a corollary

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to Prophet’s ascension,43 and that Khadıja the mother of Fa tima is honoured in the heavens.44 1. The Ima m ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib For truly did he see the greatest signs of his Lord (Qur’a n 53:18) God does not possess a greater sign than me (‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib)45 Within Ima mı  Shı‘ism,  not only is the isra ’/mi‘ra j arguably the greatest token of Muhammad’s religious standing, attesting to his status as the final and most excellent of God’s prophets, but the traditions dealing with the event are perhaps the greatest token of the religious standing of Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib, testifying to and corroborating his role as Muhammad’s successor and the father of the subsequent Ima ms. On returning from his celestial journey, Muhammad disclosed to his community and to the whole world secrets of the Hereafter. These included such as the fate of Islam, Heaven and Hell, and also ‘knowledge of the way’ and instructions as to what is required for salvation. For the Ima miyya, belief in the authority of ‘Alı  is as essential for salvation as belief in God and His Prophet. Thus, the elements in the Sunnı  accounts of the mi‘ra j which reveal the splendour of God’s Kingdom and the wonders of the heavens, the bayt al-ma‘mu r, the sidrat al-muntaha , the variety of angels and cherubim, the prophets who inhabit the heavens, the imposition of the five daily prayers, the visions of Paradise and Hell and their inhabitants, are often all incidental and dispensable and the mi‘ra j becomes a vehicle solely for the glorification of ‘Alı. A typical tradition, originally contained in Ibn Ba bawayh’s Kita b al-Mi‘ra j, is recorded by al-Majlisı  in his Biha r al-Anwa r. In this, the Prophet relates that he was taken through each of the seven heavens and in each one came across a palace made either of silver, gold, rubies, pearls or the light from God’s throne, each palace being more wondrous than the last. There were two angels standing guard at the gates of the palaces and when Muhammad asked them to whom the palaces belonged they all gave the same answer: ‘To a young man from the

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Banu Ha shim.’ Muhammad asked Gabriel to enquire from the angels who the young man from the Banu Ha shim is, and they all answered ‘‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.’46 More crucial than glorification, however, is the central matter of ‘Alı’s appointment as successor to Muhammad. Given the significance of the Ima m as the religious and political leader of the Muslim community and the guide in all things, the Ima mıs consider that he must necessarily be appointed by God. As Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı  remarks, leadership (qiyada)  in Ima mism differs from all other forms of leadership in that it is granted by divine appointment. The succession to the Prophet was not granted arbitrary (‘amaliyya fawd awiyya) since Islam is a God-given religion and there is no room in it for personal inclination and desire. ‘It is therefore only natural that the appointment of [‘Alı] should be like that of the Prophet, that is, from heaven, without people’s wishes having any part to play.’47 Now, it was during Muhammad’s ascension through the heavens that he came into immediate contact with God, thus the mi‘ra j serves as a context in which the Prophet can receive divine injunctions, revelations that are extra-Qur’a nic. Indeed, the term often used to indicate God’s ‘speaking’ to Muhammad during the mi‘ra j is awha  (‘He revealed’). There is no explicit mention of ‘Alı  within the pre-eminent Islamic revelation, the Qur’a n, and references to him emerge only after an effort of interpretation by Ima mı  exegetes. For example, regarding some of the opening verses of su rat al-Najm, Ja‘far al-S a diq remarks that Muhammad was ‘neither astray nor being misled’ and ‘[did] not say anything of his own desire’ regarding ‘Alı; and when Muhammad was asked what the ‘revelation sent down to him’ was, he replied that it was God’s instruction that he should appoint ‘Alı  as his successor (khalıfa).  Moreover, when Muhammad told the people about this they asked whether these words came from him or from God, and so God told him to tell them ‘The [Prophet’s] heart did not falsify what he saw. Will you then dispute with him concerning what he saw?’48 Such interpretation is not required in the traditions on the mi‘ra j, however, since the reference to ‘Alı  is explicit. Thus, while there are numerous H adıth in which the Prophet is said to have appointed ‘Alı  as his heir (wası ), and many others which relate that

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Gabriel told Muhammad to do this,49 in only one context is ‘Alı  chosen by God directly and without any intermediary. Muhammad says: I was taken on a night journey from one heaven to another until I arrived at the sidrat al-muntaha . There I stood before my Lord. ‘O Muhammad!’ He said. ‘At Your service my Lord,’ I replied. ‘My creation has been put to the test,’ He said, ‘Which of them do you think is the most obedient to you?’ ‘My Lord, ‘Alı,’ I replied. ‘You have spoken the truth, Muhammad,’ He said, ‘Have you taken someone to be your successor (khalıfa),  to act in your place and to teach My servants from My book that which they do not know?’ ‘You choose for me,’ I replied, ‘for whoever You consider to be the best I also consider to be the best.’ ‘I have chosen ‘Alı  for you,’ He said, ‘So take him as your successor and your heir (wası ). I have bestowed upon him My knowledge and My understanding. He is truly the Leader of the Faithful (Amır al-Mu’minın).  No one has received this title before him and no one shall hold it after him. O Muhammad, ‘Alı  is the banner of true guidance, the Ima m of those who obey Me, the light of the friends of God . . . Whoever loves him loves Me, and whoever hates him hates Me. Tell him this Muhammad.’ ‘I will indeed,’ I replied.50 This theme occurs regularly in the corpus. Ja‘far al-S a diq makes it explicit: God asked, ‘Who will be in charge of your community after you?’ Muhammad replied, ‘God knows best.’ God said, ‘‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib, the Amır al-Mu’minın, the master of the Muslims (sayyid al-muslimın) and the leader of those who are most noble (al-gharr al-muha jjalın).’  Then Abu ‘Abd Alla h [Ja‘far al-S a diq] said to Abu Basır, ‘O Abu Muhammad, by God ‘Alı  was not given authority (wila ya) from earth, but rather this was given orally from the heavens.’51 Just as a main purpose of Muhammad’s night journey and ascension is so that the angels can confirm his status and the prophets can

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acknowledge him as one of them, indeed the greatest of them, so the angels and prophets confirm ‘Alı  as his successor: ‘What is your heir (wası ) ‘Alı  doing?’ [the angels] asked. ‘I have left him in charge of my community,’ (khallaftuhu fı  ummatı ) [Muhammad] replied. ‘What an excellent successor (khalıfa)  you have left!’ they said, ‘God has imposed on us that we obey him.’ Then [Muhammad] was taken up to the second heaven and the angels said the same thing as those of the lowest heaven. When he was taken up to the seventh heaven he met Jesus who greeted him and asked him about ‘Alı. ‘I have left him in charge of my community,’ [Muhammad] replied. ‘What an excellent successor (khalıfa)  you have left!’ [Jesus] said, ‘God has imposed on the angels that they obey him.’ Then [Muhammad] met Moses and the prophets one by one and they all said the same thing as Jesus . . . [Abraham] greeted him and asked him about ‘Alı. ‘I have left him in charge of my community,’ [Muhammad] replied. ‘What an excellent successor (khalıfa)  you have left!’ Abraham said, ‘God has imposed on the angels that they obey him.’52 Moreover, ‘Alı’s Ima mate was ordained beyond human time. In a typical tradition dealing with this Muhammad says: When I was taken up to the heavens, in the fourth or the sixth heaven I saw an angel half of whom was made of fire and half of snow.53 On his forehead was written ‘God supported Muhammad with ‘Alı.’ I was amazed so the angel said to me, ‘Why are you surprised? God wrote what you see on my forehead two thousand years before the creation of the world.’54 It is only through ‘Alı  that salvation is to be achieved. Muhammad relates: When I was taken up to the seventh heaven, then to the sidrat al-muntaha  and from there to the veils of light, my Lord called to me, ‘O Muhammad, you are my servant and I am your

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Lord. So bow down and worship me, place your trust in me and have faith in me. For I am content that you are my servant, my beloved, my messenger and my prophet. I am also content that your brother ‘Alı  is a successor (khalıfa)  and a gate (ba b) [i.e. to salvation]. He is my proof (h u jja) to my servants, the ima m of my creation. Through him my friends will be distinguished from my enemies. Through him the followers (h izb) of Satan will be distinguished from those who follow me. Through him my religion will be maintained, my laws will be preserved and my injunctions will be carried out . . .’55 The role which the Ima mı  traditions on the mi‘ra j play as evidence of the designation of ‘Alı  as Muhammad’s successor can be seen in the interaction between these and a number of other key traditions dealing with the same theme. The most important and oft-quoted of them concern Ghadır Khumm,56 but they also include the hadıth althaqalayn57 and the ha dıth al-manzila.58 In terms of their literary form and historical context these traditions are distinct, but functionally and in terms of doctrinal significance they are more or less identical.59 Indeed, so intimately are they related in terms of their status as proof texts that in at least one case they have shaded one into the other and become conflated. Thus, al-Majlisı  records a long tradition the first part of which describes the Prophet’s mi‘ra j. After the Prophet has returned from his journey through the heavens he immediately orders all the Muslims to congregate on the following day at Ghadır Khumm. There, Muhammad delivers a sermon in which he tells the Muslims: ‘God has taken me on a journey by night and has told me something. God said, “O Muhammad I am the Praised (mahm  ud)  and you are Muhammad. Your name is derived from mine . . . Tell [the Muslims] about my generosity to you and that I have never sent a messenger without providing him with a helper (wazır).  You are my Messenger and ‘Alı  is your helper.”’ Then [Muhammad] took hold of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib’s hand and held it up until the people saw the white of his armpits which had

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not been seen before that time. Muhammad said, ‘O people, God is my master (mawla ) and I am the master of the believers. Whoever has me as his master, ‘Alı  will be his master. O God, be a friend of whoever is a friend of ‘Alı, be the enemy of whoever is an enemy of ‘Alı, help whoever helps ‘Alı  and abandon whoever abandons ‘Alı.’ 60 In this, the testament to ‘Alı’s succession to the Prophet which took place at Ghadır Khumm and which was embodied in the muchcelebrated and crucial phrase associated with it ‘Whoever has me as his master, ‘Alı  will be his master’ is linked with the testament to his succession which took place during the mi‘ra j. In this way historical chronology is subservient to the expression of religious sentiment. The ha dıth al-manzila is also transposed to the context of the mi‘ra j. The Prophet travels through the heavens accompanied by Gabriel: When we arrived at the fourth heaven I saw ‘Alı  praying. ‘O Gabriel, that is ‘Alı  who has preceded me,’ I said. ‘That is not ‘Alı,’ he replied. ‘Then who is it?’ I asked. He replied, ‘When the closest angels and the cherubim heard of the virtues and special nature of ‘Alı, and heard you saying about him ‘You have the same status (manzila) with me as Aaron had with Moses except that there will be no prophet after me’ they yearned for him. So God created an angel for them in the form of ‘Alı. When they long for ‘Alı  they come to this angel and it is as if they are seeing him.’61 The role of ‘Alı  within the mi‘ra j traditions approximates that of the Prophet in that the legitimacy of both is demonstrated by signs to this effect and by the direct testimony of God and the prophets. Concerning Muhammad, however, there is further substantiation of his status in the very fact of the miracle of the physical ascension. The Ima mı  traditions fall short of explicitly attributing such a miracle and such a journey to ‘Alı; as al-Majlisı  states, ‘‘Alı  was given everything but prophethood.’62 The Ima mı  traditions do, however, stress

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that ‘Alı  was represented in the heavens by an angel. Ibn Ba bawayh records the following: When God took me on the night journey I saw an angel under the Throne with a sword of light in his hand and playing with it just as ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib plays with dhu  al-faqa r.63 When the angels yearn to see the face of ‘Alı  they look at the face of this angel. ‘O Lord,’ I said, ‘This is my brother and my cousin ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.’ ‘O Muhammad,’ He replied, ‘this is an angel I have created in ‘Alı’s image who worships me from under my Throne. His good deeds, praise and glorification are recorded in ‘Alı’s favour for the Day of Resurrection.’64 Elsewhere, Muhammad says: When I reached the fourth heaven I looked at the Angel of Death and he said to me, ‘O Muhammad, I seize the souls of every man whom God has created apart from you and ‘Alı, for only Almighty God in His power takes your souls.’ Then I went under the Throne of my Lord and I looked and found myself with ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib standing under it. ‘‘Alı, have you preceded me?’ I said. Gabriel asked, ‘Muhammad, who are you talking to?’ ‘It is my brother ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib,’ I replied. ‘Muhammad, that is not ‘Alı,’ Gabriel said, ‘but rather one of God’s angels whom He has created in the form of ‘Alı. For whenever we, God’s closest angels, yearn to look upon the face of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib because of the esteem in which God holds him, we visit this angel.’65 ‘Alı’s role in the heavens, or rather that of the angel who assumes his form, is not only to satisfy the yearnings of the other angels for him: he also occasionally acts as a companion for Muhammad. In this, to avoid potentially objectionable identification with the Prophet and the physical nature of his ascension, ‘Alı  typically appears as a simulcrum or image. For example, a much-quoted tradition states that the Prophet told ‘Alı  that God made him present with him on seven occasions. The first of these was on the night that God took him to the heavens

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and Gabriel asks him where his ‘brother’ is. When Muhammad replies that he has left him behind on earth, Gabriel tells him to ask God to bring ‘Alı  to him, which Muhammad does and ‘Alı’s image (mitha l) appears. The second time was when Muhammad was once again taken on a night journey and the same scene is re-enacted. The sixth time was when Muhammad prayed in front of the prophets in the heavens and ‘Alı’s image (mitha l) was again with him.66 Even though ‘Alı  might be represented in heaven by a mere simulcrum, he can still participate in the mi‘ra j. Another, much shorter tradition also mentions that God made ‘Alı  present with Muhammad on seven occasions, Gabriel asks the same question and Muhammad gives the same answer as above. Then Muh a mmad says to ‘Alı: God revealed to me the seven heavens and the seven earths so that I saw their inhabitants and their composition and the position of every angel there. I saw none of this but that you saw it as I saw it (fa lam ara min dha lika shay’an illa  wa qad ra’aytahu kama  ra’aytuhu).67 Yet another tradition states that when Muhammad was in the heavens he noticed that the angels who were bearing God’s Throne had their heads bowed. He enquired about this and Gabriel told him that God had just allowed them to gaze on ‘Alı. Later, after Muhammad had returned to Mecca, he began to tell ‘Alı  about it but found that he already knew. The Prophet thus learnt that he ‘did not take a step without it being revealed to ‘Alı  so that he could see it [for himself]’ (fa ‘alimtu annı  lam ata’ mawti’an illa  wa qad kushifa li ‘Alı  ‘anhu ha tta  naz ara ilayhi).68 In this, the knowledge that was granted to Muhammad, the ‘greatest signs’, is also granted to ‘Alı.69  It is indeed a core belief within Ima mı  doctrine that the Ima m is distinguished by his possession of a knowledge (‘ilm), this being a total awareness of the hidden or esoteric meaning of all things, a knowledge of ‘what was and what will be from now until the Day of Resurrection’.70 Partly by virtue of this ‘ilm he is enabled to guide the Muslim community, interpret God’s ordinances and the religious sciences, especially their esoteric meanings.

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Occasionally, the Ima mı  traditions on the mi‘ra j go beyond describing ‘Alı’s appearance in the heavens as that of a simulcrum or angel in his form or that he possessed a supernatural ability to view the celestial scene as Muhammad viewed it, and seem to imply that he was physically present. God says to Muhammad: ‘O Muhammad, would you like to see him [‘Alı] in the kingdom of heaven?’ ‘My Lord,’ I said, ‘How can I do this when I have left him behind on earth?’ He said, ‘Muhammad, lift up your head.’ So I raised my head and found myself with him along with the closest angels from the highest heaven.71 That ‘Alı was considered by some to be actually present with Muhammad is witnessed in another tradition related by Qata da b. Di‘a ma on the ultimate authority of Anas b. Ma lik. Muhammad says: When I was taken up to the heavens I approached my Lord until the distance between us was that of ‘two bow shots or even nearer’ (qa ba qawsayn aw adna ). God said, ‘Muhammad, which man from creation do you love?’ ‘My Lord, ‘Alı,’ I replied. He said, ‘Turn around Muhammad.’ So I turned around and there to my left was ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.72 Modern Ima mı  commentators are naturally keen to point out that the two traditions above do not refer to ‘Alı’s physical presence. Thus, the editor of al-Majlisı’s Biha r al-Anwa r adds a note to the first tradition stating that what is intended is ‘Alı’s image (mitha l). Concerning the  ilı  remarks that this means that second tradition, ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Am when Muhammad was in heaven he looked and saw ‘Alı  on earth and God removed the barrier between them so that they able to speak.73 The tendency shown in these traditions to portray ‘Alı  as participating in some way in the Prophet’s ascension to the heavens finds a parallel in similar claims by some of the early so-called Shı‘ite  extremists or ghula t. Abu Mansur al-‘Ijlı  (d.122/739–40), for example, ‘was the one who claimed that God raised him up (‘urija bihi) to Him, brought him close to Him (adna hu minhu), spoke to him, stroked his head with

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his hand and talked to him in Syriac.’74 Likewise, Bazıgh,  who was associated with the notorious extremist Abu al-Khatta b (d.c.137/755– 6), is also alleged to have ascended to heaven and to have been touched by God.75 Although such accounts are clearly fragmentary and have lost much of their detail they are, nonetheless, very reminiscent of the theme of the mi‘ra j in that the persons involved, or their supporters, claimed that when they ascended to heaven they received a special wisdom (as Muhammad and ‘Alı  did). Perhaps also providing a context for references to ‘Alı  participating in Muhammad’s journey through the heavens and being on a par with the Prophet or even exceeding him in status is the doctrine attributed to a number of early Shı‘ı  ghula t that ‘Alı  was a prophet (nabı ) and an apostle (rusu l). Thus, Abu Mansur al-‘Ijlı, mentioned above, maintained that ‘Alı  was a prophet and an apostle as were the following Ima ms al-H asan, al-H usayn, ‘Alı  b. al-H usayn and Muhammad al-Ba qir;76 a group identified as the Qara mita held that ‘Alı  was an Ima m, a prophet and an apostle;77 al-Mu‘ammar, one of the followers of Abu al-Khatta b, alleged that ‘Alı  was an apostle;78 the Ghura biyya are said to have maintained that ‘Alı  and his children after him were apostles;79 and the Saba’iyya believed that ‘Alı  was a prophet and an apostle.80 While it is impossible to be certain, it seems possible that some of the notions found within Ima mı  H adıth dealing with the mi‘ra j are reflections of earlier Shı‘ı  thought, perhaps originating among ghula t circles, and which have subsequently been rejected as extreme and requiring qualification. A case in point might be the references to ‘Alı  being present with Muhammad in the heavens.81 2. The Twelve Ima ms The Ima ms who followed ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib and were his direct descendents are predicted in a variety of contexts often by the Prophet himself. However, as with ‘Alı, the appointment of the Ima ms as leaders of the Muslim community was necessarily the prerogative of God alone and was announced and confirmed by Him. The ideal context for this is the mi‘ra j and traditions on the subject play a central role in

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testifying to their designation, status and qualities. Al-Majlisı  records the following version of a very popular tradition. Muhammad says: When I was taken up to the heavens I saw written on the leg of the Throne: ‘There is no god but God. Muh a mmad is the Messenger of God. I have supported and assisted him with ‘Alı.’ 82 I also saw twelve names written in light. These were ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib and my grandsons al-H asan and al-H usayn, and after these were a further nine names: three ‘Alıs, two Muhammads, Ja‘far, Musa , al-H asan and the Proof of God sparkling among them. ‘O Lord,’ I said, ‘whose names are these?’ My Lord called out, ‘O Muhammad, these are the successors (awsiya ’) from your descendants. With them I will give rewards and with them I will exact punishment.’83 Not only does Muhammad see the names of the twelve Ima ms in the heavens but also their physical forms, often alongside Fa tima their ancestral mother. The following is quoted by Ibn ‘Ayyash al-Jawharı   (d.401/1101) in his Muqtad ab al-Athar fı  al-Nass ‘ala  al-A’imma al-Ithnay‘ashar (‘Concise Work on the Designation of the Twelve Ima ms’): When I was taken on the night journey to the heavens the Almighty said . . . ‘Muhammad, I have created you and ‘Alı, Fa tima, al-H asan and al-H usayn from the essence of my light, and I have decreed that the inhabitants of the heavens and the worlds should love you all. Those who accept this are believers (mu’minu n) and those who reject it are disbelievers (ka firu n). O Muhammad, if one of my servants praised me until he was worn out but nonetheless refused to love you all, I would not forgive him until he did so. O Muhammad, do you want to see them?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ I replied. ‘Look to the right hand side of the Throne,’ He said. So I looked and there standing in a pool of light praying were ‘Alı, Fa tima, al-H asan, al-H usayn, ‘Alı  b. al-H usayn, Muhammad b. ‘Alı, Ja‘far b. Muhammad, Musa  b. Ja‘far, ‘Alı  b. Musa , Muhammad b. ‘Alı, ‘Alı  b. Muhammad, al-H asan b.

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‘Alı  and the Mahdı. The Mahdı  was in the middle of them and was like a star made of pearl. God said, ‘O Muhammad, these are my proofs (hu jaj), and he is the avenger from amongst your descendants. He is my power and glory. He is the necessary proof for the friends of God, the one who will take revenge on my enemies.’84 The Mahdı  referred to in the above tradition is the twelfth and final Ima mı  Ima m Muhammad b. al-H asan whom Ima mı  scholars maintain was a son born in about 255/869 to the eleventh Ima m al-H asan al-‘Askarı  (d.260/873–4) who died without apparently leaving an heir. Some witnesses claim to have seen Muh a mmad as a young boy before his father’s death, but since that time he has been in occultation (ghayba). He is the Hidden Ima m who did not die but who will remain in occultation until the time that God has decreed he should return, just before the Day of Judgement. He is the Master of the Age who will lead the righteous to victory over the sinners in a final apocalyptic battle. He will then rule the earth for a number of years until Jesus, the other Ima ms and the prophets return. The Mahdı  is singled out for particular attention in another tradition in which the Ima ms appear before Muhammad and God explains to him who they are: These are the Ima ms and this is the one who will arise (al-qa ’im), the one who will permit what I hold permissible and forbid what I hold forbidden. With him I will exact revenge on my enemies. He is the comfort of the friends of God. He is the one who will free your Shı‘a from the tyrants, the infidels and the disbelievers. He will pluck out al-La t and al-‘Uzza  and will burn them, for the people’s infatuation with them at that time will be stronger than with the calf and the Samaritan.85 There is also a propensity to assert that just as ‘Alı  was witness to the heavenly kingdom, so were the subsequent Ima ms. Qutb al-Dın al-Ra wandı  (d.573/1177) relates three traditions to this effect. In the first, Ja‘far al-S a diq comments on the Qur’a nic verse ‘So did We show Abraham the kingdom of heaven and earth’ and remarks that while

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God revealed the heavens to Abraham so that he could see what was above the Throne, He also did the same thing for Muh a mmad, for ‘Alı  and the Ima ms after him.86 The second tradition has Ja‘far al-S a diq confirming that Muhammad, ‘Alı  and the Ima ms saw the kingdom of the heavens and the earth as Abraham did. The third tradition has al-S a diq’s father Muhammad al-Ba qir saying the same.87 Although these traditions contain no explicit reference to the mi‘ra j, that they are to be viewed in this context is made apparent by some traditions concerning the mi‘ra j which al-Ra wandı  quotes immediately following. The first is an extract from the well-known tradition which states that when Muhammad was shown the kingdom of the heavens and the earth ‘Alı  was raised up to him (rufi‘ta ilayya) so that he could see what they contain and Muhammad ‘did not see anything of that but that you saw it’ (fa lam ara min dha lika shay’an illa  wa qad ra’aytahu).88 Al-Rawa ndı  then quotes an extract from a further version of the tradition in which, after his ‘night journey to the heavens’ in which ‘Alı  once again appears. Muhammad tells ‘Alı  that God revealed to him the seven heavens and the seven earths and that he saw their inhabitants and their composition and the position of every angel there, and ‘I saw none of this but that you saw it as I saw it’ (fa lam ara min dha lika shay’an illa  wa qad ra’aytahu kama  ra’aytuhu).89 Finally, just as the prophets testify to the status of Muhammad so they also confirm the Ima ms. This notion is witnessed in the comments of, for example, Muhammad b. ‘Alı  al-Kara jakı  (d.449/1057), a leading Ima mı  of the fifth/eleventh century, who remarks that the prophets were informed that another prophet would be sent who would be the last or ‘seal’ (kha tim) of them and who would abrogate their laws and replace them with his own. They were also informed that he was to be the greatest and most exalted of them and that his successors (awsiya ’) would safeguard his law, maintain his religion and be proofs of God (hu jaj) for his community. Muslims are agreed that the prophets announced Muh a mmad and that this would only have been possible if God had informed them about him. The Ima miyya likewise believe that the prophets announced the Ima ms, the successors (awsiya ’) of the Prophet of God.90 Now, this announcement inevitably takes place on the mi‘ra j:

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When God made [Muhammad] the last of the prophets and a messenger for every community and religion, He favoured him with an ascension to the heavens when he performed the mi‘ra j. On that day He gathered the prophets together and Muhammad learned what they had been sent with and the decisions, signs and evidence of God they had conveyed. They all confirmed [Muhammad’s] superiority (fad l) and that of his heirs (awsiya ’) and the Proofs of God (hu jaj) on earth after him.91 3. Ritual Prayer (S ala t) 1. The Adha n and the Iqa ma Both the Ima miyya and the Sunnıs believe that the number of daily prayers was established when God imposed them on Muhammad during his journey through the heavens. But the Ima mı  traditions on the mi‘ra j explain and serve as proof texts for a much more comprehensive set of formal procedures associated with the act of prayer. This is most notably the case concerning the adha n or call to prayer given by the muezzin (mu’adhdhin), traditionally from the minaret of the mosque, summoning the faithful to each of the five daily prayers, and the iqa ma which is a second call inviting them to line up to perform the prayer. Within Sunnı  Islam, the most popular explanation for the introduction of the formula of the adha n is that it occurred in a dream to one of Muhammad’s Medinan helpers called ‘Abd Alla h b. Zayd. He is said to have communicated this to the Prophet who approved of it. The Prophet then told ‘Abd Alla h to teach the words to Bila l b. Raba h, a man known for his wonderful voice, in order that he could use it to call the Muslims to prayer. Bila l thus became the first official muezzin in Islam.92 This account has, however, been disputed by some Sunnı  scholars who view it as too mundane an origin for such a crucial element of religious practice. Thus, the adha n has been related to the isra ’/mi‘ra j even though Sunnı  traditions on the subject only mention it incidentally, sometimes alongside the iqa ma.93 In contrast with the Sunnı  explanations of the origin of the adha n, the Ima miyya are unanimous in asserting that it was given during the

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 ilı  cites a number of traditions to this mi‘ra j. Shaykh H usayn al-‘Am effect. For example, ‘Alı  says, ‘The Messenger of God was taught the adha n when he was taken on the night journey and the prayers were enjoined upon him.’ Ja‘far al-S a diq said, ‘Curse those who claim that the Prophet acquired the adha n from ‘Abd Alla h b. Zayd;’ al-S a diq also said, ‘Your Prophet received a revelation (wahy) and yet you claim that he acquired the adha n from ‘Abd Alla h b. Zayd!’94 In a much-quoted tradition Muhammad b. al-H anafiyya, a son of ‘Alı  but not by Fa tima, provides an account of the origin of the Ima mı  adha n (in italics): When the Prophet was taken on the night journey to the heavens and arrived at the sixth heaven, an angel from the seventh heaven who had never descended before came down to him. He said, ‘Alla hu akbar, Alla hu akbar’ (‘God is great’). And God Almighty said, ‘That I am.’ Then the angel said, ‘Ashhadu anna la  ila ha illa  Alla h’ (‘I bear witness that there is no god but God’). And God Almighty said, ‘That I am. There is no god but me.’ Then the angel said, ‘Ashhadu anna Muha mmadan rasu l Alla h’ (‘I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God’). And God Almighty said, ‘[He is] my servant and my representative over my creation whom I have chosen to deliver my message.’ Then the angel said, ‘H ayya ‘ala  al-sala t’ (‘Come to prayer’). And God Almighty said, ‘I have enjoined this upon my servants and have made it an obligation to me.’ Then the angel said, ‘H ayya ‘ala  al-fala h’ (‘Come to salvation’). And God Almighty said, ‘I will save the one who performs the prayer regularly for my sake.’ Then the angel said, ‘H ayya ‘ala  khayr al-‘amal’ (‘Come to the best of deeds’). And God Almighty said, ‘It is the best of deeds for me.’ Then the angel said, ‘Qad qa mat al-sala t’ (‘The prayer has begun’). The Prophet stood at the front and led the inhabitants of the heavens in prayer. On that day the glory of the Prophet was confirmed.95 The version of the adha n given here is, however, incomplete in the number of times each of the phrases are repeated, which should be twice. The iqa ma, which consists of the same formula as the adha n, is

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likewise incomplete in that the final phrase qad qa mat al-sala t should also be repeated twice. Similarly, the third shahada  is missing, this being the line added by the Ima mıs ‘Ashhadu anna ‘Aliyyan walı  Alla h’ (‘I bear witness that ‘Alı  is the friend of God’).96 To explain these omissions, Ayatollah Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı  states that it was not the intention to detail the complete formula of the adha n and iqa ma, but only to provide an outline of what was said. He alternatively hypothesises that perhaps the full forms of the adha n and the iqa ma were originally supplied in the tradition but Ibn al-H anafiyya decided to exclude them for  ilı  also concludes that the purpose of fear of being reviled.97 ‘Alı  al-Am the tradition, and others like it, was essentially to show that the adha n was a religious duty and it was therefore not necessary to present it in its entirety.98 Aside from the above, what causes the greatest consternation among Ima mı  commentators is that in many of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j which mention the adha n, including those contained within the four canonical collections of H adıth,  the final and distinctively Ima mı  formula H ayya ‘ala  khayr al-‘amal (‘Come to the best of deeds’) is not mentioned. To explain why the Sunnıs do not use it, the Ima miyya claim that it was originally part of the call to prayer but was removed by the caliph ‘Umar b. al-Khatta b who thought that people would prefer prayers to jihad (‘striving in the way of God’) if it was used.99 One example of its omission occurs in a tradition contained in al-Kulaynı’s al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı  in which Gabriel gives the adha n and after saying H ayya ‘ala  al-fala h  the angels tell Muhammad, ‘This is for [‘Alı’s]  Shı‘a until the Day of Resurrection.’100 To explain this, Ibn Ba bawayh remarks that the relators of the tradition excluded the phrase out of taqiyya (dissimulation of one’s true beliefs to avoid persecution or for other worthy reasons).101 More recently, the Iranian cleric Mullah Fayd al-Kasha nı  acknowledges that the formula for the adha n given on the mi‘ra j and recorded in various collections of H adıth is sometimes incomplete according to other traditions on the authority of the Prophet and the Ima ms.102 However, he quotes a response to this provided by the office of Ayatollah Na sir Maka rim Shira zı  which states that perhaps the relevant traditions have quite innocently not been narrated in their entirety. Alternatively, since the books of

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the Ima miyya have been constantly under attack and desecration by tyrannical governments the traditions have perhaps been intentionally expurgated.103 Occasionally the final line is singled out for particular mention. Thus, in al-Majlisı’s Biha r al-Anwa r a tradition states that when Muhammad was taken on the night journey to bayt al-maqdis Gabriel gave the call to prayer repeating each line twice and announced the iqa ma repeating each line twice. In the call to prayer he said, H ayya ‘ala  khayr al-‘amal.104 2. Other Aspects of Ritual Prayer According to Ima mı  H adıth,  not only were the particular forms of the adha n and the iqa ma revealed to Muhammad during his night journey and ascension through the heavens, but also details of the whole ritual connected with prayer. This is in contrast to Sunnı  traditions which contain no such information. Certainly, some Sunnı  scholars maintain that the manner of prayer was indeed enjoined on Muhammad and his community during the mi‘ra j, but without any specific details. For example, al-‘Asqala nı  remarks that when Muhammad was in the heavens he saw the angels worshipping – some of them were only standing, some were only bowing, and some were only prostrating – and God combined all these movements into a single unit of prayer (rak‘a) for the Muslims.105 The specifics of the Ima mı  prayer ritual, including many of the other motifs dealt with in this chapter, are related in a single tradition found in al-Kulaynı’s al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı  and, in a somewhat different version, Ibn Ba bawayh’s ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘. It states that a group of people were gathered with the Ima m Ja‘far al-S a diq when he asked ‘Umar b. Udhayna106 what the nasiba (the non-Shı’ites)  have to say about their adha n and their prostrations. ‘Umar replies that they maintain that Ubayy b. Ka‘b al-Ansa rı  was informed of them in his sleep, to which al-S a diq retorts, ‘By God, they are lying. The religion of God is too momentous to be something seen in sleep.’ At this, another member of the gathering asks al-S a diq to give them more information. Al-S a diq then embarks on a long account of the mi‘raj which, in addition to revealing the angels’

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concern and praise for ‘Alı, the other Ima ms and the Shı‘a,  mentions Gabriel’s method of calling the adha n and the iqa ma which is to be used by the Shı‘a until the Day of Resurrection. He goes on to relate issues such as how God originated the ritual ablutions (wud u ’) which precede prayer and the detailed instructions He gave to Muhammad for their performance; how the Qur’a nic su rat al-Fa tiha and su rat al-Ikhlas, integral parts of the prayers, were revealed, and the correct method to make genuflections (ruku ‘) and prostrations (sujud).  107

The Date of the Imam  ı  Traditions The present book is not particularly concerned with the date of appearance of the Islamic traditions on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, but some comments seem in order regarding the origin of some accounts within the Ima mı  corpus. This is firstly because a few modern Western scholars have paid some attention to the origins of the Sunnı  traditions while those of a specifically Shı‘ı  nature have been altogether ignored; and also because it is in fact possible to draw a number of meaningful conclusions regarding the date of the Ima mı  traditions. As far as the majority of Muslim scholars, both Sunnı  and Shı‘ı  are concerned, while there might be serious doubts regarding the provenance of some of the traditions and longer narratives on the isra ’/ mi‘ra j, there nonetheless remains a body of indisputably authentic material which originated immediately after the event and which more or less accurately records the Prophet’s accounts of his experiences. This has also continued to be the opinion of the majority of Western commentators. But as we will see in detail in the following chapter, this conclusion arrived at by Western non-Muslims was not based on a belief in the authenticity of the traditions alongside a conviction that such things were inherently possible for the Prophet and indeed a necessary part of his mission. Nor was it initially arrived at through a careful sifting of the material and appraisal of the historical context. It was maintained merely because they considered the event of the isra ’/mi‘ra j to be a fabrication and by attributing its invention to the Prophet they were conveniently able to expose his imposture. Other writers also attributed the account to the Prophet but were more

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sympathetic, some might say condescending, in their judgements and maintained that it was offered in good faith. While at least in serious scholarly circles the motivation prompting this conclusion has largely been discredited, the general opinion still remains that the accounts did indeed originate with Muhammad, and that the opening verse of the Qur’a nic su rat al-Isra ’ does refer to the event. Some recent Western scholars have addressed the provenance of the traditions in a more methodical and analytical fashion. One such is A. A. Bevan who in his ‘Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven’108 remarks that since the narrative of the isra ’ describes the Prophet as having many followers, this account must have originated when Islam had been existence for some years. As for the mi‘ra j, Bevan notes that the angels in heaven do not know that Muh a mmad was a prophet and ask whether a revelation has already been sent to him,109 thus indicating that this refers to the very beginning of Muhammad’s prophetic mission. However, although Bevan feels able to show to which periods within Muhammad’s prophetic career the accounts of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j refer, he acknowledges that it is impossible to say which account was produced first. Other scholars have produced studies which, while not always directly addressing the origin of the traditions, nonetheless have clear implications for this. For example, the theme of J. R. Porter’s article ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’110 is that the isra ’/mi‘ra j essentially describes the initiatory experiences of a shaman, and while Porter does not draw the conclusion, it follows that the account of the experiences can only have originated with Muhammad himself. Thus, if Porter’s thesis is accepted, then the isra ’/mi‘ra j narrative was at least in its fundamentals produced by Muhammad. A further indication as to the date of origin of the traditions is seen in discussions regarding the reference to Jerusalem (bayt al-maqdis). It has been remarked that traditions contained in al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh  and Ahmad b. H anbal’s Musnad state that the starting point of the mi‘ra j was Mecca and make no reference to Jerusalem. These are seen as the earliest accounts. In later versions of the mi‘ra j Mecca was replaced by Jerusalem as a result of efforts by the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwa n to elevate Jerusalem as a place of particular importance in

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the eyes of Muslims.111 Once again, if this thesis is accepted then the earlier traditions featuring Mecca must presumably have originated prior to the reign of ‘Abd al-Malik (65/685 to 86/705), that is, some fifty years or so after the death of the Prophet in 11/632. So much can be gleaned from the findings of Western research on the origins of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. Regarding the specifically Ima mı  traditions, no work has been produced from which comparable conclusions can be drawn. We have already proposed that due to the fact that Sunnism and Shı‘ism  did not develop in isolation from each other but rather emerged from the same general environment, the first traditions on the isra ’/ mi‘ra j were the shared property of the Muslim community as a whole, reflected a common viewpoint and were sanctioned by all. Indeed, up to the present time there is still a large body of traditions accepted by all parties within Islam, even though the authorities on which the traditions are based may vary. The question that arises, then, is when did the traditions acquire their sectarian colouring, their Shı‘ı  content of the type discussed above? If the attributed relators of the traditions did in fact transmit the material, then the Shı‘ı  corpus can be said to originate with the Prophet himself, or perhaps with the Ima m Muhammad al-Ba qir (d.114/733),112 the first of the Ima ms to relate specifically Shı‘ı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j. 113 Less contentious and problematic than trying to confirm the identity of the relators, however, is to attempt to answer the question by examining the dates of the sources that have come down to us and the material they contain. Within Islam as a whole, the earliest recorded traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j are quoted by Ibn Isha q (d.151/768) in his al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya about one century after the death of Muhammad in 11/632. Somewhat later, other early examples of traditions on the subject are found within Sunnı  works such as al-T  abaqa t al-Kubra  by Ibn Sa‘d (d.230/845), the Musnad of Ahmad b. H anbal (d.241/855) and the S ah ıh  of al-Bukha rı  (d.194/870) and Muslim (d.261/875). These show no Shı‘ı  bias. It is only somewhat later that specifically Ima mı  versions of the traditions occur in the extant literature with ‘Alı  b. Ibra hım  al-Qummı’s (d.c.307/919) Tafsır in which, for example, ‘Alı  is present with Muhammad when Gabriel comes to take him on the

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isra ’ and Gabriel describes ‘Alı  as Muhammad’s heir (wası ), his helper (wazır) and his successor (khalıfa).  114 Shortly after appeared the canonical compilations of Ima mı  H adıth known as the ‘Four Books’ (al-kutub al-arba‘), consisting of Muhammad b. Ya‘qub al-Kulaynı’s (d.329/941) al-Ka fı  fı  ‘Ilm al-Dın, Ibn Ba bawayh’s (d.381/991) Man la  yahd uruhu al-Faqıh and Muhammad b. al-H asan al-T usı’s (d.460/1067) Tahdhıb al-Ahk a m and al-Istibsa r fı  ma  ukhtulifa min al-Akhba r. These likewise contain many traditions which corroborate the Shı‘ı  view. Thus, based on the above, we can see that at least some of the distinctly Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j were certainly in circulation at the beginning of the fourth/tenth century. However, the fact that the extant sources in which the Shı‘ı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j were written later than Ibn Isha q’s biography of the Prophet and other non-Shı‘ ı  works does not entail that the Shı‘ı  traditions themselves appeared later. They must have been in existence some time before the collections in which they occur even though no verifiable dates are available. Indeed, given the extremely potent context of the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j for the expression of God’s will for His creation, it is likely that as soon as they came into existence they would be seized upon by the Shı‘a as a vehicle for the articulation of their religious and political beliefs. The exaltation and legitimation of ‘Alı  as the prophet’s successor are the most characteristic Shı‘ı  elements in the traditions, and these were the first manifestations of Shı‘ı  intellectual activity. Thus, as early as the lifetime of ‘Alı  (d. 40/661) there is evidence of both a religious and a political dimension to his support. He was hailed by his followers as the most excellent of Muslims after the Prophet, was called the wası  (‘heir’) of Muhammad and during the Battle of the Camel his opponents referred to the ‘religion of ‘Alı’ (dın ‘Alı). 115 As to where the early Shı‘ı  traditions were recorded, prior to such as al-Qummı  and the ‘Four Books’ Shı‘ı  H adıth was written down in small collections known as usu l (singular asl) (‘principles’, ‘fundamentals’, ‘roots’) of which there are commonly considered to have been four hundred (al-usu l al-arba‘umi’a)116 and which are attributed mostly to disciples of Muhammad al-Ba qir and his son Ja‘far al-S a diq but also to succeeding Ima ms. These usu l were based on the author’s transmission

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directly from the Ima m or through one intermediary between them. Other collections of traditions were also compiled during the lifetimes of the Ima ms, but the authors of these did not necessarily relate directly from an Ima m or via a single intermediary as is the case with the usu l.117 Some of these and a number of the usu l were subsequently compiled into larger collections such as the ‘Four Books’ and would undoubtedly have contained traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j. It can also be presumed that in this nascent period of development of Ima mı  doctrine these traditions would articulate a variety of views including many that were subsequently castigated as extremist and thus expurgated from later collections. Other works which would have probably contained distinctly Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j include early Qur’a nic commentaries (tafsır),  treatises dealing with the Ima mate, the virtues (fad a ’il or mana qib) of ‘Alı  and the other Ima ms, and descriptions of Heaven and Hell (sifat al-janna wa al-na r). Many titles of such works are mentioned in the early Ima mı  bibliographies the Fihrist Asma ’ Musannifı al-Shı ‘ a of al-Naja shı  (d.450/1058) and the Fihrist of al-T usı  (d.460/1067),118 although very few of them mentioned here as produced prior to about 300/912 survive. There are other considerations which indicate that some of the Ima mı  traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, or at least important elements within them, cannot have made an appearance until after the death of ‘Alı. This concerns those traditions which mention the historic person of an Ima m, these by necessity emerging during or after the lifetime of the Ima m in question. As regards those numerous traditions which mention the twelfth Ima m Muhammad b. al-H asan, these must have appeared considerably later. Although he is said to have disappeared in 260/874, Etan Kohlberg notes that the heresiographies Firaq al-Shı‘a by al-H asan b. Musa  al-Nawbakhtı  (d.310/922) and the Maqa la t wa al-Firaq of Sa‘d b. ‘Abd Alla h al-Qummı  (d.301/913) which were completed around 285/900 do not mention that al-H asan al-‘Askarı’s son was the twelfth Ima m and attach no significance to the number twelve. This is similarly the case regarding the Kita b al-Maha sin of Abu Ja‘far Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Kha lid al-Barqı  (d.274/887 or 280/893) and the Basa ’ir al-Daraja t of Muhammad b. al-H asan

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al-S affa r al-Qummı  (d.290/903) which contain numerous traditions on the virtues of the Ima ms but nothing on there being twelve of them. This indicates that at the time the above scholars were active the existence of twelve Ima ms was not yet established. The situation changed very soon afterwards, however, since the Tafsır of ‘Alı  b. Ibra hım  al-Qummı  (d.307/919) mentions the twelve Ima ms, and by the time of al-Kulaynı’s (d.329/941) Usu l al-Ka fı  the tenet of the twelve Ima ms was a doctrinal necessity.119 Thus, the mi‘ra j traditions which mention the twelfth Ima m cannot have come into existence earlier than some time between 285/900 and 307/919, that is, more than two centuries after the death of ‘Alı. Similarly, the traditions which refer to Qumm would have appeared at some stage after it became prominent as a centre of Ima mı  learning in the fourth/tenth century. All this is testimony to the fact that the creation of the Ima mı  corpus of traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j was an ongoing process which answered to historical and doctrinal developments within Ima mism. This process only began to cease with the recension in written form of the traditions in the authoritative collections of H adıth by scholars such as al-Kulaynı, Ibn Ba bawayh and al-T usı. Furthermore, that the Ima mı  corpus evidently crystalized over a period of time has implications regarding all the traditions on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in that it raises similar doubts about whether these too might also have come into existence well after the death of the Prophet, their alleged source, in 10/632.

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CHAPTER 7 WESTER N PER SPECTIVES

It may, I think, be fairly asked why Christians, who believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus and of Elijah, should look upon those Moslems who believe in the bodily ascension of Mohammed as less rational than themselves? (Syed Ameer Ali)1 The aim of the following chapter is to provide a series of vignettes which reflect both the range and the general characteristics of Western, predominantly Christian, perspectives on the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey and ascension through the heavens. These perspectives constitute an integral part of Western polemical material regarding Muhammad which has been taking shape since the birth of Islam. Indeed, to a great extent they form a record of Western perceptions of Muhammad and Islam, a record of conflict and rapproachment between the European Christian West and the Arab Islamic East. It is certainly the case that no single episode within Muhammad’s life has fascinated Western commentators, including Christian polemicists, travellers, historians of religion, Arabists and compilers of exotic tales more that the isra ’/mi‘ra j. It has generated a sizeable corpus of literature and the works which deal with the subject are many and varied, consisting of history, polemical treatises, commentaries on translations of the Qur’a n, missionary tracts, encyclopaedia entries and entertainments. Writings on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j also differ as to origin

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and date of composition, from Muslim Spain to North America and from the medieval period up to the present time. Similarly, the languages in which the texts are written include Latin and all the major European languages such as French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. Some commentators relied on the works of their predecessors, while some were scholars of Middle Eastern languages and were able to use original sources in Arabic, Persian and Turkish. This does not mean, however, that these latter were necessarily less prejudiced and more perceptive than those who were forced to rely on translations and secondary sources. Moreover, in all of this the scholarly appeared alongside the popular, and accurate information appeared alongside the imaginary. These were not always distinguished and indeed often informed each other.

Contextualising the Western Approach The Western approach to the isra ’/mi‘ra j reflects judgements on the personality, moral conduct and prophetic status of Muhammad. With a few notable exceptions, from medieval times up until quite recently Western commentators have mostly been quite unanimous in their antithetical attitudes to him and the religion he established. This antagonism was partly fuelled by Western fears of being overwhelmed by the East in the light of the spread of Islam. During the Arab conquests which began to take place within a few years of Muhammad’s death, Islam managed to extend its control over former Christian areas such as Egypt, North Africa and Syria. Similarly, despite concerted efforts by the Crusaders, at the end of the thirteenth century Islam controlled the Holy Land again. Aside from the perceived military threat, during the Middle Ages Islamic civilization in most fields was much more advanced than in the West. This position of relative inferiority also aroused fear and hostility and this naturally resulted in adverse images of Islam and its prophet. In 1453, Christendom was dealt a major blow by the fall of Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire, into the hands of the Turks. Not only this, but shortly afterwards the Ottomans controlled much of Asia Minor and seized large areas of the Balkans. They seized Athens in 1459, Otranto

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in southern Italy in 1480, the island of Rhodes in 1522, Budapest in 1526 and after a protracted siege almost took Vienna in 1529. They took Cyprus in 1571 and Crete in 1669. As we will see subsequently, with the beginnings of Ottoman decline in the later part of the seventeenth century, the material, political and technological ascendancy of the Christian West over the Muslim East, and a more rational approach to the study of religion, attitudes to Muhammad and Islam began to change. Nonetheless, they left a legacy on Western perceptions whose influence is in evidence even today. Until the mid-nineteenth century the terms in which the condemnation of Muhammad and Islam was framed were largely delineated by the Christian notion of divine revelation. Divine revelation is to be corroborated by a number of features, one being the ability of the religion to gain voluntary converts due to its self-authenticating power. Thus, Islam was seen to have been spread by the sword. Many earlier commentators were content to reinforce the medieval stereotype of Islam as a religion which relies on force, which inhibits the use of reason and whose adherents are gullible and place uncritical faith in miracles.2 Of particular relevance to the present discussion, among the other aspects of the Christian notion of divine revelation are that it is additionally corroborated by the character of the founder of the religion in terms of his wisdom, status, power, moral goodness and sincerity and also by his ability to work miracles. The Prophet’s Character Of all historic personalities, Muhammad has perhaps received the harshest treatment in the West and many stories were invented with the aim of discrediting him. One well-known example is the accusation that he suffered from epileptic fits which he interpreted as visitations from the angel Gabriel. A little over one century after the death of Muhammad, the Byzantine monk and chronicler St Theophanes the Confessor (c.758–818) viewed the origin of Islam as being a result of this. He states that when Muhammad’s wife Khadıja became distressed at witnessing his epileptic seizures, to conciliate her he told her that his

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attack was due to the awesome appearance of Gabriel. Khadıja asked a friend of hers, a monk ‘exiled for false belief’, about this, and to reassure her he replied that Muhammad was speaking the truth, that Gabriel was an angel sent to all the prophets.3 Similar tales were subsequently told by medieval Christian scholars such as the Benedictine historian Sigebert of Gembloux (1035–1112), Guibert of Nogent (1053–1124), Alexandre du Pont (twelfth century AD, the writer of Le Roman de Mahomet), San Pedro Pascual (1227–1300) and Ricoldo da Monte di Croce (c.1243–1320). Indeed, Muhammad’s alleged epilepsy has been repeated through the centuries and survives into modern times.4 Another popular theme of medieval scholars which still persists is Muhammad’s sexual debauchery corroborated by his polygamy after the death of his first wife Khadıja.  This formed part of a wider criticism of Islam as a religion of sensuality and lack of spirituality and was a favourite line of attack since in medieval thought it was considered that sex and holiness were irreconcilable. The judgement of the Italian Renaissance historian and man of letters Polydorus Virgilius (Polydore Vergil) (c.1470–1555) may be taken as typical. According to Polydorus, Muslims are more ‘diabolical’ than the Christian sectarians to whom he takes offence due to the ‘filthiness of all unlawful lusts’ and ‘other outragious naughtinesse’ that they practice on a daily basis.5 Added to these scurrilous charges was the traditional Western view of Muhammad as a skilful opportunist who was adept at exploiting people. In the Middle Ages Christianity was seen as the one true universal religion and consequently any religion that had subsequently arisen could only be a heretical form of Christianity. Islam was viewed in this light, and Muhammad as the instigator of schism. It is for this reason that in Dante’s Divine Comedy he is placed in the circle of the schismatics in Hell. Moreover, since Muhammad was obviously not a true Christian, it was very difficult to consider him as sincere and he must therefore have been a deliberate impostor. There are many examples of stories used to illustrate and corroborate Muhammad’s deceit, these including how he tricked Khadıja into marrying him through sorcery and fooled her into believing that he received revelations from Gabriel. Similarly, a body of literature arose from the story of Bahıra,  the Assyrian Christian monk who is said to have recognised

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Muhammad and foretold his destiny, and who was later transformed into Sergius, Muhammad’s teacher. There is also the very popular account of the bull or ox which Muhammad had trained to take fodder out of his hand. When it heard Muhammad’s voice it would come with pages of the Qur’a n tied to its horns and the people would think that it was bringing the Law. Another oft-repeated tale concerns a pigeon or dove which Muhammad is alleged to have trained to eat peas or grain that he had put in his ear and people would believe that it was the Holy Ghost whispering God’s words to him.6 Although these and similar stories began to be discredited among scholarly circles in the eighteenth century and even earlier by some, up to that time they were the norm and formed part of the background for assessments of Muhammad and Islam. The Prophet’s Miracles In addition to divine revelation being corroborated by the character of the founder of the religion, it was also authenticated by accompanying miracles. Thus, one of the most common arguments for the truth of the Christian revelation, from the earliest times up until at least the middle of the nineteenth century, was the existence of miracles. They were viewed as a symbol of divine authority and it was inconceivable that a true prophet should not perform them. Even though there might be other attributes of prophecy, the inability to work miracles was in itself sufficiently conclusive to establish imposture. Whereas Christian apologists claimed that Christ’s revelation was fully authenticated by his ability to work miracles, it was asserted that Muhammad possessed no such power and thus his revelation was a deception. This was a main focus of attack on the prophetic claims of Muhammad. He was regularly accused of fabricating miracles so as to further his aims. He was ridiculed and Muslims were mocked for their credulity and lack of reason. One early commentator to address the subject was the Spanish Jewish convert to Christianity, Pedro de Alfonso (Petrus Alfonsi) (1062–c.1140) who refers to miracles in his dialogue with his former unconverted self whom he calls Moses (Moyses). Pedro remarks that although the numerous miracles of Moses, Joshua, Samuel and Elias

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are well known, nothing similar is attributed to Muhammad. At this, Moyses says that they also believe in many prophets who did not perform miracles, such as Jeremias, Obadiah (Abdias) and Amos. To which Pedro responds that ‘Miracles are not to be sought in their case, because they did not introduce any novelty of law . . .’7 Many similar examples are readily found. Thus, Peter the Venerable (c.1094–1156), the Abbot of Cluny, points out that Muhammad denied that he possessed the power to work miracles or had the gift of prophecy, and makes God say ‘Thou shalt not come to them with miracles, for they will reject them as odious and contrary to their reason. They will reject the truth itself. If we did not know that they would not believe you we would have given thee signs and miracles.’8 Elsewhere, the philosopher and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon (c.1214–92) asserted that miracles were the true sign of the truth of the saints. Muhammad’s miracles were false, and the claim of Muslims that he had the power to work them was an admission that they were necessary.9 While the most serious criticism levelled against Muhammad by the Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian St Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–74) was his inability to perform miracles: As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can only be divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. As to what power Muhammad had to convince, Aquinas remarks that Muhammad stated that he was sent in the power of arms ‘which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants’.10 Another typical example of the approach of early Christian commentators to Muh a mmad’s inability to work miracles is found in the Confutatio Alcorani of Ricoldo da Monte di Croce (c.1243–1320). In chapter seven, ‘[The Law of the Saracens] is not confirmed by any Miracle,’

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Ricoldo notes that prophets such as Moses, Elijah, Elisha and Jesus were able to work miracles, but the miracles which Muslims ascribe to Muhammad, such as splitting the moon and making streams of water issue from his fingers, are merely fables which contradict the teaching of the Qur’a n. Echoing the observation of Peter the Venerable and numerous other commentators, Ricoldo maintains that only what is recorded in the Qur’a n is to be believed, and this explicitly denies that God granted this power to Muhammad. The Qur’a n states that men will come asking Muhammad for a sign like Moses and Jesus and other prophets, but the miracles of these prophets did not make men believe, saying that it was all sorcery. Thus, God did not permit Muhammad to work miracles since they would still not have believed.11 Some three centuries after Ricoldo de Monte di Croce a similar contribution to the theme was made by the Dutch jurist and humanist Hugo Grotius (Huigh de Groot) (1583–1645) who remarked that ‘the most certain Proof of Divine Providence is from Miracles and the Predictions we find in Histories’.12 Grotius also compared Jesus and Muhammad, noting that Jesus gave sight to the blind, cured the lame and the sick and even brought the dead back to life, whereas Muhammad himself admitted that he was not sent with any miracles but rather with arms. After his death, however, some people did ascribe miracles to him, but what were they? – ‘None but such as might easily be the Effects of human Art . . . or else such as are confuted by their own Absurdity.’13 Indeed, Muhammad’s lack of miracle-working continued to be one of the most common arguments cited against him and his religion until towards the end of the nineteenth century when the emerging secularism and scientific worldview resulted in a rejection of the proofs of the truth of Christianity and hence of Islam. In the meantime, however, a constant procession of commentators were intent on reiterating the conclusions of their predecessors.14

The Isra ’ and the Mi‘raj Given the criteria adopted by Christian polemicists in their judgement of Muhammad and Islam, it is easy to see how the isra ’/mi‘ra j, considered

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by Muslims to be one of the Prophet’s greatest miracles, became a main area of attack. It was reduced merely to an object of ridicule and held up as a prime example of the mendacity, hypocrisy and cunning nature of the Prophet and the gullible nature of his followers. Similarly, since the majority of Western commentators refused to acknowledge that Muhammad was the subject of any genuine spiritual experience, they had necessarily to interpret the isra ’/mi‘ra j (and indeed the Qur’a n) in non-spiritual terms. Thus, they had recourse to citing delusion, madness or pure fabrication. Indeed, it will be seen that in general earlier Western non-Muslim writers identified the main issues regarding the isra ’/mi‘ra j which were to occupy future commentators. In particular, they expressed opinions as to whether Muhammad had invented the story or whether he was innocent of the charge, and suggested ways that the isra ’/mi‘ra j should be understood. On the other hand, while the internal logic of the narratives and their inconsistencies are often highlighted, an author would occasionally barely trouble himself to present arguments against the event since it was considered to be so absurd as to require no comment. Apart from its use as a polemical tool, there was a further reason behind interest in the isra ’/mi‘ra j which should not be underestimated. This is a fascination with the bizarre and the exotic which has always constituted an element in the Western relationship with Islam.

Early Western Encounters with the Isra ’ /Mi‘raj The Muslim world has never been cut off from the West and it is possible that accounts of the Prophet’s night journey and ascension were initially provided orally, the typical vehicle of inter-cultural transmission in the Middle Ages, from such as Muslim ambassadors, prisoners of war, pilgrims, merchants and travellers. Given the importance of the isra ’/mi‘ra j within Islam, it is to be expected that wherever there were contacts between Muslims and non-Muslims, these narratives would be passed on. However, what was learnt about the subject via oral reports before the written records is impossible to know. It is also possible that Latin Europe received its first detailed reports about the isra ’/mi‘ra j from the close contacts between the

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Eastern Christian Church and Islam, but no written records remain of this. Even the Syrian bishop Bar Hebraeus (1226–89), one of the most informed commentators on Muhammad and Islam within the Eastern Church and someone very familiar with Arabic, does not refer to it in his Syriac Makhtbhanuth Zabhne ‘Chronicon’ (‘Chronicle of Universal History’). Similarly, during the Crusades it seems likely that contacts between East and West would have led to some oral reports on the isra ’/ mi‘ra j being received by the Crusaders along with other information about Muhammad and Islam. But the Crusaders contributed little to Western Europe’s understanding of Islam, and whatever information was acquired was of little interest to Europe. They were soldiers only intent on regaining the Holy Land for Christendom and destroying their Saracen enemies rather than scholars trying to understand them. Whatever polemical interchange had taken place in earlier centuries between Eastern Christianity and Islam had passed away despite the diplomatic and commercial contact. Thus, for example, the amount of translation work done from Arabic in Palestine and Syria was very small. Indeed, the main effect that exposure to the Saracens had on the Crusaders seems to have been largely confined to a desire to acquire the comforts and luxuries which they enjoyed. If the Frankish Christians in the East did come across any accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j these did not find their way to Latin Europe. This is despite the fact that during the first half of the twelfth century in Europe, a popular image of Muhammad and Islam began to emerge which alluded to bizarre practices and fabulous events, including the Prophet’s Christian background, his magical powers, epileptic seizures and sexual licentiousness. These fictions included the story of the bull which carried the Qur’a n between its horns, Muhammad’s tomb being suspended in the air between two magnets and his corpse being devoured by pigs. While some of these notions were based on the little information provided by Byzantine writers, and some were inspired by views held within Islam, many were the result of unrestrained imagination. Thus, Guibert of Nogent (1053–1124), the French Benedictine historian, theologian and author of one of the earliest Western biographies of Muhammad produced outside of Spain, admitted that he had no source for his work, but rather relied on popular opinion.

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As to whether it was true or false he did not know, but remarked that ‘it is safe to speak evil of one whose malignity exceeds whatever ill can be spoken’.15 Based on the same pure invention, an equally erroneous picture of Muhammad and Islam also appears in Western epic poems such as the mid-eleventh century anonymous French epic the Chanson de Roland where Muslims are alleged to worship the three gods Mahomet, Tervagan and Apollo. The curbing of the more fantastical products of imagination and the beginning of a more rational appraisal was only possible with increased knowledge. For the beginnings of serious interest in Muslims, Islam and Islamic civilization we must turn to Spain. It was in medieval Spain that the first direct contact between Christian Europe and the Muslim world took place through the mediation of the Mozarabs.16 These were Islamicized Christians who for centuries had lived under Muslim rule, were reared among Muslims, who spoke Arabic often in addition to a Romance dialect, adopted Muslim lifestyles and studied Arabic literature, poetry, philosophy and theology. They were also in communion with the Roman Church, and thus the Mozarab clergy often had some knowledge of Latin. The culture of the Muslim administration under which they lived naturally had a damaging effect on the Christian faith. In countering this influence, the Mozarabs were obliged to form a more complete understanding of Muslims and Islam, and the religious-controversial texts they produced played a key role in the development of the European understanding and approach to Muh a mmad and Islam.17 Material from both the Qur’a n and collections of H adıth (references to which occur as early as the beginning of the ninth century AD in the apologetic writings of the Mozarabs of Cordoba) were drawn upon by the Mozarabs in the composition of their refutation of Islam and ridicule of its prophet. Thus, the anti-Islamic Indiculus Luminosus of the Dominican Alvaro of Cordoba (Paul Albar, Alvarus Cordubensis or Paulus Alvarus) (d.c.861), the Memoriale Sanctum of St Eulogius (d.859) and the Apologetico contra Mahoma of the Abbot Esperaindeo (Sperandeo) (d.c.853) constantly refer to stories ‘leves et risu dignas’ (‘frivolous and deserving of derision’) which describe the life and miracles of the Prophet. Similar is the no longer extant Disputation Felicis cum Sarraceno

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(‘The Disputation of Felix with a Sarracen’) written by Felix the Bishop of Urgel in the eighth century AD and a short life of Muhammad written in Latin which is known to have been circulating in Spain in the mid-ninth century although probably written earlier.18 Given the possibilities for criticism of Muhammad and Islam that the isra ’/mi‘ra j offered – tapped so conscientiously by subsequent critics – it is not unlikely that works such as these should contain some account of it. It is indeed in Spain that the first evidence of Christian knowledge of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is seen. During a journey through Spain Peter the Venerable (c.1094–1156), the Abbot of Cluny in France, had witnessed the increasing power of Islam there and saw the need to provide Christian churchmen with information on that religion and its departure from the truths of Christianity. In this way he wished to counter the heresies of Islam (and Judaism) with intellectual arguments based on what he saw as objective understanding rather than spurious conjecture. He therefore directed and financed an academy of translators and scholars in Toledo who were charged with the systematic study of Islam. The works produced under the patronage of Peter the Venerable is known as the Cluniac Corpus or Toledan Collection. It formed a most important part of the body of knowledge that was transmitted from the Islamic world to Christendom in the Middle Ages and constitutes the beginning of a Western body of scholarship on Islam. In addition to a refutation of Islam composed by Peter himself, the Corpus contains a number of Latin translations of Arabic philosophical and scientific treatises and biographical and theological material. These include Peter of Toledo’s influential translation of the polemical theological tract the Risa la (Apology) attributed to the Arab Christian ‘Abd al-Masıh b. Isha q al-Kindı  which contained information on Muhammad and Islam. Another translation, the Fabulae Saracenorum which, as indicated by its alternative title Chronica Mendosa & Ridiculosa Saracenorum, de Vita Mahometis & Successorum eis (‘The Mendacious and Absurd Chronicle of the Saracens concerning the Life of Muhammad and his Successors’) deals with the origin of Islam, the life of Muhammad and seven of his successors, also alludes to the fact that Muhammad was taken on a miraculous nocturnal journey to Jerusalem and to heaven, although it supplies no details.19 It was done by the Englishman Robert of Ketton

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who in 1143 also prepared the first Latin version of the Qur’a n under the title Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete. The Liber Denudationis Of more interest for the present purposes is an early sustained polemic against Muhammad and the Qur’a n known as the Liber Denudationis siue Ostensionis aut Patefaciens (‘The Book of Denuding or Exposing or the Discloser’)20 whose original Arabic title, as the Latin indicates, was probably [Kita b] al-Tashrıf aw al-Iz ha r aw al-Kashsha f. It was written by an unknown author who lived within the Mozarab community and who, he informs us, was a convert to Christianity from Islam. The original treatise, no longer extant, was written in Arabic sometime between 1085 and 1132 and was subsequently translated into Latin. Both the Arabic and Latin versions were most likely circulating in Spain in the second half of the thirteenth century. As was almost always the case with Mozarab polemicists, the author does not identify the Arabic sources he used in the composition of his treatise, but it is clear that he was familiar with Islamic writings and in particular possessed an intimate knowledge of H adıth literature and the Qur’a n and its commentaries, in addition to major Arabic sources such as Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya and al-T abarı’s Ta rıkh.  The Liber Denudationis is divided into twelve chapters and deals with issues that are commonplace in anti-Islamic polemic. For example, the author attacks the credibility of the Prophet by remarking that while Christ healed the blind and the sick, Muhammad was able to work no miracles and could only gain adherents for his religion through force. Similarly, he deals with Muhammad’s warlike nature, his licentiousness, and the contradictions found within the Qur’a n. In Chapter Four, ‘That he [Muhammad] gathered People by Means of the Sword and False Visions,’ the author refers to the mi‘ra j: He furthermore said that he had ascended all the way up through the seven heavens, between [each of] which was a journey of five hundred years, and he said that he saw a certain one of the angels greater than the magnitude of the world by many thousand

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times. ‘He even came up to me,’ he said, ‘cast down on his knees, crying abundantly, to such an extent that his tears were running from his eyes like the floods of the Farsar [i.e. al-Fura t, the Euphrates] and the Nile, and he said, ‘O Muhammad, seek a pardon for me.’ And I said to him: ‘Are you you?’ and ‘what can be forthcoming on my account when your Lord created the netherworld?’’ [i.e. why would God who created all things, even hell, answer the prayers of a mortal like me rather than an angel like you?] And he passed through companies of angels and prayed for them doing two bendings [i.e. rak‘as], and he sought for them a pardon by praying on behalf of them. Then follows a criticism based on the logic of the account: O unspeakable presumption and unrestrained lies! How could he who was not able to bear the coming of one angel without describing himself as if he were an epileptic – or perhaps [epilepsy] did come [over him] – take part in so many marvellous things in heaven? O strongest truth by which the falsity of those who try to lie about all things is immediately detected! Are angels spread out in such great bodily magnitude that they are many thousand times greater than the world in circumference? Again, if the angels were good, how did the best need any pardon? If they were evil, how did they remain in such great loftiness of heaven? In short, they had chosen as a good intercessor the most licentious impostor and pseudo-prophet, whose presumption was so intolerable that he who was not able to give any sure sign of his prophethood to his disciples boasted that he had interceded on behalf of the highest angels.21 Chapter Twelve of the Liber Denudationis is devoted to the isra ’/mi‘ra j. As in other sections of the book, it is clear that the narrative is taken from Islamic sources, probably a commentary on the Qur’a n. It is not possible to identify the original commentary from which it was taken, but the close identification with Islamic exegetical material is indicated

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by the structure and language of the opening paragraph which clearly resembles such works: Likewise, he said in the Chapter of the Children of Israel, Praise be to Him Who made His servant travel one night from the oratory of Elharam [oratorio Elharam for masjid al-ha ra m] – which means ‘robbery,’ – which is the house of Mecca where the body of Muhammad is – to the most remote oratory – which is the Holy House in Jerusalem – around which we have given thanks. The explanation of these verses is . . . 22 As to the actual story of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, there is little in the way of direct criticism, but it was evidently intended to appear bizarre and marvellous to its readers, Muslim as well as Christian (the work was originally written in Arabic) such that its falsity would be self-evident. It consists mostly of quotations from the original Arabic narrated in the first person by Muhammad, alongside the Mozarab author’s comments which conclude with the judgement that since Muhammad could not work miracles the account must be a fabrication. The Liber Denudationis had a considerable influence on the way that Europeans thought about Muh a mmad and Islam. The Spanish philosopher, poet and theologian Raymond (Ramón) Lull (c.1232–1316) used it in his own writings (Quadruplex Reprobatio and Explanatio Simboli Apostolorum), and the Catalan Dominican orientalist and theologian Raymond Martin (Ramón Martí) (c.1220–c.1285/6) was also familiar with it. As regards the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in the Liber Denudationis, most of this is reproduced almost verbatim in the Confutatio Alcorani of Ricoldo da Monte di Croce, a younger confrere of Martin. Ricoldo was extremely influential in the history of antiIslamic polemic and it is indeed largely through his work that the Liber Denudationis influenced European thinking. Ricoldo da Monte di Croce (c.1243–1320): Confutatio Alcorani The Confutatio Alcorani23 of the Florentine Ricoldo da Monte di Croce (c.1243–1320), a Dominican missionary in Baghdad, is one of the most

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thorough and sustained attacks on Islam to appear in the thirteenth century. It was probably based on Arabic sources and may itself have been written originally in Arabic, showing the missionary purpose of the author. Despite its hostile and often highly disagreeable tone, the Confutatio Alcorani nonetheless represents a high point in knowledge on Islam at the time and was not bettered for centuries. The general approach of the book can be seen from its seventeen chapter headings these including ‘An account of the principle errors of the law of the Saracens,’ ‘That the law of the Saracens is not the Law of God,’ ‘It is not confirmed by any miracle’ and ‘It contains obvious falsehoods.’ Then, following a chapter in which Ricoldo discusses the Qur’a n and who the author was, there appears another devoted to the isra ’/mi‘ra j entitled ‘A most dishonest and ficticious vision.’ As already mentioned, Ricoldo’s treatment of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his Confutatio is a paraphrase, although often verbatim, of the relevant chapter in the Liber Denudationis mentioned above. Ricoldo would have read the Liber Denudationis in Latin, presumably in Italy. He repeats the argument of the Liber Denudationis that Muhammad’s claim to be no more than a man and unable to work miracles proves that the isra ’/ mi‘ra j is untrue. Ricoldo also asks the same rhetorical question as to how Muhammad could bear all the splendour of the angels in heaven when we are told elsewhere that when one angel (Gabriel) appeared to him he fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing. In the final paragraph of his account Ricoldo poses a further rhetorical question of his own, asking why Muhammad needed an ass or a beast of burden to travel from Mecca to Jerusalem when he was able to ascend to the highest heaven without one. He also observes that Muhammad implies that his journey was undertaken in both body and spirit since he said that God touched him with His hand between his shoulders and he felt a coldness down his spine. Ricoldo similarly supposes that Muhammad held that God and the angels occupy physical space. Ricoldo’s Confutatio was used by many subsequent scholars, including Martin Luther who translated it into German.24 Luther’s translation (and hence the Liber Denudationis) was a primary source for the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j by Humphrey Prideaux, dealt with below,

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which in turn was a major source for numerous contemporary and later commentators. Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada (c.1170–1274): The Historia Arabum Another document which still survives and which contains one of the earliest Western accounts of the night journey and ascension is the Historia Arabum. This was written in Latin by Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada of Toledo (Rodericus Toletanus) (c.1170–1274) and was printed alongside Thomas Erpenius’ Historia Saracenica, a translation of the second part of the chronicle of Islamic history by George Elmacin (Djirdjis al-Makın b. al-‘Amıd c.1223–74), as a supplement to cover the history of Muslim Spain.25 The Historia Arabum contains a history of the Muslims from the birth of Muhammad until AD 1150. Jiménez says that his information for the life and teaching of Muhammad is derived ‘ex relatione fideli et eorum scripturis’ (‘from a reliable [oral] account and from their scriptures’). Indeed, as we have seen, in Toledo where the book was written, translations of many Arabic treatises on religion, science and so on were available. In Chapter Five of the Historia Arabum, called ‘De sublimatione Mahometi in regem et de jussionibus mendaciter excogitatis’ (‘On the Rise of Muhammad to Power and on mendaciously contrived Stories’), Jiménez states that Muhammad began to fabricate stories to establish himself as a prophet. He then records a literal version of the isra ’/mi‘ra j which constitutes one of the first summaries of the narrative to appear in Latin. As for his source, Jiménez states that the account is drawn from the ‘second book’ of Muh a mmad.26 From this, the Spanish orientalist Miguel Asín Palacios (1871–1944) concludes that it must have come from one of the canonical collections of H adıth the authority of which is inferior only to the Qur’a n which Jiménez would presumably consider to be the ‘first book’ of Muhammad.27 In fact, it is clearly taken from Ibn Isha q’s biography of the Prophet, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya. The contents of the narrative which Jiménez has recorded coincide exactly with those found in the Sıra al-Nabawiyya which is actually composed of several separate traditions related by various authorities and which Ibn Isha q has juxtaposed so as to make a more or less

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coherent account. Jiménez’s narrative, however, omits some details and makes a number of departures from the Arabic text of Ibn Isha q as we have it today.28 Jiménez’s account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j subsequently appeared, with some small additions probably drawn from other Arabic sources, in the Crónica General or Estoria d’Espanna which was completed by King Alfonso X (‘the Wise’) (reigned 1252–84) in Castilian sometime between 1260 and 1268.29 Chapters 488 and 489 of this work are entitled ‘De como Mahomet dixo que subira fasta los syete cielos’ (‘Regarding how Muhammad said that he would ascend to the seven heavens’). Halmaereig It is also in Spain that one of the best known sources of the isra ’/mi‘ra j to appear in the medieval West originated. This consisted of two translations, in Latin and French, of a no longer extant Arabic original called Halmaereig (i.e. al-mi‘ra j).  30 The introductions to the translations state that the Arabic text was initially rendered into Castilian in 1264 by the Jewish scholar and King’s physician Abraham Alfaqim at the request of King Alfonso X. The Castilian version is now lost. Alfonso is said to have subsequently commissioned a Latin translation (Liber Scalae Machometi)31 and a French version (Livre de l’Eschiele Mahomet) of Abraham’s translation from the Italian Bonaventura of Siena who was at that time secretary at Alfonso’s court.32 The survival of the Latin version is due to its inclusion in the Cluniac Corpus mentioned above. Aside from the detailed nature of the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the chief reason for the popularity of the translations of Halmaereig was that the Arabic original was thought to be a sacred text, perhaps on a par with the Qur’a n, and of the highest authority since the principal narrator was the Prophet himself. It is also because of this that the text was exceptionally translated into three languages, Castilian, Latin and French. While it was not unusual for a text to be translated into the vernacular and then into Latin, it was rare for it to be translated into a third language as well. Indeed, the Castilian and French versions

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indicate that the text was of interest to a wider audience than the church clerics at whom the Latin translation was directed. As was commonly the case, the purpose behind the translations was largely to discredit Islam by comparing the purported absurdities of the isra ’/mi‘ra j with the rational nature of Christianity. Similarly, the materialistic and sensual nature of the Afterlife and the carnal pleasures of heaven which appear in the text would confirm and consolidate the medieval Christian conviction that Islam was worldly, materialistic and devoid of spirituality. The translator of the French version remarks: I translated the book most gladly for two reasons: one is in order to fulfil my lord’s commission, and the other is so that people may learn about Muhammad’s life and knowledge and so that after they have heard and become acquainted with the errors and unbelievable things that he recounts in this book, the legitimate Christian religion and truth which is in [Christ] will thus be more fitting and pleasing to embrace and keep to for all those who are good Christians.33 Regarding the contents of Halmaereig, these largely consist of a compilation and expansion of information concerning the night journey and ascension, Muhammad, cosmology and the Day of Judgement gleaned from various other Arabic sources. The book, in eighty-five short chapters, is one of the longest and most elaborate of the Arabic accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. It is recounted in the first person by the Prophet himself and follows the traditional sequence of events, beginning with his night journey guided by Gabriel from Mecca to the Temple in Jerusalem, the ascent to heaven by means of a ladder (mi‘ra j),  the journey through the seven heavens and audience with God, and the eventual return to Mecca where he informs the Quraysh of his journey. The veracity of the account is attested to at the end of the book: We, Habubekar [Abu Bakr] and Abnez [Ibn ‘Abba s], attest with true heart and pure conscience that the matters which Muhammad related above are completely true, so that all those who will hear them told ought surely to place their trust in them

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as regards each particular just as we have written them down and shall do henceforth.34

San Pedro Pascual (1227–1300): Impunaçion de la Seta de Mahomah Towards the end of the thirteenth century an apologetic work appeared which may be a contemporary resumé of the Castilian translation of Halmaereig.35 This is the Impunaçion de la Seta de Mahomah (also called El Obispo de Jaen sobre la Seta Mahometana) by San Pedro Pascual (St Peter Paschal) (1227–1300), the Bishop of Jaen from 1296, who wrote it while in captivity in Granada at the hands of the Moors.36 In the treatise, the author regularly quotes from the Qur’a n and from what he calls ‘Alhadiz’ and sometimes ‘Muslimi’, referring to the canonical collection of H adıth by Muslim b. al-H ajja j (i.e. al-S ah ıh ) . The treatise also contains quotes from a book whose title the author transcribes as Elmiregi, Elmerigi, Miragi or Miraj. In Chapter Eight of the first part of the Impunaçion, the Saint recounts the events of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in their entirety, adding a commentary in which he describes it as ‘mere fancies, vanities, lies, humbug and idle talk’. Juan Andrés: Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica y del Alcoran The large quantity of material produced in Spain on Muh a mmad and Islam soon found its way to the rest of Europe where by the thirteenth and mid-fourteenth centuries a number of texts often based on Arabic originals was available which provided more or less extended versions of the night journey and ascension. These texts included the Historia Arabum, the Crónica General, the Impunaçion de la Seta de Mahomah and the translations of Halmaereig, mentioned above. That the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j was known in England is indicated by the presence in the Bodleian library in Oxford of a unique copy of the French version of the Liber Scalae dated to the first quarter of the fourteenth century and thought probably to be of English provenance.37 The final important work on the isra ’/mi‘ra j which emerged from Spain and which proved to be very popular and influential in Europe is that contained in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica y del Alcoran

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first published in Valencia in 1515. Its author was Juan Andrés, a Spanish Muslim from Valencia who wrote the treatise after his conversion to Christianity in 1487. Andrés mentions that before this he was instructed in Islam by his father Muhammad b. ‘Abd Alla h who was the faqıh of Valencia, and that after his father’s death he succeeded him in his post.38 Indeed, Andrés evidently possessed a thorough acquaintance with some of the major Arabic works. He often quotes Arabic terms, used an Arabic source or sources for his account and was familiar with such as al-Mas‘udı  (Almazhodi), the Qur’a nic commentary of al-Zamakhsharı  (Azamahxari) and the six canonical collections of Sunnı  H adıth.  Andrés notes in his ‘Authors Preface’ that at the command of Martin Garcia, Bishop of Barcelona, he had previously made a translation from Arabic into Arragonian of the six books of H adıth and the Qur’a n along with glosses.39 These are not extant. The Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica was originally written in Spanish, no doubt to serve the purposes of Christian polemic. Andrés remarks that he composed the treatise in order to collect the fabulous fictions, ridiculous discourses, Impostures, bestialities, fooleries, Vilanies, inconveniences, impossibilities, and Contradictions, which that wicked Muhamed hath sowen and dispersed in the books of his Sect; thereby to deceive ignorant people, especially in the Alcoran . . . 40 He continues: my intent in publishing it, was that even the weakest Judgements may perceive that in Muhamed’s Law there is not any ground or reason how it can be true, and that the ignorant Moores being vanquished by the testimonies of their own nation, might know the Error wherein they are, and whereunto their false Prophet hath led them. I say the ignorant, because no men of knowledge among them doe believe in Muhamed, but on the Contrary doe esteeme their Sect to bee false and very bestiall; and finally to the end that they might all come to the holy Law and true end for which they were Created.41

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The book obviously served its purpose well since it was subsequently translated into Italian in 1540 by Dominicus de Gazelu, this then being translated into Latin in 1595 by Johannes Lauterbach as the Confusione Sectæ Mahometanæ. This latter version was reprinted in Utrecht in 1656 and appeared in a number of later editions. An English translation, from which the present quotations are taken, was done by Joshua Notstock and appeared in 1652.42 Given the intention behind publication of the work, it is to be expected that Andrés would include mention of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, indeed, as was becoming the convention, would devote a good deal of space to it. Thus, out of the eleven chapters in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica, one is entitled The eighth Chapter treateth of Muhamed’s Dream, and the Vision which he sayes he had when he ascended to heaven by a Ladder, and rode upon Alborac, and of the things which he sayes he saw that night in Heaven, Paradise, and Hell. Andrés’ treatment closely resembles traditional Muslim accounts and is one of the most detailed to appear up to this time, only being exceeded in length by the French and Latin translations of Halmaereig mentioned above. Regarding the sources used by Andrés for his account of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j, he has clearly not relied on Halmaereig, Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra alNabawiyya or the original source used by the Liber Denudationis. The differences between the first two works are too obvious to require explication. As to the Liber Denudationis, even allowing for the abbreviated nature of this work, Andrés includes numerous details which the Liber Denudationis fails to mention such as Muhammad being with his wife  ‘A’isha when Gabriel first arrives and the prophets meeting Muhammad in the Temple in Jerusalem. Moreover, the two narratives are different in many crucial respects. For example, the Liber Denudationis recounts that Muhammad was carried up to the heavens on Gabriel’s shoulders,43 whereas the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica states that Muhammad ascended on a ladder;44 the Liber Denudationis places Moses in the fourth heaven,45 while the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica places Joseph there,46 with Moses being situated in the fifth heaven;47 and the Liber Denudationis mentions the reduction in the number of daily prayers from fifty to five on Moses’ advice,48 a narrative element which is completely absent in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica.

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In fact, in many places throughout his treatise Andrés refers to the ‘Book Azar,’ probably a sıra or biography of the Prophet whose identity remains unknown. Whatever the case, it is evident that Andrés or the Book Azar has drawn at least in part from a Qur’a nic commentary, like the Liber Denudationis before it. Thus, the opening paragraph of Andrés’ chapter on the isra ’/mi‘ra j begins: The Alcoran in the eleventh Chapter of the second Book sayes in Arabick, Ozubhene, &c. (i.e.) Praysed be he that caused his servant to be transported from the Temple of Mecca into the blessed Temple of Jerusalem. The gloss upon this text sayes . . . 49 Moreover, in a number of places Andrés relates the description of events within the isra ’/mi‘ra j to verses in the Qur’a n, as typically found in Muslim commentaries. For example, concerning Muhammad’s audience with God: the Text of the Alcoran in the third book sayes, that Muhamed approached God within two bowe-shots, or a little less; In Arabick it is thus: Ozumen, &c. (i.e.) That Muhamed approached God within little less that two shots of a Cross-bow . . . 50 An element in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica not mentioned in previous Western sources is that according to the Book Azar when Muhammad saw God He granted him five things ‘which were never given to any Man before nor since’: The first was, that he should be the chiefest and most elect creature that God ever created either in heaven or on earth, which the Arabick calls Hayriall quilleh. The second was, That he should be the most excellent and most Honourable Lord of all the sons of Adam at the day of judgement, the Arabick says thus, leydo qualidiademe aume alquima. The third was, That he should be the general Redeemer, which in Arabick is said Safey Mustafa, and for this cause Muhamed is by another name called Almebi (i.e.) he that takes away sins.

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The fourth was, That he should understand all languages, In Arabick it is expressed thus, Ohtiso jugua ni ih alquelin. The fifth and last was, that spoyles of warre and battaills should belong to him only, which is in Arabick, Ohillet, &c.51 Andrés goes on to report that when many Muslims disbelieved Muhammad’s account of his journey he composed the verses in su rat al-Najm (53:1–18) in response: ‘By the star when it goes down . . . ‘ to ‘truly did he see, of the greatest signs of his Lord.’ The Muslims read these and ‘believed and held it for a great miracle, though divers of them were offended and returned to their former Sects’.52 Towards the end of the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j are three criticisms which Andrés levels at the preceding narrative. The first is based on a ‘naturall reason’, the second on a ‘Philosophicall and Astrologicall reason’, and the third on a ‘humane and logicall reason’. As for the first criticism ensuing from ‘naturall reason’, this concerns the bura q which the author notes would not yield to Muhammad until he had promised it that it would be the first animal to enter Paradise. But how, Andrés wonders, can a beast enter paradise? And if the bura q is the first does this mean that other animals will also enter? This is clearly ‘ridiculous, an impudent lie, and utterly false’. Andrés adds that the whole of Muslim literature contains no reference to the bura q and that this is surprising given that it will be the first beast to enter Paradise. Moreover, since the Qur’a n states that those who enter Paradise are Mazhodin, querammum, bararat (‘holy, blessed, honoured, and Angellical’) then we must also conclude that the bura q is also ‘holy, blessed, honoured, and Angellical’.53 In his second criticism, ‘Philosophicall and Astrologicall’, Andrés notes that in the narrative the first heaven is said to be made of silver, the second of gold, the third of pearl or precious stone, the fourth of emerald, the fifth of diamond and the sixth of carbuncle, but these are all ‘obscure bodies’ through which sight cannot penetrate. This must be false since we know that the various heavens are transparent because we are able to see the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter, and all the other heavenly bodies which inhabit them; ‘and now, O Moore, what answer hath thou but silence?’54

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Finally, turning to the third criticism, ‘humane and logicall’, Andrés refers to the five things which Muhammad claims God granted him during his ascension: Consider, O Moore, if they are not things which cannot be proved either by human understanding or Logicall reason? for human and Logicall reason commandeth and teacheth that a man should say nothing but what can be proved . . . I say, That what cannot be proved by itself, nor by reason, should not be spoken, nor ought to be regarded.55 Inevitably, the issue of the miraculous nature of the isra ’/mi‘ra j arises, and here Andrés remarks that although Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus wrought their miracles in the presence of witnesses Muhammad ‘was very crafty & subtile’ and worked his wonders when no one could see them. Thus, he cites no person who could corroborate his journey.56 Andrés concludes by urging the Moor to consider all that he has said and thereby realise the total falsity of Muhammad’s story.57

Polemic and Oriental Exoticism: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Comparatively little was written on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in the century following the appearance of Andrés’ Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica in 1515. Then there was an efflourescence of interest. This was a reflection of the increase in popular curiosity about the cultures, customs, beliefs and religions found in other parts of the world and the growth in knowledge about these. The eighteenth century in particular was a time of great interest in Muhammad and Islam, and also the isra ’/ mi‘ra j. Armed with an array of both primary and secondary sources, and with a keen fascination with the fantastical, much was produced on the subject. One indication of the attention devoted to Muhammad’s night journey is that encyclopaedias often included an entry on ‘alborak’ such as Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia: or A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.58 Other examples include Samuel Bochart’s Hierozoicon which

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remarks that it was Muhammad’s mount on the night journey and ascension;59 while John Swan’s Speculum Mundi has a chapter which ‘Concerneth the Creatures made in the Sixth Day’ in which the entry on ‘The Alborach’ states that it is ‘a fair white beast like an asse, frequent in the Turkish territories, upon which beast Mahomet was carried up to heaven; as the blasphemous Priests of that nation perswade pilgrims of Mecha.’60 Attendant upon this escalating interest in the isra ’/mi‘ra j were certain intellectual attitudes and patterns of thought typical of the Middle Ages. In particular was the continued reiteration of the view that miracles were a symbol of divine authority and it was inconceivable that a true prophet should not perform them. As already noted above, this view persisted among Western commentators up until the middle of the nineteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was still a main focus of attack on Muhammad and his prophetic claims. For example, in his A Discourse on Miracles, the British philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) remarks, ‘To know that any revelation is from God, it is necessary to know that the messenger that delivers it is sent from God, and that cannot be known but by some credentials given him by God himself.’61 These credentials are, according to Locke, the ability to work miracles. In this way, the divine revelation of Muhammad is rejected, ‘Mahomet having none to produce, pretends to no miracles for the vouching his mission.’62 Others reinforced the point about miracles and focussed on a number of alleged occurrences. Among other things, they stated that the isra ’/mi‘ra j did not meet one of the criteria of miracles which is that they should be performed in public. Thus, in a treatise aimed primarily against Deists, the Church of England clergyman Charles Leslie (1650–1722) describes his A Short and Easie Method as containing ‘an unanswerable proof of Christianity from the evidence of the facts’.63 He then goes on to demonstrate the truth of Christianity by showing that it is authenticated by miracles. Among the rules he formulates to which an authentic miracle must conform and by means of which imposture may be detected are that ‘the Matter of Fact be such, as that Mens outward Senses, their Eyes and Ears may be Judges of it’ and that

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a miracle ‘be done Publickly, in the Face of the World’.64 When Leslie applies his rules to Muhammad’s miracles he finds that those which are told of him, do all want the Two First Rules before-mentioned. For his pretended Converse with the Moon, his Mersa, or Night-Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to Heaven, &c. were not performed before any Body. We have only his own word for them.65 The same theme was taken up by such as the Church of Scotland minister George Campbell (1719–96) in his apologetic A Dissertation on Miracles,66 and by the theologian William Paley (1743–1805) in his A View of the Evidences of Christianity.67 Although after Andrés the centre of concern with the isra ’/mi‘ra j moved from Spain to England and France, nonetheless, his account, and indeed his treatise on Muhammad and Islam in general, was to serve as an important source for subsequent writers and the details he provided along with his criticisms found their way into numerous works. One of these was William Bedwell’s Mohammedis Imposturae. William Bedwell (1561–1632): Mohammedis Imposturae At the beginning of the seventeenth century appeared William Bedwell’s (1561–1632)68 Mohammedis Imposturae. This claimed to be the record of a series of conversations on religious topics between two Muslims, Sheikh Sinan and Doctor Ahmed, on their return from the pilgrimage to Mecca and translated out of the original Arabic by Bedwell. The preface, addressed to the Christian reader, states that the book was originally written in ‘the Arabicke tongue’ by an unknown author and appeared about six hundred years ago.69 Bedwell goes on to explain that at first he thought it to be a fake because of the many criticisms of Islam made by the two protagonists. But when he subsequently learnt that the expression of such criticisms and doubts regarding their religion was not unusual among Muslims, he ‘altered that mine opinion, and did verily beleeve it to be written by some Saracen or Mahometane, who did in truth make these doubts and demands,

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as being desirous of better satisfaction’. In fact, the conversations are manifest forgeries. This is apparent from Sheikh Sinan and Doctor Ahmed’s references to the Qur’a n being the work of Muhammad, that Muhammad said that out of the 12,000 sayings that comprise it only 3,000 are true, that he was licentious and that Islam is not confirmed by any miracles and is spread by the sword. In stark contrast stand the numerous extremely favourable comments regarding Christianity and its prophet, Christ’s ability to work miracles so as to confirm his revelation, the fact that the Bible is uncorrupted, and the defence of the concept of the Holy Trinity as compatible with strict monotheism. Indeed, the whole canon of medieval Christian polemic against Muhammad and Islam are explored and rehearsed. Among the subjects debated by the two pilgrims is inevitably enough the night journey and ascension.70 While Sheikh Sinan is explaining to Doctor Ahmed how to achieve spiritual rather than physical joy, Doctor Ahmed comments that the Prophet must have achieved a state of spiritual perfection in order to have been granted the journey to the heavens: AH. Moreover this is well knowne unto us all, That our prophet did go up into heaven: And therefore wee must needs know what perfection he was worthy of, for this favour. SH. Indeed himselfe doth record in the Alkoran, That he ascended up into the highest heaven: but he speaketh not one word of his wortth, dignity and perfection. But he saith, That Gabriel on a night did knocke at his gate; and he arose out of his bed, where he did sleepe with his wife Aïsha; and he opened the gate, and the Angell saluted him; and said unto him, The peace of God be upon thee and thy wife: thou must with me go up into heaven, that thou maist see in this blessed night the secrets of God. Now this vision and journey did never befall to any sonne of Adam. Item, he reporteth in the Alkoran, That he rode upon Barak, which was with Gabriel; And Barak did speake, saying, Thou shalt not ride me, except thou wilt promise me to pray for me, before the majestie of God almightie, and his excellencie. Then riding upon him, he was carried, as he saith in

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his Alkoran, (praise be given to him that led his servant unto his end) and from thence also he went up by staires, even unto the very throne of God, as he saith. AH. I am amazed at thine answer. SH. Wherefore and for what cause? AH. For that if we do yeeld to go to heaven, either by Barak, or by any other going up, by the meanes of the Angell, & by ascent up by the meanes of staires, as our Prophet went up by Gods helpe, & speciall favour; then we shall never come to heaven: because this specialle help shall not be granted to all the world.71 A little later, the two protagonists get to talking about miracles as confirmation of prophecy. Sheikh Sinan remarks that although the Prophet was himself not able to work any miracles God did so on his behalf. Examples of this are Gabriel coming to Muhammad, ‘Albarak’ taking him in the twinkling of an eye from Mecca to Jerusalem where he met all the prophets, his vision of the stairs leading from earth to heaven and his ascending with Gabriel up to the throne of God and then to God Himself. At this, Doctor Ahmed echoes one of the criticisms found in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica of Juan Andrés, that is, that there were no witnesses to Muhammad’s journey and one must accept it only on his say so. He then adds a further objection also from Andrés concerning the six spheres through which the Prophet travels being made of such as silver, gold, emerald and pearl. All these are ‘thicke bodies’ through which light cannot pass, and yet we know from astronomy that the sun, Mars, Jupiter and other heavenly bodies are situated in one or other of the spheres and can be seen from earth. Thus, this is untrue, ‘And so may it be said of his communication with the Angell: of his ascension into heaven, and other falshoods of his. For all this fell out in one night, and that without testimony of any witnesse alive.’ The discussion on the topic concludes with Sheikh Sinan’s comments: I do study the Alkoran and other bookes seriously and diligently, and I find many absurd things, without sense, and also such as are not confirmed by miracles: Yea there are innumerable and

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infinite such things as these in the Alkoran and in our law, which are repugnant & contrary to one another, and are opposite to all Philosophers and Astronomers; and much also which hath no ground, or proofe from demonstration; nor yet is confirmed by manifest miracles from God.72 Barthélémy d’Herbelot (1625–95): Bibliothèque Oriental The Bibliothèque Oriental of Barthélémy d’Herbelot (1625–95), Professor of Oriental Languages at the Collège de France, appeared towards the end of the seventeenth century. Although this monumental and erudite work is not restricted solely to Islam, it provided a more comprehensive and systematic account of the religion than anything previous and can rightly be considered as the first encyclopaedia on the subject. While d’Herbelot is capable of being balanced and comparatively fair in his approach, he is nonetheless chiefly concerned with demonstrating the superiority of Christianity over Islam and his treatment of Muhammad is largely that of the medieval commentators.73 Thus, Muhammad is referred to as ‘le fameux Imposteur’74 and as the founder of a heretical sect. Indeed, d’Herbelot’s general approach is revealed in his comments on the isra ’/mi‘ra j. Under the entry for ‘Borak’ he describes the ‘Leilat al-Mêráge’ as ‘the night of ascension about which numerous authors have written fabulous and superstitious treatises’.75 He was clearly misinformed regarding an alternative Arabic name for the mi‘ra j: This miracle which the Mahometans consider was made in support of Mahomet is also called Al Mebâth which means ‘resurrection’. Thus it appears that this fiction was created by followers of the false prophet to give him some characteristics similar to those of Jesus Christ.76 Interestingly, under the entry ‘Mêrage’, he comments: The Mahometans say that Mahomet prayed in the Temple of Jerusalem. When he went out he found a riding animal that he

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called Al Borak. He mounted this and was carried to the heavens where he saw countless marvels or fabulous things which are largely described in a book entitled Ketab Al Mêrage . . . It is tempting to think that the ‘Ketab Al Mêrage’ mentioned by d’Herbelot is the Liber Scalae Machometi, that is, the Latin translation of the Arabic Halmaereig (Kita b al-Mi‘ra j) done in Spain at the request of King Alfonso the Wise. The Liber Scalae is very rarely acknowledged by later commentators, but it is mentioned by at least one other scholar of the time, that is, the Aberdonian clergyman Alexander Ross who refers to it in his Pansebeia published in 1683. After recounting a number of Muslim beliefs regarding the Afterlife Ross states that ‘Many other favourless and senseless opinions they have, as may be seen in the Book called Scala, being an exposition of the alcoran.’77 More likely, however, is that d’Herbelot is referring to a Mira j Nameh similar to that acquired by the French orientalist and archaelogist Antoine Galland (1649–1715). In his Journal 1672–3, Galland mentions that he bought a number of books including The Marvels of Creatures with figures representing various miraculous acts attributed to Muhammad. The entry for Tuesday 14 January 1672 reads: I have bought from his Excellency [i.e. the French embassador in Constantinople] a book entitled Aja ’ib al-Makhlu qa t (The Marvels of Creatures), written in the Kufic script with sixty-six pictures showing various wonderful acts that Mahomet did in order to establish his pernicious doctrine, such as ascending to the heavens, descending into Hell and so on.78 In a footnote to this, the editor of the Journal, Charles Schefer, remarks that the volume bought by Galland was the well-known Mira j Nameh dating from AD 1436, written in Ugaric, and now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. Alexander Ross (c.1590–1654): The Alcoran of Mahomet Most writers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries viewed the night journey and ascension as a fabrication of Muhammad in order

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to enhance his standing. Its use as a fruitful means of attack is seen in the number of commentators who refer to it and in the amount of space devoted to relating it. Typical is the introductory chapter on Muhammad (‘The Life and Death of Mahomet, The Prophet of the Turks, and The Author of Alcoran’) which the Scottish writer Alexander Ross (c.1590–1654) appended to his English version of Sieur André du Ryer’s French translation of the Qur’a n. About one eighth of the chapter is devoted to ‘a certain Voyage to Heaven’, one of those ‘delusive Miracles’ which Muhammad was forced to tell the people about so as to satisfy their demands for a sign of his mission. The account consists of a brief description of the night journey to Jerusalem, some of the sights Muhammad saw in the seven heavens (‘Angels, of divers and monstrous shapes’) and the episode with Moses and the reduction in the number of daily prayers from fifty to five. With undisguised sarcasm, Ross concludes: This done, he went back to his Elborach which in a moment brought him to his House in Mecca, where he went to bed again to his Wife, she not once dreaming her Husband would leave Heaven for her company, or thinking he had been there; all this he performed in the tenth part of a Night. The Turks at this day fondly believe this as a Truth; but the Arabians of his time requiring him to do as much in their view, he (unwilling to take again so long a Journy) replied, Praise be God, I am a Man, and an Apostle.79 Humphrey Prideaux (1648–1724): The True Nature of Imposture One work of the late seventeenth century which must be mentioned here due its extreme popularity and the fact that it constituted a major source for commentators on Muhammad and Islam for the following two centuries is The True Nature of Imposture Fully Display’d in the Life of Mahomet by Humphrey Prideaux (1648–1724), Dean of Norwich.80 Two editions of the work appeared in 1697, the year of its first publication, with others to follow, and a French translation was published in 1698. A tenth edition appeared in 1808, while the last edition was printed in Dublin in 1730.

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Prideaux’s approach to Islam, ‘that abominable Imposture of Mahometism’,81 was not untypical of the period, where its ‘evils’ were used to highlight the merits of Christianity or alternatively to discredit an opponent by demonstrating that he adhered to the same practices as the ‘heathen’. The book was originally composed as a life of Muhammad, perhaps in response to Stubbe’s An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism referred to below, but was subsequently adapted by Prideaux to counter the accusations of the Deists who were rational doubters of the Christian revelation and who claimed that Christianity was an imposture. According to Prideaux, after one has understood what the true nature of imposture is, as exhibited in the life of Muhammad, it is clear that Christianity is not so. ‘Imposture’ is a word Prideaux uses frequently. He explains that in its most usual sense it indicates the deceptions of someone who feigns to be other than they are, but more especially when that person pretends that he has received a visit from heaven and on that basis delivers a new religion to mankind.82 Some of the characteristics identified by Prideaux as inseparable constituents of imposture are that it must always have for its objective some ‘carnal Interest’, that only wicked men may be its authors, that it must contain some ‘palpable Falsities’ which reveal the falsity of the rest, and that it must be propagated by ‘Craft and Fraud’.83 All these are ascribed to Muhammad in the process of defending Christianity from possessing them. For Prideaux, one of the most fertile areas to exemplify these characteristics was Muhammad’s claim to have performed the miracle of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. His first criticism relates to the common notion that one of the signs of a true miracle is that it be done in public. He remarks that Muhammad was constantly called upon to deliver a miracle by his opponents but was unable to do so and was afraid to fabricate one in public lest his deception be discovered. Thus, all the miraculous events which he claimed to have been a party to, such as speaking with Gabriel, the angels that fought alongside him in his battles and his journey to heaven, were all things ‘acted behind the Curtain’ and to which he was the only witness, there thus being no one to contradict him. According to Prideaux, this compares very unfavourably with the miracles in Christianity which were performed by Jesus Christ and the

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Apostles in front of an audience of thousands and whose truth was therefore open to confirmation.84 It is within this context that Prideaux presents a chapter entitled ‘His Night-Journey to Heaven,’ which was to become a main source of information on the isra ’/mi‘ra j for many contemporary and later commentators.85 The account begins: In the twelfth year of his pretended Mission, is placed the Mesra, that is, his famous Night-journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to Heaven, of which he tells us in the 17th Chapter of his Alcoran. For the People calling on him for Miracles to prove his Mission, and he being able to work none, to salve the matter, he invents this Story of his Journey to Heaven; which must be acknowledged to have Miracle enough in it, by all those who have Faith to believe it. And yet it being believed by all that profess the Mahometan Religion, as a main Article of their faith, and as such set down in all the Books of their Authentick Traditions, how absurd soever it may be, since my Design is to give as full an Account as I can of this Man’s Imposture, it obligeth me to relate it.86 Prideaux has some special remarks to make concerning the encounter with Jesus who naturally enough, but erroneously, he places in the highest heaven. Muhammad ascends to the seventh heaven: and here he found Jesus Christ; where it is to be observed he alters his Stile. For he saith not, that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his Prayers, but that he recommended himself to Jesus Christ, desiring him to pray for him; whereby he acknowledgeth him certainly to be the greater. But it was his usage through the whole scene of his Imposture thus to flatter the Christians on all occasions.87 After the detailed description of Muhammad’s ascension through the seven heavens and the return journey home, Prideaux concludes with an account of Muhammad’s reception in Mecca: On his relating this Extravagant Fiction to the People next Morning after he pretended the thing happened, it was received

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by them as it deserved, with a general hoot; some laughed at the ridiculousness of the Story, and others taking indignation at it, cried out shame upon him for telling them such an abominable lie, and by way of reproach, bid him ascend up to Heaven by daylight there immediately before them all, that they might see it with their Eyes, and then they would believe him.88 Prideaux then goes on to explain that in addition to providing evidence of Muhammad’s prophethood, another motive lay behind his fabricating his journey to the heavens. Before this Muhammad had maintained that he was merely the messenger of God who had been charged with delivering the Qur’a n. The Qur’a n had been revealed to him via the angel Gabriel and Muhammad had presented it to the people without offering any personal comment or interpretation of its meaning, stating rather that it was God’s Book and only God could explain what it meant. Muhammad was, however, informed by his father ‘Abd Alla h that besides possessing a written law dictated by God the Jews had another equally authoritative law called the Oral Law founded on the sayings and dictates ‘which were pretended to be from Moses’. This law was subsequently preserved in the memories of those who spoke with Moses, was delivered to the Elders and then passed down through the ages by oral tradition. According to Prideaux, when Muhammad learnt of this ‘He had a desire for the future to advance his Authority to the same pitch, and make all his Sayings and Dictates go for Oracles among his Musslemans, as well as those which were pretended to be from Moses, did among the Jews.’89 If he could make his followers believe that he had spoken with God in the same way as Moses had spoken with Him on the Mount, and that he had received full instruction from Him in the knowledge of all divine truths, Muh a mmad considered that this would meet his ends. Eventually, the truth of the night journey was universally accepted and from that time all his Sayings became looked on as Sacred Truths brought down from Heaven, and every word which at any time dropp’d from so enlightened a Person (as this Story supposeth him to be) as well as every Action which he did, any way relating to his Religion,

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were all carefully observed by them; which being after his death all collected together from the Memories of those who conversed with him, make up those Volumes of Traditions from him, which they call the Sonnah, which are with the Mahometans the same in respect of the Alcoran, that the Oral Law among the Jews is in respect of the Written.90 Prideaux was, however, correct in one regard. He remarks that while the majority of Muslims firmly believe the isra ’/mi‘ra j to have been a real physical journey, there are others who view it as a vision which should in the main be understood allegorically.91 In the margins of his account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j Prideaux acknowledges a number of his sources. However, from a comparison between Prideaux’s version and that of Juan Andrés it is clear that he took most of his information from the chapter on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in the Latin translation of the latter’s Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica (i.e. the Confusione Sectæ Mahometanæ, published in Utrecht in 1656).92 Roger Long (1680–1770): ‘Life of Mahomet’ Another lengthy account which the author claims is based on Abu al-Fida ’ (‘I shall give it in the words of Abu’l Feda, who took his relation out of Al Bokhari’) but which evidently draws much from Prideaux, often quoting him verbatim and repeating some of his comments, is that of the English astronomer and clergyman Roger Long (1680–1770)93 in his ‘Life of Mahomet.’94 Long’s work represents a good example of the quantity of information available on the isra ’/mi‘ra j at this time, including both secondary and primary sources. Thus, the account is noteworthy for the detail with which he was able to furnish it, making use of traditions found in such as al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh  to provide additional information or alternative versions to the main narrative. The Isra ’/Mi‘raj as Entertainment In addition to the caustic wit, rancour and hostility found in such as Humphrey Prideaux, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed the appearance of a further ingredient in the Western treatment

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of Islam, already present but now more marked. Viewing Islam as a source of entertainment had been somewhat problematic in earlier centuries during which Western reactions to Islam were prompted largely by the perceived threat posed by Muslims and their religion to Christianity and its territories. But with the decline of Ottoman power and the increasing confidence of the Christian West, there arose a more overt literary taste for oriental exoticism. This was fuelled by the publication between 1704 and 1717 of Antoine Galland’s (1646– 1715) translation of the Thousand and One Nights (Les Mille et Une Nuits), with its fantastic and picturesque depiction of oriental society, which contributed immensely to the burgeoning European fascination with Eastern romanticism and the marvellous. It was a tremendously popular book and was to become a childrens’ classic by the end of the eighteenth century. The appeal of the exotic inevitably led to numerous authors recounting versions of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and partly explains the great number of publications dealing with the subject. Some of these were scholarly, but many belonged to the realms of popular literature, the difference between them sometimes being difficult to discern. This interest did not replace the old prejudices and views. Rather, it existed alongside the usual themes of Muhammad as impostor and as the target of much abuse and vilification. A representative example of this latter approach is Some Yeares Travels into Africa & Asia by the traveller, historian, and observer of the Muslim world and the practices of Islam, Thomas Herbert (1606–82) who was attached to the British Embassy in Persia. Alongside descriptions of the places he visited and the customs of their inhabitants Herbert provides an idiosyncratic and hostile resumé of the early life of Muhammad ‘whose name Arabically signifies Deceit . . . affording also the number 666, the mark of Antichrist’,95 complete with references to his epilepsy and ‘pretended revelations’. This, along with Herbert’s view of Islam as a false religion propagated by the sword, owes much to the depiction typical of the Middle Ages. Herbert states that he has drawn his information from a number of Arabic or Persian sources although he does not specify which. The most obvious source is, however, Juan Andrés’ Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica translated by Joshua Notstock as The Confusion of

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Muhamed’s Sect. It is also clear that Herbert has referred to William Bedwell’s Mohammedis Imposturae, at first hand or via an intermediary, as indicated, among other things, by the repeated misspelling of ‘emerald’ as ‘Smaragd’ and his statement that one heaven was composed of Alahal. Further instances of the role of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as entertainment are not difficult to find. Thus, it features in the poet and biographer William Winstanley’s (1628?–98) Historical Rarities and Curious Observations Domestick and Foreign, a collection of extracts and anecdotes from historians, pamphleteers and travel writers, and sits alongside accounts such as ‘A strange Deliverance of an English-man from a Desolate Island near Scotland, wherein he had long continued in extream Penury and Misery,’ ‘A Description of Greenland and the Inhabitants thereof,’ ‘The Miseries of enforced Marriage, exemplified in a Story of a Knight in Warwick-shire, who was murdered by his own Lady,’ in addition to a further forty-nine histories ‘very pleasant and delightful’. As to Winstanley’s version of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, he was clearly aware of the account contained in the Confutatio Alcorani of Ricoldo da Monte di Croce since he mentions that it was related by Fryar Richard and supplies the correct chapter number (fourteen). Similarly, he borrows Ricoldo’s term Elmparac for the bura q. Winstanley has also used some additional sources including a certain La vita Mahometi. He likewise refers to Bellonius (Pierre Belon, mentioned above) and quotes Thomas Herbert verbatim. In short, Winstanley’s version reveals the large number of sources on the isra ’/mi‘ra j available to non-specialists at the time. It is a heterogeneous mish-mash of narratives imbued with a smattering of imagination and including his own now highly offensive asides.96 One hundred years later, the isra ’/mi‘ra j was still viewed as an entertaining fiction. An example of this is found in Alexander Bicknell’s (d.1796) Instances of the Mutability of Fortune, a book which will ‘prove at once entertaining and instructive’, will ‘relax the mind of those who only read for amusement’97 and which included a lengthy version of the night journey and ascension within a chapter on ‘Mahomet.’ In another publication, an account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is prompted by a request for more information about Muhammad’s ‘pranks’ (i.e. feigned miracles),

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‘for they are diverting enough’.98 While another eighteenth-century book designed for popular consumption, after relating an account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, remarks ‘This is the story. We may very safely leave it to the reflections of the reader. If it amuses, our intention of inserting it here is answered. The impudence of it is equal to the extravagance.’99 Elsewhere, the third volume of Collection of Voyages and Travels contains a section entitled ‘Mahommed’s famous Night Journey to Jerusalem upon the Ass Elborak; and from thence with the Angel Gabriel to Heaven.’100 It thus takes its place among other wonderful tales in the three-volume work such as ‘Adventures under Ground; a letter from a Gentleman swallowed up in the late Earthquake,’ ‘Frankz’s Tour through France, Flanders and Germany . . . ,’ ‘Monsanto’s Tour from England thro’ Part of France . . . ,’ ‘Cartwright’s Adventures, who was taken by a Spanish Privateer,’ and ‘The Dumb Projector; or Duncan Campbell’s Trip to Holland.’

‘The Calumnies of the Christians’: Towards a Reassessment As we have already remarked, during the medieval period the West had been faced with an Islam which was seen to be thriving at the expense of Christendom and which seemed to threaten Western Europe. The ideological and physical threats against Christianity and Christendom were countered by maintaining the truth of Christianity, criticising and rejecting Islam, and by the Crusades. Later, the sixteenth century witnessed the development and expansion of three major Islamic empires: the Safavids who arose in Persia (1502–1736), the Mughals in India (1526–1857) and, much more significant for the West, the Ottoman Turks who under Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–66) were at the height of their power and who expanded into southwest Asia, North Africa and southeast Europe as far as Vienna. Gradually, however, power and influence began to move to Western Europe. The beginnings of Ottoman decline occurred when they suffered their first major defeat by a Christian coalition, the Holy League, at the naval battle of Lepanto in western Greece in 1571. In 1683 the Holy League forced the Ottomans to retreat from Vienna for the last time, and in 1699 they were obliged to sign the peace treaty of Karlowitz in which

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they surrendered many of their European territories to the Habsburg Monarchy in the Christian West. After this, they were never again to represent a serious danger to Europe. Indeed, the triumph of the West over the Ottomans signified the end of one thousand years of threat by the Muslim East. Meanwhile, the voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1497–9 from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope was to enable the West to gain control over the trade routes to Asia which had earlier been in the hands of the Muslims. This was attended by Western technological advances, the establishment of colonies in the New World by such as Spain, Portugal and England and the rise of capitalism. These political and economic developments were accompanied in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe by the intellectual and cultural changes heralded by the Enlightenment. Traditional values, customs and institutions were questioned, and reason and science began to usurp divine revelation, tradition, mysticism and superstition as the primary source and foundation of human knowledge. This ushered in a new approach to religion in which only those aspects which could be rationally defended were accepted. In turn, it entailed a more overtly critical view of Christianity and the Church. Thus, even though some writers in Western Europe maintained the medieval canon of slander and denigration, such as Prideaux and his admirers, during the mid-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries there appeared signs of a more secular, rational and impartial approach to the study of religion. It became possible for Western commentators to view Islam not as utterly erroneous and false but rather more impartially and in terms of a religion instead of an enemy. Similarly, approaches to Muhammad became more objective, dispassionate and even benevolent and he was no longer always considered a complete impostor. One proponent of this new attitude was the Dutch Arabist Adrian Reland (1676–1718) who wrote a Life of Muhammad (Adriani Relandi de Religione Mohammedica, Utrecht, 1705) ‘devoid of myth, calumny or fiction . . . [suggesting] that Christians had been less than honest in rendering justice to Muhammad’.101 Allied to this were assessments of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, and some commentators even began to propose that Muhammad had not fabricated the event and that the Muslims’ belief in this had nothing to do with him. There was also

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the increasingly common observation that many Muslims viewed it as a spiritual rather than a physical journey. Dr Henry Stubbe (1632–76): An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism This being said, Dr Henry Stubbe’s (1632–76) An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism: With the Life of Mahomet and a Vindication of Him and his Religion from the Calumnies of the Christians, written in 1671, is still remarkable for its positive and sympathetic approach at a time when Prideux’s views were more typical. Perhaps this explains why Stubbe was unable to publish his work and it was circulated privately in manuscript form only appearing in print in 1911. As the title suggests, the book was an attempt to correct what Stubbe considered to be the ill-informed and unjust view of Muhammad that prevailed. He contested the notion current at the time that the Qur’a n had been fraudulently composed by Muhammad with the assistance of a Jew or a Christian monk. He similarly denied the medieval fables that Muhammad suffered from ‘falling sickness’ or that his revelations came from a pigeon he had trained to eat peas from his ear. Stubbe also judged the miracles attributed to Muhammad to be due to an excess of enthusiasm on the part of his followers, and considered that the isra ’/mi‘ra j might possibly be explained as a vision or ecstasy in the same way as St Paul was transported up to the third heaven.102 This conclusion was a considerable advance on earlier and indeed contemporary and subsequent assessments which invariably viewed the isra ’/ mi‘ra j as a cynical fabrication. Joseph Morgan: Mahometism Fully Explained Another work which presented a comparatively unprejudiced account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j was Joseph Morgan’s Mahometism Fully Explained, published in 1723. This was an annotated translation of part of a manuscript written in a hybridized Spanish/Arabic by a certain Mahomet Rabadan in 1603.103 Rabadan was a Spanish Muslim who apparently wrote the work with the intention of instructing his fellow Muslims about their Islamic heritage and the religious duties incumbent upon

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them. Morgan was prompted to carry out the translation partly due to the obvious fantastic nature of the account which he considered ought not to remain buried in one of the little-known languages.104 Rabadan’s relation of the isra ’/mi‘ra j (Chapter 23: ‘The wonderful Night, in which Mahomet took his Journey to Heaven, described’),105 being written by a Muslim, is naturally favourably disposed to its subject and contains none of the sarcastic asides and inherent criticisms so typically associated with other versions produced in the West. However, Morgan seems to have had an ulterior motive in his translation and for making public the Muslim view, remarking that it is often better to counter an opponent by letting him speak and be damned by his own words. Thus, he allows the narrative to proceed uncriticised but later comments on its credibility. For example, while conceding that many learned Muslims understand the isra ’/mi‘ra j in a figurative sense, he notes that some ‘zealots’ exaggerate the miracle further by claiming that the Prophet was in such a hurry to follow Gabriel that he knocked over a ewer of water and made the journey so quickly that he returned to find the water still running out. In conclusion, Morgan remarks: I have the very same Inclination to believe every Syllable of this, and all the rest of our Moor’s [i.e. Rabadan’s] Trumpery, as that St. Dennis, after his Decollation, carried his Head under his Arm, for I don’t know how many Miles, as he is recorded to have done.106 In assessing these and similar comments, one must always bear in mind that an author would feel himself obliged to adopt an antagonistic tone when dealing with such potentially dangerous material. The translation of the night journey and ascension which Morgan published is a composite account. He explains that since the manuscript version is an abridgement of a longer narrative, as Rabadan acknowledges, and since it varies in many respects from that recorded by Prideaux, ‘in order to deliver this monstrous Fable in all its Colours (it being a Circumstance that has made and still continues to make, so great a Noise in the World)’ he has added certain particulars which have been omitted. These particulars, which amount to quite lengthy

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additions, have been taken from another, anonymous, Arab writer. Thus, Mahometism Fully Explained contains one of the longest renditions of the isra ’/mi‘ra j to appear in a European language aside from the thirteenth-century translations into Castilian, Latin and French of the Arabic Halmaereig commissioned by King Alfonso the Wise. Indeed, given the length and detail of Morgan’s narrative, it is surprising that it was not more frequently used as a basis for subsequent accounts, although it was a main source for George Bush’s version of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his The Life of Mohammed, mentioned below. Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers (1658–1722): Vie de Mahomet A more genuine and unequivocally sympathetic approach was adopted by the French historian Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers (1658–1722) in his Vie de Mahomet which was published posthumously in 1731 and later translated into English as The Life of Mahomet.107 Although the book is not a work of scholarship and Boulainvilliers ‘understood not Arabick’,108 nonetheless, it was very different to most works that preceded it, as the English translator remarks: The idea of Mahomet, which the Count of Boulainvilliers here presents us with, is so new and surprising, so different, and even contrary to all that we have hitherto been taught concerning him; and the reflections he has scattered throughout his work, are so various, judicious, lively, and beautiful, that we must be destitute of all taste and curiosity, if we are not at once entertained and instructed by this singular performance.109 The Count maintained that if the miracles and other mysteries attributed to Muhammad were ignored, then what remained was an essentially true religion. As for the miracle of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, he states that at first Islam made slow advances because the Prophet would not satisfy the Meccans’ continual demand for miracles, but eventually when he was pressed so closely, that he knew not what to reply, they tell us he feigned a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and

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from thence to heaven, where he received from the mouth of GOD himself, that law which he would establish in the world: But it is improbable that Mahomet, altogether an imposter as he was, should think proper to invent a fable full of absurdities and contradictions, and those the most evident; beside the Alcoran makes not the least mention of any one of those circumstances with which the interpreters accompany his journey . . . But as the Musulmen have a veneration for tradition, that which is related of this pretended journey, found credit with the people, and is at this day look’d upon as the best foundation on which Mahomet has built his religion.110 We should perhaps not allow Boulainvilliers’ subscription to the ongoing medieval tradition of considering Muhammad to be a false prophet and referring to him as an impostor to obscure his efforts at presenting a more balanced and benevolent evaluation. Such statements were held to be de rigeur for the Christian audience even if not sincerely held. Thus, Boulainvilliers thought that Muhammad generally acted out of the best intentions and was a rational man who had no need of miracles. In his account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j Muhammad is absolved from inventing the journey, the origin of the tale being the traditions which deal with it. This was quite a novel judgement at the time, even though the isra ’/mi‘ra j was inevitably viewed as a ‘pretended journey’ and a ‘fable full of absurdities and contradictions, and those the most evident’. Furthermore, Boulainvilliers also attempts to refute the accusations of gullibility frequently levelled at Muslims by maintaining that the majority of their scholars do not see the isra ’/mir‘a j as a physical journey but rather understand it to have been some kind of mystical experience or vision with which God honoured the Prophet.111 Boulainvilliers was wrong in this, but his remark was well-intentioned. The claim that Muslims construe the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a vision was reproduced by many subsequent commentators such as Edward Gibbon (1737–94) and Godfrey Higgins (1771–1833) and, along with the idea that it was interpreted allegorically, became the most common defence of the night journey and ascension.

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Jean Gagnier (1670–1740): De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis and La vie de Mahomet In 1723 another influential account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j became available in the form of the French orientalist Jean Gagnier’s (1670–1740)112 Latin translation of an extract from the work of the Arab historian Abu al-Fida ’ (1273–1331) alongside the original Arabic text. This was the De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis, the first extensive Muslim biography of Muhammad to be published. The narrative of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j occupies Chapters 18 and 19.113 Unlike the Vie de Mahomet of Boulainvilliers, this was a serious work of scholarship and the languages used, Latin and Arabic, rendered it attractive to only a small minority of people. Gagnier was subsequently to remedy this with his accessible and popular biography La vie de Mahomet114 in which he claims to adopt a neutral approach and to take a middle course between the unbridled invective of Prideaux and the uncritical flattery of Boulainvilliers. In La vie de Mahomet Gagnier attempts to explore the development of the legendary Muhammad rather than the historical person. Thus, he recounts in detail the miracles said to have been performed by Muhammad in addition to those which accompanied his birth, and ignores areas such as his role as legislator and political leader. Gagnier reveals his predilection for the marvellous with his very lengthy and detailed description of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the two short chapters devoted to it in his De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis being extended into fourteen, albeit short, chapters115 and representing approximately one twelfth of the whole biography. Throughout his account of ‘le voyage nocturne’ Gagnier does not offer any criticism, mostly contenting himself with merely recounting the story. He does, however, take the opportunity to correct one detail which Humphrey Prideaux used to his advantage. When dealing with the second heaven in which are Jesus and John the Baptist, he adds a footnote: According to Philippe Guadagnol, the Book of Agar p.160 states that Muhammad recommended himself to Jesus’ prayer, but Jesus did not recommend himself to Muhammad’s prayer. This gave Mr. Prideaux the opportunity to conclude that Muhammad

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recognised the superiority of Jesus Christ. But the testimony of Guadagnol is suspect since this statement does not refer to the Book of Agar. It seems to be that Muhammad did not recognise any being higher than him.116 Gagnier’s comments on Muhammad in the Preface to his work are, however, negative and derogatory, with him being described as ‘the biggest villain of all men and the most mortal enemy of God’. Regarding specifically the isra ’/mi‘ra j he offers the following remarks: The account of [the isra ’/mi‘ra j] of the Mahometans, however absurd and incredible it is, is believed and regarded by the majority of them as a fact, although other people who are more sensible and reserved take it to be only an ecstatic experience or a nocturnal vision.117 The main source for Gagnier’s version of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his La vie de Mahomet is, as to be expected, Abu al-Fida ’, but in order to make the narrative more complete, he remarks that he has added material from the ‘most authentic traditions of the Sunna’ as contained in al-Bukha rı’s S ah ıh  and related by Aiesha, Abu-Horaïra, Abu-Abbâs, Ebn-Omar fils d’Omar, Giâber fils d’Abdollah and Anas fils de Malek.118 Up to the middle of the nineteenth century both Gagnier’s De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis and La vie de Mahomet were frequently used as bases for the life of Muhammad, including the episode of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, by subsequent scholars such as George Sale, Voltaire, Washington Irving and Edward Gibbon among others.119 But the increasing availability of original Arabic sources did not necessarily result in a change in points of view. George Sale (c.1697–1736): ‘Preliminary Discourse’ Another scholar who represents the more accommodating attitude adopted in the West in the eighteenth century towards Muhammad and Islam is the lawyer and Arabist George Sale (c.1697–1736), the first English Arabist who did not belong to a religious order. His translation

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of the Qur’a n along with the lengthy ‘Preliminary Discourse’120 appeared in 1734. This replaced the translation of Alexander Ross for English readers and maintained its pre-eminent position for the next one hundred and fifty years, almost until the end of the nineteenth century. So complimentary of Islam was Sale that it was said that he ‘puts the Christian religion on the same footing with the Muhammedan’,121 while Edward Gibbon accused him of being ‘half a Musulman’.122 He relied heavily on the Arabic sources at his disposal and these enabled him to challenge some of the common accusations and misconceptions. He remarks: I have not, in speaking of Mohammed or his Korân, allowed myself to use those opprobrious appellations, and unmannerly expressions, which seem to be the strongest arguments of several who have written against them. On the contrary, I have thought myself obliged to treat both with common decency, and even to approve such particulars as seemed to me to deserve approbation: for how criminal soever Muhammed may have been in imposing a false religion on mankind, the praise due to his real virtues ought not to be denied him . . . 123 For his life of Muhammad contained in the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ Sale relied primarily on Gagnier’s edition of Abu al-Fida ’, De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis, although he also refers to Prideaux’s The True Nature of Imposture and Boulainvilliers’ Life of Mahomet. These sources also formed the basis for his account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. In his judgement on this, Sale looses some of the sympathetic tone which he displays elsewhere and he exhibits the conventional cynicism of his predecessors. Thus, while he criticizes the view that Muhammad invented the journey to satisfy those who demanded a miracle in order to prove his prophethood, and refutes Prideaux’s thesis that by pretending to have conversed with God Muhammad hoped to establish the authority of whatever he said and thus create what resembles the oral law of the Jews, Sale nonetheless concludes that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was ‘one of the most artful contrivances Mohammed ever put in practice’ and that as a result of Abu Bakr’s support he witnessed such a great increase in his

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reputation that he was able ‘to make his disciples swallow whatever he pleased to impose on them for the future’.124 Anon.: Reflections on Mohammedism Sale’s Koran along with the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ had a great influence on subsequent thinking about Muhammad and Islam. Just one year after publication its impact is already clearly seen in the Reflections on Mohammedism, and the Conduct of Mohammed. Occasioned by a late Learned Translation and Exposition of the Koran or Al Koran.125 In this, the anonymous author presents a comparatively objective and benevolent view of Muhammad. Regarding the night journey and ascension, he amends a common misconception, deliberate or otherwise, by stating that although Prideaux is correct in claiming that Muhammad acquired some of the material for the isra ’/mi‘ra j from the Talmudists, he is wrong when he says that the journey is referred to in the Seventeenth Chapter of the Qur’a n which on the contrary ‘takes Notice of nothing farther than his sudden Removal from Mecca to Jerusalem . . .’.126 The same point had earlier been made by Boulainvilliers. Similarly, while agreeing with Sale that Muhammad feigned his journey to the heavens, the anonymous author strives to exonerate him from concocting all the details of the event remarking that although he might have recounted some ‘romantic Circumstances’ these were ‘swelled out to an enormous tale’ at the ‘Inventive Hands of his followers’.127 The author concludes: What I have here been saying, has not been with Intent to justify him in his enthusiastical or political Forgery, of having conversed with God in Heaven; but to ease him of Part of the Load of Absurdity thrown upon him, by those who may imagine he, for certain, dictated what passes with us for his Night Journey; for that it may not be genuinely from him, appears by another Account of the same Transaction by Al Bochâri, which is much shorter, and void of the prodigious Anilities of the larger Account, which has been forged since.128

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Voltaire (1694–1778): ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’ and ‘Arot et Marot’ Sale’s Koran and Gagnier’s La vie de Mahomet were used by that enthusiastic scholar and ambivalent commentator on Islamic civilization, Voltaire (1694–1778) who deals with the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his article ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’ first published in 1748. In this, Voltaire intends to demonstrate that ‘the charlatan’ Muhammad exploited the people’s belief in the supernatural and he rejects the account of the Prophet forwarded by Boulainvilliers whom he attacks for his benevolent attitude. He accurately recounts the Qur’a nic su rat al-Isra ’ verse 1 basing himself on Sale’s translation. While the Qur’a nic verse mentions only a night journey to the masjid al-aqs a , Sale provides a footnote about Muhammad’s subsequent ascent through the seven heavens, his meeting with God and return to Mecca on the same night. Having read this, and of course the extensive account of the mi‘ra j in Gagnier’s La vie de Mahomet, Voltaire maintains that Muhammad’s followers who compiled the Qur’a n after his death deleted from it the verses telling the story of the ascension to heaven because they were ‘afraid of the ridicule of the people and of the philosophers’.129 Some twenty years after the publication of ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’ appeared Voltaire’s article ‘Arot et Marot’ in the Questions sur l’Encyclopédie (1770). Here, Voltaire reveals his indecision regarding Muhammad and Islam by praising the sympathetic Sale and criticising Gagnier for having spread lies about the religion. Although he still voices the traditional views of the falseness of Islam and the imposture of its prophet, in line with his more conciliatory tone Voltaire now denies that the account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j had initially formed part of the Qur’a n as he maintained in the earlier ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet.’ Now, like Boulainvilliers, he also absolves Muhammad from fabricating it by drawing attention to the late date and therefore unreliability of the only source, he believes, which refers to the event, Abu al-Fida ’ (he was not aware of the much earlier Ibn Isha q). Voltaire considered that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was invented by a contemporary of Muhammad, Abu Hurayra whom Gagnier mentions in his La vie de Mahomet as the main narrator of the account.130

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Claude Etienne Savary (1750–88): Le Coran A half-century after Sale’s Koran, another translation of the Qur’a n appeared done by the French Arabist Claude Etienne Savary (1750– 88).131 Although in his introductory ‘La vie de Mahomet’ and subsequent commentary Savary reproduces some of the usual prejudices regarding Muhammad and still views him as a false prophet, he nonetheless hoped to present an honest and objective assessment of his life and considered that the best way to do this was to reject the miracles falsely attributed to him by ‘fanatics’. Thus, he points out that in a number of places the Qur’a n states that Muhammad is only a preacher and not a miracle worker. In ‘La vie de Mahomet,’ Savary offers a lengthy account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j at the end of which he remarks: The Mahometan doctors have written volumes on the nocturnal journey. They were under the sway of their wonderful imaginations and from this they produced extravagant paintings. Out of some inspiring brush strokes that could have done honour to the brush of Milton they have created numerous huge pictures and puerile fairytales. We have limited ourselves to the narration of Mahomet, if we believe some historians who say that he himself related this to his fellow citizens. As one would expect, he was not successful. The Qurayshites were not easy to persuade and they laughed at the visionary who wanted people to believe in him.132 Later on, in a note to his translation of su rat al-Isra ’ verse 1, Savary explains that Muhammad had ‘imagined’ the night journey so as to lend authority to a new method of prayer he wanted to establish. In the Qur’a n he simply states that God took him in the night from the temple of Mecca to the temple of Jerusalem. He was careful not to go into the details of the journey in the Qur’a n but rather merely gave an oral account of it, something he stopped doing when he saw that people disbelieved him. Nevertheless, the isra ’/mi‘ra j is ‘one of the truths that the Mahometans have to believe in without question’ while the most serious authors ‘consider it to be a vision’ and believe the Prophet was transported only in spirit.133

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Edward Gibbon (1737–94): Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Another scholar, who like Stubbe and Boulainvilliers was not a specialist in Arabic and Islamic studies and who shared the restrained and sympathetic approach of George Sale, was the English historian and securalist Edward Gibbon (1737–94). In a chapter devoted to Muhammad and the origins of Islam in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Gibbon referred to many of the European works mentioned above, including particularly Gagnier’s La vie de Mahomet. Although Gibbon’s treatment of Muhammad cannot be said to be particularly positive, since he concentrated more on his political achievements and made no attempt to understand his religious role and significance, nonetheless due to his scholarly and relatively impartial approach he was generally able to avoid many of the errors to which his predecessors had fallen prey and perpetuated. Thus, Gibbon drew attention to Muhammad’s humane qualities, the peaceful nature of his mission and his rejection of religious violence, remarking that ‘The base and plebian origin of Mahomet is an unskilful calumny of the Christians.’134 For his brief reference to the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Gibbon relied on Gagnier’s De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis translated from Abu al-Fida ’, ‘who wishes to think it a vision’,135 Gagnier’s La vie de Mahomet and The True Nature of Imposture by Prideaux ‘who aggravates the absurdities’. He exonerates Muhammad from any fabrication, stating that although he was repeatedly urged to provide the inhabitants of Medina and Mecca with miracles so as to prove his divine appointment, he consistently refused to do this appealing instead to ‘the internal proofs of his doctrine’ and shielding himself behind ‘the providence of God, who refuses those signs and wonders that would depreciate the merit of faith, and aggravate the guilt of infidelity’.136 On the other hand, Muhammad’s followers were assured of his ability to perform the miraculous, and this conviction became stronger as time progressed after his death. Thus, although the isra ’/mi‘ra j was nothing but an innocent dream subsequent Muslims translated it into a real corporeal event. After relating some other miracles falsely attributed to Muhammad, Gibbon advances the by now common defence of

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Muslim credulity by noting that at least the Muslim scholars do not view it literally: The vulgar are amused with these marvellous tales; but the gravest of the Mussulman doctors imitate the modesty of their master, and indulge in a latitude of faith or interpretation.137 The Isra ’/Mi‘raj and the Qur’a n Among the common misconceptions that we have seen began to be debunked during the eighteenth century was the claim that the night journey and ascension formed part of the Qur’a n. This had proved convenient in that it served to substantiate arguments regarding the imposture of Muhammad and the ridiculous nature of the religion he introduced. Thus, the entry ‘Mahomet’ in the New and General Biographical Dictionary published in 1757, introduces an account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j thus: ‘The story, as it is related in the Alcoran, and believed by the Mahometans is this . . .’138 Elsewhere, Francis Dobbs remarks in his A Summary of Universal History that the Qur’a n mentions that Gabriel brought the bura q to Muhammad and conveyed him to Jerusalem,139 while in the eighteenth-century work Miscellaneous Tracts, Alexander Simm remarks that ‘Mahomet, in the twelfth Year of his pretended Apostleship, tells us in his Alcoran, that, as he was in bed one Night with his beloved Wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his Door . . .’140 Similarly, as noted above, William Bedwell has Sheikh Sinan say, ‘Indeed himselfe doth record in the Alkoran, That he ascended up into the highest heaven . . .’ and ‘he reporteth in the Alkoran, That he rode upon Barak’,141 while Alexander Ross refers to the Liber Scalae Machometi as ‘an exposition of the alcoran’.142 Increased knowledge and widely-available translations into English and French of the Qur’a n began to lay this fallacy to rest. Thus, both Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers and the anonymous author of Reflections on Mohammedism saw fit to deny that the Qur’a n contains an account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. Claude Etienne Savary said much the same.143 Voltaire, however, initially took up a position which acknowledged both points of view and claimed that Muhammad’s followers

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had deleted the account of the mi‘ra j from the Qur’a n after his death because they were afraid of the ridicule it would provoke.144

Prophet and Pretender: Some Nineteenth Century Commentators During the nineteenth century the medieval canon, the traditional figure of Muhammad as licentious profligate and charlatan, heretic and antichrist was still much in evidence, but these caricatures were juxtaposed alongside other more generous images which had already begun to emerge in the previous century. This increasingly enlightened and sympathetic attitude was facilitated by a growth in knowledge about Muhammad and Islam and by a more secular historical method of enquiry. Christianity no longer constituted the standpoint from which judgements were made and revelation was no longer seen as belonging exclusively to that religion but could also be attributed to other faiths including Islam. A further reason was the obvious cultural, political and military power of Europe vis-à-vis the East during the latter part of the nineteenth century when the Ottoman Empire became the ‘sick man of Europe’. Nevertheless, although Muhammad was gradually being exonerated from the worst excesses of medieval vilification and demonisation, it is hardly surprising that writers should continue to show some ambivalence in their judgements since centuries-old prejudices are extinguished only slowly. Some of them could therefore claim to deal with the life of Muhammad objectively, for example by denying that he suffered from epileptic fits or by praising his role as legislator, but still depict him as an impostor or an opportunist. Other commentators began to consider that Muhammad was sincere but challenged the old accusation of imposture by maintaining that he was deluded, suffered from selfdeception or was the victim of insanity. Thus, Gustav Weil (1808–89) preserved the medieval charge of Muhammad’s epilepsy, Aloys Sprenger (1813–97) suggested that he suffered from hysteria, and Theodore Nöldeke (1836–1930), while acknowledging that Muhammad’s prophetic inspiration was real and denying that he suffered from epilepsy, nevertheless claimed that he was victim to overpowering fits of emotion

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that persuaded him he was under divine influences. This was indeed some improvement. Some commentators went even further, and along with the premise that Muhammad had acted in sincerity they began to ask whether he might indeed be a messenger of God. One important indication of a more balanced view of Muhammad was a lecture entitled ‘The Hero as Prophet: Mahomet: Islam’ given by Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) on 8 May 1840 in which he scoffed at the idea of an impostor being the founder of one of the world’s great religions.145 Carlyle’s notion of the Prophet as a hero revealed a significant change in approaches to Muhammad and was one event in the shift in attitudes that had begun during the previous century. As always, these developments were mirrored in the Western treatment of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. Of particular significance in this regard was the emergence of a more scientific worldview, a scepticism towards the supernatural and a secular approach to Biblical criticism. This made the old argument that Islam was not proved by any miracles, in contradistinction to Christianity which was confirmed by them, less attractive than before. Once the isra ’/mi‘ra j was not being attacked and discounted as a potential miracle it could be assessed more dispassionately. Thus, alongside interest in the journey as a piece of oriental exoticism, towards the close of the eighteenth-century a more serious and enlightened view began to predominate and it was not always viewed as a cynical fabrication by Muhammad in order to enhance and corroborate his status as prophet of God. At the same time, there was a well-intentioned attempt to indicate that not all Muslims believed the narrative of the isra ’/mi‘ra j to refer to a corporeal event, but rather considered it as some kind of vision or allegory. Godfrey Higgins (1771–1883) and the Reverend George Bush (1796–1859) Thus, in the first decades of the nineteenth century there were two contrasting images of Muhammad in existence. These are well illustrated in the works of Godfrey Higgins and George Bush. Godfrey Higgins (1771–1833), an historian of religions and Bible scholar, was one of the first Western biographers of Muhammad in the

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nineteenth century and also one of the most sympathetic. Indeed, he was perhaps the first Western scholar categorically to maintain that Muhammad was sincere. He remarks: I know no man concerning whom it is more difficult to form an opinion than Mohamed, the celebrated prophet of Arabia. Bigotry on one side, and malice on the other, have so obscured the history of this extraordinary person, that it is very difficult to come to a certainty as to the truth of most circumstances respecting him.146 Higgins wanted his own life of Muh a mmad to be distinguished from the work of some previous commentators. He therefore maintains that he will avoid that ‘disgusting trash’ written about the character and conduct of Muh a mmad by Christian priests, some of them of great learning and respectability such as Humphrey Prideaux.147 Another such was Johannes Andreas (Juan Andrés), the author of the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica148 which many Western writers used as an authoritative source for Muh a mmad and the Qur’a n, but who Higgins berates for his conversion to Christianity, saying that ‘I confess I take the evidence of a man of this description with very great jealousy and suspicion; besides his work betrays the most violent hatred on every page.’149 When Higgins turns his attention to the isra ’/mi‘ra j he repeats the erroneous statement that an account of it is found within the Qur’a n, something about which he should have been better informed. On a more positive note, however, he reiterates the view that Muslim scholars understand the journey as a vision. Even more interesting is Higgins’ condemnation of Christian hypocrisy in the criticism of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and the comparison he draws between the Muslim belief in Muh a mmad’s ascension and the Christian belief in the ascension of Paul: In the Koran there is an account of a journey which Mahomed took, along with the angel Gabriel, through the seven heavens to the throne of God. This is evidently nothing but a dream

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or a vision, (similar to the journey of Jesus with the devil from the mountain to the pinnacle of the temple, which divines now defend on the ground that it is a vision and nothing more,) and, like most dreams, it is a mass of nonsense. The Christian priests, who are as much afraid of ridicule, when applied to their own religion, as they are fond of applying it to the religions of others, make themselves merry with the horse called Borak, on which Mahomed rode in a few seconds from Mecca to Jerusalem, asking what sort of horse Borak could be. The fact is, the word in the oriental language means, and ought to be translated, a flash of lightning – a very dangerous horse to ride indeed, except in a dream or vision . . . The doctors of the law all consider it a vision. A Mohamedan, who cannot be expected to have much respect for St. Paul, could perhaps observe, that his journey, described in 2 Cor. xii., is not very unlike that of the prophet of Arabia.150 Moreover, the Prophet was not responsible for originating the story. Despite the protestations of his followers to the contrary, Muhammad never claimed to be able to perform miracles.151 The isra ’/mi‘ra j was merely a dream which later Muslims, attracted as all men to the marvellous, concluded to be a real physical journey and thus a miracle which they attributed to their prophet so as to increase his reputation and status.152 If Godfrey Higgins is representative of the nineteenth-century enlightened secular approach to Islam, then the Protestant Reverend George Bush (1796–1859) represents the survival of the old attitudes with all their unbridled hostility, venom and absence of scholarly acumen. The rationale behind his Life of Mohammed,153 according to Bush, was to convey the main themes of the ‘impostor’s’ history so as to elicit ‘a candid moral estimate of the character of the Founder of Islam’.154 To achieve this, Bush relied on familiar sources such as Prideaux’s The True Nature of Imposture, Boulainvilliers’ The Life of Mahomet, Pierre Bayle’s Historical Dictionary, and Hottinger’s Historia Orientalis, in addition to Morgan’s Mohametism Fully Explained and Charles Forster’s (1787–1871) very critical Mahometanism Unveiled. To these he added such as Sale’s Koran and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

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The chapter dealing with the isra ’/mi‘ra j, that ‘miserable tissue of absurdity’,155 occupies one out of a total of sixteen chapters in Bush’s book156 and evidently drew largely from Morgan’s Mahometanism Explained and Prideaux’s The True Nature of Imposture. Thus, like Prideaux, Bush perpetuates the myth that whereas all the other prophets had asked to be remembered in Muhammad’s prayers, when he arrived in the seventh heaven and met Jesus he asked to be remembered in his prayers and in this manner acknowledged his greater status.157 Similarly, after recounting the details of the journey, Bush outlines the motives behind the ‘puerile conceptions of the prophet’, the ‘silly rhapsody’,158 noting that Muhammad probably had a further motive in forging his tale other than merely to astound his followers.159 And here, Bush once again avails himself of the thesis of Prideaux, stating that Muhammad invented the story in imitation of Moses with the aim of ‘advancing his authority, and of giving the weight and character of oracles to his private sayings’160 so that these would be taken in the same way as the oral law of the Jews: It was not without reason, therefore, that the impostor was extremely anxious to have this marvelous recital cordially believed, or that he should have introduced the Most High in the Koran confirming the truth of his servant’s asservations.161 Washington Irving (1783–1859): The Life of Mahomet Less than two decades after the publication of Bush’s hostile and antiquated appraisal of Muhammad appeared The Life of Mahomet by the American novelist Washington Irving (1783–1859).162 Although Sir William Muir judged Irving’s book to be little more than a romantic novel, stating that Irving had ‘amid the charms of a romantic bias too often lost sight of the truth’,163 nonetheless, Irving displays a mostly positive attitude to Muhammad and does not engage in the polemic and prejudice seen in some of his predecessors. In particular, when he addresses the question whether Muhammad’s miracles were deliberate falsehoods, Irving offers the judgement that they are ‘all fabrications of Moslem zealots’ and that Muhammad ‘expressly and repeatedly

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disclaimed all miracles excepting the Koran’.164 Thus, although he provides accounts of some of the miracles associated with Muhammad, they are not cited simply as objects of ridicule, as in many earlier works. Indeed, it appears that Irving deals with the miracles in order to demonstrate the significance of the legendary material regarding Muhammad. Chapter XII ‘Night journey of the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem; and thence to the seventh heaven’ is based largely on Gagnier’s La vie de Mahomet. Here, Irving compares the isra ’/mi‘ra j to the supernatural visitation of the jinn in the valley of Nakhla (as Muhammad was reading the Qur’a n in Nakhla he is said to have been visited by some jinn who then become Muslims), and describes it as ‘a vision or revelation far more extraordinary, and which has ever since remained a theme of comment and conjecture among devout Mahometans’.165 While omitting elements of ‘wild extravagance’, Irving’s narrative is detailed and is offered without criticism or comment. Following this, he mentions the arguments of subsequent Muslims regarding the journey – whether it was done in spirit or in body, and whether it was an actual journey, a dream, a vision or a pretence. Given Irving’s views on the miracles ascribed to Muhammad it is not surprising that he should conclude: As we have already observed, this nocturnal journey rests almost entirely upon tradition, though some of its circumstances are vaguely alluded to in the Koran. The whole may be a fanciful superstructure of Moslem fanatics on one of these visions or ecstasies to which Mahomet was prone, and the relation of which caused him to be stigmatised by the Koreishites as a madman.166 Sir William Muir (1819–1905): The Life of Mahomet The Life of Mahomet by the Scottish orthodox Christian Sir William Muir (1819–1905) was the largest and most important work of its kind written during the nineteenth century. It was also the first popular study on Muhammad in English to be based on primary sources including the Qur’a n and H adıth collections. Muir had knowledge of

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Arabic and learned about Islam in India where he worked in a number of administrative posts. In judgement on Muir’s book, and from a Muslim point of view, Buaben notes that one detects in it ‘a struggle to portray the falsity of Muhammad’s claims’, and that ‘[Muir’s] thesis in the preliminary discussions that any story which puts Muhammad in a bad light must be true and that which shows him in a good light is false or, at best, suspect, is directing him in his interpretation of the events in Muhammad’s life.’167 Notwithstanding these remarks, Muir can rightly be seen as another example of those nineteenth-century writers who strove to rectify the crudely antithetical and unsympathetic attitude to Muhammad exhibited by their predecessors, even though this attempt was not as successful as demanded by a more liberal and enlightened age. Thus, although Muir subscribes to the medieval idea that Muhammad suffered from epileptic fits, in other places he often views him in a much more positive light judging him to have been ‘endowed with a refined mind and delicate taste, reserved and meditative’.168 Moreover, Muir largely absolves Muhammad from imposture and deliberate forgery and declares him to have been basically sincere. As is usually the case when dealing with Western approaches to the isra ’/mi‘ra j, these are informed by the author’s assessment of Muhammad. Muir’s account is no exception. He says: The hopes of Mahomet were now fixed upon Medina. Visions of his journey northwards flitted before his imagination. The musings of the day re-appeared in midnight slumbers. He dreamed that he was swiftly carried by Gabriel on a winged steed past Medina to the temple at Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the former Prophets, all assembled for his reception in solemn conclave. His excited spirit conjured up a still more transcendent scene. From Jerusalem he seemed to mount upwards, and ascend from one Heaven to another; he found himself at last in the awful presence of his Maker, who dismissed him with the behest that his people were to pray five times in the day. As he awoke in the morning in the house of Abu Talib, where he had passed the night, the vision was vividly before his eyes; and he exclaimed to

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Omm Hani, the daughter of Abu Talib, that during the night he had prayed in the Temple of Jerusalem.169 Muir states that the outline of the journey as described above is all that can be attributed to the Prophet himself, the subsequent traditions being the result of ‘pious imagination’. Both the night journey to Jerusalem and the ascent to Heaven are ‘decked out in the most extravagant colouring of Romance, and in all the gorgeous drapery that Fancy could conceive’.170 He goes on to remark, however, that ‘It is possible that in later life [Muhammad] may have gratified the morbid curiosity of his followers by adding imaginary details to the Vision. But even this supposition is limited by the known reserve and taciturnity of the Prophet.’171 Muir also mentions an accusation which he attributes to the German Islamicist Aloys Sprenger (d.1893) that Muhammad committed ‘an unblushing forgery’ in his miraculous description of the Temple of Jerusalem to the doubting Meccans since he had probably heard about it or read about it in books. Muir is of the opinion that this element within the traditions is ‘worthless and fabricated’. Muir also counters the remark of Sprenger that those who narrated the accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j were respectable and that there is no event in Muhammad’s life ‘on which we have more numerous and genuine traditions than on his nightly journey’. He observes that many traditions would inevitably form around any supernatural or imaginary subject which was based on some earlier prototype, and therefore the number of these traditions does not imply that they possess any historical value.172 Muir is mistaken on one point, however. As to how the journey was performed, he says that the earliest authorities indicate only a vision and that Sprenger was wrong when he states that all historical records indicate a bodily journey and that only a few sceptics maintain that it was spiritual. In support of his opinion, Muir refers to such as the  reports of ‘A’isha and Qata da b. Di‘a ma who said that ‘the Prophet’s body did not disappear, but that God carried him away by night in the spirit’ as quoted by Ibn Isha q. Muir also states that al-H asan al-Basrı’s interpretation of ‘the vision’ in su rat al-Isra ’ correctly refers to the ascension to heaven.173 In conclusion, Muir asserts that ‘Tradition

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cannot therefore be said to be adverse to the theory that it was a simple Vision.’174 Many later Western scholars used Muir’s book as the standard English biography of Muhammad and the influence of its sympathetic approach can be detected in their writings. These include such as James William Hampson Stobart, the Principal of La Martinière College in Lucknow, and John Davenport both of whom attempt to exonerate Muhammad from fabricating the story of the isra ’/mi‘ra j and stating that it was a dream or a vision of his.175 Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839–1903): Muhammed and Mohammedanism One Western scholar who perhaps ventured further than any previous commentator in his defence of Muhammad and Islam is Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839–1903) in his Mohammed and Mohammedanism, first published in 1874. Smith was interested in Muhammad’s motivation, and in particular the question of his sincerity. From his examination of the psychology of the Prophet he concludes that no one could have achieved what Muhammad did without the deepest faith in the truth and goodness of his mission. Indeed, Mohammed to the end of his life claimed for himself that title only with which he had begun, and which the highest philosophy and the truest Christianity will one day, I venture to believe, agree in yielding to him – that of a Prophet, a very Prophet of God.176 Smith is especially critical of those Westerners who have attacked Muhammad on the basis of his purported miracles. He notes that one of the unique characteristics of Islam vis-à-vis the other great religions of the world is that it does not rest its claims on the performance of miracles, and yet ‘superficial observers up to the middle of the last century, and Christian missionaries of later times’ have fastened on the few miracles attributed to him by his credulous followers and have ‘triumphantly torn the mask from the ‘impostor’’.177 Indeed, when Muhammad was challenged to perform miracles, the Qur’a n (the only reliable evidence

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on the matter) states that he was unable to do so and that miracles are in any case incapable of convincing the disbelievers. By way of a general conclusion, Smith acknowledges that while the story of the isra ’/mi‘ra j originated with Muhammad it was a ‘vision’ and not a miracle: We can see the way in which a man who denied that he could work miracles is believed to work them even by his contemporaries, and how, in the next generation, the extravagant vision of the nocturnal flight to the seventh heaven, with all its gorgeous imagery . . . is taken for sober fact, and is propagated with all the elaboration of details, which, if they came from anybody, could only have come from Mohammed himself; and yet all of it with the most perfect good faith.178 Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) We cannot leave the nineteenth century without mentioning another ambiguous defence of Muhammad and the isra ’/mi‘ra j which came from a rather unlikely quarter. A common accusation levelled against Muhammad was that he suffered from epilepsia. Perhaps surprisingly, this has not been cited in connection with the isra ’/mi‘ra j except by one commentator, the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81), who remarked: All you, healthy people, do not even suspect what happiness is, that happiness which we epileptics experience during the second before the attack. In his Koran Mohammed assures us that he saw paradise and was inside. All clever fools are convinced that he is simply a liar and a fraud. Oh no! He is not lying! He really was in paradise during an attack of epilepsy, from which he suffered as I do.179

The Twentieth Century: Old Attitudes and New Horizons During the last hundred years or so, and particularly during the past few decades, Western research on Islam has become much more diverse in approach than formerly, with a tendency to specialise and to make

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use of theoretical frameworks and findings drawn from the history of religions, historical linguistics, sociology and anthropology. While during the twentieth century some traditional concerns were further developed, these including the interpretation of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a vision or some kind of mystical experience, new areas of interest have been opened and explored. But regardless of these new approaches, old attitudes are still in evidence and some observers would maintain that the old hostility to Islam has not ceased.180 Examples of this hostility can be seen in what follows. Others suggest that modern scholars of Islam have managed to rid themselves of many of the antagonistic medieval notions and even go so far as to ask whether Muhammad was in some way a true prophet. Indeed, in more recent times respectable scholarly treatment of Muhammad usually describes him as basically sincere and moral, rather than an impostor, a political opportunist and a pseudo-prophet. As a corollary to this, he is no longer accused of inventing his night journey and ascension. But once the isra ’/mi‘ra j is no longer considered a mere fabrication then it becomes increasingly problematic and more questions inevitably arise as to its true nature. The Search for Origins One theme within modern Western enquiry on Muhammad and Islam which has a pedigree going back to the earliest times is the endeavour to identify non-Islamic precursors to Muhammad’s teachings. The initial rationale behind this amounted basically to the fact that since Muhammad was certainly a charlatan and had himself composed the Qur’a n then anything acceptable in it must have been borrowed from elsewhere. Muhammad stole the ideas, was taught them or acquired them from stories told to him, for example, by Jews and Christians. In particular, since Islam was judged to be a heretical form of Christianity, the only true faith, and Muhammad was seen as the instigator of schism, special effort was often made to demonstrate the Christian origins of his religion. Thus, a few generations after the rise of Islam, St John of Damascus (born c.676, some fifty years or so after the hijra) was writing that Muhammad had concocted his doctrines from

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the Old and New Testaments on the advice of an Arian monk who had instructed him.181 The Arian monk is presumably Bahıra the hermit who was later transformed into Sergius, Muh a mmad’s teacher who revealed to him the Christian mysteries. This classic Christian story was repeated for centuries.182 The Renaissance historian Polydorus Virgilius (c.1470–1555) also adds fuel to the debate in his account of the rise of Islam, remarking that the ‘wicked plant’ Muhammad fell in acquaintance with the Monk Sergius, an heretick of Nestorius’s sect, that fled from Byzance into Arabia; and by his counsell and advice, this Mahomet, about the year of our Lord five hundred and twenty; and the twelfth year of the reign of the Emperour Heraclius; began in Arabia to found a new sect, and by seditious Sermons seduced much and many Countries. He conquered by help of the Arabians divers Lands, and subdued them as Tributaries, and compelled them to live after the tradition of his laws, that he gathered out of the New and Old Testaments, and divers heresies of Nicolaites, Manichees, and Sabellians.183 Although legends regarding Muhammad’s teachers gradually became less accepted, the principle that his ideas were not original but were rather appropriated by him from elsewhere remained. Muh a mmad might not be accused of deliberate fraud but he was still seen as a plagiariser and eclectic collector. Some saw this as evidence of his charlatanism, some saw it as mere copying. Some eighteenth-century commentators who made contributions to the field include Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers who concluded that Muhammad instituted the fast of Ramad a n ‘in imitation of the great fast of expiation among the Jews’,184 Humphrey Prideaux who described Islam as ‘a Medley made up of Judaism, the several Heresies of the Christians then in the East, and the old Pagan Rites of the Arabs’185 and the Benedictine historian Mathurin Veyssière de la Croze (1661–1739) who stated that Muslims borrowed the practice of performing ablutions partly from Jews and partly from Christians.186 Those who wrote on the subject in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries include such as the German rabbi Abraham Geiger

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(1810–74) who traced the Jewish influences on Islam in his Was hat Mohammed aus dem Jugenthume aufgenommen? which appeared in 1833.187 Elsewhere, David Samuel Margoliouth (1858–1940) supplied what he considered to be the origin of the postures in Muslim prayer. Thus, the qiya m is Jewish, the sujud is Christian and the julu s is taken from both of these. Meanwhile, the su rat al-Fa tiha is derived from the Paternoster or Lord’s Prayer.188 Washington Irving similarly commented that ‘Much of the Koran may be traced to the Bible, the Mishnu, and the Talmud of the Jews.’189 Finally, the American historian Charles Cutler Torrey’s (1863–1956) The Jewish Foundation of Islam,190 first published in 1933, sought to trace Muhammad’s ideas to Judaism and to argue against the opinion current at the time that Islam was based on Christianity and promoted by such as Tor Andrae, Julius Wellhausen and Karl Ahrens. Of course, not all of this latter activity was a cynical exercise to undermine the religious credentials of Islam and to demonstrate that it was merely a corrupted version of earlier faiths. It was also related to the rise of anthropology and the study of the history of religions and answered to the desire of Western scholars to reach an understanding of their own societies and cultures and of others by examining the parallels and common elements between them. This line of enquiry is of course entirely justified, since Islam did not arise and develop in isolation from the other religions in the Middle East and the influence of these is naturally of no little concern. Alongside this was the more romantic desire to reveal the original or primal source of certain myths, rituals and other religious phenomena thereby to understand their true nature. Whatever the case, the search for origins was also applied to the Prophet’s night journey and ascension. As with the doctrines and rituals of Islam in general, approaching the isra ’/mi‘ra j narratives in terms of them being copies of non-Muslim legends is by no means a modern development; indeed, it seems always to have been a prominent point of interest and Persian, Jewish, Christian and even Indian prototypes have been suggested. Humphrey Prideaux reserves his most detailed descriptions of the mi‘ra j for the cock mentioned in some Muslim accounts:

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it is all borrowed from [the Talmidists], with some little variation only, to make it look not totally the same. For in the Tract Bava Bathra of the Babylonish Talmud, we have a Story of such a prodigious Bird, called Ziz, which standing with his Feet upon the Earth, reacheth up unto the Heavens with his Head, and with the spreading of his Wings darkneth the whole Orb of the Sun, and causeth a total Eclipse thereof. This Bird the Chaldee Paraphrast on the Psalms says, is a Cock, which he describes of the same bigness, and tells us that he crows before the Lord. And the Chaldee Paraphrast on Job also tells us of him, and of his crowing every morning before the Lord, and that God giveth him Wisdom for this purpose.191 This ‘stuff of the cock’ serves to demonstrate that the Islamic story is a corruption of an earlier account. Similarly, Barthélémy d’Herbelot remarks that the mi‘ra j was ‘created by followers of the false prophet to give him some characteristics similar to those of Jesus Christ’;192 and Mathurin Veyssière de la Croze traces the inspiration behind the mi‘ra j to Jesus’ words ‘No one ever went up into heaven except the one who came back down from heaven.’193 Elsewhere, the anonymous eighteenth-century author of ‘The Life and Actions of Mahomet’ also identifies what he considers to be the origins of the ‘imposter’s’ tale these being ‘some Descriptions in the Holy Scripture, which he strangely perverted, and blended with them certain Rabbinical Fictions, and the wild Fancies of his own distemper’d Brain’ in addition to the description of the heavenly Jerusalem as found in Revelations to which he added ‘some Jewish Fictions’. 194 Although Western commentators on the isra ’/mi‘ra j have been identifying non-Islamic origins for the narrative, or at least elements within it, since at least the seventeenth century, this line of enquiry developed into a main focus of concern in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Edgar Blochet’s ‘L’ascension au ciel du prophète Mohammed,’ published in 1899, identified the seeds of Muhammad’s mi‘ra j in Persian tradition and especially in the accounts of the ascension to heaven of the Zoroastrian Arda Viraf.195 Blochet’s article was followed

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in 1901 by the publication of Wilhelm Bousset’s ‘Die Himmelsreise der Seele’ which once again argued that Muslim accounts of the mi‘ra j were based on the ascension of Arda Viraf, this reaching Islam by way of Jewish apocryphal literature.196 Another to take up the theme of Iranian influence on the isra ’/ mi‘ra j, but this time to prove that Muhammad’s ‘borrowings’ were an indication of imposture and the fallaciousness of Islam, was William St. Clair Tisdall. William St. Clair Tisdall (1859–1928) and the Sources of the Isra ’/Mi‘raj The Reverend William St. Clair Tisdall (1859–1928) served as Secretary of the Church of England’s Church Missionary Society in Isfahan, Iran. He was part of the organized missionary endeavour which found considerable scope for operations under the expanding British Empire. Although any modern scholar concerned with Muhammad and Islam would rightly dissociate himself from Tisdall’s views, they are not untypical of Christian missionaries during the period197 and are still prominent on a number of Christian apologist websites today. As a Christian missionary at this time, Tisdall was concerned to use logical proofs to convince Muslims of the groundless nature of their faith, and conversely the rationality and truth of Christianity. He first broached his views in The Sources of Islam,198 which was later enlarged and appeared under the title The Original Sources of the Qur’an199 the main purpose of which was to provide the Christian missionary with ‘a new method of leading Muslim inquirers to perceive the untenable nature of their position’.200 This method consists of undermining Islam by demonstrating that rather than being of divine and eternal original and transmitted to Muh a mmad by Gabriel, the Qur’a n is in fact drawn from mundane human sources and composed by Muh a mmad. To this end Tisdall systematically examines all the sources available to Muh a mmad, these including notions current among the Arabs, teachings borrowed from Judaism, the apocryphal Christian writings with which he was familiar, and Zoroastrian and even Hindu narratives which the Prophet heard

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from foreign visitors to Medina. In words reminiscent of an earlier age, Tisdall notes that the Qur’a n reveals the working of Muhammad’s own mind, and shows the gradual declension of his character as he passed from the earnest and sincere though visionary enthusiast into the conscious impostor and open sensualist. All this is clear to any unprejudiced reader of the book.201 Among the aspects of Muhammad’s biography which Tisdall focusses on in detail is that of the night journey and ascension. In addition to the opening verse of the Qur’a nic su rat al-Isra ’ he also deals with the various traditions referring to the isra ’/mi‘ra j and which, he asserts, are universally accepted by all Muslims since these are necessary in order to amplify and explain the obscure meaning of the verse. He quotes Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya for the account of Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and supplements this with an account of the mi‘ra j from al-Tabrızı ’s collection of H adıth,  the Mishkat al-Masa bıh ,202 along with details from other traditions in which he finds ‘mythology unrestrained by any regard for reason or truth’.203 From his enquiry Tisdall concludes that while the Islamic narrative of the mi‘ra j may have incorporated elements from a number of different sources, it is based mainly on the ascension of Arta Viraf as related in the Pahlavi Arta Viraf Namak (‘The Book of Arta Viraf’) which was written during the reign of Ardashir Babagan (AD 226–40), the king of Persia, approximately four hundred years before the hijra. In this work it is related that when the Magian priests found that Zoroastrianism was losing ground, they determined to renew faith in the religion by preparing a young priest, named Arta Viraf, for an ascent into the heavens so that he could see what was there and tell them whether it conformed with what was written in their religious books. Thus, while Arta Viraf was in a trance his spirit ascended to the heavens. Under the guidance of an archangel called Sarosh, he passed from one heaven to another, through Paradise and Hell, until he came into the presence of Ormazd, the good god of Zoroastrianism.

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Ormazd ordered Arta Viraf to return to the earth as his messenger and to inform the Zoroastrians as to what he had witnessed.204 Tisdall identifies other legends which bear a resemblance to the mi‘ra j or at least parts of it. For example, the much later thirteenthcentury work Zardusht-Namah states that a few centuries before Arta Viraf, Zoroaster had himself ascended to heaven. There are similar tales in India including the Sanskrit Indralokagamanam (‘Journey to the World of Indra’, Indra being the god of the atmosphere). In this, the hero Arjuna makes a journey through the heavens which, Tisdall claims, corresponds in some respects with Muhammad’s mi‘ra j. 205 Tisdall also notes that very similar legends are likewise found in certain Christian apocryphal works, especially in the ‘Visio Pauli’ in which Paul ascends to the heavens and beholds the four rivers of Paradise, and the ‘Testament of Abraham’ in which Abraham sees the heavens. In these legends, both men return to earth to relate what they had seen, as do Arta Viraf and Muhammad. Tisdall remarks that the cherubic chariot on which Abraham rode has in the Islamic narrative been transformed into the bura q, ‘riding being more in accordance with Arabian ideas than driving’.206 Finally, he mentions that the apocryphal ‘Book of Enoch’ also contains a long account of the wonders of the earth, the sky and hell that Enoch is said to have witnessed in his vision, and that this must have influenced the ‘Visio Pauli’ and the ‘Testament of Abraham’ and hence also the mi‘ra j narrative. Tisdall concludes that if all this is true then we find that the Muslim legend of Muhammad’s ascent, like so many other legends about Muhammad, has been invented, on the model of other accounts like that contained in the Arta Viraf Namak, with the object of making it appear that he was in certain respects similar, though superior, to Christ and the other prophets who preceded him.207 The debate over the relationship between the Arda Viraf Namak and the mi‘ra j continues. In the most detailed treatment of the subject to date, Dr M. S. M. Saifullah argues that the Arda Viraf Namak was not in existence until the ninth-tenth centuries AD, that is, long after the

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beginning of Islam, and anyway the events which it describes bear hardly any resemblance to the Prophet’s ascension.208 Persia, Shı‘ı  Ima ms and Jewish-Christian Apocalyptic The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book by the Swedish orientalist and scholar of religions Geo Widengren appeared in 1950209 to be followed in 1955 by a second part, Muhammad, the Apostle of God and His Ascension. It is this latter book which concerns us here. The main thesis of this is that an ascension to the heavens was necessary to establish the authority of sacral kings in Mesopotamia and other ancient kingdoms of the Near East. An ascension was also used to establish the credentials of certain of the Shı‘ı  Ima ms and Shı‘ı  activists such as Abu Mansur al-‘Ijlı  (d.121/739–40). Muhammad’s mi‘ra j was similarly necessary in order to legitimize his spiritual credentials: The ascent to heaven is, in a way, necessary for the Apostle. Without it he would never be given his commission as Apostle, nor his command of the heavenly revelation which he has to impart to humanity, nor his esoteric knowledge which is inherited from him to his descendants.210 In the discussion, Widengren focusses almost exclusively on Muhammad’s interview with God in heaven, about which the earliest Muslim narratives say little, and more or less ignores the other, more prominent, details, motifs and episodes within the mi‘ra j narratives. As to the ‘general pattern’ on which the actual description of the mi‘ra j is based, this is, according to Widengren, in the first place the Shı’ite  traditions of the ascent of the Ima m, alongside accounts of the ascension of various heresiarchs. One such account of the latter type concerns the Persian Biha farıd (floruit c.750 AD) about whom the following is quoted: Then he returned (from China) and brought with him, among other curiosities, a green shirt, very thin and flexible, so that it could be held in the grasp of a human hand. During the night he

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went up to a temple. Then in the morning he descended thence, and was observed by a peasant ploughing a field belonging to him. This man he told that during his absence from them he had been in heaven, and that heaven and hell had been shown unto him, and that God had given him a revelation, had dressed him in that shirt, and had sent him down to earth in that same hour. The peasant believed him, and told others that he had witnessed how he had descended from heaven.211 As further evidence of a Persian influence Widengren also relates a similar account concerning Mani212 and another concerning Zarathustra.213 He thinks it probable that these narratives reached Islam via JewishChristian tradition rather than directly from Persia.214 Ioan Petru Culianu is another recent scholar who, in his Psychanodia,215 has attempted to trace the origins of the mi‘ra j. In contrast to most other commentators such as Tisdall and Widengren, Culianu argues against a Persian influence, remarking that apocalyptic literature is relatively unknown in the Iranian religion, the journey of Arda  Vira z in the Arda  Vira z Na mak being an exception to this. Moreover, neither the narrative framework of the Arda  Vira z Na mak nor its content have anything to do with the ascension of Muhammad. Culianu maintains that the source of the heavenly journey as a universal phenomenon is to be found in Ancient Greek apocalyptic literature. This subsequently influenced the later Jewish tradition, and the Islamic traditions concerning the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j are directly derived from the Jewish pattern of ascension to heaven. Indeed, he claims that the analogies between the mi‘ra j and the Jewish apocalyptic are so obvious that ‘it would seem quite superfluous to demonstrate that the former is derived from the latter’.216 As an example of the theme of a voyage through the heavens in Jewish apocalyptic literature Culianu refers to the Slavic Book of Henoch (or 2 Henoch) of the first century AD: The book is cast in the form of a vision of Enoch, in which he is conducted by two angels through the seven heavens, and shown all they contain. In the first heaven he sees the angels who guard the snow and ice, and the dew. In the second are the fallen

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angels, suffering torment and awaiting their final doom. In the third heaven he sees the Paradise of the righteous, and also the place of torment for the wicked. In the fourth heaven are the sun, moon and stars, and the angels who attend them. In the fifth heaven are the Watchers, with their chief, Satan. These Watchers are the angels whose revolt against God preceded the sin of their followers with mortal women, and so they are separated from their followers, who figured in the second heaven. In the sixth heaven are the angels who are charged with the regulation of all the forces of Nature. In the seventh heaven is God Himself, with the archangels and all the celestial glory of His court.217 This idea of a Jewish source for the isra ’/mi‘ra j is not new, although it had not previously been developed so thoroughly. Thus, Miguel Asín Palacios, dealt with below, considered that while the isra ’/mi‘ra j might in theory have adopted some Persian motifs, he concluded that the primary source of the mi‘ra j was Jewish and Jewish-Christian apocalyptic.218 More recently, Heribert Busse has also commented on the origins of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension’ originally published in 1991. He too considers that most of the details of the Islamic narrative are taken from the apocalyptic literature of the Jews. As evidence of this Busse supplies a cursory list of correspondences to the isra ’/mi‘ra j found within Jewish apocalyptic literature of which the following is a representative sample. Thus, the place of Muhammad’s departure is either his own house or a sanctuary, this latter corresponding to the Oak of Mamre. Levi saw himself standing on the top of a high mountain from where he reached the gate of heaven. The ascension is performed in the company of one or more angels and is achieved with the help of the wind, or the chariot of the Spirit, a cloud of light and the chariot of the cherubim, the angel’s wings or the wings of a dove. Three angels take Enoch’s hand and raise him up to heaven. Occasionally a terrestrial journey precedes the ascension, as when Enoch is told that his destination is the east where he sees the open gates of heaven. Similarly, the ascension in the Apocalypse of Abraham is also preceded

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by an earthly journey. God orders Abraham to leave his native country and he travels to Horeb where he makes the sacrifice that God prescribed to him, defies the Devil who tempts him, and is taken up into heaven.219 Busse also notes that Jewish apocalyptic literature provides descriptions of what the heavens contain similar to those relating to the mi‘ra j. For example, God’s throne is situated above the heavens and is surrounded by angels. Elsewhere, a house of crystal (corresponding to the bayt al-ma‘mu r) is located at the highest place with rivers of fire springing from its four walls, and choirs of angels are standing around the house or going in and out, praising God day and night. This house is God’s abode, the ‘House of the Spirit’, and Enoch prostrates himself before it. A tree (corresponding to the sidrat al-muntaha ) is standing near the house. Following this, Busse supplies a summary list of features found in Hellenistic Jewish literature which may be transferred to the narratives of the isra ’/mi‘ra j with little alteration.220 Thus, the ascent takes place in a sleeping state, the narrative is usually related in the first person, the one ascending is accompanied by an angel guide, the revelation is reproduced in a question-answer dialogue, different levels or heavens are referred to, mysteries are revealed, and the journey is finite and ends with the main character returning to earth. In conclusion, Busse states that ‘There can be no doubt as to the source of most details of the stories of the isra ’ and the mi‘radj.’  Finally, in one of the most up to date works on the subject, Mordechai Nisan proposes a possible Jewish source for the isra ’/mi‘ra j in the Aramaic Rabbinic exegesis of the Bible attributed to R. Yonatan Ben Uziel from the post-Temple Tannaitic period. Briefly put, the Biblical Book of Exodus (Chapter 19:4) states that during the Jewish flight to freedom from Egypt, God raised the Children of Israel ‘on wings of eagles’ bringing them close to Him. The Aramaic commentary on this describes how God put the Israelites on clouds, as if on the wings of birds, and brought them from Pilusin (i.e. Ramses in Egypt) to Mount Moriah, the site of the later Temple Beit Mukdasha in Jerusalem (the city not being mentioned by name). The commentary goes on to explain that the Israelites were transported to the Temple so that they could hold the Passover sacrifice there and on that same night were returned to Pilusin in Egypt.221 Thus, notes Nisan, the classical

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Rabbinic exegesis and the Qur’a nic verse 17:1 have in common ‘the essential timing (night), site (Temple Mount), and mechanism (flight) for the ‘night journey’ to Jerusalem’.222 In general then, it seems relatively easy to identify features of the isra ’/mi‘ra j which are common to narratives from other religions and cultures, whether the ascension of the Zoroastrian priest Arda Viraf, Moses, Baruch, Isaiah or Enoch in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, or the ascent of Paul. Thematic parallels are obvious, but whether the meaning and spirit of Muhammad’s journey is the same as that of the other prophets is an altogether different question. Also, it remains the case that none of these narratives has attained the advanced stage of literary development, aroused so much debate and controversy, nor has anything approaching the religious and moral significance that the isra ’/mi‘ra j has within Islam. The Mi‘raj and Dante’s Divine Comedy Whilst the quest for the origins of the mi‘ra j has had many suitors, an equal if not greater amount of energy has been directed in the opposite direction, that is, in demonstrating that the mi‘ra j is itself an origin. Amongst all the research conducted on the mi‘ra j in the West since the beginning of the twentieth century, none has aroused more passion and controversy than the identification of the Islamic narrative as the prototype of the Florentine Dante’s Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia). Indeed, the arguments form a subject of historical study in their own right. The Divine Comedy, written at the turn of the fourteenth century, is an allegorical description of the author’s journey through Heaven, guided by his lover Beatrice, and through Hell and Purgatory, guided by Virgil (d. 19 BC). The work clearly bears traces of classical Rome and Greece and of aspects of Dante’s own times. It also contains references to the Muslim personalities Saladin (S ala h al-Dın)  (d.589/1193), Avicenna (Ibn Sına  ) (d.428/1037), Averroes (Ibn Rushd) (d.595/1198–9), the Prophet Muhammad and his cousin and son-in-law ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib both of whom are condemned to the circle of schismatics in Hell. This association with the world of Islam was dramatically augmented in 1919 when Miguel

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Asín Palacios (1871–1944), a Catholic priest and professor of Arabic at the University of Madrid, published his La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia. In this well-documented and thorough work, Palacios argues that Dante had either direct or indirect knowledge of Islamic mystical and philosophical texts which were ultimately derived from Islamic narratives of the mi‘ra j and which he used as the model for his Divine Comedy. Palacios does not identify a single account of the mi‘ra j, but rather notes the existence of many traditions which deal with the subject, and two major works derived from it, these being the allegorical epistle written by the Syrian poet Abu al-‘Ala ’ al-Ma‘arrı  (d.449/1057–8),223 and particularly the mystical allegory written by the Andalusian Ibn al-‘Arabı  who died in 638/1240–1, twenty-five years before the birth of Dante.224 Palacios argues that these works were probably available to Dante and served as paradigms, both literary and spiritual, for his great and ‘original’ work. He supports his claim by outlining the close correspondence between the Divine Comedy and the mi‘ra j in terms of the topography of the realms of the Hereafter and the general idea of the ascent of the individual soul, and documents a great number of similarities between episodes and descriptive details found within the two narratives. He states: In the course of time from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries of our era – Moslem traditionists, theologians, interpreters of the Scriptures, mystics, philosophers and poets – all united in weaving around the original legend [of the mi‘ra j] a fabric of religious narrative; at times their stories were amplifications, at others, allegorical adaptations or literary imitations. A comparison with the Divine Comedy of all these versions combined betrays many points of resemblance, and even of absolute coincidence, in the general architecture and ethical structure of hell and paradise; in the description of the tortures and rewards; in the general lines of the dramatic action, in the episodes and incidents of the journey; in the allegorical signification; in the roles assigned to the protagonist and to the minor personages; and, finally, in intrinsic literary value.225

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Palacios’ hypothesis aroused fervent debate among Arabists, critics of literary history and scholars of Dante of all nationalities, no doubt partly fuelled by the difficulty some contemporary scholars found in acknowledging that a sacred poem symbolising the culture of medieval Christian Europe could owe its conception to an Islamic original. There have been over one hundred articles written on the subject. While some scholars accepted the thesis in general terms and others continued to oppose it, doubts remained as to how Dante could have used such a vast corpus of disparate literature as the inspiration for his single work the Divine Comedy, and in particular how he could have learned of the mi‘ra j, especially since he probably had no knowledge of Arabic. This latter point seemed to be the greatest flaw in Palacios’ argument. Palacios was aware of the problems and so examined the methods by which Islamic learning was transmitted in medieval Europe, noting in particular the communications between the Christians and Muslims who lived side by side in Spain. He adduced evidence that the narratives of the mi‘ra j were known to the Mozarabs as early as the ninth century AD and that this knowledge was taken to Italy at the end of the thirteenth century. As an example of the ‘hidden channels of transmission’ between Spain and Italy and hence Dante, Palacios mentions such as San Pedro Pascual, referred to above, who lived in Rome between 1288 and 1292, and who included a version of the mi‘ra j in his Impunación de la Seta Mahoma. He also remarks that other accounts of the mi‘ra j in Latin and Spanish works written by Christian polemicists and historians in Spain during the ninth to thirteenth centuries were also probably available to Dante. Finally, after examining Dante’s predisposition to assimilate Muslim models, and showing how Christian legends of ascension and the Hereafter were derived from Islamic literature, Palacios concludes: It would seem, therefore, that the chain of reasoning is complete, and that no serious objection can be raised to the assertion that imitation did indeed exist, once we have established as facts the resemblance between the model and the copy, the priority of the former to the latter, and communication between the two.226

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But objections were still raised. Among other issues, the channels of transmission mentioned by Palacios seemed implausible or inconclusive to some scholars. The crucial problem was the absence of any incontrovertible and concrete evidence that Dante had access to the narrative of the mi‘ra j. Palacios did not live to witness the discovery which was to throw a new light on his theory and add further fuel to one of the most hotly-debated literary disputes of the twentieth century. In 1949, two thirteenth-century French and Latin translations of an Arabic original dealing with the mi‘ra j were published by José Muñoz Sendino in Spain227 and Enrico Cerulli in Italy,228 both scholars working independently. This was the Halmaereig (i.e. Kita b al-Mi‘ra j) mentioned earlier, and it was precisely the kind of text which Palacios had sensed was available to Dante and which provided the paradigm for his Divine Comedy. During the thirteenth century the two translated versions of the Halmaereig were distributed throughout Europe and they and resumés of them reached Italy during Dante’s lifetime. It remains the only literary model of the mi‘ra j known certainly to have been available in the West at this time. The discovery of early translations of an Arabic mi‘ra j has not solved every problem with Palacios’ theory and although the majority opinion seems to be that the translations did indeed influence Dante not all critics are satisfied.229 Scholarly debate on the links between the translations and the Divine Comedy continues. Patriotic allegiances along with the problem of ascribing a direct Islamic influence on a masterpiece of medieval Christian poetry are arguably still factors in a polemic which shows little sign of abating.230

Disentangling the Narrative A. A. Bevan’s ‘Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven,’231 published in 1914, was the forerunner of a number of studies which attempted to identify which Islamic traditions dealing with the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j were primary, which came later, and how the narrative was embroidered and changed with the passage of time. As to the motives for his enquiry, Bevan notes that the tremendous respect which Muslims have for the teaching of their

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Prophet is largely due to their conviction that he ascended through the heavens and witnessed the secrets of the other world, so it is well worthwhile to examine the evidence on which the dogma rests. Bevan remarks that although Ibn Isha q states that the night journey and ascension through the heavens took place on the same night, this was not the original form of the account. Aside from the fact that the two narratives are related by different authorities, they clearly refer to two totally separate situations. In the isra ’ to Jerusalem the Prophet is represented as having many disciples and when he arrives in Jerusalem the earlier prophets are there to meet him and to acknowledge his superiority by allowing him to lead them in prayer. This indicates that it refers to a time when Islam had already been in existence for a number of years and had attracted converts. On the other hand, the mi‘ra j belongs to the very beginning of Muh a mmad’s mission. The angels in heaven are not aware that he has received a revelation (reading a wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi? as ‘has a revelation already been sent to him?’). Another consideration which shows the two episodes to have originally been separate is that Muhammad does not recognise Abraham or Moses when he comes across them in the heavens, which is at odds with the statement that he had just met them in Jerusalem. Bevan goes on to suggest that aside from this internal proof that the isra ’ and mi‘ra j were originally two discrete narratives there is other evidence. Thus, Ibn Sa‘d states that the mi‘ra j took place eighteen months before the hijra while the isra ’ to Jerusalem took place one year before this, the two journeys therefore occurring six months apart with the mi‘ra j coming first. Similarly, the account of the mi‘ra j quoted by al-Bukha rı  contains many almost verbatim correspondences with that of Ibn Isha q but in al-Bukha rı’s version the Prophet is taken straight up to heaven from his house in Mecca with no mention of the isra ’ to Jerusalem. In conclusion, Bevan notes that although the story of the mi‘ra j refers to the beginning of Muh a mmad’s career, and the story of the isra ’ to a later period, it does not therefore follow that the former is older than the latter. The accounts of Ibn Isha q show that both stories were current in the second century of the hijra ‘but which of the two was invented first is, so far as I can see, impossible to decide’.

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Although arguing persuasively and marshalling his evidence in a manner satisfying to the modern historian, Bevan’s thesis has naturally not remained unassailed. A couple of years after the publication of Bevan’s article another scholar, the Dutch social anthropologist Bertram Schrieke, was advancing the alternative theory that the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j were not originally two distinct narratives but rather referred essentially to the same event, that is, a journey to heaven.232 This theory was to gain further support from a number of quarters and especially from the Spanish Arabist Miguel Asín Palacios writing within the same decade which witnessed the appearance of Bevan and Schrieke’s work. As we have already discussed, Palacios’ main concern in his La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia was to demonstrate how the narratives could have formed the basis of Dante’s Divine Comedy. In the introductory sections of the book, however, and basing himself on an extensive reading of printed texts and previously unpublished manuscripts, Palacios traces the evolution of the isra ’/mi‘ra j narrative.233 On the basis of the contents of the accounts, Palacios concludes that from its Qur’a nic roots the isra ’/mi‘ra j was elaborated in three ‘cycles’. The first and simplest cycle consists of two principle versions of Muhammad’s night journey, the isra ’, contained in six traditions from around the ninth century AD and found in al-Bukha rı  and Muslim’s collections of H adıth.  The second cycle consists of three principle versions of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven, the mi‘ra j, which date as far back as the traditions dealing with the isra ’. Like Schrieke, Palacios considers the second circle of the mi‘ra j as essentially a more complex re-articulation of the first cycle, the isra ’, within the different context of an ascent to the heavens. The third cycle that Palacios identifies (‘in which Oriental fantasy reaches its climax’) is the fusion of cycles one and two, that is, versions of the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j, into a continuous narrative. The earliest example of this is found in al-T abarı’s Tafsır which, like the traditions on the isra ’ and those on the mi‘ra j, also dates from the ninth century AD. Thus, according to Palacios, all three cycles originate from approximately the same time: it would seem as if Moslem traditionists had decided upon such fusion at an early period. This decision, no doubt, was based on

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considerations of art rather than theology, the object being to satisfy the existence of so many fragmentary and often contradictory versions of one and the same event.234 More recently, Joshua R. Porter has agreed with Bevan in viewing the isra ’/mi‘ra j narrative as ‘a combination of two quite distinct events’.235 Also like Bevan, he concludes that the account of the mi‘ra j belongs to the first period of Muhammad’s mission. This is corroborated by the fact that at the entrance to each of the heavens it is asked about Muhammad ‘has he received a mission?’ indicating that the inhabitants of heaven are not aware that he has been called to prophethood. A further indication is the opening of Muhammad’s breast immediately prior to his ascension by three angels, or Gabriel alone, while the Prophet is asleep in the Ka‘ba, washing away with Zamzam water all the doubt, idolatry, paganism and error and filling his body with wisdom and belief. Porter maintains that this episode, referring to the dismemberment of the body followed by a cleansing of the internal organs, is one of the commonest initiatory themes in the making of a shaman. The intimate association between this event and Muhammad’s mi‘ra j thus reveals that the heavenly journey was an initiation into his prophetic calling.236 Porter’s ideas regarding the isra ’/ mi‘ra j as shamanic initiation are dealt with below. Finally, the most recent research in the area is that of Frederick S. Colby who traces the origins and historical development of those versions of the isra ’/mi‘ra j specifically attributed to Ibn ‘Abba s.237 Colby’s study aims to demonstrate how the narrative originally emerged out of polemics between Sunnı  and Shı‘ı  scholars in the early Islamic period, and was subsequently supplemented by material introduced by popular storytellers and reshaped by those who related it. The Isra ’/Mi‘raj as Mystical Experience The view of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a vision or some kind of ecstatic or spiritual experience had already been advanced by a number of earlier commentators. It was first mentioned during the mid-seventeenth century by such as Dr Henry Stubbe (1632–76) who saw the isra ’/mi‘ra j as

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an ‘ecstacy’ or a ‘vision’. This continued into the following century with Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers (1658–1722) who observed that Muslim scholars understand it in ‘a mystical sense’ as a ‘vision’ and he himself seemed to concur with this. A near contemporary and fellow-countryman of Boulainvilliers who expressed a similar opinion was Jean Gagnier (1670–1740) who was also inclined to agree with Muslim commentators that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was an ‘ecstatic experience’ or a ‘nocturnal vision’. Among nineteenth-century scholars who shared the same view are Godfrey Higgins (1771–1833) who called it a ‘dream or vision’, Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839–1903) who referred to it as an ‘extravagant vision’, and William Muir (1819–1905) who held it to be a ‘simple vision’. In the twentieth century, the theme saw considerable development to the point where the isra ’/mi‘ra j came to be viewed as a genuine mystical experience. One work proposing this view is John Clark Archer’s (d.1957) Mystical Elements in Mohammed, first published in 1924. As the title suggests, Archer’s main thesis is that Muhammad was a true mystic whose belief in his divine mission was not self-deception, who acted in perfect good faith and was convinced that his ecstatic experiences were God’s revelations to him. It is within this context that the isra ’/mi‘ra j is to be understood. Archer notes that su rat al-Sharh  of the Qur’a n refers to Muhammad’s encounter with God and constitutes ‘a record of revelation and a recollection of ecstasy’.238 Similar to this is the event recounted in su rat al-Isra ’ verse 1, ‘the so called Night Journey’. Muhammad’s experience of being ‘lifted up and borne away to distant parts’ is of the same sort as his other revelatory experiences: The ‘journey’ is neither dream nor merely figure. Nor is it a case of ‘shameless fabrication,’ as Sprenger and others have insisted. It is not hallucination, or otherwise essentially pathological. It is a mystic experience, a breaking through into the unseen world, a snatching-away in the spirit, and withal, a conviction.239 Archer draws the comparison made previously by Henry Stubbe and others between the ascension of Muhammad and that mentioned by St Paul:

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There are striking similarities in the case of the Apostle Paul, as seen in 2 Cor. 12:1–10, where Paul says, ‘I know a man, . . . whether in the body, . . . or out of the body I know not, . . . caught up even to the third heaven . . . was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter.’ With Paul this is the record of an indubitably mystical experience, which was the occasion and ground of an unyielding assurance. It parallels remarkably the experience of Mohammed. Neither man allows himself to enter into details with regard to the event. Both were too sensible to make overmuch of the matter.240 Thus, Archer absolves Muhammad from the subsequent embellishment and ‘spectacular interpretation’ to which the traditions were subject.241 He concludes that we have in these Koranic materials very fundamental evidence, nothing less than a clear record susceptible to no other adequate interpretation than that which we have put upon it here, namely, that it is a record of Mohammed’s mystical experience of God.242 During the second half of the twentieth century Reverend William Montgomery Watt (d.2006) published his Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956) both of which were later abridged in the single volume Muhammad – Prophet and Statesman (1961). Watt was to have a great influence on English-speaking scholars of Islam and his works heralded a shift in Western attitudes in which the previously hostile approach of many scholarly Christian biographers of Muhammad changed to one of rapproachment. Watt is deferential towards the Qur’a n and adopts a basically sympathetic view of Muhammad, stating that medieval conceptions must be set aside, that Muhammad should be regarded ‘as a man who sincerely and in good faith proclaimed messages which he believed came to him from God’.243 Watt’s Muhammad at Mecca does not mention the isra ’/mi‘ra j at all, but he makes a passing reference to it in his later Muhammad – Prophet

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and Statesman. He recounts the story of the jinn who came across Muhammad as he was praying in Nakhla and comments that The Qur’a n (72:1) shows that Muhammad had some experience of this kind, and we may well believe that at this critical period of his life, when things were becoming more and more difficult for him, he would increasingly ‘take refuge with God’. What may have been another experience of this type is referred to briefly in the Qur’a n (17:1) and was expanded in later Islamic tradition into most elaborate accounts of a miraculous journey first to Jerusalem and then to each of the seven heavens.244 Watt thus views the isra ’/mi‘ra j as at least a real experience of Muhammad. It may seem curious that he does not devote more attention to the event considering its importance within Islam and the interest it has received from earlier scholars. Perhaps this neglect is due to what Jabal Buaben refers to as the problems a theologian encounters when he assumes the role of historian, which results in a reluctance to analyse a concept because it is a sensitive matter in Islamic theology.245 On the other hand, Watt drew a distinction between religious or sacred language and historical description and probably felt that he had commented as much as was necessary within his historical investigation. Some studies on Muhammad have discussed the nature of his ‘inspiration’ and religious experience as an example of a universal phenomenon. For instance, the Swedish bishop and academic Tor Andrae (1885–1946) attempted to uncover some common elements in Muhammad’s experience and that of other mystics. He distinguished between two types of mystical inspiration, the auditory and the visual, classing Muhammad’s experience under the former.246 Elsewhere, research on the heavenly journeys of the soul as found within numerous religions and cultures has attempted to understand these in terms of shamanic experience.247 With particular reference to the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Maxime Rodinson has remarked upon the parallels between aspects of shamanism and the episode of ‘cleaning of the heart’ noting that the shamans of north and central Asia feel ‘at the moment of their

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initiation . . . that a spirit has taken away their internal organs and replaced them with fresh ones’.248 The correspondences between the isra ’/mi‘ra j and shamanism have been further developed by the academic Joshua R. Porter who notes that while scholars have devoted themselves to analysing the development of the traditions dealing with Muh a mmad’s ascension and to pointing out inconsistencies in the accounts, they have failed to address the main problem: The difficulty is that the significance of the episodes we have outlined is nowhere explained and thus it is easy to dismiss them as the product of pious fantasy, elaborating and distorting the brief and tantalizing glimpses of his spiritual experiences which Muhammad has left us in the Kur’a n.249 Scholars have not explained what the narrative of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is about ‘as a whole’ nor have they shown how the various elements within the narrative belong together. In order to achieve this, Porter looks within the fields of comparative religion, ethnography and the history of religions, and identifies shamanism as possibly providing a clue to the real meaning of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. He bases himself particularly on Mircea Eliade’s concept of shamanism as ‘basically a technique of ecstasy’ with a ‘particular and distinctive religious structure of its own’.250 Dealing firstly with the mi‘ra j, Porter claims that there is a structural correspondence between the Prophet’s ascension and the experience of the shaman, and suggests that Muhammad may have been informed of the general nature of the shamanic experience by the seers or soothsayers of the pagan Arabs, the ka hins. He notes that an experience of an ascent to the sky is an essential part of the initiation of a shaman, and this conforms with Muhammad’s ascent since ‘scholars are generally agreed that the account of the ascension originally referred to the very beginnings of the prophet’s mission’. Similarly, the opening of Muhammad’s breast is analogous to one of the most common initiation themes in shamanism among a very wide range of peoples, that is, the ‘dismemberment of the body, followed by a cleaning and renewal of the viscera and internal organs’.251 The identification of this episode with

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Muhammad’s mi‘ra j therefore ‘makes it clear that his heavenly journey was in fact his initiation into his prophetic calling’.252 Porter continues drawing parallels. He remarks that when the shaman ascends to the sky he has a dialogue with the gods or spirits and the souls of dead shamans. From the former he receives religious revelation, while from the latter he receives the secrets of the profession he is now joining. These are similar firstly to the dialogue between Muhammad and God, and secondly to Muhammad’s conversation with the former prophets. Having now understood the general character of Muh a mmad’s mi‘ra j, some of the details of the narrative can be seen to fit into the initiatory pattern as witnessed in shamanism. For example, the ladder with which Muhammad ascends to heaven is very commonly used by the shaman to reach heaven on his journey of initiation, the seven heavens visited by Muhammad correspond to the seven levels which the shaman is very commonly said to visit on his journey, and Gabriel corresponds to the spirit guide who regularly, and in many different cultures, is said to lead the future shaman in his journeys to the other world. Porter then addresses himself specifically to the isra ’, ‘essentially a flight through the air’, and notes that this is very similar to one of the most important powers the shaman acquires, that is, the ability to fly, not merely up to the heavens but also horizontally to distant parts of the earth. Moreover, the shaman typically rides on a flying animal, often a bird, but also on a variety of four-legged animals which clearly correspond to the bura q. Finally, Porter concludes that the evidence he has adduced raises the possibility that Muhammad’s journey to the other world is not just a late invention of pious fancy but is rather an essential part of the prophetic call, and that it and the otherwise strange details it contains can best be understood as a reflection of the general scheme of shamanic initiation, however much that may have been transformed by Muhammad’s own unique religious experience and his own individual genius.253

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Thus, in some respects, Porter’s ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’ can be seen as a modern work of restitution which rescues the isra ’/mi‘ra j from charges of the absurd, the fantastical and cynical fabrication. And this is perhaps as far as non-Muslim scholarship can go. Although recent studies of Muhammad and Islam are considerably more sympathetic than formerly, they are unlikely to satisfy Muslim expectations. Criticisms will always be based on the fact that no matter how reverential the view of Muhammad is, it will always fall short of accepting his prophethood. One inevitable consequence of this is that non-Muslim, Christian or secular Western scholars will probably never be able to acknowledge the miraculous nature of the physical isra ’ and mi‘ra j.

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NOTES

Chapter 1

The Isra ’ and the Mi‘raj

1. Jama l al-Dın al-Dimashqı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 365. 2. Reginald Hyatte, The Prophet of Islam in Old French. The Romance of Muhammad (1258) and The Book of Muhammad’s Ladder (1262) (Leiden: Brill, 1997). 3. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (n.p.: Maktabat wa Matba‘at al-H a jj ‘Abd al-Sala m b. Muhammad b. Shaqrun, n.d.) 2:33–4. For another tradition which similarly only mentions the isra ’ see, for example, Abu Bakr Ahmad b. al-H usayn al-Bayhaqı, Dala ’il al-Nubuwwa wa Ma‘rifat Ahw  a l S a h ib alShar‘iyya (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1985) 2:355–7.  by the 4. An enclosure delineated by a low semicircular wall (called the ha tım) north-west wall of the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Its origins are unclear. To Muslims it is a place of particular sanctity being identified as the grave of Hagar and her son by Abraham, Ishmael (Isma ‘ ı l). See Francis E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995) pp. 15–16. See also G. R. Hawting, ‘The Origins of the Muslim Sanctuary at Mecca’ in G. H. A. Juynboll, Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982) p. 23. 5. This is generally understood by Muslim scholars to indicate Jerusalem or occasionally the Temple in Jerusalem, the masjid al-aqsa . 6. That is, ‘the trusting’. 7. Al-Bukha rı, S ahı h , (Beirut: Da r al-Jıl, n.d.) ‘Kita b Mana qib al-Ansa r’ tradition No. 3887. 8. See note 3 above.

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9. bu‘itha ilayhi or ursila ilayhi have occasionally been understood to mean ‘Has he received his prophetic mission?’ 10. Al-Bukha rı, S ahı h , ‘Kita b al-S ala t’ tradition No. 349. 11. Al-Qummı, Tafsır al-Qummı  (Najaf: Maktabat al-Huda , AH 1387) 2:2–12. 12. The book and its author are mentioned in al-Naja shı, Fihrist Asma ’ Musannifı  al-Shı‘a (Qumm: Maktabat al-Da w  arı, n.d.) p. 305. 13. Ibid.  al-T u r):  ‘By the Mount [Sinai] (al-T u r). By the book 14. Qur’a n 52:1–4 (surat inscribed on rolls of parchment. By the house of abode (al-bayt al-ma‘mu r) . . .’ 15. Qur’a n 37:10. 16. Qur’a n 81:21. 17. This part of the tradition is truncated. Other accounts state that the souls of Adam’s believing descendents passed before him and he said, ‘A good spirit and a good soul, put them in ‘Illıyu  n [i.e. Paradise].’ Then the souls of his unbelieving descendents passed before him and he said, ‘A bad spirit and a bad soul, put them in Sijjın [i.e. Hell].’ To his right Adam saw people and a gate from which came a pleasant smell, while to his left he saw people and a gate from which came a foul smell. So when he looked to his right he laughed and when he looked to his left he cried. See, for example, Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya 2:37, and Najm al-Dın al-Ghaytı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı, (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j al-Musamma h Nazır al-Dıba  j bi H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 42. For similar see al-Bukha rı, S ahı h , ‘Kita b al-S ala t’ tradition No. 349. There are many variations on this. 18. Qur’a n 83:18–20. The meaning of ‘Illıyu  n is not clear in this context. It may indicate Paradise or the place where the register of the righteous is kept. 19. Qur’a n 4:10. 20. Qur’a n 2:275. 21. This is a reference to Qur’a n 40:46: ‘They will be brought in front of the fire morning and evening. And [the sentence will be] on the Hour of Reckoning “Throw the people of Pharaoh into the severest punishment.”’ 22. fa waqa‘a fı  nafs rasu l Alla h annahu huwa. 23. The ‘frequented house’ or ‘house of abode’ is the celestial counterpart of the Ka‘ba at Mecca. It is mentioned once in the Qur’a n: ‘By the house of abode (al-bayt al-ma‘mu r) . . .’ (52:4). 24. Qur’a n 3:68. 25. This seems to be a reference to the seven regions of Hell. See Hyatte, The Prophet of Islam in Old French pp. 162–8. 26. In some accounts the cockerel and the angel are one and the same. See, for example, ibid., pp. 134–5.

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27. Qur’a n 108:1 (su rat al-Kawthar): ‘We have granted Kawthar to you.’ 28. Zayd b. H a ritha (d.c.8/629) was a freedman and adopted son of Muhammad. He married Muhammad’s cousin Zaynab bint Jahsh, but the marriage was soon troubled and when Zayd divorced Zaynab she married Muhammad. As a result, Muhammad was accused of acting contrary to the moral code current in Arabia which forbade marrying the former wife of one’s son. It is said that Qur’a n 33:4 was subsequently revealed indicating that the status of adopted sons was not that of natural sons: ‘He has not made your adopted sons your sons. Such is only your manner of speech by your mouths.’ Zayd is the only Companion of Muhammad who is referred to by name in the Qur’a n (33:37): ‘Behold, you did say to one who had received the grace of God and your favour [i.e. Zayd], ‘Keep your wife and fear God.’ But you did hide in your heart that which God was about to make manifest. You did fear the people but it is more fitting that you should fear God. Then when Zayd had dissolved [his marriage] with her, We gave her in marriage to you in order that [in the future] there should be no difficulty to the believers regarding marriage to the wives of their adopted sons when the latter have dissolved their marriage with them. God’s command must be fulfilled.’ 29. Qur’a n 13:29. 30. Supplications given to the Prophet while on the mi‘ra j are a common feature of Ima mı  Shı ‘ı  H adıth on the subject. 31. See Qur’a n 53:14. The nature of the sidrat al-muntaha  (lote tree of the farthest boundary) has been the subject of considerable discussion. It is described as ‘the destination of the knowledge of all the prophets and the angels’. See, for example, Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı, al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı  al-Kala m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 144. Elsewhere, it is understood as the final destination of whatever rises to the heavens and whatever divine thing (amr Alla h) descends from above them, or the final destination of the souls of martyrs, or the tree which is the destination of the angels. See Abu ‘Alı  al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, 1986) 9:265. 32. This is an explanation of the problematic verses ‘Then he approached and came closer and was at a distance of two bow-shots or nearer’ (Qur’a n 53:8–9) which are much discussed by Muslim commentators. 33. Qur’a n 2:285.

Chapter 2 ‘We Granted the Vision We Showed You as a Trial for Men’ 1. ‘Abd al-H alım  Mahmud, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, n.d.) p. 130.

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2. See, for example, Rizq Hayba, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j wa Atharuhuma  fı  Tathbıt al-‘Aqıda  (Cairo: Da r Gharı b, 2000) p. 29. 3. Fazlur Rahman, Islam (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966) p. 64. There are various opinions as to exactly how many relators are required in order for a tradition to be classed as mutawa tir, the number varying between seven and seventy or more. For an account of the Sunnı  view of mutawa tir traditions see Muhammad Zubayr S iddıqı  , H adıth Literature. Its Origin, Development, Special Features and Criticism (Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1961) pp. 193, 200. For the Ima mı  view see Muhammad al-Ba qir al-S adr, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence according to Shi‘i Law, translated by Arif Abdul Hussain (London: Islamic College for Advanced Studies Press, 2003) p. 92; and ‘Abd al-Ha dı  al-Fad lı, Introduction to H adıth,  translated by Nazmina Virjee (London: Islamic College for Advanced Studies Press, 2002) pp. 93–8. 4. These verses are quoted in Chapter 1: ‘The Isra ’ and the Mi‘ra j’. On their importance, see, for example, Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r (Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, n.d.) 18:291–2, who cites a tradition in which ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib says that they constitute a rebuttal of those who deny the mi‘ra j.   al-Nabı  al-A‘z am (Qumm: no 5. Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı , al-S ahı h  min Sırat pub., AH 1403) 1:278–9. 6. Al-T usı, Tafsır al-Tibya n (n.p.: Da r al-Andalus, n.d) 6:446. The same conclusion has been arrived at by the contemporary Sunnı  theologian ‘Abd al-Sala m Faraj Alla h in his ‘The Mi‘ra j is the Goal of the Isra ’’ available at http://www.kitabat.com/r13055.htm. See also the Ima mı  ‘Abba s Al Wahb al-Shamrı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j bayna al-‘Aql wa al-Wahy (Beirut: Da r al-Qa ri’, 1425/2005) pp. 131–40. 7. For statements on this see, for example, Muhammad b. ‘Alı  al-S a lihı, al-Ifra j fı  Takhrıj Aha dı th Qissat al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Basha ’ir al-Isla miyya, 1425/2004) p. 5; Abu al-Majd H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Mawd u ‘iyya (Cairo: al-Da r al-Mis riyya al-Lubna niyya, 1990) p. 27; ‘Abd Alla h S aqr, ‘The Miracle of the Mi‘ra j is Proved by the Qur’a n, the Sunna and Ijma ‘’, published in the Sudanese newspaper al-S iha fa on 12 August 1979; ‘Abd al-Sala m Faraj Alla h , ‘The Mi‘ra j is the Goal of the Isra ’’. 8. Those Ima mıs who accept ijma ‘ are known as the Us ulıs. They differ from the minority Akhba rıs, predominantly in southern Iraq and Bahrain, who do not accept it. 9. See, for example, al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 18:312, from Ibn Ba b awayh’s S ifat al-Shı‘a.  For similar see Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1389/1970) p. 261.  10. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 18:312, from Ibn Ba b awayh’s S ifat al-Shı‘a.

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11. Ibid., also from Ibn Ba b awayh’s S ifat al-Shı‘a.  12. Hana dı  Mashhur Qa ns u, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at al-Rasu l ila  al-Samawa t al-Saba‘ (Beirut: Da r al-Tayya r al-Jadıd, 1423/2002) p. 9. 13. Ibid., p. 18. 14. Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j fı  H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 107. 15. See, for example, the official Arabic website of the Algerian Wiza rat al-Shu’u n al-Dıniyya  wa al-Awqa f at http://www.marwakf-dz.org. dated 18 Rabı ‘ al-Tha nı  1425/1 January 2003 (the writer, shaykh ‘Atiyya S aqr, is a former president of the Fatwa  Council at al-Azhar); see also Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib in his Aha dı th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Tawthıqiyya  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı, 1400/1980) pp. 7–8; and Jam‘iyyat al-Masha rı ‘ al-Khayriyya al-Isla miyya, Mujıb al-Muht a j fı  Ma‘rifat al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (n.p.: Da r al-Masha rı ‘ li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzı ‘, 1422/2001) p. 8. 16. ‘Alı  Yusuf ‘Alı, Niha yat al-Lija j fı  Mawd u ‘ al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Jıl, 1408/1987) p. 66. 17. At http://y19.net/app19.htm. 18. Rashad Khalifa, Preface to Quran, Hadith and Islam (Tucson, Arizona: Islamic Productions, 1982). 19. Corruption of Religions at http://www.submission.or/corruption.html. 20. Taken from Appendix 2 of Khalifa’s Quran: The Final Testament, available at http://www.submission.org/AP02.htm. On 19 February 1989, a group of religious scholars met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the Salman Rushdie issue. They issued a fatwa  declaring that both Rashad and Rushdie were apostates (See Edip Yuksel, ‘From the Perspective of a Former Radical Muslim Leader: The Theo-political Roots of “Islamic Terrorism”’ at http://www.yuksel.org/e/ law/terror.htm.). Khalifa was stabbed to death in the kitchen of his Tucson mosque on 30 January 1990 allegedly by members of the Jam‘at al-Fuqr (Jama’atul Fuqra) who aim to purify Islam through violence and are led by the Pakistani religious scholar shaykh Mubaril Ali Gilani who set up the group in the 1980s. The group has been declared a ‘terrorist’ organization by the US State Department. 21. For an expression of Dr Mansour’s arguments see his article ‘al-Muhkama t wa al-Mutasha b iha t fı  Dira sa ‘Amaliyya: In huwa illa  Wahyun yuha ‘ (‘The Clear and the Obscure [Verses of the Qur’a n] in a Practical Study: “It is no less than a revelation sent down to him”’) at http://www.ssrcaw.org/ar/word. art.asp?aid+144009. Following his dismissal from al-Azhar, Dr Mansour spent some time in the United States, later returning to Cairo to become one

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22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30.

31.

32. 33. 34. 35. 36.

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of the leading figures in the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. When the Egyptian government closed the Centre in June 2000 arresting its founder and a number of its associates and researchers, Dr Mansour once again travelled to the United States and was granted political asylum there in 2002. He subsequently held the post of lecturer at Harvard University then went on to found the International Quranic Center in North Virginia. The Centre maintains both an Arabic and an English language website (www.ahl-alquran.com) which contains many of Dr Mansour’s writings. He still lives in the USA. His CV along with a list of his publications is available on the website ‘Free Muslims Coalition’ at http://www.freemuslims.org/ about/mansour.php. Ibn Shahra shub, Mana qib Al Abı  T  a lib (Beirut: Da r al-Ad wa ’, 1405/1985) 1:177. This is also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:380. See al-Qa dı  ‘Abd al-Jabba r, al-Mughnı  fı  al-‘Adl wa al-Tawhı d (Cairo: Wiza rat al-Thaqa fa, 1960) 16:419. Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q pp. 302–3. Ibn Ba b awayh, al-Khisa l (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1391/1971) p. 82. Al-Bayhaqı, Dala ’il al-Nubuwwa (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1405/1985) 2:405. Ibid., 2:389. Al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n fı Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, 1986) 5:609. Many subsequent Ima mı  scholars repeat al-T abarsı ’s fourfold division of traditions, for example ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı    al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Nazra ‘Amma (Beirut: al-Da r al-Isla miyya, 1408/1988) p. 28. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1415/1995) 1:235. Ibid., 1:279. The same tradition is condemned by Jala l al-Dın al-Suyuti,  th al-Mawd u ‘a (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub alal-La’a lı  al-Masnu ‘a fı  al-Aha dı ‘Ilmiyya, 1417/1996) 1:326. A number of versions can be found in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 35:272–84. Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sha mı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j aw Khulas at al-Fad l al-Fa ’iq fı  Mi‘ra j Khayr al-Khala ’iq (Beirut: Da r Ibn H azm, 1424/2003) pp. 395–8. Ibn Kathır, Tafsır al-Qur’a n al-‘Azım (Cairo: Maktabat Da r al-Tura th, n.d.) 3:5. Ibid., 3:7. Ibid., 3:14. Ibid., 3:17. Ibid., 3:21.

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37. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 18:289–90. 38. Muhammad ‘Abd al-Latıf ibn al-Khatı b, H aqa ’iq Tha bita fı  al-Isla m yuha wil al-Munha rifu n T  amsaha  wa al-Takhallus minha  (Tehran: Ahmad H asan Mala dıfı , 1394/1973) p. 105. 39. Ibid., pp. 95–6. 40. Ibid., p. 98. 41. Syed Ahmed Khan, ‘Essay on Shakki-Sadr and Meraj’ in A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects Subsidiary Thereto (London: Trübner and Co., 1870) pp. 34–5. 42. Ibid., p. 12. See also p. 33. 43. Ibid. 44. Ibid., pp. 34–5.   al-Nabı  1:269. 45. Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı , al-S ahı h  min Sırat 46. Naser Makarem Shirazi, Me’raj and Prophet of Islam, translated from the original Persian by the Maktab E. Qoran (Tehran: Islamic Great Library, 1397/1977) p. 10. 47. Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı, al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl a fı  ‘Umq al-Fad a ’ wa al-Zaman (Beirut: Da r al-Zahra ’ , 1401/1981) p. 72. 48. The accounts of the isra ’/mi‘ra j recorded by al-S affurı  in his Nuzhat al-Maja lis wa Muntakhab al-Nafa ’is (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-‘Uthma niyya, AH 1358) 2:114–62 are the focus of particular criticism from Fa tima Muhammad Ma rdını   in her Anwa r al-Isra ’ (Damascus: Da r Fanna n, 1999) p. 430. She remarks that such works are particularly dangerous at a time when the Islamic community should be protecting its cultural heritage and making progress, not ‘drowning in delusions and fancies’. This kind of embroidered and highly imaginative account is by no means solely a product of earlier times or of the S ufıs. A more recent example is found in The Life of Mohammad the Prophet of Allah by Etienne Dinet and Sliman Ben Ibrahim (Karachi: Taj Company, 1973) originally published in French in 1918. 49. Al-S affurı, Nuzhat al-Maja lis, 2:126, quoting al-Nasafı, Kita b Zahr al-Riyad . 50. Nadhır al-‘Azma, al-Mi‘ra j wa al-Ramz al-S u fı: Qira ’a Tha niya li al-Tura th (Beirut: Da r al-Ba h i th, 1402/1982). 51. Ibid., p. 12. 52. Qur’a n 1:255. 53. Al-‘Azma, al-Mi‘ra j wa al-Ramz al-S u fı, pp. 12–13. 54. Ibid., p. 13. 55. ‘Alı  H asan ‘Abd al-Qa dir, ‘al-Mi‘ra j wa Atharuhu fı  al-Adab al-Ramzı ’, Minbar al-Isla m (the journal of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Egypt) No.7 Year 25 (Rajab 1387/October 1967) p. 119, quoted in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 13–14.

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56. Ibid., p. 12. 57. The book has been published many times throughout the Muslim world. See, for example, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j li Ibn ‘Abba s in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) pp. 5–34. So widely-read is the Kita b al-Mi‘ra j that some Muslims recite it in their homes as a form of popular piety on or around the festival of Laylat al-Mi‘ra j in the month of Rajab. Nevertheless, learned Muslim opinion is almost unanimous on its being erroneously attributed to Ibn ‘Abba s. For criticisms of the work see, for example, Muhammad Amın Jabr, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j wa ‘Ulu m al-‘Asr (Beirut: Da r al-Kita b al-Lubna nı, 2003) pp. 179–80; Muhammad al-Ba qir al-Katta nı, Yawa qıt al-Ta j al-Wahha j fı  Qissat al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1425/2004) p. 17; Ma rdını  , Anwa r al-Isra ’, p. 429; Fad l H asan ‘Abba s, al-Minha j: Nafaha t min al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Amman: Da r al-Bashır, 1407/1987) p. 49; al-Butı, Fiqh al-Sıra (n.p.: Da r al-Fikr, 1970) p. 155; and Muhammad Anas al-Mura d, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (n.p.: Matba‘at al-‘Ilm, 1389/1969) pp. 97–9. 58. ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r Mis r li al-T iba ‘ a, n.d.) p. 21. 59. Ibid., pp. 22–3. 60. Ibid., pp. 24–5. Ibn al-Khatı b also detects the style of the Torah and the Bible in the traditions, two books which ‘everyone . . . agrees have been so altered and corrupted that they have become symbols of all that is altered and distorted and the example used for every corruption’. See his H aqa ’iq Tha bita, p. 97. 61. Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı, al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı al-Kala  m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 342. 62. Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 21–2. 63. Ahmad Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahd a al-Misriyya, 1978) 1:211–29. Dr Shalabı  remarks that he completed his study on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in 1963 but waited some ten years before allowing it to appear in a later edition (the sixth) of his Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı  ‘out of fear of those who attack any new work or those who only see good in what is old, who do not like to immerse themselves in study or to use their intellect in the service of Islam and Muslims’. He explains that he resorted to other means to disseminate his ideas, most importantly among certain groups of Ima ms and preachers who, he claims, were pleased with what he had to say. He states that he also presented his views at public and private lectures and they were welcomed. The response he received encouraged him to print his views on the isra ’/mi‘ra j ‘and the community thought well of what I had written and gave it a good reception’. See ibid., 1:221.

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64. Ibid., 1:218. 65. See ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 166, referring to S a lih Abu Bakr’s al-Ad wa ’ al-Qur’a niyya fı  Iktisa h  al-Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ıliyya  wa Tathır al-Bukha rı  minha . 66. Introduction to ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. No page numbers. 67. Ibid., p. 64. 68. Ibid., p. 167. Another contemporary scholar who does not see evidence of isra ’ıliyya  t in the story of Moses and the fifty prayers is Fad l H asan ‘Abba s. He notes that su rat al-Isra ’ was revealed in order to inform of the corruptions of the Children of Israel and to warn them of the punishments they will receive when God exacts retribution by sending His servants (those who believe in Him) against them. Regarding Moses and the fifty prayers, this story demonstrates the hardships and adversity which the Children of Israel inflicted on Moses. This is what ‘sound’ traditions state. See ‘Abba s, al-Minha j, p. 21. Similarly, Muhammad Mutawallı  al-Sha‘ra w  ı  (d.1998) remarks that Muslims must differentiate between their hostility towards Jews and their attitude to Moses. Moses was a great prophet and Muslims should love and respect him. The Jews are not genuine followers of Moses; they follow him in name only. Some critics say that the meeting between Moses and Muhammad indicates that Moses organised the prayers for Islam. But this is not the case. Muhammad received his instructions only from God. It was God who reduced the prayers. See al-Sha‘ra w  ı, al-Mu‘jiza al-Kubra : al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (n.p.: Da r Akhba r al-Yawm, n.d.) pp. 121–2. 69. Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 3. 70. Qur’a n 2:275. 71. Qur’a n 4:10. Both these verses appear in the tradition of Abu al-H akam Hisha m b. Sa lim al-Jawa lıqı   quoted in Chapter 1: ‘The Isra ’ and the Mi‘ra j’. 72. Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 23–4. 73. Ibid., 1:216. 74. This element in the traditions has also been severely criticized by ‘Abd  , a shaykh from al-Azhar and a member of the Academy of Islamic al-Jalıl ‘Isa Research (Majma‘ al-Buhu th al-Isla miyya). His article ‘Ba‘ıd an ‘an al-Shataha t wa al-Khaya l’ (‘Away from Fabrications and Fantasies’) originally appeared in the Egyptian daily newspaper al-Akhba r on 23 August 1974. It is reproduced in Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı, 1:223–9. It is also referred to in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 58–9. 75. Qur’a n 71:15–16. 76. Qur’a n 25:61.

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77. Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı, 1:216–17. 78. Ibid., 1:217–18. 79. http://www.free-minds.org/articles/themessenger/miraj.htm. Abu S amad’s article is also available at http://geocities.com/abusamad. 80. Qur’a n 54:11. 81. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 111. 82. Ibid., pp. 112–13. 83. Qur’a n 89:22. 84. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 112. 85. Al-Nawawı, S ahı h  Muslim bi Sharh  al-Nawawı  (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-Misriyya wa Maktabatuha , n.d.) 2:218. 86. Ibn al-Khatı b, H aqa ’iq Tha bita, p. 106. 87. Ibid., p. 106. 88. Ibid., p. 116. 89. Qur’a n 66:6. Ibn al-Khatı b, H aqa ’iq Tha bita, p. 113. In the Introduction to H aqa ’iq Tha bita fı  al-Isla m, Dr Ilya s Muhammad al-‘Atabı, a former student of Ibn al-Khatı b, compliments the author on his work and says that the only issues with which he disagrees with him are his views on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j. Among other things, Dr al-‘Atabı  believes that there is absolutely no reason to doubt that the Prophet or Gabriel tethered the bura q or that Gabriel knocked on the doors of the heavens even though it was known who he was (Introduction p. ka f).   al-Nabı, 1:284 referring to 90. Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı , al-S ahı h  min Sırat al-Murtad a , Tanzıh al-Anbiya ’ (no publication details supplied) p. 121. 91. Ibid., 1:284. 92. Ibid., 1:285. 93. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 118. 94. Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı, 1:223–4. 95. Ibid., 1:226. 96. From Muhammad al-S a diq Ibra h ım  ‘Urjun, Muha mmad Rasu l Alla h, quoted in Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Mu‘jiza wa H aqa ’iq,  n, 1422/2001) Asra r wa Fawa ’id (Kuwait: Maktabat al-Tura th wa al-Ima p. 192. 97. See al-Bayhaqı, Dala ’il al-Nubuwwa, 1:41–2. 98. Modern Ima mı  works on the harmonization of traditions include the chapter ‘Wujuh al-Jam‘ bayna al-Aha dıth  al-Mukhtalifa’ in H usayn al-Nurı  al-T abarsı’s (d.1902) Mustadrak al-Wasa ’il wa Mustanbat al-Masa ’il, and Fayd al-Kasha nı’s al-Nawadir  fı  Jam‘ al-H adıth.  99. See al-S adr, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 126. 100. Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 191.

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101. See al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, pp. 75–6. 102. Ibid., p. 78. 103. Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 79; ‘Alı  b. Burha n al-Dın al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya (Cairo: Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı  wa Awla duhu, AH 1349) 1:353. 104. Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 80–1; al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya, 1:353. 105. Al-Qa dı  ‘Ayya d, Ikma l al-Mu‘lim bi Fawa ’id Muslim (Sharh  Sahı h  Muslim) (Mansura: Da r al-Wafa ’ li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzı ‘, 1419/1998) 1:504. 106. See, for example, Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı Sharh   S ahı h  al-Bukha rı  (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, n.d.) 7:155; al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 70.  n’, section 107. See, for example, al-Qa dı  ‘Ayya d, Ikma l al-Mu‘lim, ‘Kita b al-Ima on the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j 1:496; Ibn Dihya, al-Ibtiha j fı  Aha dıth al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı, 1417/1996) p. 65; al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:156; ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 73–5. 108. See, for example, al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:168; al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya, 1:370–1. 109. ‘Alı  b. Ibra h ım  al-Qummı, Tafsır al-Qummı  (Najaf: Maktabat al-Huda , AH 1387) 2:335. 110. Ibn Ba b awayh, al-Khisa l, p. 566. 111. Ibn T a w  us, Sa‘d al-Su‘ud (Qumm: Manshura t al-Rid a , AH 1363) p. 101. 112. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:387. 113. Ibid., 18:306–7.  114. ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j Chapter 3: ‘How Many Times was the Prophet of God taken up to the Heavens?’, pp. 25–38. For another exposition of the Ima mı  view that there were multiple occurrences of the isra ’/mi‘ra j see Qa nsu, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 20–3.  115. ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 31–3. 116. Ibid., p. 34.  117. Ibid., p. 38. Another Ima mı  commentator, Ra’ısa  Qassa m, follows al-‘Amilı  in this and states that there were as many instances of the isra ’/mi‘ra j as the number of places from where it is said to have commenced. Also like  al-‘Amilı , she does not offer a specific number. See Ra’ısa  Qassa m, al-Isra ’   wa al-Mi‘ra j: ‘Alam al-Ghayb fı  ‘Alam al-Shahada  (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1421/2000) p. 36. 118. Muhammad H usayn al-T aba taba ’ ı, al-Mıza  n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1392/1972) 13:31.   al-Nabı, 1:283. 119. Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı , al-S ahı h  min Sırat 120. See al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:150.

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121. Al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya, 1:348. In fact, in his Futu ha t al-Makkiyya Ibn ‘Arabı  states that Muhammad was taken on the isra ’/mi‘ra j thirty-four times one of which was in body while the remainder were with his spirit. See Futu ha t section 3, translated by James Winston Morris (‘The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn Arabi and the Miraj Part 1’ Journal of the American Oriental Society vol.107 No.4 [October-December 1987] 629–52) p. 638. See also in the text below where al-Suhaylı  states that Ibn ‘Arabı  believed in only two occurrences, one in body and the other in spirit. 122. See al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:152. In contrast, Ibn Kathır says that Abu Sha ma believed that the isra ’ and/or mi‘ra j took place three times, once from Mecca on the bura q and terminating at bayt al-maqdis, once from Mecca on the bura q straight to the heavens and once from Mecca to bayt almaqdis and thence to the heavens. See Ibn Kathır, al-Bida ya wa al-Niha ya (Beirut: Maktabat al-Ma‘a rif, 1966) 3:115. 123. See al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 64. The celebrated H adıth expert Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (d.463/1071) is said to have argued along similar lines. See ibid., pp. 64–5. 124. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zad al-Ma‘ad fı  Huda  Khayr al-‘Ubbad (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-Misriyya, AH 1379) 2:49. 125. Ibn Kathır, al-Bida ya, 3:115. 126. Ibid., 3:117. Ibn Kathır also states this conclusion in his Tafsır al-Qur’a n al-‘Azım,  3:22. 127. See al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya, 1:348. 128. Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 42–3. 129. ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Suhaylı, al-Rawd al-Unuf fı Sharh  al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya li Ibn Hisha m (n.p.: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  n.d.) 3:418. 130. Abu al-Qa sim al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  1384/1964) p. 26. 131. See al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:150. 132. Ibid., 7:150. 133. al-Sha mı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 157. 134. Ibid. Regarding al-Nawawı  see also al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 64. 135. See al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:152. 136. See al-Suhaylı, al-Rawd al-Unuf, 3:418. 137. See ibid., 3:418–19. 138. Al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:152. 139. This tradition is recorded by Ibn Sa‘d (d.230/845) in his T  abaqa t al-Kubra . See Ibn Sa‘d, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (min al-Taba qa t al-Kubra ) (Cairo: al-Zahra ’ li al-I‘la m al-‘Arabı, Qism al-Nashr, 1409/1989) 1:213. 140. Al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı, 7:170

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141. For example, Muhammad al-Sha‘ra w  ı  maintained that there was only one physical isra ’/mi‘ra j but acknowledged that perhaps prior to this Muhammad had experienced it in a dream or in spirit. See al-Sha‘ra w  ı, alMu‘jiza al-Kubra , p. 47. Elsewhere, Muhammad al-Siba ‘ ı  al-Dı b believes that the Prophet undertook the mi‘ra j ten times; seven of these were to the heavens, one to the sidrat al-muntaha , one to where he heard the scratching of pens and one to the throne of God. See al-Dı b, supplement to Minbar al-Isla m No.7 Year 25 (Rajab 1387/October 1967) p. 33, quoted in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 16. 142. Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 18. 143. ‘Abd al-Muttalib understands wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi? to mean ‘Has he received his mission?’ rather than ‘Has he been sent for?’ Scholars are not agreed on this, although most favour the latter interpretation. al-Nawawı, for example, says, ‘As for the door keeper of heaven asking wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi? this means ‘Has he been sent for to undertake the isra ’ and the ascension to the heavens?’ (wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi li al-isra ’ wa su‘ud al-samawa t?) and it is not an enquiry regarding the beginning of his prophetic mission.’ See al-Nawawı, S ahı h  Muslim, 2:212. This interpretation is also found in Jam‘iyyat al-Masha rı ‘ al-Khayriyya al-Isla miyya, Mujıb al-Muht a j, p. 18 note 1. 144. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 59. 145. Ibid., p. 68. 146. Mahmud, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 69. 147. Ibn Kathır, Tafsır al-Qur’a n al-‘Azım,  3:22–3. This version is quoted by a number of subsequent Sunnı  commentators, such as al-Suyuti, al-Aya h al-Kubra  fı  Sharh Qissat al-Isra ’, in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j al-Musamma h Nazır al-Dıba  j bi H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994), pp. 218–19. 148. H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 240–1. 149. ‘Abd Alla h Mahmud Shiha ta, Tafsır Su rat al-Isra ’ (Cairo: al-Hay’a  li al-Kita b , 1986) p. 46. al-Misriyya al-‘Amma 150. Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı, 1:227. 151. Khan, ‘Essay on Shakki-Sadr and Meraj’, p. 34. 152. Al-S a lihı, al-Ifra j, pp. 39–40. 153. H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 26, 27. 154. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 172. 155. It was first published in Cairo by Mata b i‘ Muharram, 1974. 156. Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı, 1:218. 157. See ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 91.

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158. Ibn al-Khatı b, H aqa ’iq Tha bita, p. 129. 159. ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘A milı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 58.

Chapter 3

Through Space and Time

1. Al-Butı, Fiqh al-Sıra (n.p.: Da r al-Fikr, 1970) p. 145. 2. Najm al-Dın al-Ghaytı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) pp. 49–50. 3. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (n.p.: Maktabat wa Matba‘at al-H a jj ‘Abd al-Sala m b. Muhammad b. Shaqrun, n.d.) 2:33. 4. Ibid., 2:36. 5. Ibid., 2:34. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. Al-H asan al-Basrı  is quoting Qur’a n 17:60. 8. Ibid., 2:32. 9. Ibid., 2:34. 10. Ibid., 2:32. 11. Ibid., 2:33–4. 12. Ibid., 2:36. 13. Al-Bayhaqı, Dala ’il al-Nubuwwa wa Ma‘rifat Ahw  a l S a h ib al-Shar‘iyya (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1985) 2:355–7. There are many versions of this tradition. A particularly S ufı  piece of evidence is also forthcoming. It is reported that on the night that the isra ’/mi‘ra j took place ‘Uthma n b. ‘Affa n woke up to find that it was like daytime. He thought that perhaps the Day of Resurrection had arrived and wanted to tell the people of this, but a voice called to him saying ‘Stop Ibn ‘Affa n, for the loved one (mah bu b) has been taken up to the Beloved (ha bıb).’  See ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-S affurı, Nuzhat al-Maja lis wa Muntakhab al-Nafa ’is (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-‘Uthma niyya, AH 1358) 2:125. 14. Qutb al-Dın al-Ra w  andı, al-Khara ’ij wa al-Jara ’ih  (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Nur li al-Matbu‘a t, 1411/1991) 1:85; al-Ya‘qubı, Ta rıkh  (Leiden: Brill, 1883) 2:25–6. 15. Ibn Sa‘d, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (min al-T  aba qa t al-Kubra ) (Cairo: al-Zahra ’ li al-I‘la m al-‘Arabı, Qism al-Nashr, 1409/1989) 1:214. 16. ‘Alı  b. Burha n al-Dın al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya (Cairo: Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı  wa Awla duhu, AH 1349) 1:349. 17. Ibn Kathır, Tafsır al-Qur’a n al-‘Azım (Cairo: Maktabat Da r al-Tura th, n.d.) 3:23–4. A somewhat different version of this is given by al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya, 1:353–4. See also Abu al-Majd H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j:

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18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

24.

25. 26. 27.

28.

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Dira sa Mawd u ‘iyya (Cairo: al-Da r al-Misriyya al-Lubna niyya, 1990) pp. 144–5 who questions the authenticity of the tradition. See Heribert Busse, ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension’ in Uri Rubin (ed.), The Life of Muha mmad (Aldershot: Variorum, 1998) p. 311, quoting Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Wa sitı, Fad a ’il al-Bayt al-Muqaddas (Jerusalem, 1979) p. 66. Abu Mansur Ahmad al-T abarsı, al-Iht ija j (Najaf: Da r al-Nu‘ma n li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr, 1386/1966) 1:55–6. See chapter 2 ‘“We Granted the Vision We Showed You as a Trial for Men” – The Proof Texts: Qur’a n and H adıth’  for further information. Ibn Dihya, al-Ibtiha j fı  Aha dı  th al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı, 1417/1996) p. 14. Al-T abarı, Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Cairo: Da r al-H adıth,  1408/1987) 8:13. Ibid., 8:14. In the margins of one edition of the Ja mi‘ al-Baya n is the Tafsır Ghara ’ib al-Qur’a n wa Ragha ’ib al-Furqa n by Niza m al-Dın al-H asan b. Muhammad al-Qummı  al-Nısa  b urı  (d.728/1327). This also examines one by one the arguments for and against a physical isra ’/mi‘ra j. They are substantially the same as those of al-T abarı. These scholars include, among numerous others, Ibn Dihya (d.663/1236) al-Ibtiha j, pp. 17, 19; Ibn Kathır (d.774/1373) al-Bida ya wa al-Niha ya (Beirut: Maktabat al-Ma‘a rif, 1966) 3:114 and his Tafsır 3:23; Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r (Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, n.d.) 18:291; and modern commentators such as Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Tawthıqiyya  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı,  1400/1980) pp. 70–1; H usayn Bandar al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at  al-Nabı  Muha mmad ila  ‘Alam al-Ghayb (Beirut: Da r al-Rasul al-Akram, 1999–2000) pp. 29–30, 32; and ‘Abd al-H amıd al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r Mis r li al-T iba ‘ a, n.d.) pp. 33–5. Al-T abarı, Ja mi‘ al-Baya n, 8:14. Ibid., 8:13. Al-Suyutı  (d.911/1505) was still citing them as the only evidence for a nonphysical isra ’/mi‘ra j some eight hundred years after they first appeared in  al-Kubra  fı  Sharh  Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya. See al-Suyutı, al-Aya Qissat al-Isra ’ in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 193. Ibn Dihya, al-Ibtiha j, pp. 68–9. This is repeated by Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j fı  H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 56.

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29. See, for example, ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 71–2.  He does, however, hypothesise that what is intended by ‘A’isha’s statement is an ascension of the soul, which is very different from a dream. Such an interpretation forms the subject of the following chapter. 30. For a resumé of these views with references see H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 152 and Mahmud Tawfıq al-H akım,  al-Sira j al-Wahha j fı  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Maktabat Madbulı, 1999) pp. 16–17. 31. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:291. 32. Al-Suhaylı, al-Rawd al-Unuf fı  Sharh  al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya li Ibn Hisha m (n.p.: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  n.d.) 3:415–16. Like so many of the earlier arguments, this is repeated, for example, by al-Sah h a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 36. 33. Abu ‘Alı  al-Fad l b. al-H asan al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n fı Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, 1986) 5:654. 34. For a more recent treatment see, for example, Muhammad Sulayma n al-Nashara tı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j fı  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Riyadh: Da r al-Liwa ’, n.d.) pp. 43–5. 35. Al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  1384/1964) pp. 65–6. 36. Ibid., p. 66. 37. Ibn Kathır, Tafsır, 3:23. 38. Ibn Kathır, al-Bida ya wa al-Niha ya, 3:114. 39. Al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 66. 40. Ibn Dihya, al-Ibtiha j, p. 19. 41. Rizq Hayba, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j wa Atharuhuma  fı Tathbı  t al-‘Aqıda  (Cairo: Da r Gharı b, 2000) p. 15. 42. Muhammad H usayn al-T aba taba ’ ı, Shi‘ite Islam, translated by Seyyed Hossain Nasr (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1975) p. 148. For another Ima mı  statement see the modern cleric Ayatollah Ja‘far al-Subha nı, Mafa hım al-Qur’a n (Qumm: Mu’assasat al-Ima m al-S a diq, AH 1405) p. 89: ‘There is no doubt that to distinguish truth from falsehood and a veracious person from a liar, and to identify the true prophet from the pretender and the charlatan, requires proof, rules and norms . . . this was by working miracles.’ 43. For example, ‘The wrongdoers conceal their private counsels, (saying), “Is this (one) more than a man like yourselves?’’’ (21:3); ‘When Our clear signs are rehearsed to them, they say, “This is only a man who wishes to hinder you from the (worship) which your fathers practised.’’’ (34:43); ‘And they say, “What sort of a messenger is this, who eats food, and walks through the streets?’’’ (25:7); ‘This is nothing but the word of a mortal.’ (74:25); ‘Has Alla h sent a man (like us) to be (His) messenger?’ (17:94).

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44. For more details on Muhammad as miracle worker and a list of miracles attributed to him by Ibn Isha q see Josef Horovitz, ‘The Growth of the Mohammed Legend’, in Uri Rubin (ed.), The Life of Muha mmad (Aldershot: Variorum, 1998) pp. 269–78. 45. Muhammad Mutawallı  al-Sha‘ra w  ı, Mu‘jiza t al-Rasu l (n.p.: Da r Akhba r alYawm, n.d.) p. 5. 46. Al-T abarı, Ja mi‘ al-Baya n, 8:14. 47. Al-Butı, Fiqh al-Sıra,  p. 145. The italics are mine. 48. Al-T usı, Tafsır al-Tibya n (n.p.: Da r al-Andalus, n.d.) 6:446. 49. Al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n, 5:609. 50. In the introduction to Muhammad al-S a lihı, al-Ifra j fı  Takhrıj Aha dı  th Qissat al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Basha ’ ir al-Isla miyya, 1425/2004) p. 19. 51. Muhammad Abu Fa ris, Fı  Z ila l al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya. al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Tawzı ‘ wa al-Nashr al-Isla miyya, n.d.) p. 23. Some commentators say that while the isra ’/mi‘ra j was certainly a miracle it was not in order to confirm Muhammad’s prophethood but was rather to honour him, to reassure and comfort him during a period when he was encountering severe opposition from the Quraysh and had been ousted from T a ’ if. See, for example, Amın Duwayda r, S uwar min H aya t al-Rasu l (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, 1958) pp. 613–14. 52. See Muhammad al-Ba qir al-S adr, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence according to Shi‘i Law, translated by Arif Abdul Hussain (London: Islamic College for Advanced Studies Press, 2003) pp. 87–8. Elsewhere, Ima mı  exegetes resort to a symbolic and allegorical interpretation of certain verses of the Qur’a n in order to elicit their reference to Ima mism and especially in favour of the Ahl al-Bayt, that is, ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib, his family and the Ima ms descended from him. Even here, however, the literal meaning is still maintained, the allegorical meaning being seen as a further or supplementary interpretation and not the only possible meaning. For example, the verse ‘Be watchful over the prayers and the middle prayer’ (Qur’a n 2:238) is interpreted in the literal sense of the commandment to perform the prayers, but is also understood to contain the inner meaning of an allusion to the Prophet, Fa tima, ‘Alı, al-H asan and al-H usayn. See Meir Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Ima mı  Shiism (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew University, 1999) p. 123.  53. H usayn al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 29. Ra’ısa  Qassa m says the same.   See her al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: ‘Alam al-Ghayb fı  ‘Alam al-Shahada  (Beirut:  Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1421/2000) p. 24. 54. Al-Qa dı  ‘Ayya d, Ikma l al-Mu‘lim bi Fawa ’id Muslim (Sharh  S ahı h  Muslim) (Mansura: Da r al-Wafa ’ li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzı ‘, 1419/1998) 1:501.

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55. Al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı  Sharh  S ahı h  al-Bukha rı  (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, n.d.) 7:156. 56. ‘Abd al-H alım  Mahmud, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, n.d.) p. 41. 57. Al-Nashara tı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 105. 58. For example, see the Sufıs al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 26, 65, 75–6; Abu al-H asan al-H ujwırı  (d.c.469/1077), Kashf al-Mah ju b, translated from the original Persian by R. A. Nicholson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1911) pp. 238–9, 283; Ibn ‘Arabı  (d.638/1240), Futu ha t al-Makkiyya section 3, translated by James Winston Morris (‘The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn Arabi and the Miraj Part 1’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 107 No.4 [October-December 1987] 629–52) p. 638; Shams al-Dın Ibra h ım  Abarquhı  (fl. late 7th/13th– early 8th/14th century) wrote a Mi‘ra j Na ma in which he ‘explicitly rejects the idea that the mi‘ra j was only a spiritual phenomenon’ (see Peter Heath, Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ) with a Translation of the Book of the Prophet Muha mmad’s Ascent to Heaven [Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992] p. 204); Sa‘ıd Nursı  (d.1960), al-Mi‘ra j al-Nabawı  (Cairo: Sharikat Suzlar [Sozlar] li al-Nashr, 2004) pp. 38–9. 59. Al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j, p. 25. 60. Ptolemy was one of the most influential Ancient Greek astronomers. When his most important work on astronomy, the Almagest, was translated from Greek into Arabic by H unayn b. Isha q (d.260/873) it superceded all other works of astronomy by the Persians and the Indians. His geocentric model of the universe persisted until the sixteenth century, that is, for some 1400 years. 61. See, for example, Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sha mı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j aw Khulas at al-Fad l al-Fa ’iq fı  Mi‘ra j Khayr al-Khala ’iq (Beirut: Da r Ibn H azm, 1424/2003) p. 159 who says that some people denied the possibility of the mi‘ra j because ‘If [Muhammad] had ascended to the heavens he would have pierced the celestial spheres (al-afla k) and this is impossible.’ 62. On al-Ra zı’s conception of the physical world which provides the background for the arguments presented here, see Adi Setia, ‘Fakhr al-Din al-Razi on Physics and the Nature of the Physical World: a Preliminary Survey’, Islam and Science 2, No. 2 (Winter 2004) pp. 161–80. 63. Fakhr al-Dın al-Ra zı, al-Tafsır al-Kabır (Mafa tıh  al-Ghayb) (Egypt: Muhammad Ahmad al-Sha mı, n.d.) 5:542. 64. Ibid. Al-Ujhurı  also uses this as an argument for the physical isra ’/mi‘ra j. He notes that the lower edge of the sun reaches the place of the upper edge in less than one second. Since God can do as He pleases, He can make a human body travel at a similar speed. See Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı, al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı  al-Kala m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya,

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65. 66. 67.

68. 69. 70. 71.

72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79.

80.

81.

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n.d.) p. 57. This is repeated by al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 58, and by al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:285. Al-Ra zı, al-Tafsır al-Kabır, 5:542. Ibid., 5:543. ‘And to Solomon We made the wind obedient. Its early morning stride was a month’s journey away and its evening stride was a month’s journey away’ (Qur’a n 34:12). Al-Ra zı, al-Tafsır al-Kabır, 5:543. Ibid., referring to Qur’a n 27:38–40. Ibid. Ibid., 5:543–4 Al-Ra zı  is here referring to Qur’a n 26:32–45 which relates how Moses’ staff swallowed ropes and rods which sorcerers had transformed into snakes. See also 20:66–9. Ibid., 5:544.  ı, al-Tafsır (Anwa r al-Tanzıl wa Asra r Abu Sa‘ıd Nas ir al-Dın al-Bayd a w al-Ta’wıl) (Cairo: Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı, 1330/1912) 3:196. See al-Sha mı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 160. Ibid., pp. 159–61. Ibid., p. 160. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:286. See al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, p. 58. The internet is full of essays on the subject. For a few examples see ‘The Physics of the Day of Judgement’, ‘The Quran and Astronomy’ and ‘A New Astronomical Quranic Method for the Determination of the Greatest Speed C’ all available at http://www.islamiska.org; the Arabic ‘The Law of Relativity in the Qur’a n’ at http://jmuslim.naseej.com.; and ‘Exploring the Scientific Miracle of the Holy Qur’an’ at http://www.scienceinquran. com/index.html. There are even websites devoted to it such as ‘The Quran and Science’ at http://www.the quranandscience.com. One well-known proponent of this argument in the West is Dr Maurice Bucaille, a French physician and author of The Bible, the Quran and Science: The Holy Scriptures examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge, translated from the original French by Alastair D. Pannel and the author (New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an Inc., 2003).  ’ al-Nabı  (Lahore: Zia alMuhammad Karam Sha h al-Azharı, Sıra Iiya Quran Publications, AH 1420) 2:495. I am grateful to Bakhtiyar Haider Pirzada for translating the above passage from the original Urdu. ‘Ask Dr. Laleh’ is a regular feature of the American ‘The Muslim Magazine’ at www.muslimmag.org.

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82. Reported in the Bangladesh Observer of 25 September 2003 available at http:// www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/new/2003/09/25/national.htm. 83. See, for example, Kha lid Sayyid ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Mu‘jiza wa  n, H aqa ’iq, Asra r wa Fawa ’id (Kuwait: Maktabat al-Tura th wa al-Ima 1422/2001) p. 28; Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 21. 84. ‘Abd al-Hila l Nurı, al-Muha mmadiyya t: Kalima t qılat  fı  Dhikraya t alMawlid wa al-Isra ’ wa al-Hijra (Cairo: Maktabat Wahba, n.d.) p. 43. 85. ‘Alı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 27. 86. Al-Nashara tı, al-Sira j al-Wahha j, pp. 34–8. 87. Available at http://vlib.unitarklj1.edu.my/staff-publications/datuk/Nst27jan96.pdf. 88. http://www.al-huda.com/Article_4of13.htm. The website is maintained by Al-Huda Foundation in New Jersey, USA. 89. ‘Abd Alla h Mahmud Shiha ta, Tafsır Su rat al-Isra ’ (Cairo: al-Hay’a al-Mis riyya  al-‘Amma li al-Kita b , 1986) pp. 25–6. 90. ‘Abd al-H usayn Dastaghı b, al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Bala gha, 1413/1993) p. 39.   91. ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı  al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Nazra ‘Amma (Beirut: al-Da r al-Isla miyya, 1408/1988) p. 16. This is repeated without acknowledgement in Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 22. 92. ‘Is ‘Meraj’ Something Real or a Dream?’ at http://humanists.net.

Chapter 4 A Transport of the Spirit 1. Quoted on ‘Islamonline’ at http://islamonline.net/fatwa/english/ FatwaDisplay. Shaykh ‘Atiyya S aqr (d.2006) was a former head of al-Azhar Fatwa Committee (Lajnat al-Fatwa ) . 2. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (n.p.: Maktabat wa Matba‘at al-H a jj ‘Abd al-Sala m b. Muhammad b. Shaqrun, n.d.) 2:34. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. Al-H asan al-Bas rı  is quoting Qur’a n 17:60. 5. Ibid., 2:32. 6. Ibid., 2:34. 7. Al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  1384/1964) p. 25. 8. An early sect in Islam. They were the followers of al-Jahm b. S afwa n (d.128/745). Among other things they are said to have denied the existence of God’s attributes and to have asserted that the Qur’a n was not eternally pre-existent but rather created. 9. Ibn Shahra shub, Mana qib Al Abı  T  a lib (Beirut: Da r al-Adwa ’, 1405/1985) 1:177. This is also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r (Tehran: Da r alKutub al-Isla miyya, n.d.) 18:380.

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10. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, 2:36. 11. Ibn Kathır, Tafsır al-Qur’a n al-‘Azım (Cairo: Maktabat Da r al-Tura th, n.d.) 3:23–4. 12. Al-Bukha rı, S ahı h  (Beirut: Da r al-Jıl, n.d.), ‘Kita b Bad’ al-Khalq’ tradition No. 429. 13. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:289.   Buzurg al-T ihra nı, al-Dharı‘a ila  Tasa nıf al-Shı‘a (Beirut: Da r 14. Agha al-Ad wa ’ , n.d.) 21:226. 15. Ibid., 21:225. 16. See Peter Heath, Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ) (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992). The attribution of the treatise to Ibn Sına   is disputed in some quarters. For a discussion on this see ibid., Appendix B pp. 201–7. 17. Ibid., p. 111. 18. Ibid., p. 125. Ibn Sına   expresses a similar sentiment at the end of his exposition of the isra ’/mi‘ra j: ‘Only a rationalist (‘a qil) is permitted to enjoy the inner meaning of these words’ (ibid., p. 138). 19. Ibid., p. 118. 20. Ibid., p. 120. 21. Ibid., p. 121. 22. Ibid., p. 123. 23. Ibid., p. 124. 24. ‘The truth is that God took His Messenger on a night journey in his body from the masjid al-ha ra m to bayt al-maqdis riding on the bura q . . . then he was taken up from there to the lowest heaven . . .’ Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zad al-Ma‘ad fı  Huda  Khayr al-‘Ubbad Muha mmad Kha tim al-Nabiyyın wa Ima m al-Mursalın (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-Mis riyya, AH 1379) 2:47. 25. Ibid., 2:48. The views mentioned by Ibn Qayyim have been favourably received by subsequent Sunnı  commentators. They are quoted, for example, by Abu al-Majd H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: al-Da r al-Mis riyya al-Lubna niyya, 1990) pp. 175–6; Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Tawthıqiyya  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı, 1400/1980) pp. 72–3; and ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Wakıl, the modern editor of ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Suhaylı’s al-Rawd al-Unuf fı  Sharh  al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya li Ibn Hisha m (n.p.: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  n.d.) with the remark ‘This is a good interpretation’ (3:421–2). 26. Ibn Kathır, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya translated by Trevor Le Gassick as The Life of the Prophet Muha mmad (Reading: Garnet Publishing, 1998) 2:70–1. 27. See John L. Epositio, Islam: The Straight Path (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) p. 134.

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28. See Christian Troll, Sayyid Ahmed Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1978) p. 178. 29. The essay was published in Syed Ahmed Khan, A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects Subsidiary Thereto (London: Trübner and Co., 1870). 30. Syed Ahmed Khan, ‘Essay on Shakki-Sadr and Meraj’, p. 1. 31. Ibid., p. 8. 32. Ibid., pp. 8–9. 33. Ibid., p. 12. 34. Quoted in Clinton Bennet, In Search of Muhammad (London: Cassell, 1998) p. 59. 35. Syed Ameer Ali, The Life and Teaching of Mohammed or The Spirit of Islam (London: W. H. Allen and Co. Ltd, 1891) p. 121. 36. Abul Kalam Azad, The Tarjuma n al-Qur’a n, edited and translated into English by Dr Seyed Abdul Latif (Lahore: Sind Sagar Academy, 1968) 3:339. 37. Ibid., 3:340. 38. Fazlur Rahman, Islam (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966). 39. Qur’a n 26:194. 40. Rahman, Islam, p. 14. 41. ‘This biography depicts Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a man – the Greatest MAN who ever lived on this earth.’ See the publisher’s introduction to Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar, Muhammad the Holy Prophet (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1961) p. viii. 42. Ibid., p. 122. 43. Ibid. 44. Ibid., p. 128. 45. Ibid., p. 132. 46. Quoted in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 185. 47. Muhammad H usayn Haykal, H aya t Muha mmad (Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahd a al-Mis riyya, 1967) pp. 71–2. 48. Ibid., p. 72. 49. Ibid., p. 207. 50. Ibid., p. 209. 51. Ibid., p. 208. 52. Ibid. Haykal’s views have also been espoused by Muhammad Zakı  Bayd un in his Mawkib al-Nu r fı  Sırat  al-Rasu l (Beirut: Da r al-Kita b al-‘Arabı, 1970). 53. Qur’a n 70:4 (Su rat al-Ma‘a rij). 54. ‘Alı  ‘Abd al-Jalıl Ra dı, H aya t Muha mmad al-Ru h iyya (Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahd a al-Mis riyya, 1964), quoted in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 193–4. Ra dı’s views are also referred to in Muhammad Amın Jabr, al-Isra ’

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55. 56.

57.

58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65.

66.

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wa al-Mi‘ra j wa ‘Ulu m al-‘Asr (Beirut: Da r al-Kita b al-Lubna nı, 2003) pp. 163–4. Salım  al-Ja b ı, Fı  Z ila l Dala la t Su rat al-Isra ’ wa bi Manz u r Jadıd Mu‘as ir (Damascus: Matba‘at Nad ir, 1997) pp. 5–6. Qur’a nic exegetes typically interpret the adverb laylan as emphasising the fact that the journey took place at night, or as indicating that the journey took only part of the night, that is, to shorten the idea of a night journey indicated by the verb asra . See, for example, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad al-T usı, Tafsır al-Tibya n (n.p.: Da r al-Andalus, n.d.) 6:446. For a modern interpretation which argues on the same lines as al-Ja bı  see ‘Abba s Al Wahb al-Shamrı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j bayna al-‘Aql wa al-Wahy (Beirut: Da r al-Qa ri’, 1425/2005) p. 132. The tradition narrated by Umm Ha ni’ begins ‘The Prophet was not taken on a night journey except while he was in my house. He slept that night in my house. He prayed the evening prayer and then he slept and we slept. Shortly before dawn the Prophet woke us and when we had prayed the morning prayer he said, “O Umm Ha ni’, I prayed the evening prayer with you in this valley as you saw. Then I went to bayt al-maqdis and prayed there.”’ See Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, 2:36. Al-Ja b ı, Fı  Z ila l Dala la t Su rat al-Isra ’, p. 14. Ibid., pp. 14–15. Ibid., pp. 13–14. Ibid., p. 16. Ibid., pp. 26–8. Nadhır al-‘Azma, al-Mi‘ra j wa al-Ramz al-S u fı: Qira ’a Tha niya li al-Tura th (Beirut: Da r al-Ba h i th, 1402/1982) p. 65. See Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam (Oxford: George Ronald, 1985) p. 227. This is essentially the concept articulated by such as the celebrated Sunnı  theologian Muhammad al-Ghaza lı  (d.505/1111) in his Mishka t al-Anwa r in which he describes the mystic’s mi‘ra j, the ascension of the soul to the ‘Light of Lights’. Al-Ghaza li makes use of the Neoplatonic idea that there are two worlds, one spiritual (‘a lam al-ghayb) and the other material (i.e. our world) (‘a lam al-shahada).  Everything that exists in the material world has a corresponding image (mitha l) in the spiritual world. The material world is the world of matter and image, while the spiritual world is the world of reality and spirit. See al-Ghaza lı, Mishka t al-Anwa r (Cairo: al-Da r al-Qawmiyya li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr, 1382/1964). The Usuliyya, the Akhba riyya and the Shaykhiyya constitute the three subdivisions within Ima mism. Among other differences, the majority Usulıs accept the use of the consensus of scholarly opinion (ijma ‘) and reasoning or

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68.

69. 70.

71.

72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79.

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interpretation (ijtihad)  in deriving principles of doctrine and law, while the Akhba rıs reject these and rely solely on the Qur’a n and especially the H adıth or akhba r of the Ima ms. Al-Ahsa ’ı’s ideas on the isra ’/mi‘ra j are outlined in his al-Risa la al-Qat ıfiyya  which has been published as part of his collected works Jawa mi‘ al-Kalim (Tabriz: Muhammad Taqi Nakhjavani, AH 1273–6). See Heinz Halm, Shiism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991) p. 109; and H. M. Balyuzi, Muha mmad and the Course of Islam (Oxford: George Ronald, 1976) p. 422. Published in Beirut by the Mu’assasat al-Bala gh, 1421/2001. See Ja‘far al-Subha nı, Sayyid al-Mursalın (Qumm: Mu’assasat al-Nashr al-Isla mı, n.d.) pp. 547–8. The book is available online at http://www. imamsadeq.org/book/sub6/al-morslin-j1. Abu Isha q al-Nu‘ma nı, al-Sira j wa al-Wahha j fı  H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı, Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 62. Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqala nı  (d.852/1449) also argues that none of the traditions indicate that Muhammad fell asleep when he arrived at bayt al-maqdis and was taken on the mi‘ra j in this state since the mi‘ra j was done while awake. See his Fath  al-Ba rı  Sharh  S ahı h  al-Bukha rı  (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, n.d.) 7:170. Al-H alabı, al-Sıra al-H alabiyya. Insa n al-‘Uyu n fı  Sırat  al-Amın al-Ma’mu n (Cairo: Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı  wa Awla duhu, AH 1349) 1:391. Abu Zahra is referring to the well-known tradition of Mu‘a w  iya b. Abı   from God.’ Sufya n: ‘It was a true vision (ru’ya  sadiqa) Muhammad Abu Zahra, Kha tim al-Nabiyyın (n.p.: Da r al-Fikr al-‘Arabı, 1972) 1:605–6, 610. Al-T aba taba ’ ı, al-Mıza  n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1392/1972) 13:33. Quoted in H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 194–5. See ibid., p. 190, referring to an article by ‘Abd al-H ası b T a h a  published in Minbar al-Isla m (Rajab 1387/October 1967). ‘Abd Alla h Mustafa  al-Mara ghı, Afd al Minha j fı Ithba t al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Matba‘at al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya, AH 1367). Published in Cairo by Da r al-I’tis a m. Although the primary interest here is with works written in Arabic, we might note that the same concern with proving the bodily isra ’/mi‘ra j is seen throughout the Islamic world with the emergence of an attendant polemical literature in other Muslim languages. To mention just two publications in Urdu there is al-Mi‘ra j: fı  Ithba t al-Mi‘ra j al-Jusma nı  (‘The Mi‘ra j: A Confirmation of its Physical Nature’) by al-Sayyid Muhammad Ha run al-Zanjıfurı   (d.1339/1920) (see al-T ihra nı,

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80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85.

86.

87.

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al-Dharı‘a 21:227) and ‘Mi‘ra j Jisma nı  Ka  Thubut Aha dıth  Say’ (‘The Physical Mi‘ra j confirmed by H adıth’)  by H usayn Ahmad Madanı  (Dhikr [Deoband, India: Maktaba Dıniyya,  1986]). Another, specifically Ima mı, treatise concerning the physical and spiritual ascension is al-Mi‘ra j in Persian by Muhammad Ba qir b. Muhammad Ja‘far al-Hamada nı  al-Ba h irı  (d.1332/1912) (see al-T ihra nı, al-Dharı ‘a, 21:225). Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r Misr li al-T iba ‘a, n.d.) pp. 35–6. Fa tima Muhammad Ma rdını  , Anwa r al-Isra ’ (Damascus: Da r Fanna n, 1999) pp. 436–8. The book has been reprinted in Beirut by the Mu’assasat al-Intisha r al-‘Arabı, 2007. Mufti Zubair Bayat, ‘The Physical (Body and Soul) Me’raj’ at http://www. beautifulislam.net/prophethood/meraj_p.html Al-Butı, Fiqh al-Sıra (n.p.: Da r al-Fikr, 1970) p. 147. The Egyptian Muhammad Farıd Wajdı  (d.1954) was from 1933 to 1952 the editor of the Majallat al-Azhar, the official journal of al-Azhar University in Cairo. Articles by him which appeared in the Majalla and which indicate his approach include ‘Scientific Doubts about the Religions: Their Analysis and Refutation by the Method of Science Itself’ and ‘Tangibly Proving the Human Spirit’. Of particular relevance here, in his Da ’irat Ma‘a rif al-Qarn al-‘Ishrın under the entry ‘araja (6:329) Wajdı  adopts a similar stance to Haykal and judges that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was some kind of spiritual experience. On Wajdı  see Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in Modern History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957) pp. 132–56. Perhaps al-Butı  is referring here to such as Thomas Carlyle’s (d.1881) ‘The Hero as Prophet: Mahomet: Islam’ (Lecture 2, 8 May 1840) in On Heroes, HeroWorship and the Heroic in History, and D. S. Margoliouth’s (d.1940) Mohammed and the Rise of Islam which appears in the series ‘Heroes of the Nations’ and the first chapter of which is called ‘The Birthplace of the Hero’. Al-Butı  probably has in mind books such as the Egyptian ‘Abd al-Rahma n ‘Azza m’s Batal al-Abt a l aw abraz S ifa t al-Nabı  Muha mmad (‘The Hero of Heroes or the Most Prominent Characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad’) first published in 1938; ‘Abba s Mahmud al-‘Aqqa d’s biography of the Prophet ‘Abqariyyat Muha mmad (‘The Genius of Muhammad’) first published in 1942 and in which it is denied that Muhammad had need of miracles; and Muha mmad al-Tha ’ir al-A‘z am (‘Muhammad the Greatest Revolutionary’) published in 1954 and written by the Egyptian Fathı  Radwa n who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Abdul Nasser’s cabinet after the 1952 revolution. The frontispiece of both Tawfıq al-H akım’s  play Muha mmad (1934–5) and ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-Sharqa w  ı’s play Muha mmad Rasu l al-H urriyya (1962)

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quote the Qur’a n: ‘Say, I am only a man like you’ (qul innama  ana  bashar mithlukum) (18:110). Neither author mentions any of the miracles attributed to Muhammad, including the isra ’/mi‘ra j. 88. Al-Butı, Fiqh al-Sıra,  p. 148. 89. Ibid., p. 149. 90. The book is on the shelves of the John Rylands library of the University of Manchester. In more recent times, the introduction of the internet has resulted in a plethora of articles championing both sides of the argument. For example, on the official website of the Islamic Da’wah Academy in Leicester, England, the article ‘Me’raj (Ascension) Physical or Spiritual?’ by the H adıth scholar shaykh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat argues for a bodily journey (http://www. idauk.org/pub/leaf/beliefs/42.html). This was also published as a small booklet. Similarly, ‘The Tourist of Beyond the Heavens’ by the Pakistani Syed B. Soharwardy of the Islamic Supreme Council in Canada argues that the isra ’/ mi‘ra j was undertaken in both body and spirit (http://islamicsupremecouncil.com/meraj 1.htm). Elsewhere, the Sunnı  shaykh Hisha m Muhammad Kabba nı  has written an article called ‘The Night Journey: The Spiritual Significance of Isra and Mi‘raj’ which recounts the events of the journey and discusses, among other things, whether it was performed in body or spirit (http://www.mawlid.net/The%Night%Journey/Isra&maraj.htm). Contemporary interest in the manner in which the isra ’/mi‘ra j was performed is also seen in forums. For instance, on the English language Pakistani website ‘Islamic Voice’ a questioner asks a number of questions including ‘Did the Prophet travel in Meraj while awake or in his dream, like some scholars say?’ (http:// www.islamicvoice.com). Mention might also be made of the Arabic language Ima mı  forum ‘Mostabser’ (‘The official website of the people who embrace Shiism’) in which anonymous scholars answer questions put to them by the public. One questioner asks, ‘On the isra ’ and the mi‘ra j did Muhammad see what he saw with his heart or with both his heart and eyes? I would like an answer to my question supported by the words of the infallible [Ima ms] . . .’ (http://www.aqaed.com/ejabe/alef/esra/01.html).   al-Shahada  91. Ra’ısa  Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: ‘Alam al-Ghayb fı  ‘Alam (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1421/2000) p. 12. 92. Qur’a n 23:100. Barzakh literally means a partition or an interval. 93. Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 17–18. 94. Ibid., p. 18. 95. Ibid., pp. 22–3. 96. For an examination of the views of these writers, see Chapter 2 ‘“We Granted the Vision We Showed You as a Trial for Men” – The Proof Texts: Qur’a n and H adıth’. 

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97. Published in Beirut by Da r al-Zahra ’ , 1401/1981. 98. Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 32–4. 99. Ibid., p.34. At this point Qassa m remarks that the West has acquired advanced scientific knowledge through studying these descriptions and the miracle of the isra ’/mi‘ra j – presumably by being inspired by the narrative. Another Ima mı  writer who adopts a very similar position to Ra’ısa Qassa m is H usayn  Bandar al-‘Amilı  in his al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at al-Nabı  Muha mmad ila   ‘Alam al-Ghayb (Beirut: Da r al-Rasul al-Akram, 1999–2000). 100. Amın Duwayda r, S uwar min H aya t al-Rasu l (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, 1958) p. 614. 101. H araka, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 37. 102. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 5–6. ‘Abd al-Muttalib is here following Muhammad Mutawallı  al-Sha‘ra w  ı, al-Mu‘jiza al-Kubra : al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (n.p.: Da r Akhba r al-Yawm, n.d.) pp. 59–60. 103. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 6–7. 104. Ibid., p. 79. 105. Ibid., p. 90. 106. Al-Bukha rı, S ahı h , ‘Kita b Bad’ al-Khalq’ tradition No. 3207. 107. Muhammad Muba rak al-Mazyudı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Ta’ammula t (Cairo: Markaz al-Kita b li al-Nashr, 2002) p. 37. 108. Accessed at http://www.islamicgalaxy.itgo.com/islamic%events/holynights.

Chapter 5 Rationality, the Ineffable and Faith 1. Quoted in ‘Alı  Yusuf ‘Alı, Niha yat al-Lija j fı  Mawd u ‘ al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Jıl, 1408/1987) p. 46. 2. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Muha mmad Man of Allah (London: The Muhammadi Trust, 1982) p. 20. 3. Amın Duwayda r, S uwar min H aya t al-Rasu l (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, 1958) p. 603. 4. Ibid., pp. 607–8. See also Fad l H asan ‘Abba s, al-Minha j: Nafaha t min al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Amman: Da r al-Bashır, 1407/1987) p. 109, who also considers that it is wrong to attempt to explain miracles in terms of modern science since the human mind cannot comprehend what a miracle is. See also Ahmad Shalabı, Mawsu ‘at al-Ta rıkh  al-Isla mı  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahd a al-Mis riyya, 1978) 1:213 who also maintains that the human intellect is incapable of conceiving of the isra ’/mi‘ra j. 5. Al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r Mis r li al-T iba ‘ a) p. 25. 6. Al-Sha‘ra w  ı, al-Mu‘jiza al-Kubra : al Isra  wa al-Mi‘ra j (n.p.: Da r Akhba r al-Yawm, n.d.) pp. 53–6. Rizq Hayba remarks that the people of the caravan

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7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19.

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did not see Muhammad either because the bura q was travelling so fast or because it was dark. See his al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j wa Atharuhuma  fı  Tathbıt al-‘Aqıda  (Cairo: Da r Gharı b, 2000) p. 93. Qur’a n 21:69. al-Sha‘ra w  ı, al-Mu‘jiza al-Kubra , p. 40. Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı, al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl a fı  ‘Umq al-Fad a ’ wa al-Zaman (Beirut: Da r al-Zahra ’ , 1401/1981).  H usayn Bandar al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at al-Nabı  Muha mmad  ila  ‘Alam al-Ghayb (Beirut: Da r al-Rasul al-Akram, 1999–2000), p. 6. As the subtitle of the book itself suggests: Rihl at al-Nabı  Muha mmad ila   ‘Alam al-Ghayb (‘The Prophet Muhammad’s Journey to the World of the Ghayb’). Mullah Faidh al-Kashani, Me’raj – The Night Ascension, translated by Saleem Bhimji (Canada: Islamic Humanitarian Service, n.d.) available at http://alislam.org/al-miraj. No page numbers given. Ibid. Fa tima Muhammad Ma rdını  , Anwa r al-Isra ’ (Damascus: Da r Fanna n, 1999) p. 433. Ibid., pp. 434–5. http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/new/2003/09/25/national.htm. Among other things, the report states that ‘Syed Ashraf Ali said that in the modern scientific age it is said there is no term like time. Citing various theories and examples he said that time is, in fact, a relative thing . . . [and travelling into] outer space is not a fiction now . . . The scientists will have to pass more distance to properly perceive the incident of Miraj, the speakers told the seminar.’ al-Sahh a r, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 36. Ibid., pp. 36–9 referring to the comments of shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahma n Ta j, the Grand Ima m of al-Azhar from 1954 to 1958. Abdel Rahman Mohammad al-Najjar, al-Isra’ and al-Mi‘raj: Ascension of the Holy Prophet (Cairo: The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, n.d.) pp. 12–13. Darwısh  al-Zafta w  ı, H ika yat Mu‘jizat al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Maktabat al-Anjlu al-Mis riyya, 1415/1994) p. 28. The same message is given by the celebrated jurist Muhammad Idrıs al-Sha fi‘ı  (d.327/939) who said ‘What is confirmed on the authority of the Prophet must be accepted. For you or anyone else to ask ‘why’ or ‘how’ is an error.’ From al-Sha fi‘ı, Ikhtila f al-H adıth,  in the margins of Kita b al-Umm (3:339), quoted in Raf‘at Fawzı  ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Aha dı  th al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Dira sa Tawthıqiyya  (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kha njı, 1400/1980) frontispiece.

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21. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (n.p.: Maktabat wa Matba‘at al-H a jj ‘Abd al-Sala m b. Muhammad b. Shaqrun, n.d.) 2:34. For more on the isra ’/mi‘ra j as a test of faith see Brooke Olson Vuckovic, Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns. The Legacy of the Mi‘raj in the Formation of Islam (New York and London: Routledge, 2005) Chapter 3: ‘Communal Reaction, Trials, Betrayal, and True Belief’ pp. 75–95. 22. Ahmad b. H anbal, al-Musnad (Cairo: Mu’assasat Qurtuba, n.d.) 1:309 tradition No. 2820. That Abu Jahl has come to represent the Muslim with no faith is seen, for example, in ‘Alı  Yusuf ‘Alı ’s newspaper article in which he refers to someone who doubted the mi‘ra j as Abu Jahl. The article was entitled Bal Isra ’ wa Mi‘ra j raghma Anf Abı  Jahl (‘Yes indeed, there was an Isra ’ and a Mi‘ra j despite Abu Jahl’). See ‘Alı, Niha yat al-Lija j, p. 19. 23. Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya 2:32.  fı Dhikraya  t al-Mawlid 24. ‘Abd al-Hila l Nurı, al-Muha mmadiyya t: Kalima t qılat wa al-Isra ’ wa al-Hijra (Cairo: Maktabat Wahba, n.d.) p. 41. 25. See Qur’a n 21:69. 26. See Qur’a n 20:77. 27. See, for example, Qur’a n 3:49. 28. See Qur’a n 54:1–2. 29. See al-Bukha rı, S ah ı h  (Beirut: Da r al-Jı l, n.d.) ‘Kita b al-Wud u’’ tradition No. 170. 30. See, for example, ibid., ‘Kita b Fad a ’il al-S aha b a’ tradition No. 778. 31. See, for example, Qur’a n 38:4. 32. See Qur’a n 11:64. 33. See Qur’a n 2:51. 34. See Qur’a n 17:90–3. 35. Al-Sha‘ra w  ı, al-Mu‘jiza al-Kubra , pp. 49–53. Al-Sha‘ra w  ı’s thoughts are shared by such as the Ima mı  scholar Ra’ısa  Qassa m (see her al-Isra ’ wa  al-Ghayb fı  ‘Alam  al-Shahada al-Mi‘ra j: ‘Alam  [Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1421/2000] p. 12) and Fa tima Ma rdını   (see her Anwa r al-Isra ’ p. 118). 36. ‘Abd al-H alım  Mahmud, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Ma‘a rif, n.d.) pp. 61, 63. 37. Al-Ujhurı, al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı  al-Kala m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 249.

Chapter 6

The Isra ’ and the Mi‘raj in Imam  ı  Shı‘ism 

1. Muhammad Ba qir al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r (Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, n.d.) 18:300.

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2. A brief reference to traditions regarding ‘Alı  and the Ima ms in the context of the mi‘ra j is found in W. A. Rice, ‘‘Ali in Shi’ah Tradition’, The Moslem World 4 (1914) (27–44) pp. 31–2. See also Dwight M. Donaldson, The Shi‘ite Religion (London: Luzac and Co., 1933) pp. 51–2 similarly regarding ‘Alı. 3. Hana dı Mashhu  r Qa nsu, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at al-Rasu l ila  al-Samawa t al-Saba‘ (Beirut: Da r al-Tayya r al-Jadıd, 1423/2002) p. 19. 4. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:291. 5. Ibn T a wus’ principle aim in compiling these two hundred and fifty or so traditions was to defend the conviction that it was God who bestowed on ‘Alı  the title Amır al-Mu’minın, among other titles. It is thus essentially an argument in support of the claim that ‘Alı  was the Prophet’s rightful successor. 6. The other main branches are the Zaydiyya and the Isma ‘ ıliyya.  7. Qur’a n 33:33. 8. Ibn Ba b awayh, A Shi‘ite Creed (Risa lat al-I‘tiqada  t) translated by A. A. A. Fyzee (London: Oxford University Press, 1942) p. 96. 9. Muhammad b. Ibra h ım  al-Nu‘ma nı, Kita b al-Ghayba (Tabriz: al-Maktaba al-S a b irı, AH 1383) p. 69; al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t (Tehran: Manshura t al-A ‘lamı, AH 1362) p. 508. For similar traditions see ibid., pp. 507–8 in the section ‘The Earth cannot be without an Ima m or it would cease to exist’. 10. Al-Nu‘ma nı, Kita b al-Ghayba, p. 69; al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t, p. 507. For similar traditions see ibid., pp. 504–7 in the section ‘The Earth is never without a Proof (hu jja) which is the Ima ms’. 11. See Chapter 5 ‘A Transport of the Spirit’ for more details. 12. One of the main differences is that the Ima mıs permit temporary marriage (mut‘a) on the provision of a fixed dower. In the field of theology, a more controversial difference is the permissibility within Ima mism of the dissimulation of one’s true beliefs (taqiyya) to avoid persecution or for other worthy reasons. 13. For references to these and other illustrations of the Sunnı  view see A. J. Wensinck, A Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition (Leiden: E. J. Brill Ltd, 1927). 14. One example of this is the tradition of Hisha m b. Sa lim al-Jawa lıqı   translated in Chapter 1 ‘The Isra ’ and the Mi‘ra j’. 15. Al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, 1986) 5:609. 16. As part of his argument that the isra ’/mi‘ra j was a physical journey, al-Majlisı  refers to the traditions recorded in the six canonical collections of Sunnı   H adıth (see Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:276). Similarly, in his al-S ahı h  min Sırat  al-Nabı  al-A‘z  am the modern Ima mı  writer Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı  cites traditions from such as al-Bukha rı ’s S ahı h .

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17. Al-T abarsı, Majma‘ al-Baya n, 5:609. Al-T abarsı ’s argument is repeated, without acknowledgement, by the modern Ima mı  scholar ‘Alı  al-‘Usaylı   , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Nazra ‘Amma  al-‘Amilı (Beirut: al-Da r al-Isla miyya, 1408/1988) p. 42.   al-Nabı  al-A‘z am (Qumm: no 18. Ja‘far Murtad a  al-‘Amilı , al-S ahı h  min Sırat pub., AH 1403) 1:275. 19. Sharık’s  tradition can be found in al-Bukha rı, S ahı h, ‘Kita b al-Tawhıd’ No.7517. 20. Indeed, the descendents of Mu‘a w  iya, the Umayyads, are one of the five groups of people that Muhammad sees being cast into the flames of Hell during his journey through the heavens. Similarly, one of the ‘Five Signs’ (al-‘alama t al-khams) of the coming of the Mahdı  is the revolt of the Sufya nı, probably a descendent of Mu‘a w  iya’s father Abu Sufya n, leading an army composed of the enemies of the Ima ms. See al-Nu‘ma nı, Kita b al-Ghayba, pp. 160–2. 21. A number of traditions within the Sunnı  corpus state that as Muhammad descended through the heavens ‘whenever he passed a group of angels they told him, “You must practice cupping.”’ See al-Tirmidhı, al-Ja mi‘ al-S ahı h  (Cairo: Sharikat Maktabat wa Matba‘at Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı  wa Awla dihi, 1395/1975) 4:391. See also al-Ghaytı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j in Muhyı  al-Dın al-T u‘mı  (compiler), Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994) p. 49. 22. In addition to the references supplied here, see also al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı   th al-Mawd u ‘a (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, al-Masnu ‘a fı  al-Aha dı 1417/1996) 1:282, 283. The partisan use of the mi‘ra j is found in much more recent times. Thus, a legend from Baluchistan relates that when Muhammad wanted to alight from the bura q to enter into God’s presence, the great medieval Sufı  ‘Abd al-Qa dir Jıla nı  (d.561/1166), the founder of the most widespread mystical fraternity in the Islamic world, the Qa diriyya, stepped forward and offered the Prophet his neck so that he might dismount. As a result, Muhammad is reputed to have said that when Jıla nı  appears on earth some five centuries later his foot would be ‘on the neck of every saint’. See Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad is His Messenger (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1985) p. 165. Elsewhere,  n (a work on the life of the in the Mevlevi tradition, the Mana qib al-‘Arifı Persian mystic Jala l al-Dın Rumı  [d.672/1273], his father, friends and successors written by Rumı’s grandson Shams al-Dın al-Afla kı  [d.761/1360]) states that Muhammad saw a wonderful effigy (timtha l) at the Throne and that this was the portrait of Jala l al-Dın Rumı  (ibid., pp. 169–70). 23. A further ‘forged’ tradition states: ‘When I entered Paradise I saw a tower the top of which was made of light and the bottom of which was made

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25.

26.

27.

28. 29.

30.

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of light. [Gabriel] said, “This is for Abu Bakr.”’ See al-Sha mı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j aw Khulasat al-Fad l al-Fa ’iq fı  Mi‘ra j Khayr al-Khala ’iq (Beirut: Da r Ibn H azm, 1424/2003) p. 395. See, for example, Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya (n.p.: Maktabat wa Matba‘at al-H a jj ‘Abd al-Sala m b. Muhammad b. Shaqrun, n.d.) 2:39; al-T abarı, Ja mi‘ al-Baya n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n (Cairo: Da r al-H adıth,  1408/1987) 8:12. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1415/1995) 1:245–6. This was clearly a popular tradition since Ibn al-Jawzı  records four further variations of it (ibid., 1:246–7). See also al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  al-Masnu ‘a 1:286. Another tradition states: ‘The Prophet said: When I was taken up to the heavens I entered the Garden of Eden and was given an apple. When it was put into my hand it broke open and a pleasing houri came out whose eyelashes were like the tips of an eagle’s wings. “To whom do you belong?” I asked her. “To the unjustly murdered caliph ‘Uthma n b. ‘Affa n,” she replied.’ See al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  al- Masnu ‘a, 1:287. For similar traditions concerning a houri for ‘Uthma n see ibid., 1:287, 288. Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı al S adu q (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1389/1970) p. 162, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:332–3. See also ibid., 18:409–10, also quoted in al-Muwaffaq al-Khwa rizmı, al-Mana qib (Qumm: Mu’assasat al-Nashr al-Isla mı, AH 1411) p. 295. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 37:81–2. Another example once again concerns ‘Alı: ‘When I was taken on the night journey I entered Paradise and Gabriel gave me an apple. It broke in half and out came a houri. “To whom do you belong?” I asked her. “To ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib,” she replied.’ See Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t, 1:247. Also quoted in al-Qushayrı, Kita b al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Da r al-Kutub al-H adıtha,  1384/1964) p. 83; al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  alMasnu ‘a, 1:289. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:370. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t, 1:235; al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  al-Masnu ‘a, 1:275. For a similar tradition see ibid., 1:276. A. B. M. Chowdhury, ‘Three Treatises on the Theme of al-Isra wa al-Miraj’ PhD dissertation (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1974–5) pp. 154–5, quotes the same tradition acknowledging the source as the Fawa ’id al-Majmu ’a by the Yemeni legist Muhammad b. ‘Alı  al-Shawka nı  (d.1834). ‘Abd al-Rahma n al-S affurı, Nuzhat al-Maja lis wa Muntakhab al-Nafa ’is (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-‘Uthma niyya, AH 1358) 2:155. It is also quoted by Geo Widengren, Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, and his Ascension (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955) p. 107, from al-Zurqa nı, Sharh  ‘ala  al-Mawa hib (Bulaq, 1291) 6:107. Miguel Asín Palacios notes that a manuscript on the mi‘ra j states that Abu Bakr ‘appears to him [Muhammad] in a fantastic

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36.

37. 38.

39.

40.

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form to act as his guide when Gabriel leaves him in the final stages of the ascension’. See Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, translated by H. Sutherland (London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd, 1968) p. 41. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:386. Ibid., 18:386. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t, 1:236; al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  al-Masnu ‘a, 1:271. Al-Hillı, Kashf al-Yaqın fı  Fad a ’il Amır al-Mu’minın (Najaf: Maktabat Da r al-Kutub al-Tija riyya, n.d.) p. 152. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t, 1:244. Al-Suyutı  quotes the following tradition: ‘When I was taken on the night journey to the Throne I saw a green gem on which was written in white light “There is no god but God. Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Abu Bakr al-S iddıq.”’  See al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  al-Masnu ‘a, 1:272. See also ibid., 1:273 where while on the mi‘ra j Muhammad sees written on the Throne his name and those of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar. For two traditions in which Muhammad comes across his name and the names of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthma n in heaven see ibid., 1:293. Ibn al-Jawzı, Kita b al-Mawd u ‘a t, 1:252. Al-Suyutı  records a very similar ‘forged’ tradition which, in addition to mentioning the names of Muhammad and the first three caliphs, also features ‘Alı ’s name. See al-Suyutı, al-La’a lı  Masnu ‘a, 1:273–4. Ibn Ba b awayh, al-Khisa l (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1391/1971) p. 189. Also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:386. Abu Mansur al-T abarsı, al-Iht ija j (Najaf: Da r al-Nu‘ma n li al-T iba ‘ a wa alNashr, 1386/1966) 1:230. The tradition goes on to mention the other places where God wrote this, including Gabriel’s wings, the peaks of the mountains and the sun and the moon. The asha b al-kisa ’ are those whom Muhammad is said to have acknowledged as his real kin. They are his cousin and son-in-law ‘Alı, his daughter Fa tima whom ‘Alı  married, and his two grandsons al-H asan and al-H usayn the sons of ‘Alı  and Fa tima. For examples of mi‘ra j traditions which mention them see al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 152; al-Khwa rizmı, al-Mana qib, p. 302; and al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 37:37–8, 47–8, 95, 98. While in the heavens God tells Muhammad that the Shı ‘a are are created from the same heavenly substance as the asha b al-kisa ’ (al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 37:76), how they are to achieve salvation (al-H uwayzı, Tafsır Nu r al-Thaqalayn [Qumm: Matba‘at al-Kalima, n.d.] 3:123–4, also quoted in  H usayn Bandar al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl at al-Nabı  Muha mmad  ila  ‘Alam al-Ghayb [Beirut: Da r al-Rasul al-Akram, 1999–2000] pp. 102–3) and the nature of the rewards awaiting them (‘Alı  b. Ibra h ım  al-Qummı,

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42.

43.

44.

45. 46. 47. 48.

49. 50.

51. 52.

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Tafsır al-Qummı  [Najaf: Maktabat al-Huda , AH 1387] 2:336–7; Ibn T a w  us, al-Yaqın bi Ikhtisas Mawla na  ‘Alı  bi Imra al-Mu’minın [Qumm: Mu’assasat Da r al-Kita b li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr, AH 1413] pp. 155–6). See, for example, al-Kulaynı, al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı  (Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, AH 1391) 3:490–1; al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:312, 384, 404. See al-Shaykh al-Mufıd, al-Ikhtisas (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1971) p. 98; Ibn Ba b awayh, ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘ (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1382/1963) p. 572. See, for example, Ibn Ba b awayh, ‘Uyu n Akhba r al-Rid a ’ (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1390/1970) 1:94–5; Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q p. 413; al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:315; al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 119; Fura t al-Kufı, Tafsır Fura t al-Ku fı  (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, n.d.) p. 10. See, for example, Qassa m, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 86, quoting from al-Shablanjı, Nu r al-Absa r; al-‘Ayya shı, Kita b al-Tafsır (Qumm: al-Matba‘a al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 279, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:385.  Al-H uwayzı, Tafsır Nu r al-Thaqalayn, 5:158, also quoted in H usayn al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 48. See also al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 23:206. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:312–15 indirectly quoting from Ibn Ba b awayh’s Kita b al-Mi‘ra j. Ha dı  al-Mudarrisı, al-Mi‘ra j: Rihl a fı  ‘Umq al-Fad a ’ wa al-Zaman (Beirut: Da r al-Zahra ’ , 1401/1981) pp. 62–3. Al-Qummı, Tafsır al-Qummı, 2:334, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:86. Ima mı  commentaries on the Qur’a n contain numerous other examples. See, for example, al-Mufıd, Ama lı  (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, n.d.) p. 18; Ibn T a w  us, al-Yaqın, pp. 425–7; al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:144. Ibn T a w  us, al-Yaqın, pp. 159–60; al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 98. For a similar tradition see Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q, pp. 266–7, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:337–8. For other traditions which show that ‘Alı  was explicitly chosen by God to succeed the Prophet see, for example, ibid., 18:339, 340, 370, 371, 373, 396, 398, 399, 400. Ibid., 18:306. Ibid., 18:303, and 37:315 where Adam and Jesus recommend ‘Alı  to Muhammad and tell him that ‘Alı  is the Amır al-Mu’minın. See also Ibn T a w  us, al-Yaqın, p. 406 where all the prophets since God created the heavens and the earth bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God and that ‘Alı  is his heir (wası ) and has their covenant on this. In another tradition, an angel tells Muhammad to ask the former prophets about the mission with which they were sent, and they all reply that it was ‘to announce

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53.

54. 55. 56.

57.

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your authority (wila ya) Muhammad and the authority (wila ya) of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib’. The angel uses the phrase sal man arsalna  qablaka min rusulina  (‘ask Our messengers whom We sent before you’) which is Qur’a n 43:45. See al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:154–5. Elsewhere, in a tradition dealing with the isra ’, ‘Alı ’ s role is confirmed by Abraham during Muhammad’s sojourn at bayt al-maqdis and after the call to prayer has been given. See Ibn T a w  us, Sa‘d al-Su‘ud (Qumm: Manshura t al-Rid a , AH 1363) pp. 100–1, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:317–18. Note that Abraham’s greeting to Muhammad and to ‘Alı  is echoed in a tradition recorded in Muslim’s S ahı h  in which Abraham and other prophets greet Muhammad with the phrase ‘Welcome to the virtuous prophet and the virtuous brother’ (marha ban bi al-nabı  al-sa lih  wa al-akh al-sa lih) . See al-Nawawı, S ahı h  Muslim bi Sharh  al-Nawawı  (Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-Mis riyya wa Maktabatuha , n.d.) 2:219–20. See also al-Bukha rı  S ahı h  ‘Kita b Mana qib al-Anbiya ’’ tradition No.42. This angel appears in a number of traditions, for example that related by Hisha m b. Sa lim al-Jawa lıqı   in which Muhammad comes across him in the lowest heaven. See the translation of al-Jawa lıqı  ’s tradition in Chapter ‘The Isra ’ and the Mi‘ra j’. Al-Khwa rizmı, al-Mana qib, p. 309. Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q, p. 565, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:341–2. The tradition of Ghadır Khumm is the main evidence advanced by the Ima miyya that Muhammad designated ‘Alı  as his successor. Different versions of the tradition are related by one hundred and ten Companions and some 3,500 other relators. The Ima miyya thus consider it to be mutawa tir. In the tradition, after completing the farewell pilgrimage on 18 Dhu al-H ijja 10/16 March 632, Muhammad stopped on his return journey to Medina at Ghadır Khumm (the pool of Khumm) midway between Mecca and Medina. Many versions exist of what he said there. Typically the traditions state that when Muhammad reached Ghadır Khumm he placed ‘Alı  on his right and took his hand. Then he said, ‘Whomever I am his master (mawla ) and the authority whom he obeys, ‘Alı  will be his master. O God, be the friend of whoever is a friend of ‘Alı  and be the enemy of whoever is an enemy of ‘Alı.’ Sunnı  Muslims relate similar traditions but interpret them differently. A number of books have been written examining the tradition and its chains of relators the most comprehensive of which is Sharıf al-Ghadır by ‘Abd al-H usayn Amını   (d.1970). The Day of Ghadır Khumm is a major Shı ‘ı  religious festival celebrated on 18 Dhu al-H ijja. The Ima miyya have devoted a number of treatises to this tradition, such as H adıth al-Thaqalayn by the contemporary scholar Qawa m al-Dın

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58.

59.

60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65.

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al-Wishnawa h ı. In one example of the tradition Muhammad says, ‘It seems that God has called me unto Himself, and I must obey His call. But I leave two great and precious things (thaqalayn) among you: the Book of God and my Household. Be careful as to how you behave towards them. These two will never be separated from each other until they encounter me at Kawthar [i.e. in Heaven].’ See Muhammad H usayn al-T aba taba ’ı, Shi‘ite Islam, translated by Seyyed Hossain Nasr (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1975) pp. 180–2. For further examples see al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t, pp. 432–4. The Prophet is quoted as saying to ‘Alı, sometimes at Ghadır Khumm: ‘You have the same status (manzila) with me as Aaron had with Moses except that there will be no prophet after me.’ See, for example, al-Khwa rizmı, al-Mana qib, p. 133; al-Ganjı, Kifa yat al-T  a lib fı  Mana qib ‘Alı  b. Abı  T  a lib (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1390/1970) pp. 281–3; al-T aba taba ’ ı, Shi‘ite Islam, pp. 179–80.  ‘Alı  al-‘Amilı  quotes the traditions of the mi‘ra j alongside the ha dıth al-manzila and other traditions in which God states that ‘Alı  is to be Muhammad’s successor. See his al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 99–104. Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı al-S adu q, pp. 316–18, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 37:109–11, 213, 214. Al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 152. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:406. Dhu  al-faqa r (‘possessor of the vertebrae’) was ‘Alı ’s legendary sword captured at the Battle of Badr and given to him by Muhammad. Ibn Ba b awayh, ‘Uyu n Akhba r al-Rid a ’, 2:130. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:300. There are numerous traditions in which the angels long to see ‘Alı  and are presented with his image. See, for example, ibid., 18:304. In one tradition Muhammad states that in each of the seven heavens he saw an angel in the form of ‘Alı. Gabriel explains to him that God created them because the angels yearned to see him. See al-Ra w  andı, al-Khara ’ij wa al-Jara ’ih  (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Nur li al-Matbu‘a t, 1411/1991) 2:811–12. Not only is it the angels who yearn for ‘Alı, but also the sidrat al-muntaha  (al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 36:146) and God’s Throne (Ibn Shahra shub, Mana qib Al Abı  T  a lib [Beirut: Da r al-Ad wa ’, 1405/1985] 2:233). In a logical further elaboration of this tradition and many others of its like it is stated that when ‘Alı ’s assassin Ibn Muljam struck him on the head the wound which ‘Alı  received was also seen on his image in the heavens. The angels look at ‘Alı  morning and evening and curse his murderer Ibn Muljam (al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r 18:304). The tradition continues by saying that when al-H usayn was killed the angels

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70. 71. 72. 73.

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descended, carried him up and stood him next to the image of his father ‘Alı  in the fifth heaven. Whenever the angels descend from the heavens above and look upon al-H usayn they curse Yazıd b. Mu‘a w  iya, Ibn Ziya d and al-H usayn’s murderers until the Day of Resurrection. ‘Alı  b. Ibra h ım  al-Qummı, Tafsır al-Qummı, 2:335–6. A variation on this tradition is recorded in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:388–9. Al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t, p. 128, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:406. Ibid., 18:371. See also al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 155. As to the knowledge that Muhammad acquired from God during the mi‘ra j, he says, ‘He made me inherit the knowledge of the earlier and the later ones, and He taught me sciences of various kinds, and a knowledge which He imposed on me to conceal because it was a knowledge that no one but I was capable of bearing, and a knowledge concerning which he made me choose [whether to conceal or reveal]. And he taught me the Qur’a n, and Gabriel [only] used to remind me [of it], and a knowledge which he ordered me to communicate to both the ordinary and the noble members of my congregation.’ Quoted in Widengren, Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, p. 108, from Muhammad al-Zurqa nı  (d.1099/1688), Sharh  ‘ala  al-Mawa hib. Similarly, in the Kita b al-Mi‘ra j Muhammad relates that during his audience with God ‘God said to me, “Muhammad, take this account, just as it is in the Koran, which I give and grant to you. And know that this book comes from My treasures in Paradise, which are superior to all other treasures in the world . . .” [Then] our Lord placed His hand upon my head so that I felt the coldness of His hand within my heart. Forthwith He taught me all the knowledge, so that I knew everything that ever was and will be henceforth.’ Translated from the French Livre de l’Eschiele Mahomet by Reginald Hyatte in his The Prophet of Islam in Old French. The Romance of Muhammad (1258) and The Book of Muhammad’s Ladder (1262) (Leiden: Brill, 1997) p. 157. See also Ibn ‘Abba s, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Cairo: Maktabat wa Matba‘at Muhammad ‘Alı  S abı h wa Awla dihi, n.d.) p. 31, in which Muhammad says that ‘God put his hand between my shoulders . . . and He made me inherit the knowledge of the earlier and the later ones.’ On this, see, for example, al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t, p. 147. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:392. Ibid., 18:406.  ‘Alı  al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: al-Da r al-Isla miyya, 1408/1988) p. 118. For similar see ibid., p. 66 and ‘Abd al-H usayn Dastaghıb,  al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Bala gha, 1413/1993) p. 62. This is indeed the case in one tradition in which God tells Muhammad to look beneath him: ‘So I looked and saw

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74. 75.

76.

77. 78.

299

that the veils had parted and the gates of the heavens were open. Then I saw ‘Alı  looking up at me’ (al-H illı, Kashf al-Yaqın, p. 155). Another tradition is similar: ‘God took me on a night journey to Him, and for [‘Alı ] He opened the gates of the heavens and the veils so that he could see me and I could see him’ (al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 39:159). On one occasion ‘Alı  is indeed taken to heaven: ‘Gabriel descended to the Prophet while he was in the house of Umm Salma [one of the Prophet’s wives]. “O Muhammad,” he said, “some angels from the fourth heaven are arguing heatedly among themselves about something . . .” So God told the angels that they should settle the matter by getting a human to act as arbiter, and He asked them whom from Muhammad’s community they would like. “We would like ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib,” the angels replied. So God sent down one of the angels from the lowest heaven with a carpet and two cushions. The angel went to the Prophet and informed him why he had come. The Prophet summoned ‘Alı, sat him on the two cushions on the carpet, spat in his mouth and said, “O ‘Alı, may God strengthen your resolve and make you steadfast.” Then [‘Alı ] was taken up to the heavens. When he returned he said, “O Muhammad, God sends you greetings and says: We raise to degrees [of wisdom] whom We please; but over all possessors of knowledge is the All-Knowing.”’ See Fura t al-Kufı, Tafsır Fura t al-Ku fı  (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, n.d.) p. 7. The Qur’a nic verse is 12:76. There is a further tradition clearly linked with this in which ‘Abd Alla h b. Mas‘ud says: ‘I went up to Fa tima and said, “Where is your husband?” “Gabriel has taken him up to the heavens,” she replied. “Why?” I asked. “Some angels were quarrelling about something,” she replied, “and they asked for a human arbiter. God asked them to choose one and they chose ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib.”’ (al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 39:150). Ima mı  tradition often reports that the Ima ms are capable of a ‘spiritual’ ascension. Ja‘far al-S a diq said: ‘By God, every Friday night our spirits and those of the prophets ascend to the Throne. They do not return to our bodies until they are filled with great knowledge.’ See al-S affa r al-Qummı, Basa ’ir al-Daraja t, p. 152. See also ibid., pp. 150–1. Al-Nawbakhtı, Kita b Firaq al-Shı‘a (Istanbul: al-Matba‘a al-Duwaliyya, 1931) p. 34. See Widengren, Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, p. 86, referring to al-Mutahhar al-Maqdisı’s Le livre de la création et de l’histoire (Kita b Bad’ al-Khalq wa al-Ta rıkh)  (Paris: E. Leroux, 1916) 5:130. Al-Nawbakhtı, Firaq al-Shı‘a,  p. 34. See also Ibn H azm, ‘The Heterodoxies of the Shiites in the Presentation of Ibn H azm’ translated by I. Friedlander, Journal of the American Oriental Society 28 (1907) p. 69. Al-Nawbakhtı, Firaq al-Shı‘a,  p. 61 Ibid., p. 41.

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79. Al-Baghda dı, al-Fark bain al-Firak, translated by A. S. Halkin (Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1978) p. 67. 80. Al-Malatı, Kita b al-Tanbıh wa al-Radd ‘ala  Ahl al-Ahw  a ’ wa al-Bida‘ (Istanbul: Matba‘at al-Dawla, 1936) p. 120. 81. While there remains evidence of the ‘extreme’ adulation of ‘Alı  in Ima mı  H adıth,  so there also remains traces of a more reserved opinion. An example  al-Qummı  (d.c.307/919) in of this is seen in the Tafsir of ‘Alı  b. Ibra h ım his commentary on Qur’a n 10:94–5 and later quoted by al-Majlisı  in Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:94. It was first discussed by Meir M. Bar-Asher in his Scripture and Exegesis in Early Ima mı  Shiism (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew University, 1999) pp. 224–32. Ja‘far al-S a diq relates: The Messenger of God was taken on the night journey to the heavens and God revealed to him that which He revealed concerning ‘Alı’s nobility and greatness in His eyes. Then he was taken back to the bayt al-ma‘mu r and the prophets gathered for him and prayed behind him. A doubt entered Muhammad’s heart because of the awe-inspiring nature of what had been revealed to him concerning ‘Alı. So God revealed to him, ‘If you are in doubt regarding what We have revealed to you, ask those who recite the Book before you.’ 82. There are numerous traditions in which Muhammad says such as ‘Written on the leg of the Throne was “There is no god but Me alone. I have no partner. Muhammad is My servant and My Messenger. I have supported him with ‘Alı.”’  Regarding these traditions al-Majlisı  remarks that they demonstrate the great favour shown to ‘Alı  and repudiate those who advance others aside from ‘Alı  to the Imamate. This is clear to anyone who removes the covers of bigotry and ignorance from their eyes. See al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:53. Similarly, there are many traditions which state that the names of Muhammad and ‘Alı  were created from those of God. This is related to the concept of them being created from the same material before the creation of the world, and serves to emphasise their close association. 83. Ibid., 36:210. For one example of a variation on this see ibid., 36:348.  al84. Ibn ‘Ayya sh al-Jawharı, Muqtad ab al-Athar fı  al-Nass ‘ala  al-A’imma Ithnay‘ashar (Beirut: Da r al-Awa ’ , 1405/1985) pp. 12–13, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 36:216–17. See also Ibn ‘Ayya sh, Muqtad ab, pp. 30–1 and al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:297. A very similar version is found in al-Nu‘ma nı, Kita b al-Ghayba, p. 45 in the section ‘That there are Twelve Ima ms, along with their Names’. 85. Al-H uwayzı, Tafsır Nu r al-Thaqalayn, 3:120, also quoted in Ra’ısa  Qassa m,  al-Ghayb fı  ‘Alam  al-Shahada al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j: ‘Alam  (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1421/2000) p. 89. The reference to the calf concerns the image of a calf made by the followers of Moses which they worshipped

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86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92.

93.

301

and to which they offered sacrifice. See Qur’a n 2:51, 54, 92. The Samaritan is from the same context: ‘We have tested the people in your [Moses’] absence; the Samaritan has led them astray’ (20:87–8). Exodus 32:1–35 provides a detailed account of Moses, Aaron and the golden calf. It states that Aaron made a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’ In the Qur’a n it is the Samaritan rather than Aaron who leads the people astray. For a similar tradition in which God speaks of the Mahdı  see Ibn Ba b awayh, Ama lı  al-S adu q, p. 565, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:342. Al-Ra w  andı, al-Khara ’ij wa al-Jara ’ih  2:866–7. The Qur’a n ic verse is 6:75. Ibid., 2:867. Ibid., 2:867–8. Ibid., 2:868–9. Quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:299. Al-T abarsı, al-Iht ija j, 1:370, also quoted in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:364. See Ibn Isha q, al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, 2:111–12. See also Abu Da w  ud, Sunan (Beirut: Da r al-Fikr, n.d.), ‘Kita b al-S ala t, Ba b Kayfa al-Adha n’ tradition No. 421. See also I. K. A. Howard, ‘The Development of the Adha n and Iqa ma of the S ala t in Early Islam’, Journal of Semitic Studies 26/2 (Autumn 1981) (219–28) p. 222 with references. For example, when Muhammad entered the masjid al-aqsa  ‘a muezzin gave the call to prayer (the adha n). So the iqa ma was announced (uqımat  al-sala t), and [the prophets] stood in rows waiting for someone to lead them in prayer . . . According to a tradition from Ka‘b it was Gabriel who gave the call to prayer.’ See al-Ghaytı, al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, p. 41. Among the Sunnı  scholars who argue that the adha n was revealed on the isra ’/mi‘ra j is Abu H afs Muhammad b. ‘Alı  who denied that the origin of the adha n was a dream. He said, ‘You are attacking one of religion’s clearest signs saying that it is proved by a dream. Never! Rather, when the Prophet was taken to the masjid al-aqsa  and was surrounded by the other prophets, an angel called out the adha n and the iqa ma and the Prophet prayed along with them. It is also said that Gabriel descended with the adha n.’ See Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Sarakhsı, al-Mabsut (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, n.d.) 1:128. In Zayn al-Dın ibn Nujaym’s (d.970/1563) al-Bahr al-Ra ’iq Sharh  Kanz al-Daqa ’iq (Cairo: Da r al-Kita b al-Isla mı, n.d.) I:268 it is remarked that the adha n and the iqa ma were first used by Gabriel during the night of the Prophet’s isra ’ when the Prophet led the prayer in front of the angels and the souls of the prophets. The dream of ‘Abd Alla h b. Zayd is also mentioned, along with the comment that there

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94. 95.

96.

97. 98. 99. 100.

101. 102.

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are disagreements over this. Elsewhere, al-Mutaqqı  al-Hindı  (d.975/1568) quotes from al-T abara nı’s (d.360/970) al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat that ‘Abd Alla h b. ‘Umar (d.c.73/693) related that when Muhammad went on the isra ’ the adha n was revealed to him and he took it down with him. See al-Mutaqqı  al-Hindı, Kanz al-’Umma l fı Sunan  al-Aqwa l wa al-Af‘a l (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risa la, 1986) 8:329 (tradition No. 23138).  H usayn Bandar al-‘Amilı , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 113–14 note 2 with references. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:343–4. This is the formula for the call to prayer used by all Shı ‘ites. It differs from the Sunnı  adha n only in the additional line ha yya ‘ala  khayr al-‘amal. Joseph Eliash notes that none of the four canonical works of Ima mı  H adıth contain a reference to the three-tenet shahada  except for Man la  yahd uruhu al-Faqıh in which Ibn Ba b awayh ‘condemns its use in the strongest possible terms’. The ‘Four Books’ provide the two-tenet shahada  as used also by the Sunnıs (and as in the isra ’/mi‘ra j tradition quoted above). See J. Eliash, ‘On the Genesis and Development of the Twelver-Shı ‘ı  Threetenet Shaha dah’, Der Islam 47 (1971) (266–72) p. 266. Elsewhere, Hossein Modarressi remarks that the inclusion of the shahada  in the adha n testifying to ‘Alı ’s wila ya did not become common practice among the Ima miyya until 907/1501–2 when the Safavid Shah Isma ‘ ıl (r.906–30/1501–24) issued a decree that it should be added. It was suggested at the time that it had earlier been part of the adha n but had been abandoned for more than five centuries. Despite Isma ‘ ıl’s  decree, in the middle of the eighteenth century many Shı ‘ites were still not adding the third shahada  to the adha n. Although there are attempts to have the practice banned, at the present time it is almost univerally used. See Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shı ‘ite Islam (Princeton: The Darwin Press Inc., 1993) p. 43 note 140. Al-Mudarrisı, al-Mi‘ra j, p. 67 note 1.  , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 136–7. ‘Alı  al-‘Amilı For more information see Howard, ‘The Development of the Adha n and Iqa ma’, 219–28. Al-Kulaynı, al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı, 3:484, repeated in Ibn Ba b awayh, ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘, p. 314. For examples of such traditions see al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:330, 344, 378; al-Kulaynı, al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı, 3:482–6. Ibn Ba b awayh, Ma‘a nı  al-Akhba r (Najaf: al-Matba‘a al-H aydariyya, 1391/1971) p. 37. For example, al-T usı  relates a tradition which features the full formula, although the third shahada  is missing. See al T usı, Tahdhıb al-Ahk a m

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103.

104. 105.

106. 107.

108.

109. 110. 111. 112. 113.

114.

303

(Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, AH 1390) 2:60, repeated in al-T usı, al-Istibsa r fı ma   ukhtulifa min al-Akhba r (Najaf: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, n.d.) 1:305. Faidh al-Kashani, Me’raj – The Night Ascension, translated by Saleem Bhimji (Canada: Islamic Humanitarian Service, n.d.), Note 15, no page numbers. Available at http://al-islam.org/al-miraj/. Al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:309, and 18:363. For similar see also al-T abarsı, al-Iht ija j, 2:60 and Ibn T a w  us, Sa‘d al-Su‘ud, p. 100. Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqala nı, Fath  al-Ba rı  Sharh  S ahı h  al-Bukha rı  (Beirut: Da r al-Ma‘rifa, n.d.) 7:168. This is repeated in Nur al-Dın al-Ujhurı, al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı  al-Kala m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j (Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.) p. 308. A prominent relator of traditions from Ja‘far al-S a diq and his son Musa  al-Ka zim. Al-Kulaynı, al-Furu ‘ min al-Ka fı, 3:482–6; Ibn Ba b awayh, ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘, pp. 312–16, repeated in al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:354–60. Ibn Ba b awayh also records a further and similar tradition, this time concerning only the ablutions and the prayer and related by al-S a diq’s son Musa . See his ‘Ilal al-Shara ’i‘, p. 334. This latter tradition is quoted by the modern  , al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j, pp. 138–40. Ima mı  author ‘Alı  al-‘Amilı A. A. Bevan, ‘Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven’, in K. Marti (ed.) Studien zur Semitischen Philologie und Religionsgeschichte, Julius Wellhausen zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag (pp. 50–61) (Giessen: Alfred Töpelmann, 1914). For a fuller treatment of Bevan’s article see the Chapter ‘Western Perspectives’. This is Bevan’s understanding of the Arabic wa qad bu‘itha ilayhi. J. R. Porter, ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’, Numen 21/1 (April 1974) 64–80. For more information see the Chapter ‘Western Perspectives’. See B. Schrieke, ‘Mi‘ra dj’, The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993) 7:98–9. For a tradition whose first relator is Muhammad al-Ba qir see al-Majlisı, Biha r al-Anwa r, 18:311. The earliest recorded treatise on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, the Kita b al-Mi‘ra j, attributed to the Shı ‘ite Abu al-H akam Hisha m b. Sa lim al-Jawa lıqı   (floruit the latter part of the second/eight century) is not useful for our purposes since his account contains no distinctly Shı ‘ı  elements. ‘Alı  b. Ibra h ım  al-Qummı, Tafsır al-Qummı, 2:13. Similarly, in his commentary on the verse from su rat al-Najm ‘So did God reveal to His servant what He revealed’ (fa awha  ila  ‘abdihi ma  awha ) (53:10), al-Qummı  remarks that the Prophet was asked what the ‘revelation’ was. He replied that it was revealed to him that ‘Alı  is the lord of the successors (sayyid

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115. 116. 117.

118.

119.

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al-wasiyın),  the Ima m of the god-fearing, the leader of those who are most noble (al-gharr al-muha jjalın) and the first successor (khalıfa)  appointed by the seal of the prophets (i.e. Muhammad). See ibid., 2:334. See Wilferd Madelung, ‘Shı ‘a’, The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1997) 9:420.   Buzurg al-T ihra nı  lists about one hundred and thirty of these usu l in Agha his al-Dharı‘a ila  Tasa nıf al-Shı‘a (Beirut: Da r al-Ad wa ’ , n.d.) 2:125–67. Some of these collections called ‘Kita b al-H adıth’  are also mentioned by al-T ihra nı. See al-Dharı‘a,  6:303–74. For a general discussion on the usu l see Etan Kohlberg, ‘al-Usul al-arba‘umi’a’ in his Belief and Law in Ima mı  Shı ‘ism (Aldershot: Variorum, 1991) VII pp. 128–66. For example, the Kita b al-Mana qib of Ja bir b. Yazıd Abu ‘Abd Alla h (d.128/744) (al-Naja shı, Fihrist, p. 92) and the Kita b al-Mana qib of al-H usayn  n b. Sa‘ıd b. H amma d al-Ahwa zı  who was a mawla  of ‘Alı  Zayn al-‘Abidı (d.95/713) (al-T usı, Fihrist [Najaf: Ba b al-Maktaba al-Murtad awiyya, n.d.] p. 58), the Kita b Tafsır al-Qur’a n of Ziya d b. al-Mundhir Abu al-Ja rud al-Hamada nı, who is said to have related traditions from Muhammad al-Ba qir (d.114/733) (al-Naja shı, Fihrist p. 121), the Sifat al-Janna wa al-Na r of ‘Abd Alla h b. Maymun b. al-Aswad who related traditions from Ja‘far al-S a diq (d.148/765) (ibid., p. 148), the Kita b al-Wasiya wa al-Ima ma of Sa‘d b. Bakr T aha n who also related from al-S a diq (ibid., p. 175), the Kita b al-Ihtija j fı  Ima mat Amır al-Mu’minın by Muhammad b. ‘Alı  b. Nu‘ma n al-Bajalı,  n better known as Mu’min al-T a q, who related from ‘Alı  Zayn al-‘Abidı (d.95/713), al-Ba qir and al-S a diq (ibid., p. 228; see also al-T usı, Fihrist, p. 132  where it is called Kita b Ithba t al-Wasiya), the Kita b fı  al-Ima ma of Ibra hım b. Muhammad b. Sa‘d al-Thaqafı  who was a contemporary of ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib (ibid., p. 5) and the Kita b al-Ima ma of Muhammad b. ‘Umayr who was a contemporary of Musa  al-Ka zim (d.183/799) (ibid., p. 142). See Etan Kohlberg, ‘From Ima miyya to Ithna ‘ ashariyya’ in his Belief and Law in Ima mı  Shı ‘ism (XIV pp. 521–34) pp. 522–3.

Chapter 7 Western Perspectives 1. Syed Ameer Ali, The Life and Teaching of Mohammed or The Spirit of Islam (London: W. H. Allen and Co. Ltd, 1891) p. 121 note 3. 2. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century a commentator as relatively sympathetic to Islam as George Sale (c.1697–1736) was saying, ‘It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mahommedism was no other than a human convention, that it owed its progress and establishment to the sword; and it is one of the strongest demonstrations of the divine origin

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3. 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9. 10.

11.

12.

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of Christianity that it prevailed against all the force and powers of the world by the mere dint of its own truth . . . ’ See George Sale, The Koran and Preliminary Discourse (London: Thomas Tegg and Co., 1850) p. 38. See Harry Turtledove, The Chronicle of Theophanes (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982) p. 35. See the neurosurgeon F. R. Freemon’s ‘A Differential Diagnosis of the Inspirational Spells of Mohammed the Prophet of Islam’, Epilepsia 17 (1976) 423–7. For a discussion of the theory of Muhammad’s epilepsy see A. Jeffrey, ‘The Quest of the Historical Mohammed’, The Moslem World 16 (1926) 327–48. Polydorus Virgilius, De Rerum Inventoribus (1499) translated into English by John Langley (New York: Lenox Hill, 1971. First published in 1868) p. 215. The De Rerum Inventoribus is a kind of early encyclopaedia dealing with origins, discoveries and inventions. For these stories see such as Peter Heylyn, Cosmographie in four books: containing the chorographie and historie of the whole vvorld (London: Printed for Henry Selle, 1652) p. 121. Quoted in Norman Daniel, Islam and the West: The Making of an Image (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1958) p. 72, from Pedro de Alfonso’s Dialogi in Quibus Impiae Judaeorum Confutantur. Quoted by J. W. Sweetman, Islam and Christian Theology (London: Lutterworth Press, 1955) Part 2 2:82, from Peter the Venerable’s Adversus Nefandam Sectam Saracenorum. Quoted in Daniel, Islam and the West, p. 74, from Bacon’s Baconis Operis Majoris Pars Septima seu Moralis Philosophia (Zurich, 1953). From Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, quoted in James Waltz, ‘Muhammad and Muslims in St. Thomas Aquinas’, The Muslim World vol.66 No.2 (1976) p. 83. Ricoldo da Monte di Croce, Confutatio Alcorani edited with commentary by Johannes Ehmann in Ricoldus de Montecrucis, Confutation Alcoran (1300); Martin Luther, Verlungen des Alcoran (1442) (Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1999) pp. 73–4. Hugo Grotius, The Truth of the Christian Religion. Done into English by John Clarke, D. D. Dean of Sarum (London: Printed for James and John Knapton, at the Crown in St Paul’s Church-Yard, 1729) p. 21. This is a translation of the original Christian apologetic De Veritate Religionis Christianae published in 1632. In addition to English, the book was also translated into Arabic, Persian and Chinese for use in missionary work. It remained in print until the end of the nineteenth century. Grotius, The Truth of the Christian Religion, pp. 272–3.

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14. Thus, the one-time bishop of London, Beilby Porteus (1731–1809), remarks that ‘Mahomet never pretended to work miracles; on the contrary, he expressly disclaimed any such power, and makes several laboured and awkward apologies for not possessing it’, and that in the Qur’a n ‘Mahomet shows throughout, the utmost anxiety, to guard against objections, to account for his working no miracles.’ See Beilby Porteus, A Summary of the Principal Evidences for the Truth and Divine Origin of the Christian Revelation (London: Printed by Luke Hansard, Great Turnstile, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 1800) pp. 70–1, 83. The Unitarian minister and historian Joshua Toulmin (1740– 1815) declared that ‘Mahomet worked no miracles. When these marks of divine mission were demanded of him, he waved the requisition, or owned he was not sent to work miracles.’ See Joshua Toulmin, Dissertations on the Internal Evidences and Excellence of Christianity and on the Character of Christ, compared with that of some other Celebrated Founders of Religion or Philosophy (London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St Paul’s Church-Yard, 1785) p. 159. An anonymous eighteenth-century author remarked that when some of Muhammad’s followers urged him to confirm his mission by miracles, he initially refused to do so ‘but afterwards he pretended some’. See Anon., A Comprehensive View of the Various Controversies among Pagans, Mahometans, Jews and Christians Philosophical and Theological (Edinburgh: no pub., 1785) pp. 54–5. In the first half of the nineteenth century the Reverend Charles Forster (1787–1871) was still comparing the miracles of Christianity with Muhammad’s attested inability to perform them. See Charles Forster, Mohametanism Unveiled (London: Printed for J. Duncan, 37 PaternosterRow; and J. Cochran, 108 Strand, 1829) 2:465. While at the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that ‘the proper proofs of a Divine revelation are miracles and prophecy, and that Islamism possesses neither the one nor the other’. See Encyclopaedia Britannica (Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1853–60) 15:302, quoted in Philip C. Almond, Heretic and Hero: Muhammad and the Victorians (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1989) p. 51. 15. This is from Guibert’s description of Muhammad in his Gesta Dei per Francos, an account of the First Crusade, quoted in R. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard University Press, 1962) p. 31. 16. This term is derived from the Arabic musta‘rab or musta‘rib meaning ‘arabicized’. 17. The importance of Spain in this regard may be seen in R. Southern’s remark that ‘Before 1100 I have found only one mention of the name of Mahomet in medieval literature outside Spain and Southern Italy.’ See Southern, Western Views of Islam, p. 28.

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18. For information on the early Spanish sources on Islam, see Thomas E. Burman, Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, c.1050– 1200 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994) pp. 33–7. 19. See James Kritzeck, Peter the Venerable and Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964) p. 80. 20. It is alternatively known as Contrarieta Alfolica (‘The Mutual Contradiction of the Fuqaha ’’) and exists only in a single manuscript. 21. See Burman, Religious Polemic, pp. 267–8. 22. Ibid., pp. 375–6. The gloss stating that the oratory of Elharam means ‘robbery’ was possibly added by a later copyist. 23. Ricoldo da Monte di Croce, Confutatio Alcorani edited with commentary by Johannes Ehmann in Ricoldus de Montecrucis, Confutation Alcoran (1300); Martin Luther, Verlungen des Alcoran (1442) (Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1999). 24. Luther, Verlungen des Alcoran. 25. Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, Historia Arabum, printed with Thomas Erpenius, Historia Saracenica (Leiden: Johannes Maire, printed by Elzevier at the Erpenius Office, 1625). The account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is on pages 8–11. The text is also reproduced in Enrico Cerulli, Il ‘Libro della Scala’ e la Questione delle Fonti Arabo-Spagnole della Divina Commedia (Vatican City: Biblioteca Vaticana, 1959) pp. 336–40. 26. Jiménez, Historia Arabum, p. 8. 27. Miguel Asín Palacios, La Escatologia Musulmana en la Divina Comedia (Madrid: Imprenta de Estanislao Maestre, 1919) p. 314. 28. For example, Jiménez does not include all the details regarding the contents of the first heaven. Elsewhere, it appears that Jiménez has mistranslated some of the Arabic. Thus the Historia Arabum refers to Aaron as the son of Abraham, whereas this clearly should be Isaac. What is intended is ‘Aaron the son of ‘Imra n’, ‘Abraham’ having been read instead of ‘‘Imra n’. Similarly, regarding the episode where God enjoins fifty daily prayers upon Muhammad, Jiménez’s text reads ‘Moses turns to God and requests that ten prayers be taken off’ and goes on to say that Muhammad asks Moses to seek a further reduction. In Ibn Isha q’s al-Sıra al-Nabawiyya, and indeed all other accounts, it is Muhammad who asks God for a further reduction on the advice of Moses. 29. The relevant section of the Crónica General is reproduced in Cerulli, Il ‘Libro della Scala’, pp. 337–41 where it is compared with the Historia Arabum. 30. An English translation of the French text is contained in Reginald Hyatte’s The Prophet of Islam in Old French. The Romance of Muhammad (1258) and The Book of Muhammad’s Ladder (1262) (Leiden: Brill, 1997).

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31. Two copies of the Latin translation are known to exist today: a late fourteenth-century manuscript from Brittany in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, and a defective version in the Vatican. 32. Hyatte, The Prophet of Islam in Old French, Introduction p. 21. 33. Ibid., p. 97. 34. Ibid., p. 198. 35. Cerulli maintains that it is certainly derived from Halmaereig. See his Il ‘Libro della Scala’, p. 264. 36. The book has been published under the title El Obispo de Jaén sobre la Seta Mahometana by Pedro Armengol in vol.4 of Obras de San Pedro Pasqual (Rome, 1908). 37. Cerulli, Il ‘Libro della Scala’, p. 16; Dorothee Metlitzki, The Matter of Araby in Medieval England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977) p. 217; Mahmoud Manzalaoui, ‘English Analogues to the Liber Scalæ’, Medium Aevum 34 (1965) pp. 21–2. 38. Joshua Notstock, The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect or a Confutation of the Turkish Alcoran. Being a Discovery of many secret Policies and practices of that Religion not till now Revealed (London: Printed for H. Blunden at the Castle in Cornhill, 1652) ‘Authors Preface’ no page. 39. Ibid. 40. Ibid. 41. Ibid. 42. As to the purpose of his English translation, Notstock remarks, ‘And though there is no feare that the Alchoran in English should do hurt to any of our Nation, carrying with it its own confutation, in regard of its vanity and falsehood: Yet it is not amiss, that being put into our tongue this discourse should follow it, which is a Strong, Rational, and clear Eviction of its wickednesse. By reading of which you will see what mercy God gives to this Nation, in freeing us from those seditions and revealing to us the Gospell of his Sonn, which leads us in the waies of Truth and Salvation.’ See ibid. 43. Burman, Religious Polemic, p. 379. 44. Notstock, The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect, p. 134. 45. Burman, Religious Polemic, p. 381. 46. Notstock, The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect, p. 139. 47. Ibid., p. 140. 48. Burman, Religious Polemic, p. 381. 49. Notstock, The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect, p. 130. 50. Ibid., p. 142. 51. Ibid., p. 143. 52. Ibid., pp. 144–5.

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59. 60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

309

Ibid., pp. 147–8. Ibid., pp. 150–1. Ibid., p. 152. Ibid., pp. 152–3. Ibid., pp. 153–4. Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia: or A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences containing an Explanation of the Terms, and an Account of the Several Subjects, in the Liberal and Mechanical Arts, and the Sciences, Human and Divine (London: Printed for W. Strachan [et al.], 1778–88). See also Encyclopaedia Britannica 1:20. Samuel Bochart, Hierozoicon (London: Jo. Martyn & Jac. Allestry, ad insigne Campanæ in Cœmeterio D. Pauli, 1658) Part 2, p. 848. John Swan, Speculum Mundi. Or a Glass Representing the Face of the World (Cambridge: Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1635) p. 457. John Locke, A Discourse on Miracles, in Gilbert Burnett, A Treatise concerning the Truth of Religion to which is added A Discourse on Miracles by John Locke Esq. (Glasgow: Printed by Robert Foulis, and sold by him there, and at Edinburgh by Mess. G. Hamilton and J. Balfour, 1743) p. 3. Ibid., p. 6. In the first half of the nineteenth century the Reverend Charles Forster (1787–1871) was still comparing the miracles of Christianity with Muhammad’s attested inability to perform them. See his Mohametanism Unveiled (London: Printed for J. Duncan, 37 Paternoster-Row; and J. Cochran, 108 Strand, 1829) 2:465. While at the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that ‘the proper proofs of a Divine revelation are miracles and prophecy, and that Islamism possesses neither the one nor the other’. See Encyclopaedia Britannica (Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1853–60) 15:302, quoted in Almond, Heretic and Hero, p. 51. Charles Leslie, A Short and Easie Method with the Deists. Wherein the Certainty of the Christian Religion is demonstrated, by Infallible Proof from Four Rules which are Incompatible to any Imposture that ever yet has been, or that can possibly be (London: Printed by J. Applebee, and Sold by John Checkley, at the Sign of the Crown and Blue-Gate, over against the West-End of the Town-House in Boston, 1723) Preface, vol.1. Ibid., 6. John Tillotson is of the same opinion. He remarks, ‘neither in scripture, nor in profane authors, nor in common use of speech, is anything call’d a miracle but what falls under the notice of our senses: a miracle being nothing else but a supernatural effect evident to sense . . . ’ See his Sermons on Several Subjects and Occasions, by the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late

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65. 66.

67.

68. 69.

70.

71. 72. 73.

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Lord Archbishop of Canterbury (London: Printed for R. Ware, A. Ward [et al.], 1742) 2:233. Leslie, A Short and Easie Method, p. 21. Campbell remarks that although Muhammad pretended to receive nocturnal visitations from Gabriel and to have been taken on ‘his most amazing nightjourney’ which, if true, would be miraculous, these cannot be taken as evidence of his mission since there were no witnesses to them. See George Campbell, A Dissertation on Miracles (Edinburgh: Printed for Bell and Bradfute [et al.], 1797) 1:150. Campbell’s book was often reprinted over the following eighty years and was translated into a number of European languages. Paley observes, ‘I do not allow the secret visitations of Gabriel, the night journey of Mahomet to heaven, or the presence in battle of invisible hosts of angels, to deserve the name of sensible miracles.’ He goes on to note that ‘Mahomet did not found his pretensions upon miracles, properly so called; that is, upon proofs of supernatural agency, capable of being known and attested by others. Christians are warranted in this assertion by the evidence of the Koran, in which Mahomet not only does not affect the power of working miracles, but expressly disclaims it.’ This contrasts markedly with Christ’s miracles which were done in public and which prove that he must have come from God. See William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity (Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas Dobson at the Stone-House, No. 41 South Second-Street, 1795) in the chapter entitled ‘Of the Religion of Mahomet’ pp. 356, 357, 359. Bedwell was an English Arabist, mathematician and sometime tutor of Thomas Erpenius the first professor of Arabic at Leiden university. William Bedwell, Mohammedis Imposturae: That is, a Discovery of the Manifold Forgeries, Falshoods, and horrible impieties of the blasphemous seducer Mohammed (London: Imprinted by Richard Field dwelling in great Wood-streete, 1615) preface. There is a clue to Bedwell’s source of information on the isra ’/mi‘ra j in the glossary, ‘The Arabian Trudgman’, which Bedwell appended to his book. The entry for ‘Barak’ directs the reader for ‘more of this beastly fable’ to the 14th Chapter of Ricoldo and the 4th oration of Johannes Cantacuzenus, the Emperor of Constantinople (c.1292–1383) and author of Cantacuzeni contra sectam Mahometicam. However, the account clearly bears a closer resemblance to that found in the Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica of Juan Andrés. Bedwell, Mohammedis Imposturae ‘Arabicke’, paragraphs 46–7. Ibid., paragraphs 83–90. Barthélémy d’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Oriental (The Hague: J. Neauline and N. van Daalen, 1777) ‘Mohammed’, 2:648–57.

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NOTES 74. 75. 76. 77.

78. 79.

80.

81. 82. 83.

84. 85.

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Ibid., 2:648. Ibid., 1:414–15. Ibid., 2:608. Alexander Ross, Pansebeia: or a View of all Religions in the World with the Several Church-Governments from the Creation, till these Times. Also, a Discovery of all known Heresies in all Ages and Places (London: Printed for John Williams, at the sign of the Crown, in St Paul’s Church-yard, 1683) p. 165. Antoine Galland, Journal 1672–3 (Paris: E. Leroux, 1881) 1:29. Alexander Ross, The Alcoran of Mahomet. Translated out of Arabick into French by the Sieur du Ryer, Lord of Malezair and Resident for the French King, at Alexandria. And newly Englished, for the Satisfaction of all that desire to look into the Turkish vanities. To which is prefixed, the Life of Mahomet (London: Printed and are to be sold by Randal Taylor, near Stationers-Hall, 1688) p. iv. This was the first translation of the Qur’a n to appear in English. The original French version is called L’Alcoran de Mahomet. Translate d’Arabe en Francois, par le Sieur du Ryer, Sieur de la Garde Malezair (Paris, 1649). Humphrey Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture Fully Display’d in the Life of Mahomet with a Discourse Annex’d for the Vindicating of Christianity from this Charge: Offered to the Consideration of the Deists of the present Age (London: Printed for W. Rogers, at the Sun against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1708). For information on Prideaux, see Patricia Holt, ‘The Treatment of Arab History by Prideaux, Ockley and Sale’ in Patricia Holt and Bernard Lewis (eds), Historians of the Middle East (London: Oxford University Press, 1962) pp. 290–302. Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture, p. ix. Ibid., pp. 4–5. These are listed in ‘A Discourse for the Vindicating of Christianity from the Charge of Imposture offer’d by way of a Letter to the Confederation of the Deists of the Present Age’ written by Prideaux and included in his The True Nature of Imposture, p. 7. Prideaux, ‘Letter to the Deists’, pp. 110–11. These include Pierre Bayle whose Dictionary states under the entry for ‘Mahomet’ (4:47): ‘He who would see a Chronological account of the actions and adventures of this false prophet supported by very good citations, and a fine detail of circumstances, need only read Dr. Prideaux’s book. It has been translated out of English into French.’ In another place, the anonymous author of Four Treatises concerning the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of the Mahometans (London: Printed by J. Darby at the Cross-Keys, 1712) bases his account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j on that of Prideaux (pp. 47–53). Similarly, Simon Ockley (1678–1720), a professor of Arabic at Cambridge (1711–20), briefly alludes to

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86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92.

93.

94.

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the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his The Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Ægypt, by the Saracens (London: Printed for R. Knaplock in St Paul’s Church-yard, 1708, p. 248) and refers the reader to Prideaux’s The True Nature of Imposture for more information. Another to make use of Prideaux was George Sale in his The Koran dealt with below. Benjamin Martin similarly uses Prideaux for his account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his Bibliotheca Technologica: Or a Philological Library of Literary Arts and Sciences (London: Printed for James Hodges, at the Looking-Glass, over-against St. Magnus Church, London-Bridge, 1747) pp. 56–60; as does Charles Thompson in his The Travels of the late Charles Thompson Esq; Containing his Observations on France (Reading: Printed by J. Bewbery and C. Micklewight, at the Bible and Crown in the Market-Place, 1744) pp. 192–8. Prideaux is also the main source for anon., The Life of Mahomet; or, the History of that Imposture, which was Begun, Carried on, and Finally Established by Him in Arabia; And which has Subjugated a Larger Portion of the Globe, than the Religion of Jesus has yet set at Liberty (London: Printed for the Booksellers, 1799) and The Life of Muhammed by Rev. George Bush (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1837). Washington Irving refers to Prideaux, although he does not base himself on him. See his The Life of Mahomet (London: George Routledge & Co., 1850) pp. 62–3. Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture, p. 54. Ibid., pp. 63–4. Ibid., pp. 66–7. Ibid., p. 70. Ibid., pp. 70–1. Ibid., pp. 66–7. Sources of lesser importance used by Prideaux for his account include Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada whose Historia Arabum includes a chapter on the isra ’/mi‘ra j, Johannes Cantacuzenus (the Emperor of Constantinople) (c.1292–1383), Cantacuzeni contra sectam Mahometicam; Philip Guadagnol, Apologia pro Christiana Religione . . . Objectiones Ahmed filli Zin (published in Rome in 1631); John Heinrich Hottinger, Historia Orientalis (published in 1651 and later in 1660); Pierre Bellonius (Peter Bellon) (1517–64), Bellonii Observationes de locis ac rebus memorabilibus in Asia (first published in French in 1553, and subsequently in Latin); Samuel Bochart (1599–1667), Hierozoicon; and, in Arabic, al-Zamakhsharı ’s Kashsha f and al-Bayda w  ı ’s Tafsır. Long was ordained in 1716 and became Rector of Orton Waterville. He subsequently became a Doctor of Divinity in 1728 and master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1733. Roger Long, ‘Life of Mahomet’ prefixed to Simon Ockley’s History of the Saracens (Cambridge: Printed for the sole Benefit of Mrs. Anne Ockley, by Permission of Henry Lintot Esq., 1757) pp. 22–35.

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95. Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa & Asia Especially Describing the Famous Empires of Persia and Industan. As also Diverse other Kingdoms in the Oriental Indies (London: Printed for R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J. Wright and R. Chiswell, 1677) pp. 321–2. 96. William Winstanley, Historical Rarities and Curious Observations Domestick and Foreign (London: Printed for Rowland Reynolds, next door to the Middle Exchange in the Strand, 1684) pp. 227–31. 97. Alexander Bicknell, Instances of the Mutability of Fortune Selected from Ancient and Modern History (London: Printed for J. S. Jordan, No.166 Fleet-Street, 1792) Introduction p. vi. Bicknell’s account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j (pp. 212–22) is derived from Humphrey Prideaux, much of it verbatim. The book was later reprinted without mention of Bicknell’s name under the more accurate title of Remarkable Instances in Ancient and Modern History (London: Printed for Eglin and Pepys, 1796). 98. Daniel Fenning, The Young Man’s Book of Knowledge (London: Printed for S. Crowder, in Pater-noster-Row, and B. Collins, in Salisbury, 1774) p. 49. 99. David Simpson, A Key to the Prophecies or a Concise View of the Predictions contained in the Old and New Testaments, which have been fulfilled, are now fulfilling, or are yet to be fulfilled in the Latter Ages of the World (Macclesfield: Printed and Sold by Edward Rayley, 1795) p. 288. 100. This book is listed in William Bathoe, A New Catalogue of the Curious and valuable Collection of Books; (Both English and French) Consisting of Several Thousand Volumes, by the best Authors, by William Bathoe, Bookseller, At the Original Circulating Library (being the first of its kind in London) (London: no pub., 1767?) p. 57. 101. See Clinton Bennet, In Search of Muhammad (London: Cassell, 1998) p. 94. There is an abridged translation of Reland’s treatise in Anon., Four Treatises. 102. See C. E. Bosworth, ‘The Prophet Vindicated: A Restoration Treatise on Islam and Muhammad’, Religion vol.6 Part 1 (Spring 1976) p. 9. 103. J. Morgan, Mahometism Fully Explained (London: Printed for W. Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple-Bar, 1723) 104. Ibid., 1:iv. 105. Ibid., 2:61–103. 106. Ibid., vol.2, ‘Some Remarks, &c. upon the Preceding and Following Parts of this Author’s Works’ p. lx. 107. Henri Comte de Boulainvilliers, The Life of Mahomet (London: Printed for T. Longman, and C. Hitch and L. Lawes, in Pater-noster Row, and J. and J. Rivington, in St Paul’s Church-Yard, 1752). 108. Ibid., p. i.

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314 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114.

115. 116.

117. 118. 119.

120.

121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126.

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Ibid. Ibid., pp. 258–9. Ibid., p. 260. Gagnier, a member of the Anglican clergy, was holder of the Laudian Chair of Arabic at Oxford from 1724. Jean Gagnier, Ismael Abu’l-Feda, de Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis (Oxford: e theatro Sheldoniano, 1723) pp. 32–40. Jean Gagnier, La vie de Mahomet; Traduite et Compile’e de l’alcoran, des Traditions authentiques de la Sonna, et des Meilleurs Auteurs Arabes (Amsterdam: Wetsteins & Smith, 1748) 3 vols. Volume 1, chapters 1–14. Ibid., 1:271. Roger Long, in his ‘Life of Mahomet’ appended to the third edition of Simon Ockley’s History of the Saracens, comments on this, remarking that Gagnier thought it impossible that Muhammad should view Jesus as superior to himself since he ‘taught Jesus to be no more than a creature, and pretended that he himself was the most perfect of all creatures . . . perhaps it will solve this difficulty to observe, that this privilege was not [yet] granted to Mahomet’. That is, it is only after the meeting with Jesus in the heavens that God tells Muhammad that he ‘should be the most perfect of all creatures’. See Simon Ockley, History of the Saracens, p. 27. Gagnier, La vie de Mahomet, Preface 1:xlix. Ibid., 1:252. La vie de Mahomet was also the source for the Abbe de Marigny’s account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j in his The History of the Arabians, under the Government of the Caliphs from Mahomet, their Founder, to the Death of Mostazem, the fifty-sixth and last Abassian Caliph (London: Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate, in Castle-Street, near St Martin’s-Church; and D. Wilson and T. Durham, at Plato’s-Head, in the Strand, 1758) 1:214–15. In the eighteenth century the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ was translated into French and published independently with the title Observatione historiques et critiques sur le Mahométisme. Sale, The Koran, ‘A Sketch of the Life of George Sale’, p. x. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: Allen Lane. The Penguin Press, 1994) 3:173 note 65. Sale, The Koran, p. vi. Ibid., p. 33. London: Printed and Sold by J. Roberts, in Warwick-Lane, 1735. The author specifically refers to Sale in the Introduction, p. 14. Anon., Reflections on Mohammedism, and the Conduct of Mohammed. Occasioned by a late Learned Translation and Exposition of the Koran or Al Koran (London:

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NOTES

127. 128. 129.

130. 131.

132. 133. 134. 135.

136. 137. 138.

139.

140.

141.

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Printed and Sold by J. Roberts, in Warwick-Lane, 1735) p. 38. Prideaux asserts that the great cock which Muhammad is said to have seen in the first heaven is borrowed from ‘the Tract Bava Bathra of the Babylonian Talmud’. See Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture, pp. 59–60. Anon., Reflections on Mohammedism, p. 40. Ibid., p. 41. Voltaire, ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’ in Le Fanatisme, ou Mahomet le prophète. De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2002) pp. 333–4. See Ahmad Gunny, Images of Islam in Eighteenth-Century Writings (London: Grey Seal, 1996) pp. 159–60. Claude Etienne Savary, Le Coran, traduit de l’Arabe accompagné de notes et précedé d’un Abrégé de la vie de Mahomet (Amsterdam, Leide, Rotterdam: Chez les Librairies Associés, 1786). Ibid., 1:64. The account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is on pp. 61–4, based, according to Savary, on Elbokar (i.e. al-Bukha rı ) and Abuhoreïra (i.e. Abu Hurayra). Ibid., 2:31. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, 3:172. Abu al-Fida ’ does not explicitly state that it was a vision, remarking only that ‘The people of knowledge have differed about whether [the Prophet undertook] it in his body or whether it was a true vision.’ He goes on to say that the majority hold it to have been a physical journey. However, the only traditions which Abu al-Fida ’ quotes on this subject are those  by the Prophet’s wife ‘A’isha and Mu‘a w  iya b. Abı  Sufya n both of whom claim that the journey was non-physical. See Gagnier, De vita et rebus gestis Mohammedis, p. 32. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, 3:183. Ibid., 3:184. Anon., A New and General Biographical Dictionary; containing an Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation; Particularly the British and Irish; from the earliest Accounts to the present Period (London: Printed for T. Osborne, J. Whiston [et al.], 1757) 8:154. The account of the isra ’/mi‘ra j is based on that of Prideaux. Francis Dobbs, A Summary of Universal History, from the Creation to the Present Time (London: Printed for the Author, and sold by S. Sael and Co. No.192, Strand, 1800) 6:31–2. Alexander Simm, Miscellaneous Tracts; or Select Passages, Historical, Chronological, Moral, &c. Extracted from eminent Authors, ancient and modern (Edinburgh: Printed by William Gray, 1753) p. 210. Bedwell, Mohammedis Imposturae, ‘Arabicke’ paragraph 46.

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316 142. 143. 144. 145.

146.

147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153.

154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163.

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Ross, Pansebeia, p. 165. Savary, Le Coran, 2:31. Voltaire, ‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’, p. 334. Thomas Carlyle, ‘The Hero as Prophet: Mahomet: Islam’ in H. M. Buller (ed.), On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (London: Macmillan, 1926). Godfrey Higgins, An Apology for the Life and Character of the Celebrated Prophet of Arabia, called Mohamed or the Illustrious (London: Rowland Hunter, 72, St Paul’s Churchyard; Hurst, Chance and Co., St Paul’s Churchyard; and Ridgeway and Sons, Piccadilly, 1829) p. 2. Ibid., p. 5. As noted above, this was translated into English in 1652 by Joshua Notstock with the title The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect. Ibid., p. 21. Ibid., p. 47. Ibid., p. 21. Ibid., p. 50. George Bush, The Life of Mohammed; Founder of the Religion of Islam, and of the Empire of the Saracens (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1837). The book was reprinted in 2002. It attained some media attention in the Arab world when in June 2005 the Islamic Research Academy which is affiliated to al-Azhar University in Cairo, the centre of Sunnı  learning, and which has the authority to ban books on religious themes, recommended that it be distributed after urging the government to ban it in 2004. For further information see ‘Bush Book incites Controversy’ at http://weekly.ahram. org.eg. Ibid., p. 6. Ibid., p. 92. Chapter 8: ‘The Prophet pretends to have had a Night-journey through the Seven Heavens’ pp. 89–100. Ibid., p. 94. Ibid., p. 96. Ibid., p. 98. Ibid., p. 99. Ibid., p. 100. The Qur’a nic reference is to su rat al-Najm verses 1–18: ‘By the star when it goes down . . .’ etc. Washington Irving, The Life of Mahomet (London: George Routledge & Co., 1850). Quoted in Clinton Bennett, Victorian Images of Islam (London: Grey Seal, 1992) p. 114.

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NOTES 164. 165. 166. 167.

168. 169. 170. 171. 172.

173.

174. 175.

176. 177. 178. 179.

180.

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Irving, The Life of Mahomet, p. 188. Ibid., p. 59. Ibid., pp. 67–8. J. M. Buaben, Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West: A Study of Muir, Margoliouth and Watt (Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1996) p. 25. Syed Ahmed Khan is much more positive: ‘The best of all the biographies of Mohammed from the pen of foreign authors, and the one which is executed in the most learned and masterly manner, is the ‘Life of Mahomet’ by Sir William Muir.’ See Syed Ahmed Khan, A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects Subsidiary Thereto (London: Trübner and Co., 1870) Preface, p. xvii. William Muir, The Life of Mahomet (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1861) pp. 19–20. Ibid., pp. 219–20. Ibid., pp. 220–1. Ibid., p. 221 note 40. Ibid. Regarding Muir’s treatment of the isra ’/mi‘ra j, J. M. Buaben remarks: ‘Muir’s ridiculing of the incident seems to be further proof of his inconsistency and unfairness. If he believes in the transfiguration story in the life of Jesus and his bodily ascension and also that the Bible says Elijah was carried to heaven in chariots of fire, it is strange that he cannot accept Muhammad’s experience as a deep and authentic spiritual incident.’ See Buaben, Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West, p. 31. The well-known Muslim theologian al-H asan al-Bas rı  (d.734) allegedly understood the Qur’a nic verse ‘We granted the vision (ru’ya ) which we showed you as a trial for men’ (17:61) to imply that the mi‘ra j was a nonphysical journey. Muir, The Life of Mahomet, p. 221 note 40. See J. W. H. Stobart, Islam and Its Founder (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1876) p. 141, and John Davenport, An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran (London: J. Davy and Sons, 1869) p. 29. Reginald Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism (London: John Murray, Albermarle Street, 1889) p. 291. Ibid., pp. 156–7. Ibid., p. 19. M. Futrell, ‘Dostoyevsky and Islam’, The Slavonic and East European Review 57 (1979) 16–31; and Owsei Temkin, The Falling Sickness, p. 374, quoted in Almond, Heretic and Hero, p. 55. See, for example, A. A. Ahsan, ‘Review of Norman Daniel’s Islam and the West – The Making of an Image’ Muslim World Book Review vol.1 No.3 (Spring

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181. 182.

183. 184. 185. 186.

187. 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. 193.

194.

195. 196. 197.

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1981) p. 53. W. M. Watt notes that ‘The image created in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries continued to dominate European thinking about Islam, and even in the second half of the twentieth century has some vestigial influence.’ See W. M. Watt, What is Islam? (London: Longman, 1979) p. 1. See Daniel, Islam and the West, p. 4. See, for example, Henry Smith, Gods Arrow against Atheists (London: Imprinted by J. K. for Thomas Panier, and are to be sold at his shop entring into the Exchange, 1609) p. 46. Smith also adds the monk John of Antioch and a certain Jew among the influences on Muhammad. Virgilius, De Rerum Inventoribus, pp. 215–16. Boulainvilliers, The Life of Mahomet, p. 265. Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture, p. 13. Gunny, Images of Islam, p. 76 referring to the views of Mathurin Veyssière de la Croze in his ‘Réflexions historiques et critiques sur le mahométisme et sur le socianisme’, in Dissertations historiques et critiques sur divers sujets (Rotterdam, 1707). Abraham Geiger, Was hat Mohammed aus dem Jugenthume aufgenommen? (Berlin: Parerga Verlag, 2004). D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905) pp. 102–3. Irving, The Life of Mahomet, p. 36. C. C. Torrey, The Jewish Foundation of Islam (New York: Jewish Institute of Religion Press, 1933). Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture, pp. 59–60. d’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Oriental 2:608. Mathurin Veyssière de la Croze, ‘Réflexions historiques et critiques sur le mahométisme et sur le socianisme’, in Dissertations historiques et critiques sur divers sujets (Rotterdam, 1707) quoted in Gunny, Images of Islam, p. 78. Anon., Four Treatises concerning the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of the Mahometans, ‘The Life and Actions of Mahomet’ (London: Printed by J. Darby at the Cross-Keys, 1712) pp. 53–4. E. Blochet, ‘L’ascension au ciel du prophète Mohammed’, Revue de l’histoire des religions 40 (1899) 1–25, 203–36. Wilhelm Bousset, ‘Die Himmelsreise der Seele’, Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 4 (1901) pp. 136–69. Another example is Reverend J. L. Menezes, a Roman Catholic missionary and priest in the diocese of Mangalore, India, and the author of The Life and Religion of Mohammed the Prophet of Arabia (London: Sands and Co., 1911). In the book, Menezes claims that he has tried to remain impartial and

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198.

199. 200. 201. 202.

203. 204. 205. 206. 207.

208.

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unbiased. His sole aim is to open the eyes of the more than sixty million Muslims in India who ‘blindly follow’ Muhammad as their heaven-sent prophet and leader and who adhere to Islam as the one true religion and way to salvation. This is in order to show them how they are deceived and to encourage them to find a better leader and a surer way of salvation. (Preface pp. v–vi) One of the ‘facts’ that ‘will not prove pleasant reading’ concerns the isra ’/mi‘ra j, ‘the greatest pretended miracle’, ‘the ridiculous story’ whose fabrication was ‘one of the most artful contrivances Mohammed ever attempted to put into trial . . . ‘ (p. 34) Menezes’ description of the isra ’/ mi‘ra j is on pp. 33–4. William St. Clair Tisdall, The Sources of Islam: A Persian Treatise, translated and abridged by Sir William Muir (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901). It was originally written in Persian with the title Yana bı‘ al-Isla m and published in Lahore, Pakistan in 1899. William St. Clair Tisdall, The Original Sources of the Qur’an (London: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1905). Ibid., p. 28. Ibid., p. 27. The Mishkat al-Masa bıh  by Walı  al-Dın b. ‘Abd Alla h al-Tabrızı  (d.749/1348) is a commentary on and expanded version of the well-known Masa bıh  al-Sunna by al-H usayn b. Mas‘ud al-Baghawı  (d.561/1122). Tisdall, The Original Sources of the Qur’an, p. 225. Ibid., pp. 226–30. Ibid., pp. 230–1. Ibid., p. 232. Ibid., pp. 234–5. It is not surprising that Tisdall’s polemical work attracted criticism from Muslim quarters, particularly since the original book, The Sources of Islam, had been written in Persian so as to make it accessible to a Muslim audience. In response to two Muslim reactions to the book, Tisdall wrote A Word to the Wise: being a Defense of the ‘Sources of Islam’ (London, Madras and Colombo: The Christian Literature Society, 1912). One of these reactions is that of the Ima m Fakhru’l-Islam in his Baya n al-H aqq wa al-S idq al-Mutlaq (‘Statement of Absolute Truth and Veracity’). The Ima m criticises Tisdall’s treatment of the mi‘ra j and argues that the resemblance between the ascension of the Prophet and the Arta Viraf Namak and the Zardusht-Namah is insufficiently close to warrant the conclusion that the one is borrowed from the other. Tisdall’s response is caustic and sarcastic. M. S. M. Saifullah, ‘Arda Wiraz Namag (Iranian ‘Divina Commedia’) and the Prophet’s Night Journey’, on Saifullah’s website at http://www.islamicawareness.org.Quran/Sources/ZRisra.html (first composed 29 June 2002).

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320

209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 215. 216. 217.

218.

219.

220.

221. 222. 223. 224.

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An earlier attack on Tisdall’s work by Dr Saifullah and Imtiaz Daniel is ‘Comments on Geiger and Tisdall’s Books of the “Sources of the Qur’an’’’ at http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/BBsources.html. Geo Widengren, The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book (Uppsala: Lundequist, 1950). Geo Widengren, Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, and his Ascension (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955) p. 215. Ibid., p. 80, quoting al-Bırunı  , The Chronology of Ancient Nations, trans. C. E. Sachau (London, 1879) p. 193. Widengren, Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, p. 83. Ibid., p. 84. Ibid., p. 211. Ioan Petru Culianu, Psychanodia I: A Survey of the Evidence Concerning the Ascension of the Soul and its Relevance (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1983). Ibid., p. 57. Ibid., p. 55. A similiar Jewish apocalypse mentioned by Culianu is the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (or 3 Baruch) which also refers to a seer being taken up to five of the seven heavens where he is shown the mysteries of God. See the abridged English translation of Palacios’ La Escatologia Musulmana en la Divina Comedia: Harold Sutherland, Islam and the Divine Comedy (London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd, 1968) p. 60. For full details and accompanying references (Enoch, Testament of Abraham, Apocalypse of Abraham, Testament of Levi and Ezra), see H. Busse, ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension’ in Uri Rubin (ed.), The Life of Muha mmad (Aldershot: Variorum, 1998) (279–318) pp. 21–5. The article was originally published in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991) 1–40. For this list Busse relies on Mary Dean-Otting, Heavenly Journeys. A Study of the Motif in Hellenistic Jewish Literature (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang, 1984) pp. 4 f. Mordechai Nisan, ‘Note on a Possible Jewish Source for Muhammad’s “Night Journey”’, Arabica 47 (2000) 274–7. Ibid., p. 277. Abu al-‘Ala ’ al-Ma‘arrı, Risa lat al-Ghufra n (‘Epistle of Forgiveness’). Ibn al-‘Arabı’s treatise comprises one chapter (‘The Alchemy of Happiness’) of a larger work called al-Futu ha t al-Makkiyya (‘The Meccan Revelations’). On this treatise see James W. Morris, ‘The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn Arabi and the Miraj’ Parts 1 and 2, Journal of the American Oriental Society vol.107 No.4 (October–December 1987) 629–52, and vol.108 No.1 (January– March 1988) 63–77.

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225. Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, p. 75. 226. Ibid., p. 276. 227. José Muñoz Sendino, La Escala de Mahoma. Traducción del árabe al castellano, latín y francés, ordenada por Alfonso X el Sabio (Madrid: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, 1949). It is perhaps strange that Palacios did not discover the translations himself, since Alexander Ross clearly knew about them, as mentioned in in his Pansebeia (1683), referred to above. 228. Cerulli, Il ‘Libro della Scala’. 229. Theodore Silverstein, for example, argues that although Dante may have been influenced by accounts of the mi‘raj, in particular the Liber Scalae, the genesis of the Divine Comedy probably owes much to earlier Western Christian texts. See his ‘Dante and the Legend of the Miraj: The Problem of Islamic Influence on the Christian Literature of the Otherworld’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 11 No.2 (April 1952) 89–110, and 11 No.3 (July 1952) 187–97. 230. The most articulate critic of the thesis is Enrico Cerulli. See his Nuove ricerche sul ‘Libro della scala’ e la conoscenza del’Islam in Occidente (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1972). For further information on the nature and development of the debate surrounding Palacios’ ideas, see Philip F. Kennedy, ‘The Muslim Sources of Dante?’ in D. A. Agius and R. Hitchcock (eds), The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1994) pp. 63–82. 231. A. A. Bevan, ‘Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven’ in K. Marti (ed.) Studien zur Semitischen Philologie und Religionsgeschichte, Julius Wellhausen zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag (Giessen: Alfred Töpelmann, 1914) pp. 50–61. 232. B. Schrieke, ‘Die Himmelsreise Muhammeds’, Der Islam 6 (1916) pp. 1–30. See also B. Schrieke, ‘Mi‘ra dj’, The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993) 7:97–100. 233. Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, pp. 3–35. 234. Ibid., p. 35. The theory of Schrieke and Palacios has more recently received further support from Heribert Busse who in 1991 published an article largely concerned with the identification of the masjid al-aqsa  but in the course of which he deals with the construction of the isra ’/mi‘ra j narratives. Busse also concludes that the night journey and the ascension originally referred to the same event. See Busse, ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension’. 235. J. R. Porter, ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’, Numen 21/1 (April 1974) (64–80) p. 64. This is a paper originally read to the Exeter Folklore Colloquium in 1971. 236. Ibid., p. 73.

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237. Frederick Stephen Colby, ‘Constructing an Islamic Ascension Narrative: The Interplay of Official and Popular Culture in Pseudo-Ibn ‘Abba s’, PhD Dissertation (Duke University, Department of Religion, 2002). This was subsequently published as Narrating Muha mmad’s Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ‘Abba s Ascension Discourse (New York: State University of New York Press, 2009). 238. The relevant verses quoted by Archer are ‘Have we not enlarged thy breast, and relieved thee of thy burden which galled thy back. And have we not heightened thy reputation. Along with trouble cometh ease. And when you have finished informing (others), do thou worship even until weary, and enquire of thou Lord fervently.’ See John Clark Archer, Mystical Elements in Mohammed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1924) pp. 42–4. 239. Ibid., p. 49. 240. Ibid., pp. 50–1. 241. Ibid., pp. 45–6. 242. Ibid., p. 51. 243. W. M. Watt, Bell’s Introduction to the Qur’a n (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1970) p. 19. 244. W. M. Watt, Muhammad – Prophet and Statesman. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961) p. 81. 245. Buaben, Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West, p. 322. 246. See Tor Andrae, Mohammed, the Man and his Faith (London: Allen and Unwin, 1936). Some Muslim writers also see the isra ’/mi‘ra j in terms of a universal phenomenon. For example, Jabal Muhammad Buaben remarks that it was a ‘deep and authentic spiritual experience’ and that ‘From the psychology of religion we learn that the experience of Muhammad in the Mi‘ra j story is not ridiculous. It is a universal phenomenon in religious experience.’ See Buaben, Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West, p. 31. 247. See Ioan Petru Culianu, Psychanodia I: A Survey of the Evidence Concerning the Ascension of the Soul and its Relevance (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1983) pp. 26–7 on the main scholars involved in this trend with references. 248. Maxime Rodinson, Mohammed (London: Allen Lane, 1971) p. 56. Not surprisingly, anti-Islamic Christian polemicists have used the idea of Muhammad as shaman to question the nature of his prophetic call. For example, the online article by the American Christian Quennel Gale, ‘Muhammad Prophet of God?’ aims to prove that Muhammad was not a true prophet but rather a shaman and devotes several pages to the isra ’/ mi‘ra j as a shamanic journey. See http://www/answer-islam.org/Muhammad. html (posted on 18/11/2004). The website ‘Answers to Islam’, on which the

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249. 250.

251. 252. 253.

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article appears, is run by Quennel Gale and is an offshoot of the website ‘Answering Islam’ which is similarly active in anti-Islamic polemics. Porter, ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’, p. 67. Ibid., p. 70. For his information on shamanism, Porter relies largely on Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964) and Eliade’s Myths, Dreams and Mysteries: The Encounter between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1960). Porter, ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’, p. 73. Ibid. Ibid., p. 80.

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Al-T abarsı, Abu Mansur Ahmad b. ‘Alı  b. Abı  T a lib. Al-Iht ija j. Najaf: Da r al-Nu‘ma n li al-T iba ‘ a wa al-Nashr, 1386/1966 Al-T aba taba ’ı, Muhammad H usayn. Al-Mıza  n fı  Tafsır al-Qur’a n. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-A ‘lamı  li al-Matbu‘a t, 1392/1972 —— Shi‘ite Islam. Translated by Seyyed Hossain Nasr. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975 Thompson, Charles. The Travels of the late Charles Thompson Esq; Containing his Observations on France. Reading: Printed by J. Bewbery and C. Micklewight, at the Bible and Crown in the Market-Place, 1744   Buzurg. al-Dharı ‘a ila  Tasa nıf al-Shı ‘a. Beirut: Da r al-Adwa ’ , Al-T ihra nı, Agha n.d. Tillotson, John. Sermons on Several Subjects and Occasions, by the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. London: Printed for R. Ware, A. Ward [et al.], 1742   b. Sawra. Al-Ja mi‘ al-S ahı h . Cairo: Sharikat Al-Tirmidhı, Muhammad b. ‘Isa Maktabat wa Matba‘at Mustafa  al-Ba b ı  al-H alabı  wa Awla dihi, 1395/1975 Tisdall, William St. Clair. The Sources of Islam: A Persian Treatise. Translated and abridged by Sir William Muir. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901. Available at http://www.truthnet.org/islam/source.htm and http://answering-islam.org —— The Original Sources of the Qur’an. London: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1905 —— A Word to the Wise, being a Brief Defence of the ‘Sources of Islam’. London, Madras and Colombo: The Christian Literature Society, 1912 Toulmin, Joshua. Dissertations on the Internal Evidences and Excellence of Christianity and on the Character of Christ, compared with that of some other Celebrated Founders of Religion or Philosophy. London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St Paul’s Church-Yard, 1785 Troll, Christian. Sayyid Ahmed Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1978 Al-T u‘mı, Muhyı  al-Dın (compiler). Mawsu ‘at al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j al-Musamma h Nazır al-Dıba  j bi H aqa ’iq al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. Beirut: Da r wa Maktabat al-Hila l, 1994 Turtledove, Harry. The Chronicle of Theophanes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982 Al-T usı, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. al-H asan. Fihrist. Najaf: Ba b al-Maktaba al-Murtad awiyya, n.d. —— Tahdhıb al-Ahk a m. Tehran: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, AH 1390 —— Tafsır al-Tibya n. N.p.: Da r al-Andalus, n.d. —— Al-Istibsa r fı ma   ukhtulifa min al-Akhba r. Najaf: Da r al-Kutub al-Isla miyya, n.d. Al-Ujhurı, Nur al-Dın ‘Alı  b. Muhammad. Al-Nu r al-Wahha j fı  al-Kala m ‘ala  al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. Beirut: Da r al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.

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Virgilius, Polydorus, De Rerum Inventoribus. Translated into English by John Langley. New York: Lenox Hill, 1971. First published in 1868 Voltaire, Le Fanatisme, ou Mahomet le prophète. De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet. Vol. 20B of Les Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2002 Vuckovic, Brooke Olson. Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns. The Legacy of the Mi‘raj in the Formation of Islam. New York and London: Routledge, 2005 Waltz, James. ‘Muhammad and Muslims in St. Thomas Aquinas’, The Muslim World vol.66 No.2 (April 1976) pp. 81–95 Watt, William Montgomery. Muhammad – Prophet and Statesman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961 —— Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953 —— Bell’s Introduction to the Qur’a n. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1970 Wensinck, A. J. A Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition. Leiden: E. J. Brill Ltd, 1927 Wessels, Antonie. A Modern Arabic Biography of Muhammad: A Critical Study of Muha mmad H usayn Haykal’s ‘H ayat Muha mmad’. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972 Widengren, Geo. Muha mmad, the Apostle of God, and his Ascension. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955 Winstanley, William. Historical Rarities and Curious Observations Domestick and Foreign. London: Printed for Rowland Reynolds, next door to the Middle Exchange in the Strand, 1684 Al-Ya‘qubı, Ahmad b. Abı  Ya‘qub. Ta rıkh.  Leiden: Brill, 1883 Yuksel, Edip. ‘From the Perspective of a Former Radical Muslim Leader: The Theo-political Roots of “Islamic Terrorism’’’ at http://www.yuksel.org/e/ law/terror.htm Al-Zafta w  ı, Darwısh.  H ika yat Mu‘jizat al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. Cairo: Maktabat al-Anjalu al-Mis riyya, 1415/1994 Al-Zubaydı, Ma jid. Qisas al-Isra ’ wa al-Mi‘ra j. Beirut: Da r al-Mahajja al-Bayd a ’ , 1424/2003

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INDEX

Aaron (son of Imran), in the heavens, 13, 159 Abbot of Cluny: see Peter the Venerable ‘Abd Allāh (father of Muhammad), 210 ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Dr Raf’at Fawzı̄, 35, 38, 41, 52, 57, 124–5, 126 ‘Abd al-Qādir, Dr ‘Alı̄ Hasan, 33 ‘Abd al-Salām, ‘Izz al-Dı̄n, 87 ‘Abd al-Wahhāb, Muhammad Fahmı̄, 116 ‘Abduh, Muhammad, 118 ablution, see wudū‘ Abraham, 35, 131, 165–6, 244, 248; Apocalypse of, 247; in bayt al-maqdis, 3, 7, 105, 253; in the heavens, 14, 17, 53, 114, 157, 253; as miracle worker, 137; ‘Testament’ of, 244 al-Abtah, 46 Abū Bakr, 54, 62, 68, 140, 149, 151, 152, 153, 194, 222; called al-siddı̄q, 3, 62, 136, 147–8 Abū Bakr, Sālih, 35 Abū Bası̄r, 156 Abū Dāwūd, Sulaymān b. al-Ash’ath, Sunan of, 57 Abū Dharr, 6 Abū Fāris, Muhammad, 72

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Abū al-Fidā, Ismā‘ı̄l b. ‘Alı̄, 211, 220, 221, 222, 224, 226 Abū Jahl, 54, 108, 136 Abū Hurayra, 224 Abū al-Khattāb, 163 Abu Samad, 37–8 Abū Shāma, Shihāb al-Dı̄n, 48 Abū Sufyān, 63 Abū Tālib, 46, 63, 234 Abū Zahra, Muhammad, 113–14 An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, 208, 216 Adam, 34; in the heavens, 9, 34, 52, 98, 114, 125 adhān (call to prayer), Imāmı̄, 167–70, 171; Sunnı̄, 167 Adriani Relandi di Religione Mohammedica, 215 al-Adwā’ al-Qur’āniyya fı̄ Iktisāh al-Ahādı̄th al-Isrā’ı̄liyya wa Ta’thı̄r al-Bukhārı̄ minhā, 57 Afdal Minhāj fı̄ Ithbāt al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi’rāj, 116 Afterlife, the, 112, 119, 194, 206; see also Hereafter, the Ahādı̄th al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj, 35, 57 Ahl al-Bayt, 22, 144, 145

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Ahl al-Sunna, 65, 144, 149; see also Sunnı̄s Ahrām Spiritualist Society (Jamı̄‘at al-Ahrām al-Rūhiyya), 105 Ahrens, Karl, 240 al-Ahsā’ı̄, Shaykh Ahmad, 109–11, 114, 119, 143 ‘A’isha (Aïshe; Ayesha), 197; tradition of, 61, 62, 67, 87, 92, 93, 103, 115, 148, 235; criticism of her tradition, 68 ‘Ajā’ib al-Makhlūqāt, 206 Akhbāriyya (Akhbārı̄s), 110, 265 (n. 8), 284 (n. 66) Albarak, 204; see also alborak; Barak; Borak; burāq; Elborach; Elborak; Elmparac alborak (Al Borak), 200, 206; see also Albarak; Barak; Borak; burāq; Elborach; Elborak; Elmparac Alfaqim, Abraham, 193 Alfonso X (the Wise), 193, 206, 218 Alhabshi, Dr Syed Othman, 83 ‘Alı̄, ‘Alı̄ Yūsuf, 23 ‘Alı̄, Khālid Sayyid, 50 Ali, Syed Amir, 96–7 ‘Alı̄ b. Abı̄ Tālib, 27, 45, 47, 60, 68, 126, 140, 142, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154–63, 174, 175, 249; God speaks of, 27, 28, 45, 151, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162; as Muhammad’s heir (wası̄), 150, 151, 156, 157, 164, 166, 167, 174 ‘Alı̄ b. al-Husayn (Zayn al-‘Abidı̄n), 163, 164 ‘Alı̄ al-Ridā (‘Alı̄ b. Mūsā), 22, 164 Alkoran, 203, 204, 205, 227; see also Koran; Qur’ān Alvaro of Cordoba, 186 Amālı̄ (of Ibn Bābawayh), 46 al-‘Amilı̄, ‘Alı̄ al-‘Usaylı̄, 46, 47, 58, 162, 169

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al-‘Amilı̄, Ayatollah Ja‘far Murtadā, 20, 31, 40–1, 48, 147 al-‘Amilı̄, Shaykh Husayn Bandar, 73, 132, 143, 168 Amı̄r al-Mu’minı̄n, 153, 156 Amos, 182 Anas b. Mālik, 5, 6, 95 Andrae, Tor, 240, 258 Andrés, Juan (Johannes Andreas), 195–200, 204, 211, 212, 230 angel(s), 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 39, 53, 56, 78, 121, 151–2, 154, 156, 159, 170, 172, 191, 207, 208, 246–7, 248, 253, 255; Angel of Death, 160; of dreams, 93; in the form of ‘Alı̄, 159, 160; made of fire and snow, 10–11, 157; giant, 188–9; giving the call to prayer, 17, 168; see also Gabriel; Ismā‘ı̄l; Isrāfı̄l; Mālik al-Ansārı̄, Ubayy b. Ka‘b, 170 Apocalypse of Abraham, 247 apocalyptic, Jewish, 247, 248; JewishChristian, 247 Apollo, 186 Apologetico contra Mahoma, 186 al-Aqsā mosque, 60; see also al-masjid al-aqsā ‘aql (reason), 21, 75, 102, 130 Aquinas, St Thomas, 182 Arabic, 185, 202, 220 Aramaic, 248 Archer, John Clark, 256–7 Arda Viraf Namak (Arta Viraf Namak; Ardā Virāz Nāmak), 243, 244, 246 Aristotle, 75, 76 Arjuna, 244 ‘Arot et Marot’, 224 Arragonian, 196 ascension, see mi‘rāj; see also Jesus, ascension of The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book, 245 ashāb al-kisā’, 153, 294 (n. 39)

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INDEX Asia Minor, 178 ‘Ask Dr. Laleh’ (website), 82 al-‘Asqalānı̄, Ibn Hajar, 51, 170 Asrār al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj Jasadan wa Rūhan  , 116 Athens, 178 Averroes, see Ibn Rushd Avicenna, see Ibn Sı̄nā āyāt, 69, 70, 71 Azad, Maulana Abul Kalam, 97 Azār, the Book, 198 al-Azhar, 57, 101, 116 al-Azharı̄, Muhammad Karam Shāh, 81 al-‘Azma, Nadhı̄r, 32, 33, 109, 122 Babagan, Ardashir, 243 Bacon, Roger, 182 al-Baghawı̄, al-Husayn al-Mas‘ūd, 50, 87 Bahı̄ra, 180–1, 239 Bakhtiyar, Dr Laleh, 82 Bangladesh Islamic Foundation, 82 Bangladesh Observer, 134 Balkans, 178 Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib, 63 Banu Hāshim, 155 al-Bāqir, Muhammad (Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄), 47, 163, 164, 166, 173, 174 Bar Hebraeus, 185 Barak, 203–4, 227; see also Albarak; alborak; Borak; burāq; Elborach; Elborak; Elmparac al-Barqı̄, Abū Ja‘far Ahmad b. Muhammad, 175 Baruch, 249 al-Barūjardı̄, Ja’far b. Abı̄ Ishāq, 89 barzakh, 110, 120–1, 122, 143 Basā’ir al-Darajāt, 175 Bayat, Mufti Zubair, 117 al-Baydāwı̄, Abū Sa‘ı̄d Nāsir al-Dı̄n, 76, 79 al-Bayhaqı̄, Ahmad b. al-Husayn, 25–6, 101

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Bayle, Pierre, 231 bayt al-ma‘mūr (the frequented house), 14, 15, 39, 53, 100, 154, 248, 263 (n. 23) bayt al-maqdis (house of holiness; Jerusalem), 3, 7, 40, 47, 48, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 62, 67, 69, 79, 105, 131, 145, 170, 172, 262 (n. 5); see also Beit Mukdasha Bazı̄gh, 163 Beatrice, 249 Bedwell, William, 202–5, 213, 227, 310 (n. 68) Beit Mukdasha, 248 Bellonius, see Belon, Pierre Belon, Pierre, 213 Ben Uziel, R. Yonatan, 248 Bethlehem, 7, 105 Bevan, A. A., 172, 252–3, 255 Bible, 203, 240; see also New Testament; Old Testament Bibliothèque Oriental, 205 Bicknell, Alexander, 213 al-Bidāya wa al-Nihāya, 49 Bihāfarı̄d, 245–6 Bihār al-Anwār, 46, 162, 170 Bilāl (b. Rabāh), 167 Bilqı̄s (Queen of Sheba), 78 Blochet, Edgar, 241–2 Bochart, Samuel. 200 Bodleian Library, 195 Bonaventura of Siena, 193 Book of Agar, 220–1 ‘Book of Enoch’, 244 Book of Exodus, 248 Borak, 231; see also Albarak; alborak; Barak; burāq; Elborach; Elborak; Elmparac Boulainvilliers, Henri Comte de, 218–19, 220, 222, 224, 226, 227, 231, 239, 256 Bousset, Wilhelm, 242 Buaben, Jabal Muhammad, 234, 258 Budapest, 179

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al-Bukhārı̄, Muhammad b. Ismā‘ı̄l, 5, 42, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 88, 89, 123, 126, 144, 148, 172, 173, 211, 221, 223 (Al Bochâri), 253, 254; see also Sahı̄h al-Bukhārı̄ burāq, 2, 5, 6, 7, 31–2, 37, 38, 40, 42, 44, 47, 53, 54, 55, 63, 82, 84, 89, 93, 122, 123, 134, 199, 227, 244, 260; as proof of a physical isrā’/mi‘rāj, 66–7; see also Albarak alborak; Barak; Borak; Elborach; Elborak; Elmparac Burghānı̄, Mullah Hājj Taqı̄, 110 Bush, Reverend George, 218, 229, 231–2 Busse, Heribert, 247–8 al-Būtı̄, Sa‘ı̄d Ramadān, 72, 117–19 Byzantine Empire, 178 caliphate, Sunnı̄ conception of, 142 call to prayer, see adhān Camel, Battle of, 68, 148, 174 Campbell, George, 202 Cape of Good Hope, 215 capitalism, 215 Carlyle, Thomas, 229 Castilian, 193, 218 Cerulli, Enrico, 252 Chambers, Ephraim, 200 Chanson de Roland, 186 Christianity, 185, 187, 194, 201, 203, 205, 208, 212, 214, 215, 228, 229; Islam as heretical form of, 180 Christians, 8, 108, 238, 251; fabrications of in the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 34–6, 112; legends of ascension of, 251 Chronica Mendosa & Ridiculosa Saracenorum, 187 Cluniac Corpus, 187, 193 cockerel (cock), in the heavens, 15, 240–1 Colby, Frederick, 255

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Collection of Voyages and Travels, 214 Companions (of the Prophet), 26, 32, 43, 52, 53, 67, 70, 73; in Shı̄‘ı̄ (Imāmı̄) Hadı̄th, 146 Comte, Auguste, 118 Confusion de la Secta Mahomatica y del Alcoran, 195–200, 204, 211, 212, 230 The Confusion of Muhamed’s Sect, 212–13 Confusione Sectæ Mahometanæ, 197, 211 Confutatio Alcorani, 182–3, 190–3 conquests, Arab, 178 Constantinople, fall of, 178 Cordoba, 186 Crete, 179 Crónica General, 193, 195 Crusaders, 178, 185 Crusades, 185, 214 Culianu, Ioan Petru, 246 cupping, 14, 149 cups, offered to Muhammad, 3, 7–8, 44, 56, 107, 145 Cyclopaedia: or A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 200 Cyprus, 179 da Gama, Vasco, 215 da Monte di Croce, Ricoldo, 180, 182, 190–2, 213 Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa, 101 Dante, 109, 180, 249–52, 254 Davenport, John, 236 David (Islamic prophet), 24, 200 Day of Judgement, 165, 194; see also Day of Resurrection; Hour of Reckoning Day of Resurrection, 54, 114, 121, 138, 160, 169; see also Day of Judgement; Hour of Reckoning de Alfonso, Pedro, 181–2 de Gazelu, Dominicus, 197 d’Herbelot, Barthélémy, 205–6, 241 de la Croze, Mathurin Veyssière, 239, 241

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349

Enlightenment, the, 215 Enoch, 244, 246–7, 248, 249; see also ‘Book of Enoch’; Idrı̄s Epic of Gilgamesh, 109 Erpenius, Thomas, 192 Esperaindeo, the abbot, 186 ‘Essay on Shakki-Sadr and Meraj’, 95 Estoria d’Espanna, see Crónica General Euphrates, 189; in the heavens, 40, 52, 123, 131 Explanatio Simboli Apostolorum, 190

‘De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet’, 224 de Rada, Rodrigo Jiménez, 192–3 De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis et la Vie de Mahomet, 220–1, 222, 226 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 226–7, 231 Deists, 208 Dermenghem, Émile, 102 Devil, the, 77, 107, 248; see also Satan devils, 78 dhū al-faqār, 160, 297 (n. 63) ‘Die Himmelsreise der Seele’, 242 A Discourse on Miracles, 201 Disputation Felicis cum Sarraceno, 186–7 A Dissertation on Miracles, 202 Divine Comedy, and the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 109, 180, 249–52, 254 Dobbs, Francis, 227 door(s) of heaven, 8, 9, 74, 105; as Jewish forgery, 34; as ‘material description’, 37, 38, 39; as figurative use of language, 125, 131 Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 237 du Pont, Alexandre, 180 du Ryer, Sieur André, 207 al-Dujwā, Yūsuf, 101 Duwaydār, Amı̄n, 122, 130

Fabulae Saracenorum, 187 fadā’il (virtues) of ‘Alı̄ and the Imāms, 175 fāsiq (sinner), 23, 112 Fātima (the Prophet’s daughter), 47, 144, 152, 153, 164, 168 Felix, Bishop of Urgel, 187 Fihrist (of al-Tūsı̄), 175 Fihrist Asmā’ Musannifı̄ al-Shı̄‘a, 175 Fiqh al-Sı̄ra, 117–18 Firaq al-Shı̄‘a, 175 Forster, Charles, 231 ‘Free Minds’ (website), 37 French (language), 193, 218, 227, 252 fuqahā’, 51, 65 al-Furū’ min al-Kāfı̄, 169, 170

Elborach, 207; see also Albarak; alborak; Barak; Borak; burāq; Elborak; Elmparac Elborak, 214; see also Albarak; alborak; Barak; Borak; burāq; Elborach; Elmparac Eliade, Mircea, 259 Elias, 181 Elijah, 183 Elisha, 183 Elmacin, George (Djirdjis al-Makı̄n b. al-‘Amı̄d), 192 Elmparac, 213; see also Albarak; alborak; Barak; Borak; burāq; Elborak; Elborach

Gabriel, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 31, 32, 38, 39, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 64, 77, 89, 116, 125, 145, 146, 155, 156, 159, 161, 169, 170, 173, 174, 179, 180, 197, 203, 204, 208, 210, 214, 217, 227, 230, 234, 242, 255 Gagnier, Jean, 220–1, 222, 224, 226, 233, 256, 314 (n. 112) Galland, Antoine, 206, 212 Garcia, Martin (Bishop of Barcelona), 196 Geiger, Abraham, 239–10 Ghadı̄r Khumm, 158, 159, 296 (n. 56) ghayb, 39, 41, 119, 120, 122, 123, 129, 130, 132, 143

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ghayba, 165; al-kubrā, 140; al-sughrā, 140 al-Ghaytı̄, Najm al-Dı̄n, 34 ghulāt, 162–3 Ghurābiyya, 163 Gibbon, Edward, 219, 221, 222, 226–7, 231 God, and Abraham, 166, 248; and Abū Bakr, 27; and Adam, 34; and ‘Alı̄, 27, 28, 45, 151, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162; and the angel Ismā‘ı̄l, 8; and the angel Mālik, 9; anthropomorphism of, 34, 146; and the Children of Israel, 248; concealed behind a curtain, 208; concealed behind veils (hijāb), 15, 16, 44, 53, 121, 125; creates a houri in Paradise, 150, 153; does not permit Muhammad to work miracles, 182, 204; grants miracles to His prophets, 71, 72, 118, 135; and the Imāms, 141, 163, 164, 165; Muhammad’s audience with, 5, 16, 27, 93, 191, 198, 222, 223, 224, 245, 256; praised by the angels, 12, 248; praised by a cockerel in the heavens, 15; reduces the number of daily prayers, 18, 24, 35–6, 41, 42, 54, 131, 145; ‘seen’ by Muhammad, 44, 198; speaks to Moses, 7, 64, 105, 210; Throne of, 15, 33, 39, 64, 77, 121, 152, 160, 161, 164, 166, 248 Goldziher, Ignaz, 118 Granada, 195 Grotius, Hugo, 183 Guadagnol, Philippe, 220–1 Guibert of Nogent, 180, 185 Habsburg Monarchy, 215 Hadı̄th, 1, 20, 22, 26–7, 70, 98, 123, 140, 144, 153, 155, 186, 188, 233, 254; āhād, 25; confirming

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the mi‘rāj, 111–12; criticism of on the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 28–45; defence of, 55–8, 124–5; ‘external’ (zāhir) and ‘inner’ (bātin) meanings of, 73–4, 90; forged (mawdū‘a), 27–8; the ‘Four Books’, 55, 169, 174, 175; hadı̄th al-manzila, 158, 159; hadı̄th al-thaqalayn, 144, 158; harmonization of (jam‘), 33, 42–52; Imāmı̄, 143, 146, 163, 171–6; mukhtalaf al-Hadı̄th (ikhtilāf al-Hadı̄th), 43; mutawātir, 20, 25, 26, 29, 57, 265 (n. 3); rejected by Submitters and Qur’ānists, 23, 24; the six canonical collections, 55, 192, 196; see also tarjı̄h; naskh al-Halabı̄, ‘Alı̄ b. Burhān al-Dı̄n, 48, 89, 113 Halmaereig (Kitāb al-Mi’rāj), 1, 193, 194, 195, 197, 206, 218, 252 Haqā’iq Thābita fı̄ al-Islām, 29 Haraka, Abū al-Majd, 54, 56–7, 122–3 al-Hasan b. ‘Alı̄ (al-‘Askarı̄, the 11th Imām), 144–5, 152, 163, 164–5, 175 al-Hasan al-Basrı̄, 2, 3, 60, 61, 62, 87, 92, 95, 148, 235 al-Hasanı̄, ‘Abd al-‘Azı̄m b. ‘Abd Allāh, 25 hatı̄m, 5, 69, 262 (n. 4) Hayāt Muhammad, 99, 101–5, 116, 117 Hayāt Muhammad al-Rūhiyya, 105 Hayba, Rizq, 71 Haykal, Muhammad Husayn, 93, 99, 101–5, 116, 117 Heaven, 110; levels of, 39; see also door(s) of Hell, 8, 9, 54, 110, 125, 154, 243, 249 Heraclius (Byzantine emperor), 63, 64 Herbert, Thomas, 212–13 Hereafter, the, 36, 59, 120, 121, 250, 251; see also Afterlife, the

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INDEX ‘The Hero as Prophet: Mahomet: Islam’, 229 Hierozoicon, 200–1 Higgins, Godfrey, 219, 229–31, 256 hijr, 2, 5, 46, 70, 262 (n. 4) hijra, and date of the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 46, 54, 253 Hirā’, Mount, cave at, 116 Historia Arabum, 192–3, 195 Historia Orientalis, 231 Historia Saracenica, 192 Historical Dictionary, 231 Historical Rarities and Curious Observations Domestick and Foreign, 213 Holy Land, the, 178, 185 Holy League, the, 214 Holy Trinity, 203 Horeb, 248 Hottinger, John Heinrich, 231 Hour of Reckoning, 11; see also Day of Judgement; Day of Resurrection houri, 149–50, 153 Hubb Allāh, ‘Alı̄, 143 ‘al-Huda’ (website), 83 Hudaybiyya, Battle of, 69 hujja (proof) (pl. hujaj), the Imāms as, 158, 165, 166, 167 Hume, David, 118 hūrqalyā, 109–11, 120 al-Husayn b. ‘Alı̄, 145, 150, 152, 163, 164 Hyatte, Reginald, 1 Ibn ‘Abbās, ‘Abd Allāh, 97, 194, 255; the Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj of, 57, 269 (n. 57) Ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, ‘Abbās, 63 Ibn ‘Abd al-Salām, ‘Izz al-Dı̄n, 50 Ibn Abı̄ Namir, Sharı̄k b. ‘Abd Allāh, 88, 148 Ibn Abı̄ Sufra, al-Muhallab, 51 Ibn Abı̄ Sufyān, Mu‘āwiya, 148; tradition of, 61, 62, 67, 68, 87,

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92, 94, 95, 103; criticism of tradition of, 68 Ibn ‘Adı̄, al-Mut‘im, 60 Ibn al-Akhnas, Ya’qūb b. ‘Utba, 68 Ibn ‘Arabı̄, Muhyı̄ al-Dı̄n, 48, 51, 87, 250 Ibn Athı̄r, ‘Alı̄ ‘Izz al-Dı̄n, 46 Ibn Bābawayh, Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄, 25, 45, 46, 141, 143, 154, 169, 170, 174, 176 Ibn Di‘āma, Qatāda, 2, 5, 95, 162, 235 Ibn Dihya, Abū al-Khattāb, 65, 68, 70, 89 Ibn al-Hanafiyya, Muhammad, 168, 169 Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad, 136, 172, 173 Ibn Hāritha, Zayd, 16, 150, 264 (n. 28) Ibn Ishāq, Muhammad, 2, 6, 32, 60, 61–2, 67, 72, 87, 88, 136, 173, 174, 188, 192, 197, 224, 235, 243, 253 Ibn al-Jawzı̄, Abū al-Faraj, 27–8, 43, 150 Ibn Kathı̄r, Ismā‘ı̄l, 28–9, 49, 50, 53, 70, 89, 93 Ibn al-Khatı̄b, Muhammad, 29–30, 40, 58, 121–2 Ibn Māja, Abū ‘Abd Allāh, Sunan of, 57 Ibn Mālik, Anas, 162 Ibn Marwān, ‘Abd al-Malik, 172, 173 Ibn Maysara, 50, 87 Ibn Mu‘āwiya, al-Qāsim, 153 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, 49, 50, 92–3 Ibn al-Qushayrı̄, Abū Nasr, 50 Ibn Qutayba, ‘Abd Allāh, 43 Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Abū al-Walı̄d Muhammad, 249 Ibn Sa‘d, Muhammad, 46, 173, 253 Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄, 88 Ibn Sı̄nā (Avicenna), Abū ‘Alı̄ al-Husayn, 249; the Mi‘rāj Nāma of, 89–92 Ibn Surayj, Abū al-‘Abbās, 68

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Ibn Tāwūs, Rādı̄ al-Dı̄n, 45, 139–40, 143, 146 Ibn ‘Umar, Muhammad, 89 Ibn Udhayna, ‘Umar, 170 Ibn al-Yamān, Hudhayfa, 67, 95 Ibn Zayd, ‘Abd Allāh, 167, 168 Idrı̄s, in the heavens, 13; see also Enoch al-Ifrāj fı̄ Takhrı̄j Ahādı̄th Qissat al-Mi‘rāj, 56 al-‘Ijlı̄, Abū Mansūr, 162, 163, 245 ijmā‘, 20, 26 Ikhtilāf al-Hadı̄th (by al-Shāfi‘ı̄), 43 ‘Ikrama (son of Abū Jahl), 108 ‘Ilal al-Sharā’ı̄‘, 46, 170 I l iyā (Jerusalem), 63 ‘Illı̄yūn, 9, 263 (n. 18) ‘ilm (knowledge), of the Imāms, 161 Imāmiyya, compared to Sunnı̄s, 143–6 Imāms, 45, 60, 73, 140, 141–2, 158; ascension of, 245; and God, 141, 163, 164, 165; the Twelve, 163–7, 176 Impunaçion de la Seta de Mahomah, 195, 251 Indiculus Luminosus, 186 Indralokagamanam, 244 Instances of the Mutability of Fortune, 213 Institute of Islamic Understanding (Malaysia), 83 internet, 25 iqāma, 167, 168–9, 170, 171 Irving, Washington, 221, 232–3, 240 ‘I ̄s ā, ‘Abd al-Jalı̄l, 42, 122 Isaiah, 249 Islam, 97, 119 Ismā’ı̄l (angel), 8 isnād, 26, 42, 43, 68 isrā’, related to the mi‘rāj, 6; not related to the mi’rāj, 2–3, 253; term used interchangeably with mi’rāj, 66 isrā’ and mi‘rāj, basic version of, 52–3; and Dante’s Divine Comedy, 249–52; dissentangling the narrative of, 252–5; as

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entertainment, 211–14; as miracle, 72, 117, 124, 237; as mystical experience according to Western commentators; 255–60 number of occurrences of, 45–52; origins of according to Western commentators, 238–49; and the Qur’ān, 227–8, 230; and science, 75–84, 99, 104–5, 112, 124, 129, 131, 134–5, 137 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Ghaytı̄), 34 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Labbān), 116 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Marāghı̄), 116 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Sahhār), 131 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Shāmı̄), 28 al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj: Dirāsa Mawdū’iyya, 56–7 Israel, Children of, 14, 35, 36, 41, 108, 190, 248; see also Jews Isrāfı̄l (angel), 6, 15 isrā‘ı̄liyyāt, 34–6, 59 al-Istibsār fı̄ mā ukhtulifa min al-Akhbār, 43–4, 174 Italy, 251 al-Jābı̄, Salı̄m, 106, 122 Jabr, Muhammad Amı̄n, 115 Jacob, dream of, 34 Jahmiyya, 88, 281 (n. 8) jam‘, see Hadı̄th, harmonization of Jamā’at Ansār al-Sunna, 57 Jāmi‘ al-Bayān fı̄ Tafsı̄r al-Qur’ān, 28, 34, 46, 65, 88, 254 jannat al-ma‘wā (garden of abode), 4, 64 al-Jārūd, 5 al-Jawharı̄, Ibn ‘Ayyāsh, 164 Jeremias, 182 Jerusalem, 38, 60, 64, 108, 172, 190, 198, 207, 225, 227, 234, 253; heavenly, 241; called Il iyā, 63; Patriarch of, 63, 64; Temple of, 235

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INDEX ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension’, 247 Jesus, 7, 103, 221, 231, 241; ascension of, 99; in bayt al-maqdis, 3, 7; in the heavens, 12, 209, 220, 232; as miracle worker, 70–1, 137, 183, 200, 203, 208–9 The Jewish Foundation of Islam, 240 Jews, 8, 64, 65, 108, 238, 239; fabrications of in the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 34–6, 112, 121; flight to Israel of, 248; oral law of, 210, 211, 222, 232; see also apocalyptic, Jewish; Israel, Children of jihād, 138, 169 jinn, 233 John the Baptist, in the heavens, 12, 114, 220 Joseph, in the heavens, 13, 197 Joshua, 181 Journal 1672–3, 206 Ka‘ba, 53, 67, 255 al-Kāfı̄ fı̄ ‘Ilm al-Dı̄n, 174 kāfir (disbeliever), 23, 110, 112, 164 kāhin, 64, 259 al-Kāmil fı̄ al-Tārı̄kh, 46 Karājakı̄, Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄, 166 Karlowitz, peace treaty of, 214–15 al-Kashānı̄, Mullah Fayd, 133, 169 Kashf al-Haqq fı̄ Masā’il al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj, 110 Kawthar (river in the heavens), 15; see also Rahma ‘Ketab Al Mêrage’, 206 Khadı̄ja (Prophet’s wife), 47, 154, 179, 180 khalı̄fa (successor), ‘Alı̄ as Muhammad’s, 150, 151, 155, 156, 157, 158, 174 Khalifa, Dr Rashad, 23–4, 266 (n. 20) Khan, Sir Syed Ahmed, 30–1, 55, 95–6

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al-Kharkhushı̄, Abū Sa‘ı̄d al-Nı̄sābūrı̄, 48, 87 al-Khasā’is al-Kubrā, 46 Khawārij, 25, 88 al-Khisāl, 25 al-Kindı̄, ‘Abd al-Ması̄h b. Ishāq, 187 Kitāb Ithbāt al-Mi‘rāj, 25 Kitāb al-Mahāsin, 175 Kitāb al-Mawdū‘āt, 27, 150 Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj, see Halmaereig Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj (by Ibn ‘Abbās), 57, 269 (n. 57) Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj (by Ibn Bābawayh), 154 Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj (by al-Jawālı̄qı̄), 6 Kitāb al-Tashrı̄f aw al-Izhār aw al-Kashshāf, 188 Kitāb Ta’wı̄l Mukhtalaf al-Hadı̄th, 43 Kohlberg, Etan, 175 Koran, 31, 96, 97, 222, 230, 232, 233, 237, 240, 257; see also Alkoran; Qur’ān Koran (by Sale), 223, 224, 225, 231 Kufa, mosque of, 153 al-Kulaynı̄, Muhammad b. Ya‘qūb, 169, 170, 174, 176 al-Labbān, Mustafā Ahmad, 116 ‘L’ascension au ciel du prophète Mohammed’, 241 La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia, 250–1, 254 La vie de Mahomet, 220–1, 224, 226, 233 La vita Mahometi, 213 al-Lāt, 165 Latin, 186, 187, 188, 193, 194, 218, 220, 251, 252 Lauterbach, Johannes, 197 Laylat al-Mi‘rāj, festival of, 57, 127, 135 Le Coran, 225 Le Roman de Mahomet, 180 Lepanto, 214 Les Mille et Une Nuits, 212

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Leslie, Charles, 201 Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete, 188 Liber Denudationis, 188–90, 191, 197, 198 Liber Scalae Mochometi, 193, 195, 206, 227 ‘Life of Mahomet’, 211 ‘The Life and Actions of Mahomet’, 241 ‘The Life and Death of Mahomet’, 207 The Life of Mahomet (by Boulainvilliers), 218–19, 222, 231 The Life of Mahomet (by Dermenghem), 102 The Life of Mahomet (by Irving), 232–3 The Life of Mahomet (by Muir), 233–6 The Life of Mohammed, 218, 231–2 The Life and Teaching of Mohammed or the Spirit of Islam, 96–7 Livre de l’Eschiele Mahomet, 193 Locke, John, 201 Long, Roger, 211, 312 (n. 93) Lord’s Prayer, 240 Lull, Raymond (Ramón), 190 Luther, Martin, 191 al-Ma‘arrı̄, Abū al-‘Alā, 250 Mahdı̄, the, 110, 140–1, 163; see also Muhammad b. al-Hasan (12th Imām); al-qā’im Mahmūd, Dr ‘Abd al-Halı̄m, 52, 138 Mahomet (god), 186 Mahometanism Unveiled, 231 Mahometism Fully Explained, 216–18, 231, 232 al-Majlisı̄, Muhammad Bāqir, 29, 46, 68, 76, 80, 89, 139, 158, 159, 162, 164, 170 Majma‘ al-Bayān fı̄ Tafsı̄r al-Qur’ān, 46 Makhtbhanuth Zabhne ‘Chronicon’, 185 Mālik, (angel, Keeper of Hell), 9 Mālik b. Anas, the Muwattā’ of, 57 Mālik b. Sa‘sa‘a, 5 Man la yahduruhu al-Faqı̄h, 174

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manāqib (virtues) of ‘Alı̄ and the Imāms, 175 Mani, 246 Mansūr, Dr Ahmad Subhı̄ (Mansour, Dr Ahmed Subhy), 24, 72, 266 (n. 23) al-Maqālāt wa al-Firaq, 175 al-Marāghı̄, ‘Abd Allāh, 116 Marconi, 104 Mārdı̄nı̄, Fātima Muhammad, 116–7, 133–4, 268 (n. 48) Margoliouth, David Samuel, 240 Martin, Raymond (Martí, Ramón), 190 The Marvels of Creatures (‘Ajā’ib al-Makhlūqāt), 206 al-masjid al-aqsā, 2, 37, 47, 66, 224; see also al-Aqsā mosque al-masjid al-harām, 2, 46, 47, 48, 66, 88 al-Mas‘ūdı̄, ‘Alı̄ b. al-Hasan, 196 Matubbar, Aroj Ali, 84 mawlā, 159 Mawsū’at al-Tārı̄kh al-Islāmı̄, 35 al-Mazyūdı̄, Mubārak, 125–6 Mecca, 36, 50, 53, 54, 55, 60, 63, 69, 108, 161, 172, 173, 202, 209, 225, 253 Meccans, 20, 27, 62, 63, 66, 71, 105, 113, 116, 136, 138, 209–10, 235 Medina, 7, 36, 51, 69, 234 Memoriale Sanctum, 186 Mesopotamia, sacral kings of, 245 Mikā’ı̄l (angel), 6, 51 Milton, John, 109 miracle(s), 24, 70–3, 95, 97, 117, 118–19, 131, 132, 133, 135, 137–8, 201; in Christianity, 181; isrā’/mi‘rāj as, 70–3, 135, 237; performed by Abraham, 137; performed by the Imāms, 141; performed by Jesus, 70–1, 137, 183, 200, 203, 208–9; performed by Moses, 70, 78, 137–8, 183, 200; performed by Muhammad,

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INDEX 72–3, 117, 118; not performed by Muhammad (Muslim view), 71, 118, 133, 138; not performed by Muhammad (Western view), 181–3, 188, 200, 204, 208–9, 218–19, 225, 232–3, 236–7; as proof of prophethood, 71, 72, 118, 119 mi‘rāj (ladder) (pl. ma‘ārij), 34, 47, 48, 53, 105, 194, 197 mi‘rāj (ascension), not confirmed by the Qur’ān, 111, 112; related to the isrā’, 6; not related to the isrā’, 5–6; term used interchangeably with isrā’, 66; see also isrā’ and mi’rāj al-Mi‘rāj al-Jusmānı̄, 89 Mi‘rāj Nāma (by Ibn Sı̄nā), 89–92 Mirāj Nameh, 206 al-Mi‘rāj: Rihla fı̄ ‘Umq al-Fadā wa al-Zamān, 122 al-Mi‘rāj wa al-Ramz al-Sūfı̄, 32 al-Mi‘rājiyya, 89 Miscellaneous Tracts, 227 Mishkat al-Masābı̄h, 243 Mishnu, the, 240 modernization, 80 Mohammedis Imposturae, 202–5, 213 ‘Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven’, 172, 252–3 Moors, 195 Morgan, Joseph, 216–18, 231, 232 Moses, 64, 105, 108, 159, 181, 210, 232, 249; in bayt al-maqdis, 3, 7, 253; in the heavens, 14, 53, 114, 157, 197, 253; and Jewish fabrications in the isrā’/ mi‘rāj, 34–5; as miracle worker, 70, 78, 137–8, 183, 200; and the reduction of the 50 daily prayers, 17–18, 34–5, 41, 125, 145, 207 Mount Moriah, 248 Mount Sinai (tūr sı̄nā’), 7, 105

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Mozarab(s), 186, 188, 190, 251, 306 (n. 16) mu’adhdhin (muezzin), 167 al-Mu‘ammar, 163 al-Mudarrisı̄, Ayatollah Hādı̄, 31, 120, 122, 132, 155, 169 muezzin, see mu’adhdhin Mughals, 214 Muhammad (the Prophet), performed miracles (Muslim view), 72–3, 117, 118; did not perform miracles (Muslim view), 71, 118, 133, 138; opening breast of, 44, 259; Western view of (character), 179–81, (epilepsy of), 179–80, 185, 216, 228, 237; (opportunism of), 180–1; (did not perform miracles), 181–3, 188, 200, 204, 208–9, 218–19, 225, 232–3, 236–7; (sexual debauchery of), 180, 185, 188; as shaman, 172, 255, 258–60 Muhammad, ‘Alā al-Dawla, 90 Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄ (Imām), 164 Muhammad b. al-Hasan (12th Imām), 165, 175, 176; see also Mahdı̄; al-qā’im Muhammad the Holy Prophet, 99 Muhammad at Mecca, 257 Muhammad at Medina, 257 Muhammad – Prophet and Statesman, 257–8 ‘Muhammad’s Journey to Heaven’, 172 Muhammed and Muhammedanism, 236–7 Muir, Sir William, 232, 233–6, 256 mulhidūn (apostates) (sing. mulhid), 22, 112 Muqtadab al-Athar fı̄ al-Nass ‘alā al-A’imma, 164 al-Murtadā, al-Sharı̄f, 41 Mūsā al-Kāzim (Mūsā b. Ja‘far), 6, 164 Mushkil al-Athār, 43 Muslim b. al-Hajjāj, 24, 53, 55, 57, 58, 123, 144, 173, 195, 254; see also Sahı̄h Muslim

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Musnad (of Ibn Hanbal), 136, 172, 173 mutakallimūn, 51, 65 Mu‘tazila, 25, 87 Muwattā’, 57 Mystical Elements in Mohammed, 256 mystics, see Sūfı̄s nabı̄ (prophet), ‘Alı̄ as, 163 Naghma Shādhdha, 110 al-Najāshı̄, Abū al-‘Abbās, 175 al-Najjār, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, 135 Nakhla, 233, 258 Naqd Kitāb Hayāt Muhammad, 117 al-Nasā’ı̄, Ahmad b. Shu‘ayb, Sunan of 28, 57 al-Nasharātı̄, Muhammad Sulaymān, 83 naskh, 43 Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, 129 al-Nawawı̄, Muhyı̄ al-Dı̄n, 40, 50, 87 al-Nawbakhtı̄, al-Hasan b. Mūsā, 175 New and General Biographical Dictionary, 227 New Testament, 34, 239 night journey, see isrā’ Nile, 189; in the heavens, 40, 52, 123, 131 Nirvana, 117 Nisan, Mordechai, 248–9 Noah, 24 Nöldeke, Theodore, 228 Notstock, Joshua, 197, 212 al-Nu’mānı̄, Abū Ishāq Muhammad, 22, 70, 76, 89, 112 al-Nu‘mānı̄, Ibn ‘Imād, 49 Nūr al-Islām, 101 Nūrı̄, ‘Abd al-Hilāl, 137 Nūrsı̄, Bediuzzaman Sa‘ı̄d, 115 Oak of Mamre, 247 Obadiah, 182 Old Testament, 239 opening of Muhammad’s breast, 44, 259 The Original Sources of the Qur’an, 242–4

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Ormazd, 243, 244 Otranto, 178–9 Ottomans, 178–9, 212, 214, 215, 228 Palacios, Miguel Asín, 192, 247, 254 Palestine, 60, 185 Paley, William, 202 Pansebeia, 206 Paradise, 16, 54, 125, 149, 150, 154, 243, 244, 247, 257 Paradise Lost, 109 Pascual, San Pedro, 180, 195, 251 Passover, the, 248 Patriarch of Jerusalem, 63, 64, 88 Peter of Toledo, 187 Peter the Venerable. 182, 183, 187 Pharoah, 11 Porter, Joshua R., 172, 255, 259–61 prayer(s), 3, 11, 138, 240; call to (adhān), 17, 47, 167–70, 171; reduction in number of, 17–18, 34–5, 41, 42, 54, 123, 125, 131, 145, 197, 207; see also Lord’s Prayer ‘Preliminary Discourse’, 221–3 Prideaux, Humphrey, 191, 207–11, 215, 216, 217, 220, 222, 223, 226, 230, 231, 239, 240–1 prophets, 3, 7, 12, 16, 17, 26, 38, 39, 42, 45–6, 47, 53, 93, 100, 106, 121, 122, 157, 166, 167, 234, 253; as miracle workers, 102, 135; see also Aaron; Abraham; David; Elias; Elijah; Elisha; Jesus; John the Baptist; Joseph; Joshua; Moses; Noah; Samuel Ptolemy, Claudius, 76, 111, 133, 279 (n. 60) Purgatory, 249 al-qā’im, 165; see also Mahdı̄, the; Muhammad b. al-Hasan (12th Imām) Qānsū, Shaykh Hanādı̄, 22, 139

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INDEX Qarāmita, 163 al-Qası̄mı̄, ‘Abd Allāh, 117 Qassām, Ra’ı̄sa, 119–21, 143 Quadruplex Reprobatio, 190 Queen of Sheba, see Bilqı̄s Questions sur l’Encyclopédie, 224 Qumm, 153, 176 al-Qummı̄, ‘Alı̄ b. Ibrāhı̄m, 6, 45, 173, 174, 176 al-Qummı̄, Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffār, 175–6 al-Qummı̄, Sa‘d b. ‘Abd Allāh, 175 al-Qummı̄, Sadr al-Dı̄n, 89 Qur’ān, 1, 23, 24, 30, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 56, 58, 67, 78, 98, 105, 111, 181, 183, 184, 186, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 198, 203, 210, 216, 222, 224, 225, 233, 236, 257, 258; composed by Muhammad, 238, 242, 243; ‘external’ (zāhir) and ‘inner’ (bātin) meanings of, 73, 73–4; and the isrā’, 20, 22, 25, 29, 111, 113, 114, 225; see also sūrat al-Isrā’; and the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 21, 22, 29, 37, 48, 53, 54, 55, 67, 69, 70, 73, 85, 96, 113, 198, 224, 227–8, 230; and the mi‘rāj, 4, 20, 21, 22–3, 111, 112, 113, 224; see also sūrat al-Najm; as miracle, 102; and miracles of the prophets, 70–1, 102; and Muhammad as miracle worker, 71–2, 102, 225, 236–7; tafsı̄r (commentary) (pl. tafāsı̄r) of, 33, 34, 35, 175, 198; ta’wı̄l (interpretation) (pl. ta’wı̄lāt) of, 33, 51; and science, 81; see also Alkoran; Koran; sūrat Banı̄ Isrā’ı̄l; sūrat al-Baqara; sūrat al-Fātiha; sūrat al-Ikhlās; sūrat al-Mutafiffı̄n; sūrat al-Sharh Quran: The Final Testament, 23 Quran, Hadith and Islam, 23 Qur’ānists, 23, 24, 56

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Quraysh, 63, 72, 136; disbelieving Muhammad, 3, 60, 61, 65, 79, 104, 107 al-Qushayrı̄, Abū Nasr, 87 al-Qushayrı̄, Abū al-Qāsim, 50, 69–70, 75, 87 al-Qūsı̄, ‘Abd al-Ghaffār b. Nūh, 80, 82 qussās, see storytellers Rabadan, Mahomet, 216–17 Rādı̄, Dr ‘Alı̄ ‘Abd al-Jalı̄l, 105–6 rafraf, 53 Rahma (river in the heavens), 15, 16; see also Kawthar Rahman, Fazlur, 97–9, 119 Ramadān, 239 Ramses, 248 al-Rashtı̄, Sayyid Kāzim al-Husaynı̄, 110 Rawāfid, 87 al-Rāwandı̄, Qutb al-Dı̄n, 165–6 al-Rāzı̄, Fakhr al-Dı̄n, 76–80, 83, 89 Reflections on Mohammedism, 223, 227 Reland, Andre, 215 Revelation of John (Revelations), 34, 241 Rhodes, 179 Risāla (Apology), (by al-Kindı̄), 187 Risāla fı̄ Daf‘ Istihālat Isrā’ Muhammad, 89 Risālat al-Isrā’ wa al-Mi‘rāj, 116 Robert of Ketton, 187–8 Rodinson, Maxime, 258 Ross, Alexander, 206–7, 222, 227 rusūl (messenger), ‘Alı̄ as, 163 ru’yā, 37, 50, 61, 67, 68, 69, 88, 96, 107, 108, 113; see also sūrat al-Isrā’ (17:60) Saba’iyya, 163 Sacred Mosque, see al-masjid al-harām al-Sādiq, Ja‘far b. Muhammad, 6, 18, 22, 25, 45, 46, 47, 153, 155, 156, 164, 165, 166, 168, 170, 174

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al-Sadr, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Bāqir, 73 Safavids, 214 al-Saffūrı̄, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, 31 al-Sahhār, ‘Abd al-Hamı̄d, 34, 35, 36, 52, 116, 121, 130–1, 134–5 Sahı̄h al-Bukhārı̄, 5, 6, 42, 51, 55, 56, 88, 172, 173, 211, 221 Sahı̄h Muslim, 56, 173, 195 Saifullah, Dr M. S. M., 244–5 Saladin (Salāh al-Dı̄n), 249 Sale, George, 221–3, 224, 225, 226, 231 al-Sālihı̄, Muhammad b. ‘Alı̄, 56 Samuel, 181 Sarosh, 243 Sarwar, Hafiz Ghulam, 99–100 Satan, 158, 247; see also Devil, the Savary, Claude Etienne, 225, 227 Scala, 206 Schefer, Charles, 206 Schrieke, Bertram, 254 science, 25; and Islam, 94; and the isrā’/ mi‘rāj, 75–84, 99, 104–5, 112, 124, 129, 131, 134–5, 137; and miracles, 133–4; and the Qur’ān, 81; and revelation, 80–81, 215 Sendino, José Muñoz, 252 Sergius, 181, 239 A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed, 95 Shab-e-Meraaj, see Laylat al-Mi‘rāj al-Shāfi‘ı̄, Muhammad b. Idrı̄s, 43 Shāh, Fath ‘Alı̄, 109 shahāda, 169 Shākir, ‘Alı̄ Muhammad, 116 Shalabı̄, Dr Ahmad, 35, 36–7, 39, 42, 55, 57, 121 shaman, Muhammad as, 172, 255, 258–60 shamanism, 258–60 al-Shāmı̄, Muhammad b. Yūsuf, 28, 76, 80, 89, 149 al-Sha‘rānı̄, ‘Abd al-Wahhāb, 50, 87

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al-Sha‘rāwı̄, Muhammad Mutawallı̄, 131–2, 137 Sharh al-Mustafā, 48 sharı̄‘a, 56 Shaykhiyya, 109, 110, 284 (n. 66) Shı̄‘a, 29, 255; beliefs of, 140–2; and harmonization of traditions, 43–4; and number of occurrences of the isrā’/mi‘rāj, 45–8; usūl al-fiqh of, 73; see also Imāmiyya; Rawāfid shi’b (‘ravine’ of Abū Tālib), 46 Shihāta, Dr ‘Abd Allāh Mahmūd, 54, 55, 83 Shirāzı̄, Ayatollah Nāsir Makārim, 31, 169 A Short and Easie Method, 201 sidrat al-muntahā (lote tree of the farthest boundary), 16, 17, 20, 39, 52, 53, 54, 56, 64, 79, 100, 152, 154, 156, 157, 248, 264 (n. 31) Siffı̄n, Battle of, 68, 148 Sigebert of Gembloux, 180 Simm, Alexander, 227 al-Sı̄ra al-Nabawiyya, 2, 32, 72, 95, 101, 173, 188, 192, 197, 243 sirāt (path/bridge), 25 al-Siyāsa al-Usbū‘iyya, 101 al-Siyāsa al-Yawmiyya, 101 Slavic Book of Henoch, 246 Smith, Reginald Bosworth, 236–7, 256 Solomon, 78, 200 Some Yeares Travels into Africa & Asia, 212–13 The Sources of Islam, 242 Spain, 185, 186, 187, 202, 251; Muslim, 178 Spanish (language), 251 Speculum Mundi, 201 Sprenger, Aloys, 228, 235, 256 St Dennis, 217 St Eulogius, 186 St John of Damascus, 238 St Paul, 216, 231, 244, 249, 256, 257 St Theophanes the Confessor, 179

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INDEX Stobart, James William Hampson, 236 storytellers (qussās), 26, 33, 36 Stubbe, Dr Henry, 208, 216, 226, 255–6 al-Subhānı̄, Ayatollah Ja‘far, 110–11 Submitters, the, 23, 56 Successors (of the Prophet), 32, 67 Sūfı̄s, 33, 75 Sūfism, 117 al-Suhaylı̄, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, 50, 69, 89 Suleiman the Magnificent, 214 sullām (flight of stairs), 47, 48 A Summary of Universal History, 227 Sunan (of Abū Dāwūd), 57 Sunan (of Ibn Māja), 57 Sunan (of al-Nasā’ı̄), 28, 57 Sunan (of al-Tirmidhı̄), 57 Sunna, 23, 35, 55, 57, 73, (sonnah) 221 Sunnı̄s, 255; compared to Imāmiyya, 143–6; conception of the caliphate of, 142; see also Ahl al-Sunna sūrat Banı̄ Isrā’ı̄l, 20; see also sūrat al-Isrā’ sūrat al-Baqara, 16 sūrat al-Fātiha, 171, 240 sūrat al-Ikhlās, 171 sūrat al-Isrā’ (17:1), 2, 20, 21, 28, 36, 55, 64, 69, 70, 89, 106–7, 113, 131, 133, 146, 172, 190, 198, 223, 224, 225, 235, 243, 249, 256; (17:60), 37, 61, 67, 68–9, 87, 96, 103, 107; see also sūrat Banı̄ Isrā’ı̄l sūrat al-Mutafiffı̄n, 9 sūrat al-Najm, 4, 20, 24, 36, 48, 107, 113–14, 116, 155, 199 sūrat al-Sharh, 256 al-Suyūtı̄, Jalāl al-Dı̄n, 46, 149 Swan, John, 201 Syria, 185 al-Tabaqāt al-Kubrā, 46, 173 al-Tabarı̄, Muhammad b. Jarı̄r, 28, 46, 188, 254; on the physical isrā’/

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mi‘rāj, 65–7, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 76, 88, 107 al-Tabarsı̄, al-Fadl b. al-Hasan, 26, 46, 69, 72, 89, 146, 147 al-Tabātabā’ı̄, Muhammad Husayn, 48, 71, 114–15, 120, 121, 122, 143 al-Tabrı̄zı̄, al-Khatı̄b, 243 tafsı̄r (commentary) (pl. tafāsı̄r) of the Qur’ān, 33, 34, 35, 175, 198 al-Tafsı̄r (Anwār al-Tanzı̄l wa Asrār al-Ta’wı̄l), 79 Tafsı̄r al-Qummı̄, 173, 176 al-Taftāzānı̄, Sa‘d al-Dı̄n, 79 al-Tahāwı̄, Abū Ja‘far, 43 Tahdhı̄b al-Ahkām, 43, 174 Tahqı̄q fı̄ Hadı̄th al-Khilāf, 43 al-Tahsı̄n li Isrār mā zāda min Akhbār Kitāb al-Yaqı̄n, 140 Talmud, the, 240 taqiyya, 44, 169 Tārı̄kh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk, 188 tarjı̄h, 43 Tarjumān al-Qur’ān, 97 ta’wı̄l (interpretation) (pl. ta’wı̄lāt) of the Qur’ān, 33, 51 Tayba (Medina), 7 Temple Mount, 249 Tervagan, 186 ‘Testament of Abraham’, 244 Thamūd, people of, 137 Thousand and One Nights, see Les Mille et Une Nuits Throne of God, see God, Throne of al-Tirmidhı̄, Abū ‘Is ā Muhammad, Sunan of, 57 Tisdall, William St Clair, 242–4, 246 Toledan Collection, see Cluniac Corpus Toledo, 187 Torah, 34 Torrey, Charles Cutter, 240 traditions, see Hadı̄th The True Nature of Imposture, 207–11, 222, 226, 231, 232 tūbā tree (in Paradise), 16

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Turks, 178, 207, 214 al-Tūsı̄, Abū Ja‘far Muhammad, 20, 43, 72, 143, 174, 175, 176 al-Ujhūrı̄, Nūr al-Dı̄n, 35, 76, 138 ‘ulamā’, 23, 51, 57 ‘Umar b. al-Khattāb, 140, 149, 152, 169 Umm Hāni’, 46, 48, 61, 62, 63, 95, 107, 148, (Omm Hani) 235 ‘Urjūn, Muhammad Sādiq, 42 usūl (sing. asl), 174–5 usūl al-fiqh, 73 Usūl al-Kāfı̄, 176 Usūliyya (Usūlı̄s), 110, 265 (n. 8), 284 (n. 66) ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān, 140, 149, 150, 152 al-‘Uzzā, 165 Valencia, 196 veils, see God, concealed behind veils (hijāb) Vie de Mahomet, 218–19, 220 Vienna, 179, 214 A View of the Evidences of Christianity, 202 Viraf, Arda (Viraf, Arta), 241, 242, 243, 244, 249 Virgil, 249 Virgilius, Polydorus, 180, 239 ‘Visio Pauli’, 244 Voltaire, 221, 224, 227–8

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al-Wahı̄d fı̄ Dhikr [Sulūk] Ahl al-Tawhı̄d, 80 wahy, 108, (awhā) 155 Wajdı̄, Muhammad Farı̄d, 118, 286 (n. 85) Was hat Mohammed aus dem Jugenthume aufgenommen?, 240 wası̄ (heir) (pl. awsiyā’), ‘Alı̄ as Muhammad’s, 150, 151, 156, 157, 164, 166, 167, 174 Watt, William Montgomery, 357–8 wazı̄r, 151, 158, 174 Weil, Gustav, 228 Wellhausen, Julius, 240 West, the, 80, 215 Westernization, 25, 80 Widengren, Geo, 245–6 wine, forbidden to Muslims, 3 Winstanley, William, 213 wudū‘ (ablution), 171 al-Yaqı̄n bi Ikhtisās Mawlānā ‘Alı̄ bi Imra al-Mu’minı̄n, 139–40, 146 al-Zamaskhsharı̄, Abū al-Qāsim Mahmūd, 196 Zamzam, 6, 126, 146, 255 zanādiqa (heretics) (sing. zindı̄q), 22, 112 Zarathustra, 246; see also Zoroaster Zardusht-Namah, 244 Zoroaster, 244; see also Zarathustra Zoroastrianism, 241, 242, 243, 249

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