Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 4235 — The Night Journey (Isra)

It is narrated from Sayyidah Umm Hani (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to my house in the darkness of the last part of the night and sat down, while I was on my bed. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do you know that I spent this night in al-Masjid al-Haram itself? Then Jibril (peace be upon him) came to me and took me to the door of the mosque, and there I suddenly saw a white animal, larger than a donkey and smaller than a mule, whose ears were moving rapidly. So I mounted it. It would place its hoof where its sight ended. When it carried me down a slope, its forelegs became long and its hind legs short, and when it climbed a height, its hind legs became long and its forelegs short. Jibril (peace be upon him) did not part from me until we reached Bayt al-Maqdis. Then I tied it to the ring to which the prophets used to tie their mounts. Then a group of prophets was presented before me, among them Ibrahim, Musa and Isa (peace be upon them). I led them in prayer and spoke with them. Then two vessels were brought before me, one red and the other white, and I drank from the white vessel (the milk). Jibril (peace be upon him) said to me: 'You have drunk the milk and left the wine; had you drunk the wine, your Ummah would have gone astray (apostatised).' Then I mounted it again, came to al-Masjid al-Haram and performed the dawn prayer right there." Sayyidah Umm Hani (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I took hold of his (peace and blessings be upon him) cloak and said: "O my cousin, I adjure you by Allah «Anshuduka Allah» (I implore you in the name of Allah) not to tell this to Quraysh, or else even those who believe you will begin to call you a liar!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) struck the cloak with his blessed hand and freed it from my hand, whereupon the cloak moved away from his blessed abdomen, and I saw the folds of his abdomen above his waist-wrapper, looking like folded layers of paper. And a brilliant light was shining from near his (peace and blessings be upon him) pure heart, which almost snatched away my sight, so I fell down in prostration. When I raised my head, he (peace and blessings be upon him) had already left. I said to my slave-girl Nab'ah: "Woe to you! Go after him (peace and blessings be upon him) and see what he says and what reply is given to him." When Nab'ah returned, she told me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) reached a group of Quraysh in the Hatim, among whom were al-Mut'im bin Adi, Amr bin Hisham and al-Walid bin al-Mughirah. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Tonight I prayed the Isha prayer in this very mosque, then I also performed the dawn prayer here, and in the interval between them I went to Bayt al-Maqdis and came back. There a group of prophets was presented before me, among them Ibrahim, Musa and Isa (peace be upon them); I led them in prayer and conversed with them." At this Amr bin Hisham said mockingly: "Then describe their appearance!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "As for Isa (peace be upon him), he is somewhat above medium height and somewhat less than tall, broad-chested, of a reddish complexion and with curly hair; redness predominates in his colouring, as though he resembles Urwah bin Mas'ud al-Thaqafi. As for Musa (peace be upon him), he is sturdy of body, wheat-coloured and tall, as though he were one of the men of the tribe of Shanu'ah, with teeth overlapping one another, thin lips, prominent gums, and a dignified, serious face. And as for Ibrahim (peace be upon him), by Allah, he resembles me more than all people in character and in physical form." The narrator says: The polytheists raised a clamour and considered this utterly impossible. Al-Mut'im bin Adi began saying: "Before today every matter of yours was easy and understandable, except this statement of yours today. As for me, I bear witness that you are lying. We wear out our camels going a month and returning a month to reach Bayt al-Maqdis, and you claim that you went there and back in a single night! By al-Lat and al-Uzza, I will never believe you, and what you are saying can never have happened." Al-Mut'im bin Adi had a basin at Zamzam that Abd al-Muttalib had given him; he demolished it in anger and swore by al-Lat and al-Uzza that he would never give a single drop to drink from it.
Then al-Walid bin al-Mughirah said: "He is a magician." Then they went and investigated, and found the matter just as he (peace and blessings be upon him) had said, yet they still declared it magic and said that al-Walid bin al-Mughirah had spoken the truth in what he said. So Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, revealed this verse: {And We did not make the vision which We showed you except as a trial for the people, and (likewise) the tree cursed in the Qur'an} [Surah al-Isra': 60]. The narrator says: I asked Sayyidah Umm Hani (may Allah be pleased with her) what is meant by the cursed tree in the Qur'an. She said: "It refers to those people who were warned, and the warning only increased them in transgression and disbelief."