ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAtāʾ said: Rāshid Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥammānī narrated to us, from Abū Hārūn al-ʿAbdī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from the Prophet ﷺ. He related that the Prophet’s Companions once said to him, “Messenger of Allah, tell us about the night on which you were taken on the Night Journey.” Thereupon he recited the opening of “Glory be”—Surat al-Isrāʾ—and said:

“While I was asleep one evening in the Sacred Mosque, someone came and woke me. I awoke but saw nothing. I lay down again, and he woke me a second time; I awoke but saw nothing. I slept once more; again he woke me, and I awoke yet still saw nothing. Then I perceived a phantom-like figure and followed it with my eyes until I left the mosque. There, before me, stood a mount that most resembled one of your beasts—a cross between your mules—its ears twitching. It is called al-Burāq; the prophets before me used to ride it. With each stride its hoof reached as far as the eye can see.

“I mounted it, and as I was riding, a caller on my right said, ‘O Muḥammad, pause so that I may ask you.’ I did not answer and continued on. Then a caller on my left said, ‘O Muḥammad, pause so that I may ask you.’ I did not answer him either. Then I saw a woman, bare-armed and adorned with every kind of ornament, who said, ‘O Muḥammad, pause so that I may ask you.’ I paid her no heed until I reached Jerusalem, where I tethered my mount to the ring.

“Gabriel then brought me two vessels—one of wine and the other of milk. I drank the milk, and he said, ‘You have chosen the natural disposition.’ I told Gabriel about the caller on my right. He said, ‘That was the caller of the Jews; had you answered him, your community would have turned Jewish. The other was the caller of the Christians; had you answered him, your community would have turned Christian. As for that woman, she was the world; had you answered her, your community would have preferred this world to the Hereafter.’

“Next Gabriel and I entered the Holy House and prayed two rakʿahs. Then the Ladder upon which the souls of the children of Adam ascend was brought to me—no created being has ever seen anything more beautiful than that Ladder. Have you not observed the dying person whose gaze tears upward, staring toward the sky? He does so out of wonder at it.

“I ascended together with Gabriel until I found myself before an angel called Ismāʿīl, the custodian of the lowest heaven. Before him were seventy thousand angels, and with every angel was a host of one hundred thousand angels. Allah, the Exalted, says: ‘None knows the hosts of your Lord except Him’ (Q 74:31). Gabriel asked for the gate to be opened. It was said, ‘Who is this?’ He replied: ”}