He was then taken up bodily, in full wakefulness, to the heaven, and from there to whatever lofty station Allah willed. There He honored him as He pleased and revealed to him what He pleased—“the heart did not deny what it saw.”

This was the ascent about which Allah says, “Then he drew near”—that is, he drew near to his Lord, or Gabriel drew near to the Messenger—“and came down until he was two bow-lengths away, or even closer. Then He revealed to His servant whatever He revealed” (Q 53:8–10).

Both the night journey (isrāʾ) and the ascent (miʿrāj) are real. Whoever denies them or deems them impossible is a disbeliever in Allah, and whoever re-interprets them away is misguided. None denied them but the idolaters. Thus anyone who claims that the Prophet was carried only in spirit and not in body, or that the event was a dream rather than wakefulness, is in error, for Allah says, “He took His servant by night,” and the term servant applies to both soul and body; it is never used for the soul alone. The isrāʾ occurred while the Prophet was awake, not asleep, for dreams carry no decisive proof—everyone dreams and sees marvels, and that is not unique to the Prophet.

He ascended in his very person—a direct refutation of those who say he ascended only in spirit—for the word person includes both soul and body, and Allah states, “He took His servant by night.”

During that ascent to the heaven, Allah revealed to him there what He revealed and spoke to him, yet the Prophet did not see Allah, for Allah is not beheld in this world.

This is the miʿrāj referred to in Sūrah al-Najm.