What we have discussed makes it clear that the event described in the hadith, “My Lord came to me in the most beautiful form and placed His hand between my shoulders,” occurred only in a dream in Medina. It did not occur on the night of the Ascension, as many people suppose.

I once attended a gathering of scholars from various fields at the inaugural teaching session of the leading Hanafi scholar. This hadith came up for discussion, and they assumed that it had occurred on the night of the Ascension. I explained that it had not occurred on the night of the Ascension, since it had taken place in Medina, as the report explicitly states, whereas the Ascension took place in Mecca, as Allah Most High says:

“Glory be to Him Who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque.” [al-Isrā’ 1]

Mass-transmitted hadiths establish this, and the scholars agree that the Ascension mentioned by Allah Most High in the Quran, during which the five daily prayers were prescribed, took place in Mecca, not after the Hijrah. The contents of the hadith itself make this clear: it mentions the exalted assembly disputing about going on foot to Friday prayers and remaining seated in the mosques after prayers. These practices were prescribed only in Medina, since Friday prayer was not prescribed in Mecca. This is something the scholars have never doubted.

This occurs only in the reports reliably transmitted from Ibn ‘Abbās, such as ‘Ikrimah’s report and others like it, for it is established that Ibn ‘Abbās affirmed that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—saw his Lord with his heart in Mecca, as he mentioned