with its madness and superstitions. You claimed that Allah sent a form to the Prophet while he was awake; it spoke to him, and the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to it, “My Lord!” Yet I think that, had you known that your interpretation would lead you into such errors, you would have refrained from much of this. Instead, you spoke in debate, feeling safe from any reply and heedless that your words might be scrutinized.

Thus, ‘Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd related the scholars’ explanation that this occurred in a dream in Medina, not while awake, while affirming these hadiths. He did not place the event described in that hadith in Mecca, since it occurred in a dream in Medina. For it is established that Ibn ‘Abbās would say, “He saw Him with his heart twice,” mentioning this when explaining the words of Allah Most High:

“And he certainly saw Him on another descent.” (13) [al-Najm 13]

This, however, occurred in Mecca. Thus, ‘Ikrimah’s hadith and Ibn ‘Umar’s question may either be of the same kind as the reports of Mu‘ādh and Umm al-Tufayl, as indicated