Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismāʿīl al-Ansārī al-Harawī presented evidence in his Forty Hadiths, writing:

“Chapter: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw his Lord with his own eyes while awake on the night of the Ascension.”

He cited this hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās, although most of the chains through which he transmitted it were taken from Ibn Khuzayma’s book. Yet, as explained earlier, it provides no evidence for that claim.

Judge Abū Yaʿlā stated, as quoted earlier:

“Three differing reports have been transmitted from Ahmad concerning Muhammad’s vision of his Lord: whether he saw Him with his eyes, with his heart, or whether one should say that he saw Him without qualification.”

I say: We have already cited the statements of Ahmad that he mentioned and reproduced them in full. This makes it clear that Ahmad’s statements are not inconsistent; rather, the statements of