maintain that Muhammad saw his Lord.’ Ka‘b said, ‘Allah apportioned the privileges of seeing Him and hearing His speech between Muhammad and Moses: He spoke to Moses twice, and Muhammad saw Him twice.’

Masrūq said, ‘I went in to ‘Ā’ishah and asked, “Did Muhammad see his Lord?” She replied, “What you have said has made my hair stand on end!” I said, “Wait a moment.” Then I recited, “He certainly saw some of his Lord’s greatest signs.” (18)

She said, “Where is your thinking taking you? It was only Gabriel. Whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord Most High, concealed anything he was commanded to convey, or knew the five matters of which Allah Most High says, ‘Indeed, Allah has knowledge of the Hour, sends down the rain, and knows what is in the wombs’—to the end of the verse [Luqmān 34]—has fabricated a monstrous lie against Allah. Rather, he saw Gabriel. He saw him in his true form only twice: once at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, and once in Jiyād, where Gabriel, with his six hundred wings, filled the horizon.”’”