The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was seated in the Sacred Mosque, silent and contemplative, when he declared,

“I was taken by night tonight to Jerusalem.”

Abu Jahl exclaimed, “To Jerusalem?!”

“Yes,” he replied.

Abu Jahl said, “If I summon your people so that you may tell them, will you repeat to them what you have just told me?”

“Yes,” he answered.

Abu Jahl therefore set about gathering Quraysh so that they might hear it from him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ likewise wished them assembled so that he could convey the message. Abu Jahl then cried out, “Come, people of Quraysh!” When they had gathered from their various meeting places, he said, “Tell your people what you told me.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ related what he had witnessed—how he had reached Jerusalem that very night and prayed there. Some clapped their hands, others whistled, denying him and deeming the report impossible. The news spread throughout Mecca.

People came to Abu Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—and informed him that Muhammad ﷺ was saying such-and-such. He replied, “You are lying about him.” They insisted, “By Allah, he is indeed saying it.” He said, “If he has said it, then he has spoken the truth.” He then approached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, around whom the idolaters of Quraysh were gathered, questioned him about the matter, and the Prophet informed him. Abu Bakr asked him for a description of Jerusalem so that the idolaters might hear and know the truth of what he reported. (1)(2)

In the Ṣaḥīḥ (3) it is related that it was the polytheists themselves who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this. He said,

“I began describing its landmarks to them, but some details became unclear to me, so Allah unveiled Jerusalem before me until I could look at it beyond the house of ʿUqayl and describe it to them.”

Someone remarked, “As for the description, he has indeed spoken accurately.”

Ibn Isḥāq also relates, as mentioned earlier, that the Prophet informed them of the caravan he had passed on the way and of his drinking their water. Thus Allah established the proof against them and the straight path became evident: whoever believed did so with certainty from his Lord, and whoever disbelieved did so after the proof had been made manifest to him—just as Allah the Exalted says: “We made not the vision which We showed you except as a trial for the people” (al-Isrāʾ 60), meaning a test and an examination.

Ibn ʿAbbās said: It was a vision seen with the physical eye that Allah showed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This is the view of the majority of the early and later scholars: that the Night Journey took place with both his body and his soul—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—as the outward indications show, such as his mounting the riding beast and his ascent in the heavenly ladder. Hence His words: “Glorified be He who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, that We might show him …” (al-Isrāʾ 1). Tasbīḥ—declaring Allah’s transcendence—is only used when speaking of great and extraordinary signs; thus it points to