What appears in the various narrations of the Night Journey, taken collectively (1), is that he identified three distinct Isrāʾ events: one in which the Prophet travelled from Mecca to the Holy Sanctuary alone, mounted on al-Burāq; a second in which he went from Mecca directly to the heavens—also on al-Burāq—based on the report of Ḥudhayfah; and a third in which he journeyed from Mecca to Jerusalem and then on to the heavens.

We say: If his only motive for affirming these three instances was the divergence of the narrations, the wording of the ḥadīth actually varies in more than these three forms. Whoever wishes to examine this in detail should consult what we have collected exhaustively in our Tafsīr under Allah’s words, “Glory be to the One who took His servant by night” (al-Isrāʾ 17:1). But if his argument is that, with respect to Jerusalem and the heavens, the possible arrangements are logically confined to three, a merely rational delimitation does not prove that events took place accordingly without further evidence. Allah knows best.

It is also striking that Imām Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him—mentions the Isrāʾ after recording the death of Abū Ṭālib. In this he agrees with Ibn Isḥāq in placing the Miʿrāj late in the Prophet’s biography, yet he differs by situating it after Abū Ṭālib’s death, whereas Ibn Isḥāq postpones mention of Abū Ṭālib’s death until after the Isrāʾ. Allah alone knows which order is correct.

The point is that al-Bukhārī distinguishes between the Isrāʾ and the Miʿrāj, assigning a separate chapter to each. He says (2):

Chapter: The ḥadīth of the Isrāʾ and Allah’s statement, “Glory be to the One who took His servant by night.” Yahyā ibn Bukayr narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us; from ʿUqayl; from Ibn Shihāb; who said: Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to me that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

“When Quraysh branded me a liar I stood (3) in the Ḥijr, and Allah placed the House of Jerusalem before my eyes; I went on describing to them (4) its signs while I was looking at it.”

This narration is also transmitted by Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāʾī through the chain of al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Jābir (5). Muslim and al-Nasāʾī likewise relate it (6) through (7) ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Faḍl, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ with similar wording (8).