Anas ibn Mālik reported:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“When I had completed what Allah, exalted be He, had charged me to do concerning the heavens and the earth, I said: ‘My Lord, no prophet before me was left without an honor from You: You took Abraham as a close friend, spoke to Moses directly, subjected the mountains to David, placed the wind and the devils at Solomon’s command, and revived the dead for Jesus. What, then, have You granted me?’
He replied: ‘Have I not given you something better than all of that? I am never mentioned without your name being mentioned alongside Mine; I have made the breasts of your community their Gospels—they recite the Quran from memory—something I have granted no other nation; and I have sent down to you a phrase from the treasures of My Throne: la ḥawla wa-la quwwata illā billāh (“there is no power and no strength except with Allah”).’” (1)
This chain of transmission is unusual, yet it is supported by another narrated through Abū al-Qāsim ibn Bint Manīʿ al-Baghawī, from Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Mahrānī, from Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—marfūʿ—with similar wording.
Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī likewise related it in his book “Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah” with a different wording and a broken chain. He said: “Hishām ibn ʿAmmār al-Dimashqī narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; Shuʿayb ibn Zurayq narrated to us; he heard ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī relate—from Abū Hurayrah and Anas ibn Mālik—something the Prophet ﷺ said about the night he was taken on the Miʿrāj.” He recounted:
“Allah showed me some of His signs, and I detected a fragrant breeze. I asked, ‘What is this, O Gabriel?’ He replied, ‘This is Paradise. She keeps saying: “My Lord, bring me my people.”’
Allah the Exalted says: ‘You shall have what I promised you: every believing man and woman who sets up no partners beside Me. Whoever lends to Me, I will draw him near; whoever relies on Me, I will suffice him; whoever asks of Me, I will give him. His spending will not be diminished, nor will his aspirations be curtailed. You shall have what I promised you; how excellent a dwelling you are for the God-fearing.’
I said, ‘I am content.’ When we reached the Lote-Tree of the Utmost Boundary I fell in prostration; then I raised my head and said: ‘O Lord! You took Abraham as a close friend, spoke to Moses directly, granted David the Psalms, and gave Solomon a mighty kingdom.’
He said: ‘And I have raised your renown; no sermon delivered to your community is valid unless they bear witness that you are My Messenger. I have made the hearts of your community like scriptures, and I have given you the closing verses of Sūrah al-Baqarah from beneath My Throne.’” (2)
He next transmitted—through al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, from Abū Hurayrah—the complete narrative of the Night Journey, as we have quoted from Ibn Jarīr in his Tafsīr. Abū Zurʿah added in his version: “He then encountered the spirits of the prophets—peace be upon them—who praised their Lord, exalted is He.”
Abraham (peace be upon him) said: “Praise be to Allah who has taken me as an intimate friend, granted me a tremendous sovereignty, made me a devout nation for Allah in my life and at my death, delivered me from the Fire and made it coolness and safety.”
Then Moses (peace be upon him) praised his Lord, saying: “Praise be to Allah who spoke to me directly, chose me for His message and His speech, drew me near in intimate discourse, sent down the Torah to me, and caused Pharaoh’s destruction and the salvation of the Children of Israel to be at my hands.”