Anas ibn Malik say: “On the night when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was taken on the Night Journey from the mosque of the Ka‘bah, three men came to him before revelation had been sent down to him, while he was sleeping in the Sacred Mosque. The first of them said, ‘Which one is he?’ The middle one said, ‘He is the best of them.’ The last said, ‘Take the best of them.’ That was all that happened that night; he did not see them again until they came to him on another night, in a vision seen by his heart. His eyes slept, but his heart did not sleep—and so it is with the prophets: their eyes sleep, but their hearts do not sleep.

“They did not speak to him until they carried him and placed him beside the well of Zamzam. Gabriel opened him from his throat to his abdomen, then attended to his chest and belly, washing him with Zamzam water by his own hand.” He then recounted the account of the Ascension, saying: “There he was in the lowest heaven, beside two flowing rivers. He said, ‘These are the Nile and the Euphrates; they have one source.’ Then he proceeded with him to the second heaven, where there was another river, upon which stood a palace of pearls and chrysolite. He put his hand into it, and it was the most fragrant musk. He said, ‘What is this, Gabriel?’ He replied, ‘This is al-Kawthar, which your Lord has stored up for you.’”

He continued with the hadith and said: “Then I was taken up to the seventh heaven. Moses said, ‘My Lord, I had not thought that You would raise anyone above me.’ Then he took him higher still, to what none knows except Allah, until he came to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary. The Almighty, the Lord of Might, drew near and descended, until He was at a distance of two bow-lengths or nearer, and He revealed to him what He revealed, prescribing fifty prayers for him each day and night. Moses continued sending him back to his Lord until they were reduced to five prayers. Moses then held him back at the five and said, ‘O Muhammad, by Allah, I urged the Children of Israel, my people, to observe less than this, yet they proved unable to bear it and abandoned it. Your community is weaker in heart and body, constitution, sight, and hearing. So return, and let your Lord lighten it for you.’

“Throughout this, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would turn to Gabriel, seeking his counsel, and Gabriel did not disapprove of this. Gabriel then took him up a fifth time, and he said, ‘My Lord, my community is weak in body and heart, hearing and constitution, so lighten it for us.’ The Almighty said, ‘O Muhammad.’ He replied, ‘Here I am, ever at Your service.’ He said, ‘My word is not changed with Me. As I prescribed for you in the Mother of the Book, every good deed is multiplied tenfold. Thus, they are fifty in the Mother of the Book, while they are five obligatory upon you.’ Moses said, ‘Return to your Lord and ask Him to lighten it for you further.’ But the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘By Allah, I have become too ashamed before my Lord because of how often I have gone back to Him.’ He said, ‘Descend, in the name of Allah.’ Then he awoke and found himself in the Sacred Mosque.”

Muslim narrated this hadith in abridged form from Harun ibn Sa‘id al-Ayli, from Ibn Wahb, from Sulayman ibn Bilal. (1)

Our shaykh, the Imam, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Some scholars of hadith have said, “We have found nothing in the two books of Muhammad ibn Isma‘il and Muslim that does not admit of a sound resolution except this report.” They attributed the problem in it to Sharik ibn Abd Allah, because he mentioned that this occurred before revelation had been sent down to him. The scholars are agreed that the Ascension took place after revelation, approximately twelve years later, one year before the Hijrah.