with the prophets. When the time for prayer arrived he led them in it, and it is most probable that this was the dawn prayer of that same day. Some people claim that he led them in the heavens, yet the converging reports affirm that he led them in Jerusalem. A few narrations mention that this occurred upon his entry there, but the more apparent view is that it occurred after his return, for as he had passed by the prophets in their respective stations he asked Gabriel about each one of them, and Gabriel answered him in turn. This is the sequence that befits the event: first he was summoned to the sublime presence on high so that what Allah willed could be prescribed for him and for his community; once that purpose was completed he and his brethren, the prophets, gathered in Jerusalem. There his honour and superiority over them became manifest when Gabriel indicated that he should step forward and lead them in prayer. He then departed from Jerusalem, mounted the Buraq, and returned to Mecca while it was still dark before daybreak. Allah knows best.

Was the Night Journey with his body and soul, or with his soul alone?

The scholars differ on this question, holding two opinions.

1. The majority maintain that the Prophet ﷺ was taken by night with both body and soul while fully awake, not in a dream. Their evidence is the Almighty’s words: “Glory be to the One who transported His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed” ⦗1⦘. Tasbīḥ (“Glory be”) is uttered only when something of great magnitude occurs; had the event been merely a dream it would not have been treated as such, nor would the idolaters of Quraysh have rushed to deny it, nor would a number of those who had already embraced Islam have apostatised because of it.

They also cite His words, Most High: “And We did not make the vision We showed you except as a trial for the people” ⦗2⦘. Ibn ʿAbbās said: “It was a vision seen with the physical eye, shown to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the night he was taken on the Night Journey,” reported by al-Bukhārī. Furthermore, Allah, Most High, says: “The eye did not swerve, nor did it overstep the mark” ⦗3⦘.