Others even said that it occurred three times: once before the beginning of revelation and twice after it … and whenever a wording perplexed them they simply added yet another occurrence to make the reports dovetail.

Ibn al-Qayyim remarked, “How astonishing are those who claim that it happened on multiple occasions! How could they imagine that every single time fifty prayers were made obligatory, and that the Prophet kept going back and forth between his Lord and Moses until they were reduced to five, whereupon he would say, ‘I have carried out My obligation and lightened the burden of My servants’ … then, on the next occasion, the number is again set at fifty only to be reduced to five?”

Ibn Kathīr added, “Some transmitters would omit part of the report because it was already known, or forget it, or mention only what they considered most important; at times they would relate the whole account, and at other times abbreviate it for the benefit of their audience. Whoever, as we have noted, treats every such narration as a separate Night Journey has strayed very far indeed. All the versions include the Prophet’s greeting to the other prophets, his being introduced to them, and the imposition of the prayers upon him. How, then, could one plausibly claim that the event took place more than once? That is exceedingly remote—indeed impossible. Allah knows best.”

2- The universality of Muhammad’s ﷺ mission and a refutation of those who deny it.

A group of Jews and Christians—and those who imitate them—assert that Muhammad ﷺ was sent only to the Arabs and not to the People of the Book. They try to confuse matters by saying, “If his religion is true, then ours is also true; there are many paths to Allah.” They liken this to the schools of the imams: even though one school may be stronger, the adherents of the others are not disbelievers.

This claim is plainly false. Once they acknowledge his prophethood, they are obliged to believe everything he conveys, and he has declared that he is the Messenger of Allah to all people. A messenger does not lie, so believing him is mandatory. Moreover, he dispatched envoys and sent letters across the lands—to Khosrow, Caesar, the Negus, al-Muqawqis, and the other rulers on the fringes of the earth—inviting them to Islam, and later his fighting