He said, “So I descended until I came to Moses and told him. He said, ‘Go back to your Lord and ask Him to lighten the burden for your community, for they will not be able to bear it.’

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) added, “I kept returning to my Lord until I felt shy before Him.”

It was recorded by Ahmad 3/148—with this wording—and by Muslim 259 through the chain of Hammad ibn Salamah, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Anas ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said … and he mentioned the report. The other versions, with their additional material, are found in Muslim.

In another narration preserved by Ahmad 3/152 and 247 through the same chain, it states that he recited the verse, ‘Inna aʿtaynaka al-kawthar (Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar).’ He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) declared,

“I was granted al-Kawthar. It is a river that flows freely without a channel being cut for it. On either bank stand domes of pearl. I put my hand into its soil, and it was fragrant musk, and its pebbles were pearls.”

This is one section of the hadith of the Miʿraj, as appears in certain chains, and that is why I have cited it here.

Another narration comes from Hammad ibn Salamah, from Thabit al-Bunani and Sulayman al-Taymi, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: