“I arrived—and in another wording: ‘I passed by Moses on the night I was carried on the Night Journey, near the Red Sandhill; he was standing in his grave, performing prayer.’ ”

It was recorded by Muslim 164, al-Nasāʾī in The Night Prayer, and Ahmad 3/148 and 248.

Note: After quoting the entire report from Ahmad, al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said, “Muslim related it with this wording, and it is sounder than the wording of Shurayk”—meaning the version that will appear shortly. Al-Bayhaqī remarked, “This wording proves that the Ascension (miʿrāj) took place on the very night he was transported from Mecca to Jerusalem.” What he stated is the unquestionable truth, free of any doubt.

Al-Nasāʾī also transmitted it at the beginning of The Prayer through another route from al-Bunānī, from him: “The prayers were made obligatory in Mecca. Two angels came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), took him to Zamzam, split open his chest, removed its contents into a golden basin, washed it with Zamzam water, and then filled his chest with wisdom and knowledge.” Its chain of transmission is sound.

b) As for the narration of Shurayk ibn Abī Namr, he said, “I heard Anas ibn…"