7 – The ḥadith of Shaddād ibn Aws

It is transmitted by Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Zubaydī:

“ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām al-Ashʿarī, from Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿĀmir al-Zubaydī, who said: al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr related to us, saying: Shaddād ibn Aws reported:

We asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, how were you taken on the Night Journey?’ He replied:

‘I led my Companions in the night prayer, the ʿishāʾ, in Mecca after night had fully set in. Then Gabriel brought me a white—or he said: whitish—mount, larger than a donkey yet smaller than a mule. He said, “Mount.” It balked at me, so I restrained it by grasping its ear,1 and he lifted me onto it. The creature sped off with us, its hoof landing wherever its gaze reached,

until we arrived at a land filled with palm-trees. He made me dismount and said, “Pray.” I prayed, then remounted. He asked, “Do you know where you prayed?” I replied, “Allah knows best.” He said, “You prayed in Yathrib—in Taybah.’"