Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr cited the report through Ibn Abī Ḥātim in his Tafsīr, as did al-Bayhaqī, who said: “Its isnād (chain of transmission) is sound. The same account is also transmitted piecemeal in other narrations, and we shall, God willing, quote from that whatever we have at hand.”

Ibn Kathīr added: “He then produced numerous hadiths on the Night Journey that corroborate this narration … There is no doubt that the report contains several elements—some of them authentic, as al-Bayhaqī noted, and some objectionable, such as the claim that the Prophet prayed in Bethlehem, or that al-Ṣiddīq asked for a description of Jerusalem, and the like. Allah knows best.”

I say: Al-Bayhaqī’s authentication of the chain warrants scrutiny—in addition to the anomalies found in its wording—because the narration ultimately rests on Isḥāq al-Zabīdī, a narrator over whom there is disagreement. Al-Haythamī judged the report defective on his account, saying ⦗1/74⦘:

“It was narrated by al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, and within it is Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-ʿAlāʾ. Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn deemed him reliable, whereas al-Nasāʾī declared him weak.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Taqrīb: “He is truthful but makes many mistakes; Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf even stated flatly that he lies.”