Then Allah said—as the hadith of the Night Journey and Ascension relates: “I have established My obligation, lightened it for My servants, and I shall reward every good deed tenfold.” In the wording Anas reports from Abu Dharr, He said: “They are five and they are fifty,” meaning five in performance yet fifty on the scales.

The five daily prayers, performed each day and night, equal fifty in the balance, for every good deed is multiplied by ten; one prayer therefore counts as ten. The Night Journey (israʾ) is mentioned at the opening of Sūrat Subḥān, that is, Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl (al-Isrāʾ), while the Ascension (miʿrāj) is referred to at the beginning of Sūrat al-Najm:

“He certainly saw him a second time, by the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary; near it is the Garden of Refuge, when the Lote Tree was covered by that which covered it. The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress. Indeed, he saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord.” (53:13-18)

These verses speak of the miʿrāj. Thereafter the Prophet descended from the heavens to Bayt al-Maqdis and returned to Mecca the same night. When morning came and he told the people what had happened, the believers’ faith grew stronger, whereas the disbelievers only increased in malice, delighting in what they thought was an opportunity to ridicule him: “How can your companion claim that he travelled to Bayt al-Maqdis…?”