We have followed the narrations concerning the Prophet’s ﷺ Night Journey. Alongside these accounts, it is important to reflect on some theological and philosophical questions that have occupied Muslim thought.

First: Was this journey bodily or only spiritual?

It was indeed bodily. It was not merely a vision or a dream. The Qur’an declares: “Asrā bi-ʿabdihi”—“Allah carried His servant by night.” The word ʿabd does not denote the soul alone; it signifies the servant as a whole—soul and body together. From this very Qur’anic expression it becomes evident that the Prophet’s ﷺ journey was with both body and spirit.

Moreover, the reason why the people of Makkah mocked and rejected it was precisely because he spoke of a physical journey. If he had said, “I saw Bayt al-Maqdis in a dream,” or “I witnessed it spiritually,” there would have been no cause for them to ridicule or oppose him.

Some modern attempts have tried to explain the Isrāʾ through ideas of hypnotic sleep or altered states of consciousness. But such experiences remain mental phenomena; they cannot be equated with the Isrāʾ. Even if science, by manipulating the laws of physics, were one day to enable a human to travel vast distances in a split second, this would still not equal the Isrāʾ. For the Isrāʾ was a direct act of divine will: if the Creator of all laws of nature wills to suspend them for His chosen Messenger, there is no limit to what He may grant.

When the Prophet ﷺ narrated the event to his people, they at first denied it outright. Then they questioned him in detail. To every question he gave precise answers, and those who had themselves seen Bayt al-Maqdis could not deny the accuracy. In the end they resorted only to mockery and empty accusations. These debates remain inscribed in the record of history, open to any fair observer who seeks the truth.

Second: Did the Prophet ﷺ see Allah?

Yes. Though some later sectarians claimed that seeing Allah is impossible even in the Hereafter, the truth is otherwise. No fewer than twenty-one Companions transmitted reports affirming that the Prophet ﷺ beheld his Lord. The Qur’an itself indicates the possibility of vision.

Was this vision with the eyes or with the heart? Scholars have discussed both. Imām al-Nawawī records that the majority view is that the Prophet ﷺ saw Allah with his very eyes on the Night of Miʿrāj. Imām al-Ṭabarānī transmits through a sound chain that Ibn ʿAbbās said: “Muḥammad ﷺ saw his Lord twice—once with his heart, and once with his eyes.”

The jurist ʿUmar al-Qāḍī summarized: “Wa raʾāhu ʿaynan wa fuʾādan”—he saw Him with eye and with heart. He drew this from the Qur’anic verse: “The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress. He certainly saw the greatest of the signs of his Lord” (Q 53:11–18). The meaning is not that two bodies confronted each other—for Allah is beyond all form. He is not bound by place or time, both of which are His creations. He is beginningless and without likeness. His vision is real, but its how is beyond human grasp.

For the Quraysh, the meaning of the Isrāʾ was beyond comprehension. Even some who stood near the Prophet ﷺ struggled to grasp it. Quraysh exploited this difficulty, intensifying their persecution and ridicule. The tribes to whom the Prophet ﷺ turned for support—Thaqīf, Kindah, Kalb, ʿĀmir, Ḥanīfah—offered no hope. Quraysh obstructed even the pilgrims from neighboring lands, preventing them from listening.

Those who were drawn to the Prophet’s ﷺ message sometimes hesitated to declare their faith publicly, fearing isolation in their communities. Thus, the Isrāʾ became a touchstone—exposing the difference between mere curiosity and true conviction.