Isra and Mi'raj

The Ascension of Mohammed narrated in Islamic literature in three content clearly distinguishable variants:

The Ascension (Mi ʿ Raj ) from a location in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca on a ladder in the sky;
The Night Journey ( Isra ʾ ) of the Prophet of Mecca on the miraculous steed Buraq to a designated in the Qur'an as " distant place of worship " place with its subsequent report on it in a circle of Quraysh after returning to Mecca. The first two variants go on relevant verses from the Koran, which can be understood in the historiography as separate events back
The combination of - Quranic - Travel to Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ), with subsequent ascension (mi ʿ Raj ) from Jerusalem. This version is documented with substantive variants in the Hadith, the Qur'an exegesis, Islamic history and the Islamic prophet legends ( Qisas al - Anbiya ʾ ).

2.1 al - Masjid al -Aqsa: The remote worship

The Ascension in the Koran, Hadith and the history

Al -Mi ʿ Raj

Al -Mi ʿ Raj / المعراج / al -mi ʿ rāǧ is rising from the Arabic verb عرج / ʿ araǧa /, in the height, climb ' derived. Other derivatives thereof include mi ʿ Raj / معرج / mi ʿ raǧ / Ladder staircase ' and al -mi ʿ Raj, for the Ascension to have occurred via a ladder.

In Sura 53, verse 1-18 and in Sura 81, verse 19-25 is in the form of a vision of the encounter with God and the Prophet Muhammad reported at different levels in heaven, then in the hadith literature and the Qur'an exegesis of the relevant verses have been added in the early 8th century with legendary reports. These varying in their content and wording of traditions in the hadith literature by al - Bukhaari († 870), Muslim ibn al - Hajjaj († 875 ), Ahmad ibn Hanbal († 855), at - nasa ʾ ī († 915 ), in Koranic exegesis on al-Tabari († 923 ), Ibn Katheer († 1373 ) and receive other commentators of the Koran.

All reports agree that Gabriel " climbed the Messenger of Allah in the seventh heaven with ( " ʿ araǧa bi- Rasuli ʾ llāh ILA ʾ s- sama ʾ as- Sabi ʿ a "), where he received God's revelation, including the obligation of the first fifty daily prayers.

In Islamic history, al-Tabari summarizes this event as follows:

" When the Prophet received the preaching and fell asleep at the Kaaba as the Quraish were wont to do, the angels Michael and Gabriel came to him and said: With regard to whom we have received the order? What they replied: With regard to their Lord. Then they went away, but came the next night to back threes. When they found him asleep, they put him on his back, opened his body, brought water from the Zamzam Well and washed what they found in his body in doubt, idolatry, paganism and error. Then they brought a golden vessel, which was filled with faith and wisdom, and so his body was filled with faith and wisdom. Then he was lifted up to the lowest heaven. "

Under the title " The Ascension and the regulation of the prayers " summarizes Muhammad ibn Sa ʿ d in his class book, the oldest variant of the messages documented in writing and dated together the event on a Saturday, the 17th of Ramadan, eighteen months before Muhammad's Hijrah. Accordingly, the angel Gabriel and Michael Muhammad accompanied in the Kaaba sanctuary to a place between Zamzam and the Maqām Ibrāhīm. There should have been placed a ladder (mi ʿ rāǧ ), using which Muhammad and Gabriel ascended into heaven. At the top is Mohammed met the earlier prophets. According to tradition variant Gabriel rose with Mohammed to heaven, and had stated his hand. On arrived Zizyphusbaum, which is mentioned in Sura 53, verse 14, Muhammad saw paradise and hell. Then it are the original fifty prayers, which were then reduced through the mediation of Moses in five, have been imposed. This has done after his return with Gabriel in Mecca at prayer times Mohammed.

The design of the circuit, which allows, in this variant of the Assumption Legend access to heaven, was already known to the pre-Islamic poets; it serves as a means to escape what you want to avoid in this world. The acquisition of the subject of Jacob's Ladder ( Bible ) according to Gen. 28:11 EU applies in research as secured; the term mi ʿ rāǧ used in the Ascension legend Mohammed should have been known by the mediation of the Ethiopian variants the Book of Jubilees. So God said in Sura 70, verses 3-4 " of the ladder to heaven " (DI l -ma ʿ āriǧ ) to which ascend the angels and the Spirit.

While the event is shown in Ibn Sa ʿ relatively short d but dated exactly, more episodes will be added to the others to spread the same time, but undated tradition variants. The above-mentioned tradition of the Aryans " highly esteemed House " - al - bayt al -ma ʿ mur - is located in Paradise, understood as the heavenly counterpart to the Kaaba sanctuary.

Both the Assumption of Mecca and the beginning of Sura 17 briefly mentioned nocturnal journey of the Prophet from Mecca to the " distant place of worship " are under the influence of apocalyptic literature. In contrast to the Isra ʾ - al -Mi ʿ legend is rāǧ in the early days of Muhammad offset; the opening of the chest and the purification of the heart to meet the purpose of the Prophet ordained that precedes the ascension of the man called. The motif of the opening of the chest is also documented in the secular literature. According to legend, the sister of the poet Umayya b is. Abī S- SALT ( † against 631-632 ), is said to have read the books of the pre-Islamic monotheists and is known as Hanif, told the prophet that a jinn in the form of a vulture opened the breast of the sleeping poet, it something with " " stuffed and then shut again. This Umayya received the gift of speaking religious poems and to refer to monotheism. The focus of this appeal, however, there is no experience Muḥammad jinn, but always the Archangel Gabriel. According to legend, Mohammed received the Koran but not Gabriel, but by God himself, before whose throne he was in heaven. Theology joined the Mi ʿ rāǧ legend inevitably face the question whether Mohammed could see God in this encounter and considered form. In some traced back to Mohammed statements he should have only light (only ) and the throne of God seen and heard his voice, for two curtains have separated him from God.

Al -Isra ʾ

Al -Isra ʾ الإسراء derived as a verbal noun from the Arabic verb Asra " travel at night, let go " from and is related to the night journey of Muhammad for the distant place of worship in sura 17, verse 1 is used:

"Blessed is he who, with his servant (ie Muhammad ) by night from the sacred place of worship ( in Mecca ) to the distant place of worship ( in Jerusalem ) whose surroundings We have blessed, traveled to speak for him some of Our signs. .. "

Ibn Ishaaq states in his biography of the Prophet Muhammad's night journey, the first " for the distant place of worship ", which is indicated in the first verse of the 17th Sura, according to several sources before.

The night journey was either from a place near the Kaaba shrine, or the house of Umm Hani ʾ, the daughter of Abu Taalib ibn ʿ Abd al - Muttalib on the back of the mount al - Buraq. In Jerusalem, Mohammed is said three prophets - have met and prayed with them as their Imam - (Abraham, Moses and Jesus). Moses and Abraham, he should - have already taken the road - in the company of the Archangel Gabriel. According to other reports, the common prayer took place in Bethlehem (Bait Lahm ). This event combines Ibn Ishaq then with the Mi ʿ rāǧ legend using the following words of Muhammad: " after I have brought to an end what was in Bait al - Maqdis, a ladder was brought to me ... " So Ibn Ishaaq When it is still clearly seen that the tradition about Muhammad's ascension consists of two components. In the review of the biography of the Prophet by ibn Yunus Bukair († 815), the journey to Jerusalem is portrayed as a dream; Ascension is not mentioned in this variant. It is believed that the motive of the Assumption, the brief mention in the tradition of Ibn Hisham, is likely to be a later extension of the original text of Ibn Ishaq. Both legends - Isra ʾ and mi ʿ rāǧ - are also presented of Ibn Sa ʿ d separately and differently dated: the night journey to Jerusalem took place on 17 Rabī ʿ al - awwal, a year before the Hijrah instead.

In some tradition variants of Isra ʾ legend is mentioned that the journey took place so quickly that Muhammad's bed after his return should still have been warm and the water jug, which he had knocked over when standing with his foot, was not yet expired.

Al - Bayhaqi, one of the most well-known traditionists of the Shafi ʿ itischen law school ( * 994, † 1066) in the 11th century is in the second volume of his work Dala ʾ il on - nubuwwa "evidence of prophecy " the tradition variants of the two legends to currently 45 pages together, thus documenting the known in his time diversity of the Assumption legends. In this tradition variants is as a dream, a conversation between Mohammed and the rapporteur described, to have said in the latter to the Prophet: " Messenger of God! People in your community ( umma ) report for you about miracles during the Ascension. - Then he said to me: These are reports of storytellers ( quṣṣāṣ ) ".

Al -Isra ʾ and the Qibla Muhammad

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad was doing his prayer from the Bait al - Maqdis, from the Temple Mount of Jerusalem from. However, it is handed down controversial, at what point in the " distant place of worship " the prayer took place. Because the question of the direction of prayer of the Prophet from the Temple Mount was made for the legal doctrine of particular importance. Performed Mohammed prayer in the north of the Temple Mount, he took into account the two directions of prayer in the history of the Islamic prayer ritual: Bait al - Maqdis and the Kaaba of Mecca. But he prayed in the south of the Temple Mount, so this was behind him and the Qibla was just the Kaaba. After the conquest of Jerusalem to Umar ibn al - Khattab, the Caliph said to have the direction of prayer from the Temple Mount with the scholar Ka ʿ b al - Ahbar († between 652-654 ), a Jewish convert to Islam discussed. On this occasion, the latter is said to have recommended to create the place of prayer ( Musalla ) on the north of the rock, which the caliph with the words rejected: ". Ourselves is not the rock, but the Kaaba was ordered (as prayer direction )" Other traditions, according to God had its Prophet sent to the " night journey " to Jerusalem, thereby connecting the two directions of prayer together: the original Qibla from Mecca to Jerusalem and took place in December 624 January 625 from Medina change of direction to Mecca. Representative of the Islamic ritual law were of the view that the performance of prayer from the north of the rock is from a reprehensible innovation towards Kaaba.

Al -Isra ʾ and al -Mi ʿ Raj

Combining these two legends sounds to already present in the oldest written documented report of Ibn Ishaq. The journey takes place on the Mount al - Buraq, the rise in the sky from Jerusalem via the ladder. Mohammed tied the mount in a location that are to have used the prophets before him, Robinson below the arch, on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. According to Islamic tradition, the already mentioned at- Tirmidhi († 892 ) in the exegesis of Sura 17 The one to the Archangel Gabriel with his fingers have drilled a hole in the stone, at the al - Buraq was tied. According to the geographer Ibn al -Faqih al - Hamadani ( lived in the 9th century ) this spot is seen at the "cornerstone of the eastern minaret ".

This stone is also mentioned in the two oldest plants on the merits of Jerusalem: Al- Mušarraf ibn al - Muraǧǧā al - Maqdisi in the middle of the 12th century and by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al - Wasiti († 1520) As in the old tradition versions Mohammed also told his dream, how he had come from the sanctuary in Mecca to Jerusalem. The stone should be the same as already mentioned by the Pilgrim of Bordeaux in 333 lapis pertusus.

In the course of excavations in the 1980s, such a cornerstone has been uncovered at the site described above.

After Muhammad ʿ two Rak as in the Mosque ( Masjid ) was praying, Gabriel went on with him ( ʿ araǧa BI) into the sky, where Mohammed at various stages of the sky met the Prophet and finally got the five daily prayers as a religious duty.

Isra and Mi ʾ ʿ rāǧ are sometimes used, despite the distinction between two legends as synonyms; al -Bukhari begins in his aforementioned " Sahih " the book Kitaab aṣ salad with the chapter: how are the prayers during the night journey ( Isra ʾ ) has been made mandatory? He then presents the Mi ʿ Raj legend that begins with the opening of Muhammad's chest, cleaning his heart and continues in the sky with the ascension of Kaaba Shrine.

Al -Isra ʾ and the distant place of worship

The assignable in the Koran starting point in Muhammad's ascension is, as already mentioned, the first verse of the 17th Sura in which a nocturnal journey from the sanctuary at Mecca to the " distant place of worship " is mentioned briefly. The verse is then connected in the tradition of literature and Koranic exegesis with the Ascension from Jerusalem.

In research there is on the definition and tracking of Quranic " distant place of worship " - al - Masjid al -Aqsa - different views. Bertram Schrieke assumed that the name in sura 17, verse 1 refers neither to the Temple Mount or the City of Jerusalem, but to a heavenly sanctuary. While Josef Horovitz himself joined this interpretation, represented A. Guillaume the view that mentioned in the question Quranic verse Night Journey of Muhammad in February 630, a secretly conducted minor pilgrimage ( ʿ umra ) from a place called " the distant place of worship " in the valley Chih ʿ Rana, 15 km north of Mecca, to Mecca and was back. Both M. Plessner and Rudi Paret have this interpretation not only rejected, but understood by the Qur'anic term " distant place of worship " Jerusalem. The Encyclopaedia of the Qur ʾ ān adequately consider all propositions: " the farthest place (Al-Aqsa " ) of prayer in heaven may have been in Jerusalem, or perhaps a mecca nearby place to be "

Al - Masjid al -Aqsa: The remote worship

A more precise definition of the Koranic " distant place of worship " is made possible by verse 7 of the same sura, in which the destruction of the Jewish Temple - Masjid called - is indicated by the enemies of the Jews:

"And if the threat from the last ( time ) comes true ( w. comes ), they are (ie the enemies ) you play bad ( w. your face bad do ) and the place of worship enter ( in Jerusalem), like the first time, and completely ruin ... "

The "New Jerusalem " as a Christian foundation, as has already Eusebius of Caesarea, probably will not, under the influence of the Book of Revelation 3:12, 21, 2, reference and its importance is underlined by the building of the Holy Sepulchre Church under Constantine I, arises near the destroyed Temple Mount, the al- Masjid than 7, ie, place of worship, is place of prostration, prayer called, in Sura 17, verse. Thus, the Qur'an has the Temple Mount as a sanctuary that is " appropriated " and made him the target of a visionary journey of Muhammad, who by now can compete in the circle of the biblical prophets, and - as mentioned above - done with them praying together. No special building, but the whole city is the sacred assembly; in the Koranic al - Masjid al -Aqsa an Islamized version of the earthly Jerusalem seems to go on living.

Also, the Qur'anic term " Aqsa " is always the description of a place on earth. In Sura 28, verse 20 and sura 30, 20 is of " a far distant area of the city " is mentioned; Sura 8, verse the " further side of the valley " and mentioned " distant side of the valley ." They relate to the topography (mapping ) of the battlefield of Badr. An indication of al -Aqsa should be based on a place in heaven, is not found in the Koran.

The continuation of the first verse " ... their surroundings we have blessed ... " refers to places in the Holy Land, and not just on the destroyed Temple Mount: Sura 7, verse 137: " And we gave the people that were suppressed (before), the eastern and western parts of the country (ie the country ) to inherit ( - that country ) which We had blessed " (ie, to the children of Israel ). In Sura 21, verse 71 it says similarly: "And we saved him and Lot to the land which We had blessed for the people around the world ."

Even the earliest Koranexegeten are of the opinion that the distant place of worship points to a sanctuary in Jerusalem. During the Qur'anic expression itself remains abstract and is the subject of a vision, the exegesis and tradition literature endeavors to locate the sanctuary. This is done from the standpoint of those generations of scholars, for the Jerusalem since its conquest in 638 was a term; they named the city with the Islamic name: Bait al - Maqdis.

This name stands for the city of Jerusalem in the entire Islamic literature:

Four cities are part of paradise: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ) and a town called Mansura ... * The Mount of Jerusalem, Jabal al - Maqdis has bait in front of the mountain Qāsiyūn at Damascus from the grace of God a priority.
In the Islamic eschatological literature several times by the destruction of Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ) is mentioned.
Abu Hafs al - Mauṣilī, a preacher of the Aqsa Mosque in the 13th century wrote a critical essay on hadiths that the merits of Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ), Dome of the Rock, Asqalan (now Ashkelon ) and Qazvin have on the subject.
In poetry it is called, among other holy places of Islam Bait al - Maqdis also: " And leave Medina, for it is to be feared, and you betakes Mecca or Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ). " And:
" O friend, I have made the pilgrimage, and Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ) attended."

It is worth mentioning that the oldest traditions mention any specific mosque in Jerusalem named al - Masjid al -Aqsa. This is consistent with the abstract meaning of the term in the Koran.

The Ascension in theology

In Islamic theology, the question is discussed whether the nocturnal journey in sleep or in the waking state was made and whether it was Muhammad's body or just his mind wandered. Ibn Hajar al - ʿ Asqalani leads with note on the different interpretations of the Assumption legend (mi ʿ Raj ) in the first chapter on the ritual prayer in al -Bukhari that this, as well as the nocturnal journey, took place in one and the same night, in the waking state ( Isra ʾ ). According to other views, as Ibn Hajar, were both traveling in his sleep either in the same or in different nights instead. He himself, as a commentator of al - Bukhari work is of the opinion that the night journey to Jerusalem took place in the waking state. The proof of this is the clear sense of the word of the Qur'an ( al -Qur ʾ ān Zahir ) and the fact that the Quraysh accused the prophets concerning his alleged night journey of lies. If the trip takes place during sleep as a dream, he concludes, the Quraysh, Mohammed could not have been accused of lying. Supporters of the Mu'tazilah have declared the Night Journey to Jerusalem as a dream; already al - Hasan al- Basri said to have Mu'tazilite reportedly hold this view.

A similar argument is also al-Tabari in his commentary on the Qur'an: the Koran is said that God caused his servant (bi - ʿ abdihi ) and not to travel his mind. In the latter case, the services of the miraculous Buraq would have been superfluous, since Mounts body and no ghosts wear. Had Mohammed not physically ascended into heaven, the event would provide no proof of his divine mission.

Belief in the Ascension of Mohammed is part of Islamic dogma. Abū ʾ l - Ḥasan al - Aš ʿ arī († 935 ) mentions it in his account of the " Broad view of the tradition believer and Sunnatreuen " as follows: " they believe in ... the ascension ( of the Prophet, the dream in their sleep ... " then " the Ascension of the Prophet in awake, in his person to the sky ( and ) to the ( celestial ) heights: on - Nasafī († 1142 ), one of the most important legal scholars of the Hanafi his time, states in his confession of faith ( ʿ Aqida ) fixed to which Allah wanted is the truth. "

The Shiite version of the Assumption

After Shia considers the Koranic " distant place of worship " (al- Masjid al -Aqsa ) not in Jerusalem (bayt al - Maqdis ), but in heaven. As far as documented in writing, the first Shiite interpretation of Muhammad's ascension to the ibaditischen Koranexegeten Hūd ibn al - Muḥakkam Huwwārī from the 2nd half of the 9th century goes back. In his four-volume work of Tafseer - author references the Mi ʿ rāǧ legend, ie the Assumption of Mecca in the sky, on the back of the white steed al - Buraq, accompanied by Gabriel. In a variant of the motif to the circuit will be included in the comment. The aim of the trip is - according to Sura 17, verse 1 - always " bayt al - Maqdis " in heaven.

Some time later the Qur'an exegesis of the Shiite scholar Abū al - ʿ n- Nadr Ayyāšī arose ( † against 932) from Samarkand, whose work also knew Ibn an- Nadim. In the exegesis of Sura 17, verse 1, the sixth Imam Dascha ʿ far al-Sadiq († 765) is said to have confirmed that the was " distant place of worship ", climbed to Mohammed, is located in the sky. To the objection of his audience, the Koranic " distant place of worship " but was Jerusalem (Bait al - Maqdis ), he replied: " the mosque of Kufa is better". A similar opinion has represented Muhammad ibn ʿ Alī al - Baqir († 732): the Prophet had ascended directly into heaven from the Kaaba shrine; the area between these two points is sacred territory ( Haram ).

Their heyday was the Mi ʿ rāǧ literature Shiite coinage in the epoch of the Safavids with numerous ornate Miniatüren about the ascension of Muhammad from Mecca to both as well as from Jerusalem to paradise.

The Ascension in Islamic literature

The Ascension of legends, as shown above, handed down in the literary genres of the hadith, the Prophet's biography, the Prophet legends ( Qisas al - Anbiya ʾ ) and in works that summarizes one under the title "evidence of prophecy " ( DALA ʾ il on - nubuwwa ).

Under the influence of the Assumption Legend is a tradition, which focuses on the well-known scholar of the Umayyad, Ibn Shihab az- Zuhri († 742), stands. The aforementioned al - Wasiti reports in his fada ʾ il al - Bayt al - Muqaddas ( The merits of Jerusalem) on az- Zuhrīs visit the holy places of Jerusalem, where he met a sheikh who " from the writings of " the advantages of the city handed. After the recitation of Sura 17, verse 1 by az- Zuhri said the sheikh. " The Day of Resurrection will only occur when Muhammad bones to Jerusalem to be transferred " under the "Writings " (al- kutub ) understands the tradition literature books of the Jews and Christians, the Ahl al - kitāb.

Monographic treatises have been available since the late 8th century. The oldest Kitaab al -mi ʿ rāǧ wrote HISAM ibn al - Sālim Ǧawālikī ( † before 799 ), a Shiite theologian in Kufa. The work is preserved in the later writings of the Shia.

The Qairawāner scholar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Abū Ǧa ʿ far al - Qaṣrī († 933-934 ) devoted in his Kitāb al -Mu ʿ ǧizāt " The Book of Wonders ", which was read in the 11th century in scholarly circles of the city and is preserved in manuscript fragments, a portion of the Isra ʾ legend.

The little-known Abū ʾ l - Ḥasan al - Bakri, Aḥmad ibn ʿ Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, who probably died after 950, or until the 13th century, wrote a hadith al -Mi ʿ rāǧ ʿ alā ʾ t- Tamam wa - ʾ l - Kamāl " The report on the Assumption, perfect and complete " in some manuscripts, some dating back to 1295, is present. The author was especially popular for his works on the history of the Prophet bekannt.adh - Dhahabi († 1348 ) is the first scholarly biographer in Islamic literature, of him - but with contemptuous remarks - is called; he was said to be a liar, worse than Musailima, the famous " false prophet " and opponents of Muhammad. His books you submitted on the markets of booksellers. al - Bakri mentions at the beginning of his folksy designed narrative his sources: the author of the biography of the Prophet Ibn Ishaq, the Koranexegeten Muqatil ibn Sulaiman, the genealogist and historian Muhammad ibn as- Sā ʾ ib al - Kalbi († 763 ) and his son Ibn al - Kalbi ( † against 819). At the end of the work he adds the name of Wahb ibn Munabbih († 728 or 732), who was known primarily through his prophets stories in Islamic historiography. This processing of the Assumption legend, in a manuscript of the Suleymaniye Kütüphanesi (library ) in Istanbul comprises 42 folios, is in the first person, with Muhammad as Narrator, drafted in bait in dialogue with the prophets, angels and with God his experiences related by al - Maqdis or in the seven stations in the sky.

Al - Bakri's narrative art is characterized not only by the literary processing and content to expand the known traditions of the mi ʿ rāǧ and Isra ʾ legend from. He processed his subject on several occasions also Quranic verses and bring them directly to the Assumption legend in context. This allows it to Gabriel speaking to Mohammed: "Your Lord, it comes over neither fatigue nor sleep ( Sura 2, verse 255), will speak softly to you." In the description of hell Qur'anic terms are updated: the fate of Stichler and whiners will in al - Hutama, it is the fire of God (Sura 104, Verse 4-8) that is kindled in hell determined. In the third heaven of the prophet shall speak: Say: He is God, One and Only (Sura 112, Verse 1). In the fifth heaven him Idris is presented; he is one day to a high place where (Sura 19, verse 57) been. Gabriel said to the Prophet Muhammad, it is difficult for me to stay behind you and it is not one of us who does not have a certain rank ( sura 37, verse 164 ) ( one day? ). At the sight of Israfil Mohammed saw that the wohlbewahrte panel (Sura 85, verse 22) - that is, the Koran - hung down between his eyes. On the question of God: " Does the Messenger in what has been sent down to him from his Lord," replied Mohammed: The Prophet ( God ) believes in what has been sent down ( a revelation ) to him from his Lord, and ( with him) the believers ... etc. ( Sura 2, verse 185 ) on another question of God: " Do you see me," replied Mohammed, "My Lord, I am blinded by the light of your majesty. " He asked (God) further: "Have you found me " I said, " no one will find you and no one can see you. The looks ( the people ) do not reach ( Sura 6, verse 103) you. You are the king and powerful. "

Al - Bakri is in his presentation on Muhammad's struggle with the infidel Meccans and launched in his dialogue with God relevant Quranic verses that are missing in the other Ascension legends. "Your people say of you, ' verily, he is a poet '. Then I spoke to you: And we have not taught him (ie Muhammad ) poetry. The it is not present. " ( Sura 36, verse 69). And " your people say, 'You 're obsessed '. Then I spoke to you: Your compatriot (ie Muhammad ) is not possessed " (Sura 81, verse 22).. And: " Muhammad, your people say of you: ' he is misguided and is in error '. Then I spoke to you: By the star when it falls ( as a falling star from the sky? ) (Or: In the constellation ( the Pleiades ), if he goes down? )! Your country man (ie Muhammad ) is not misguided and is not in error. "

The mystic ʿ Abd al - Karīm ibn Hawazin, Abū ʾ l - Qāsim al - Qušairī (* 989, † 1072 ) from Nishapur examined in his Kitaab al -mi ʿ rāǧ the known traditions of the Assumption legend and also represents those Ascension visions is that one in Islamic mysticism the Sufi saint attributes. He also discusses the Ascension of other prophets: Idris ( Enoch ), Ibrahim, Elijah ( Ilyās ), Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus) and Moses. In this book the mi ʿ rāǧ and Isra ʾ legend is linked aware of each other: the Ascension takes place via a ladder whose steps are described in detail, from the bayt al - Maqdis from which the author - such as Ibn Ishaq in his biography of the Prophet - Iliya, di Aelia calls. Some motifs in the representation are under the influence of Shiite traditions, which is likely to have come to know in his home of author.

An Eastern Turkish version of the Mi ʿ rāǧnāme, whose author is unknown, is in a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and is apparently back on Persian models. It has been 1436 in calligraphic Timurid Herat and contains numerous miniatures out of hand by various masters that have been inserted into the text in Uighur script. On the side edges of the leaves are observations and comments in Arabic script by a later hand. The main character is always Mohammed, accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel on a menschengesichtigen mount, the Buraq, riding through paradise and hell. The miniatures of the manuscript represent the culmination of the Timurid book painting in the school of Herat dar. After several editions of the manuscript since 1889 is now a new edition of the same before in transcription, German translation and commentary since 2008, the one in the Manuscript Library of Süleimānīya (Istanbul ) discovered a copy of the work was also considered. The Miniatüren have been published by Marie-Rose Séguy in a facsimile edition.

Rāǧnāme Perhaps under the influence of timurudischen Mi ʿ and in the tradition of which are standing nine miniatures from the reign of the last Ilchanenherrschers Abū Sa ʿ īd governed obtained, which were originally produced as illustrations for a closer not known book in Tabriz 1316-1335. The leaves are now cataloged in the library of the Topkapı Palace. On one of the first images, the artist Mohammed on the Rock Dome of the Rock sitting in the company of former prophets represents the point in the artistic representation thus the starting point of the Ascension.

Another version of Muhammad's ascension from Mecca to heaven - not as his " night journey " to Jerusalem - also has the Egyptian mystics ʿ Abd al - ibn Aḥmad al- Wahhāb damage ʿ Rani († 1565) written. He devotes the 34th chapter of his work on the Islamic doctrine of the Ascension of the Prophet: "On the reality of the nocturnal ascension of the Prophet and their accompanying circumstances; about it that he ( raptured into heaven ), only that idea of God, which is the subject of his knowledge was on earth, was confirmed through the intuition, and above that those his mind firmly imprinted idea while he was on earth, suffered no change. "

The Ascension of legend in Europe

As in the Islamic Orient of the 13th century there were several traditions variations and representations of Muhammad's ascension into circulation, reached the Kitāb al -mi ʿ rāǧ an anonymous in Arabic to Europe. It is under the title Liber Scalae Machometi ( " The Book on the head of Muhammad " ) become known.

Peter the Venerable (* 1094, † 1156 ), abbot of the monastery of Cluny was, during his trip to Spain in the School of Translators of Toledo, the first Qur'an translation into Latin in order, then Robert of Ketton († around 1160 ) in 1143 concerned. A closer identifiable Arab named Mohammed said to have been involved in the translation. This translation added in Peter the Venerable other texts polemical nature against the Islamic teachings, which are known as the Collectio Toletama ( Corpus Toletanum ). One of the copies of the collection was supplemented hundred years later, with the Latin translation of the Kitāb al -mi ʿ rāǧ the Arab anonymous.

The Lost Arabic original is in the circle of scholars of Alfonso X (Castile ), the Wise (El Sabio ) ( ruled between 1252-1282 ), the Jewish doctor Abraham al - Faquim, Ibn Wakal, († 1284) also in the School of Translators of Toledo initially been translated under the title La escala de Mahoma the old Spanish. His work was the basis for the Latin and Old French translation of the book by Bonaventura de Siena against 1264, which were discovered by Italian medievalist Enrico Cerulli. The Latin version in German, and the Old French version, this according to the manuscript of the Bodleian Library ( Oxford), in English translation, are now in press. The Arabic original and its old Spanish translation are not obtained by the present state of research; the latter is today only a fragmentary extract in the Handschriftenbiblothek of Escorial. The Latin translation has been in many places written in terms of occidental Christian language use: the biblical names that are also common in Islam, then appear in the corresponding Form: Gabriel instead of Arabic: Jibril, Abraham, instead of Arabic: Ibrahim, Moyses (Moses) instead of Arabic: Musa etc. Mistakenly is also noted in this context that the name Muhammad in the Latin text is as propheta also seen in this " embedded in the Christian tradition ", as Mohammed in Islam always as an envoy of God ( Rasūl ), never regard is described as a prophet ( nabī ). It should be noted that in the chronicle of Zuqnin - probably from the late 8th century - documented in the " Corpus Christianorum Scriptorum Orientalium ", the name of Muhammad as a prophet was known in circles oriental Christians themselves:

" Since he ( Mohammed ) to them (the Arabs ) the only God described and they (the Arabs ) defeated the Byzantines under his leadership, and he gave them laws according to their desires, they call him a prophet ' ( nbîyâ ) and, Envoy ' ( Rasula ) of God. "

Text comparisons between the Liber Scalae and the above-mentioned narrative variant of al - Bakri - from a manuscript whose origin is also dated to the 13th century - gave each other an unambiguous relationship between the two texts. Also in Liber Scalae is the legend in the first person, with Muhammad as Narrator says. The opening of Muhammad's chest and the purification of his heart that mentions al - Bakri in line with the earlier stages of development of the legend is missing in the work of Anonymous. For this eschatological character are preserved in the latter extensive games, which are then not at al - Bakri. It is assumed that the Liber Scalae is a literary product, which have been evaluated several variants of Islamic tradition literature, including al - Bakri's work. Key experiences of Muhammad, his encounter with God, will talk of Anonymus, according to the ancient tradition stock: the transfer of knowledge that distinguishes the prophet from the other people, done by the touch of the principal by the hand of God. Here Mohammed sees not God himself, but only his throne and takes the entire Quran in reception.

The Ascension of legend and Dante

End of the 19th century discovered the British orientalist Reynold Alleyne Nicholson " epistle of forgiveness " ( Risalat al - ġufrān ) Syrian poet Abū l - ʿ ʾ al - Ma ʿ Alā Arri († 1057 ). The first eschatological part has a journey through the realms of the afterlife on the topic and has striking similarities with the written 1307-1320 Commedia of Dante Alighieri. The Spanish Orientalist Miguel Asin Palacios has the potential relationship between these works first investigated at the beginning of the 20th century in his study La Escatologia Musulmana en la Divina Commedia (1919), which met with but in circles of European Romanists to strong opposition. They were not willing to accept a possible influence of Dante by Islamic role models, although Palacios had managed to demonstrate parallels between the Commedia and the different versions of known now Islamic Ascension legends.

After the discovery of the Latin translation of the above Liber Scalae Machometi by Bonaventura de Siena ( 1264 ), several researchers took to Palacios - as the Italian Enrico Cerulli - that Dante might have had knowledge of this translation. Dante as an enemy of Islam with its negative depictions of Muhammad ʿ Alī ibn Abi Talib and and their agony followed in his work a polemical oriented inspiration. While the poet al - Ma ʿ arri, whose work at the time of Dante in Europe was not known, could directly draw on Islamic thought in the well-known in his time variations of the Assumption legend, Dante served a comparable version, apparently the Liber Scalae Machometi, in Latin translation. The motives of both sources are comparable.

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