Multiple of Accounts on the Mi’raj

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Muhammad ibn Yusuf asw-Swalihi ash-Shami’ (r.a.), in his great book, al-Isra’ wa al-Mi’raj, wrote, “Know that each of the hadits of the companions on this subject contains what the other does not.  Therefore, we consulted Allah (s.w.t.) and concatenated them, thus rearranging the account into a single text so that it would be sweeter to attentive ears and in order for its benefit to suit all occasions. 

If someone says, ‘Each hadits of the Mi’raj differs from the next, and the Ascensions may number according to the number of their accounts: why then did you make all of them into a single account?’ 

I say, as the author of Zad al-Ma’ad,” referring to Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (r.a.), “said, ‘This is the path of the feeble-minded among the literalists of the Zhahiri school who are authorities in transmitted texts.  If they see in the account a wording that differs from the version of one of the narrators, they multiply the occurrence of the event accordingly.  The correct view is what the a’immah of text transmission have said: namely, that the Mi’raj took place once, in Makkah, after the beginning of prophethood.  It is a wonder how these have claimed that it took place repeatedly.  How can they countenance the conclusion that every time, fifty prayers are prescribed upon him then he goes back and forth between Musa and his Lord until they become five, and his Lord Says, ‘I have Decreed what is due Me and have reduced the burden of My slaves,’ only for him to come a second time with fifty prayers which he decreases again, ten by ten?’’”