Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn Abbas Ascension Discourse

by Colby, Frederick S.

• ISBN13: 9780791475188
• ISBN10: 0791475182
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780791477885
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr
• More Book Details

Summary

Discusses the historical development of the well-loved story of the Prophet Muhammad's night journey to the divine realm and back again.

Author Biography

Frederick S. Colby is Associate Professor of Comparative Religion at Miami University in Ohio. He edited and translated The Subtleties of the Ascension: Early Mystical Sayings on Muhammad's Heavenly Journey, by the famous mystic Abu al -Rahman al-Sulami.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Muhammad's Night Journey in the Quran	p. 13
The Night Journey Verse	p. 13
Verses from the Chapter of the Overturning	p. 16
The Opening Verses of the Chapter of the Star	p. 17
The Appropriation of Terms and Phrases from the Quran	p. 21
The Heavenly Host Debate	p. 22
The Final Verses (Seals) of the Chapter of the Cow	p. 23
Passing References to the Ascension in the Quran	p. 24
Orality and the Primitive Version of the Ibn Abbas Ascension Narrative	p. 29
Approaching Ibn cAbb&abar;s and the Primitive Version	p. 30
Comparatively Analyzing the Primitive Version	p. 35
Authenticating and Dating the Circulation of the Primitive Version	p. 42
Echoes of Muqatil b. Sulayman's Commentary in the Primitive Version	p. 46
Tracing the Beginnings of the Primitive Version	p. 48
Early Historical Descriptions of Muhammad's Journey	p. 51
From Qur&abar;n and Oral Reports to Early Narrative History: Ibn Ish&abar;q	p. 51
Ibn Ish&abar;q's Account of the Prophet's Night Journey as Narrated by Ibn Hisham	p. 53
Ibn Ish&abar;q's Account of the Heavenly Journey as Narrated by Ibn Hish&abar;m	p. 55
The Early Ascension Narrative as Presented in Ibn Sacd's History	p. 57
The Night Journey as Narrated by Ibn Sacd	p. 59
Proto-Sh&ibar;c&ibar; Narratives of Heavenly Ascent	p. 65
The Ascension Experiences of Proto-Sh&ibar;c&ibar; "Extremists"	p. 65
Ascension-related Sayings in Saff&abar;r Qumm&ibar;'s Collection	p. 67
The Qur&abar;n Commentary of Fur&abar;t K&ubar;fi	p. 72
Canonical Sunn&ibar; Had&ibar;th Reports on Muhammad's Journey	p. 79
Night Journey and Ascension Hadith Reports in Bukh&abar;r&ibar; and Muslim	p. 81
Had&ibar;th Reports from the Collection of Nas&abar;c&ibar;	p. 85
Had&ibar;th Reports from the Collection of Tirmidh&ibar;	p. 87
The Use and Appropriation of the Ibn cAbb&abar;s Discourse in Commentaries	p. 93
Night Journey and Ascension Accounts in Tabar&ibar;'s Tafs&ibar;r	p. 93
The Ab&ubar; Hurayra Ascension Narrative from Tabar&ibar;'s Tafs&ibar;r	p. 96
The Ab&ubar; Said Khudr&ibar; Ascension Narrative from Tabar&ibar;'s Tafs&ibar;r	p. 101
The Appropriation of the Primitive Version in Other Early Commentaries	p. 104
The Use of the Primitive Version in cAl&ibar; Qumm&ibar;'s Tafs&ibar;r	p. 105
The Use of the Primitive Version in Thaclab&ibar;'s Tafs&ibar;r	p. 108
Contesting the Primitive Version in Nishapur	p. 113
Ibn Hibb&abar;n's Rejection of the Primitive Version	p. 114
Sulam&ibar; and His Compilation of Sufi Sayings on Muhammad's Ascension	p. 115
Qushayr&ibar; and His Kit&abar;b al-micr&abar;j	p. 116
The Extended Cosmological Ascension Had&ibar;th	p. 118
Bayhaq&ibar;'s Rejection of the Extended Ascension Narratives	p. 123
Bakr&ibar;'s Total and Complete Ibn cAbb&abar;s Discourse	p. 127
The Events Prior to the Night Journey in Texts That Invoke Bakr&ibar;	p. 129
Muhammad's Night Journey to Jerusalem in Texts That Invoke Bakr&ibar;	p. 133
Bakr&ibar; Versions of Muhammad's Journey through the Heavens	p. 136
Muhammad's Journey beyond the Seven Heavens in Bakr&ibar; Texts	p. 141
Dating the Ascension Narratives Ascribed to Ab&ubar; al-Hasan Bakr&ibar;	p. 145
The Circulation and Diffusion of Bakr&ibar;'s Versions	p. 149
The Base Narrative behind Ibn S&ibar;n&abar;'s Allegorical Treatise	p. 150
Evidence from Sixth/Twelfth-century North Africa	p. 154
Liber Scale and the Diffusion of the Bakr&ibar; Versions in the Seventh/Thirteenth Century	p. 156
An Anonymous Eastern Persian Micr&abar;jn&abar;ma	p. 158
Conclusion	p. 165
Translation of the Primitive Version	p. 175
Bakr&ibar;'s "Total and Complete" Ascension	p. 195
Glossary: Key Themes and Tropes in the Ibn cAbb&abar;s Ascension Narratives	p. 235
Notes	p. 241
Works Cited	p. 295
Index	p. 305
Index of Qurc&abar;nic Verses	p. 313
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