Continued from HERE and HERE with Muhammad's description of his Night Journey from Humphrey Prideaux's Life of Mohamet. Keep in mind that Muhammad fabricated his Night Journey (Mi'raj in Arabic) which has no transcendent imagery whatsoever. (The next two posts in the series are HERE and HERE.)
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| Why did Muhammad need to fly to Jerusalem? He could have gone to heaven from Mecca. |
"From the first heaven Muhammad said he ascended up into the second heaven which was a distance of five hundred years journey above the first. He determines this to be the distance of each of the seven heavens above the other. As in the first heaven the gates were opened for him, where at the entrance he met Noah who greatly rejoiced at the sight of Muhammad and asked Muhammad to pray for him. In this heaven, which was made of pure gold, Muhammad tells us he saw twice as many angels as in the former and among them one of such an extraordinary size that while standing in the second heaven, his head reached into the third.
"From the second heaven Muhammad ascended upwards into the third which was made of precious stones. At the entrance he met Abraham who also asked Muhammad to pray for him. In this third heaven Muhammad said he saw vastly more angels than in the second heaven and among them another large angel of such phenomenal size that the distance between his two eyes was seventy thousand days’ journey, according to our rate of traveling here on earth.
