And when they had denied the Isra' with a denial that had not occurred to them in anything else, He increased in affirming it in a way that encompasses others. He said: ﴿Indeed, he saw﴾ meaning he perceived due to what We had prepared for him from the Prophethood, a perception that reaches the innermost being, not limited to the outward appearances. ﴿Of the signs of his Lord﴾ meaning the Benefactor towards him with what no one has reached before him nor will anyone reach after him. Whoever claims that is a disbeliever. ﴿The greatest﴾ among that is what he saw in the heavens of the Prophets upon him and upon them be blessings and peace, indicating everything to a delicate, majestic matter and a noble state. Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Suhaili said in al-Rawd al-Anif: What I say regarding this is that the source of understanding it is from the knowledge of interpretation, for it is from the knowledge of Prophethood. The people of interpretation say: Whoever sees a Prophet with his own eyes in a dream, then his vision indicates what resembles the state of that Prophet in hardship or ease or other matters that have been reported about the Prophets in the Qur'an and Hadith. The Hadith of Isra' took place in Mecca, and Mecca is the Sanctuary of Allah and His security, and its inhabitants are the neighbors of Allah because it contains His House. The first one ﷺ whom he saw of the Prophets upon them be blessings and peace was Adam upon him be blessings and peace, who was in the security of Allah and His neighborhood. But Iblis, his enemy, expelled him from it. This story resembles the first state of the Prophet ﷺ when his enemies expelled him from the Sanctuary of Allah and the neighborhood of His House. That distressed him and saddened him, and his story in this is similar to the story of Adam upon him be blessings and peace, although Adam's spirits of his offspring, both the righteous and the wicked among them, were presented to him. He was in the lower heavens where he could see the two groups because the spirits of the people of misery do not enter the heavens, nor are its doors opened for them, as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said. Then he saw in the second [heaven] Jesus and John upon them be blessings and peace, who were tested by the Jews. As for Jesus upon him be peace, the Jews denied him and harmed him, and they intended to kill him, so Allah raised him to Him. As for John upon him be peace, they killed him. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after his migration to Medina entered a second state of trial, and his trial in it was with the Jews who harmed him and supported one another against him and intended to throw a stone at him to kill him, but Allah saved him as He saved Jesus upon him be peace from them. Then they poisoned him in the sheep, and that morsel continued to afflict him until it severed his aorta, as he said at the time of death. And thus they did with the two cousins, John and Jesus, because the mother of John was a supporter of the daughter of Imran, the sister of Maryam bint Imran, their mother, who is Paradise. And as for his meeting with Joseph upon him be peace in the third heaven, it indicates a third state resembling the state of Joseph upon him be peace, for Joseph was reunited with his brothers after they had expelled him from among them, and he forgave them and said: ﴿No blame will there be upon you today; Allah will forgive you﴾ [Yusuf: 92] the verse. Likewise, our Prophet ﷺ captured a number of his relatives who had expelled him, among them his uncle Abbas and his cousin Aqil. Some of them he released, and some he accepted their ransom. Then he appeared over them after that in the Year of the Conquest and gathered them and said to them: 'I say what my brother Joseph said: ﴿No blame will there be upon you today﴾ [Yusuf: 92].' Then his meeting with Idris upon him be peace in the fourth heaven is the place that Allah called a high place. Idris was the first one to whom Allah gave the writing with the pen, and that indicated the fourth state, which is the elevation of his status upon him be peace until he frightened the kings and wrote to them calling them to obey him until Abu Sufyan said while he was with the king of Rome when the Prophet's letters came to him and he saw what he saw of Heraclius's fear: 'The matter of the son of Abu Kabsha has become such that the king of the Byzantines fears him.' And it was written about him with the pen to all the kings of the earth. Among them are those who followed him in his religion, like the Negus and the king of the Ammonites, and among them are those who made peace with him and gifted him, like Heraclius and the Muqawqis, and among them are those who rebelled against him, so Allah gave him victory over them. This is a high station, and a writing with the pen like what was given to Idris upon him be peace. And his meeting with Aaron upon him be peace in the fifth heaven, who is beloved among his people, indicates the love of Quraysh and all the Arabs for him after their hatred of him. And his meeting with Moses upon him be peace in the sixth heaven indicates a state resembling the state of Moses upon him be peace when he was commanded to invade Syria. He appeared over the tyrants who were in it and brought the Children of Israel into the city from which they had exited after the destruction of their enemy. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ invaded Tabuk from the land of Syria and appeared over the one in Dumat al-Jandal until he made peace with him for the jizya after he brought him as a captive, and he conquered Mecca and entered his companions into the city from which they had exited. Then his meeting with Abraham upon him be peace in the seventh heaven is for two reasons: one is that he saw him at the Bayt al-Ma'mur leaning against it, and the Bayt al-Ma'mur is the mountains of Mecca, and to it the angels perform Hajj just as Abraham upon him be peace is the one who built the Kaaba and called the people to Hajj to it. The second wisdom is that the last of the states of the Prophet ﷺ was his Hajj to the Sacred House, and in that year about seventy thousand Muslims performed Hajj with him. And the vision of Abraham upon him be peace among the people of interpretation indicates Hajj because he is the one who called to it and raised the foundations of the Kaaba that is visited. - End. And this station is the Isra' and what branched from it leading to the highest level of the pure monotheism, for He, glorified is He, made its title the barrier between Islam and polytheism, which is the prayer that encompasses the meanings of the comprehensive religion and all blessings by being made fifty, encompassing all the voids. Then it was reduced to five, far less than the powers, and then He arranged for it the reward of the fifty and raised each of the congregational prayers to twenty-seven prayers and preferred the two prayers at the ends: the two-unit dawn prayer and the four-unit afternoon prayer by the testimony of the two groups of angels and their writing in the record of each of the two congregations. Hamza al-Kirmani said in his compendium of tafsir: 'He was taken on the night of Rabi' al-Awwal before the Hijrah from the house of Umm Hani, may Allah be pleased with her.' Then he narrated the Hadith of Isra' in a very strange and lengthy manner.