Question) With respect to the incident of Al-Isra-wal-Miraj, there is a narration from Ummul Mumineen Aisha (رضي الله عنها) saying: “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul”, what is the authenticity of this narration?
Answer:
All Praises and Thanks be to Allah.
This narration has been narrated by Muhammad bin Ishaq who said: “It has been narrated to be from some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (family of Abu Bakr) that Aisha said: “”I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul” “.
Also refer to As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah of Ibn Hisham (2/46).
Also from the route of Ibn Jareer At-Tabari in his Tafseer (14/445, 22175), and was also mentioned by Qadhi Iyadh in As-Shifa (1/147).
And this is a weak narration not proven from Aisha and some of the Ulama (scholars) ruled it as being Mawdu (fabricated).
As Shaikh Al-Aluwwi As-Saqqaf said in his Takhreej Al-Ahadith Adh-Dhalal (p.229):”Daif (A weak narration), narrated by Ibn Ishaq with a Munqati (broken) chain”. End quote.
And similarly it was narrated from Muawiyah and it was declared weak by Al-Albani, as he weakened the narration of Aisha and said :”Such is not authentically proven from both of them.” End quote from ‘Checking of Sharh Aqeedah At-Tahawiyyah'(p.246).
And Shaikh Muhammad Rasheed Ridha said: ” And (it may be such that) you found two narrations from Aisha and Muwaiyah, that they both understood that Al-Isra-wal-Merah did not occur by the blessed body of the Messenger ﷺ and from them both are two narrations which are not needed (required) by the people of knowledge in Hadith, and it was narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his Seerah, and he said,”It has been narrated to be from some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (family of Abu Bakr) that Aisha said: “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul””(End of Ibn Ishaq’s statement), and verily these two narrations are weak and they don’t have authentic chains, and I (Rasheed Ridha) searched for a discussion on them and I didn’t find a chain for them othen than those narrated by Ibn Ishaq.
As for the narration of narration of Muawiya, it is Munqati (broken in chain), because the narrator Yaqub bin Utbah bin Al-Mugheera bin Al-Akhnas did not meet any Sahabi (Companion) and he only narrated from the Tabain (successors of the Sahaba), and he died in 128H, and Muawiyah died in 60H.
And the Hadith(narration) of Aisha is as you’ve seen, there is no chain for it, as for the statement of Ibn Ishaq that: ” It has been narrated to me by some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (people of the family of Abu Bakr)”, this shows ambiguity on behalf of the narrator, as he (Ibn Ishaq) doesn’t know who narrated to him from them (Aal-Abi Bakr).Was he (the narrator) trustworthy or not? And did he (the narrator) meet Aisha or not?
And thus both narrations are of Munqati (broken) chains, with unknown narrators, and the people of knowledge do not need such Ahadith!
End quote from Majallah Al-Manar (49/14) from Ash-Shamela (software).
And there is a variation in the wordings of the narration of Ibn Ishaq, in some of them (we find), ‘Ma Faqadtu’, with Ta Mutakallim, which means ‘I never found (the Prophet ﷺ absent)’, and in some narrations of Ibn Ishaq (we find), ‘Ma Fuqida’, in the F’al Majhul, which means ‘Never was the body of the Prophet ﷺ found absent’.
If the first version of wordings is considered then it is clear that it (the narration) is a plain lie and false speech ,because Al-Isra-wal-Meraj happened before the Hijrah (Migration to Madinah), and the Prophet ﷺ consumated his marriage with Aisha after his migrantion to Madinah, so how can Aisha (supposedly) claim that, “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent”!?
Similarly Salihi Rahimahullah in his Sabeel-ul-Huda War-Rashad (3/101) says: “In the manuscript of Seerah (Ibn Ishaq) I saw ‘Ma Fuqida (Fa’l Majhul)’ only, but in Qadhi Iyadh’s book Ash-Shifa I saw ‘Ma Fuqidtu’, i.e. Ta Mutakallim.” End quote.
After this Salihi (3/103) says: “With regards to the Athar (narration) attributed to Aisha about Al-Isra, there is not a single chain about it that reaches the level required to become a proof, and with respect to the chain that is available, it is broken and has unknown(Majhul) narrators, as I’ve mentioned before.”
Also Abu Khattab bin Dahiya mentions in his book ‘At-Tanveer’ that: “This Hadith is fabricated”.
Similarly he has mentioned in his summarized book ‘Minhaj’ that: “The Imam of the Fuqaha of the Shafii Madhab Imam Qadhi Abu Abbas Sareej says: “This narration is not authentic, actually this Athar (Narration) has been fabricated only so that it opposes the authentic Ahadith” “.
End of Shaikh Salihi’s Quote.
Imam ibn Abdil Barr Rahimahullah said:
” And (the saying that) Aisha (رضي الله عنها) rejected that Al-Isra didn’t occur by the body (of the Prophet ﷺ): It is not authentically reported from her and not proven to be her statement (it was reported that she said), “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul”, and like some narrated from her, “The Prophet’s ﷺ body wasn’t found absent on that night(of Al-Isra-wal-Meraj)”,and this statement is a clear lie, because Aisha was not with the Prophet ﷺ when Al-Isra occurred, but she joined him after many years in Al-Madinah”. End quote from Al-Ajwibah Al-Mustaw’abah Anil-Masail Al-Mustaghribah of Ibn Abdil Barr, Dar Ibn Affan Publishers,(134-135).
Al-Isra, the night journey of the Prophet ﷺ occured by his soul and body as is mentioned in the Fatawa no: 84314.
(https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/84314/الرد-على-من-زعم-ان-الاسراء-والمعراج-خرافة)
End of the Fatwa from islamqa.info
[The question above was posed to islamqa.info, the website run by Shaikh Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid Hafidhahullah, and the answer was only available in the Arabic language. It has been translated into the English language for the benefit of sincere students of The Seerah of The Prophet ﷺ and his Sahaba (رضي الله عنهم). Any mistakes in the translation are to be attributed to the translator alone,and rectifications in this regard will be highly appreciated, Barakallahufeekum.]
-Translated by Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna,
16th Rabi-ul-Akhir 1440
Original Arabic Source:
Saheehus-Seerah 