Note 130 — Chapter XI

The ascent of Muhammed to Heaven has been mentioned (vol. II. p. 339). The prophet gave no explicit account of it in the Koran, yet traditions of what he himself had related of it, although not without various versions, are preserved, and believed with equal faith as the verses of the sacred book themselves, in which frequent allusions occur to the circumstances and events of which Muhammed’s voyage to Heaven is composed. These, indeed, however absurd they may appear to unbelievers, contain the fundamentals of the Muhammedan mysticism. On account of this importance, I shall add to the notice given above, by Avisenna, some particulars contained in the narration published from original sources by the Baron of Hammer Purgstal Gemäldesaal moslimischer Heersher. IIIter Band. 1837, Seite 81, etc.)