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

This book provides an exhaustive examination of the historical development of a key story in the life of Muhammad, the tale told of his journey to the divine realm and back. It shows how in the early centuries of the Islamic community, both Sunni and Shi'i Muslims appropriated this fascinating story and interpreted it to suit their own ends. In particular, the book traces the development of a critical and influential strand of this rich ascension literature ascribed to one of Muhammad's famous companions, the scholar known as Ibn 'Abbas. Frederick S. Colby demonstrates that this version of the tale originated in the early period and spread throughout the Islamic world, affecting how people from Spain to Afghanistan came to think about Muhammad and his legacy. Colby also includes translations of richly textured ascension narratives that have never before appeared in English.

"The author's tracing and analysis of the historical permutations and reinvestments of this version of the narrative are based on an impressive array of sources, and demonstrate his mastery of the Islamic textual tradition in a happy marriage with theoretical considerations in religious studies, especially those concerning orality, orthodoxy, and textual permutation . . . The excellent translations of an early version of the Ibn 'Abbas narrative and a later influential version attributed to Abu-l Hassan Bakri are real gems." - CHOICE

"Muhammad's heavenly ascension is without doubt one of the most central topoi in Islamic thought, practice, and piety, and as a superb historical analysis of its development through the prism of Ibn 'Abbas's recension, this book fills a major void in scholarship. Equallysignificant is the work's methodological sophistication, which makes it a clear model in the study of major themes in Islamic religious history." - Ahmet T. Karamustafa, author of Sufism: The Formative Period

"This is a very important subject that will be of interest to all serious students of premodern Islam." - Marion Holmes Katz, author of Body of Text: The Emergence of the Sunni Law of Ritual Purity