The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

This may well be the purpose of 'A'isha, "mother of the believers", God bless
her, as well as of those who agreed with her, and not what Ibn Ishaq understood,
which is that thereby they all implied that he was asleep. But God knows best.
I observe that we do not deny the occurrence of sleep visions before the experience
of the night journey, as happened thereafter. For whenever he had
visions they came (clearly) like the breaking of dawn. The hadith dealing with the
beginnings of revelation contained material to this effect. In such cases, what he
saw when awake happen to him he had previously seen when asleep. That prior
vision had been for the purpose of laying the foundation, making an introductory
step, and giving him a sense of security and ease. But God knows best.
There is also disagreement among scholars over whether the night journey
and the ascent took place on one night or whether each occurred on a different
night. And some claim that the night journey came while he was awake and the
ascent while he slept.
Al-Muhallah b. Abii Sufra has told, in his exegesis of al-Bukhari's hadith
compendium, about some scholars maintaining that the night journey occurred
twice, once with his spirit while he slept and once with both his body and his
spirit when he was awake.
The h~fi? Aba d-@sim d-Suhayli related this, from his teacher, the jurist
Aba Bakr b. al-'Arabi.
Al-Suhayli stated, "This view combines the accounts. In the hadith of
Shurayk, from Anas, are the words, 'And that related to what his heart saw while
his eyes slept. His heart was not asleep.' At the end of his account the Messenger
of God (SAAS) stated, 'Then I awoke and found myself in the hijv.'"
This was sleep. Something else would suggest wakefulness.
There are some who also claim that there were several journeys while he was
awake. One scholar stated, "There were four night journeys." Same claim that
some took place in Medina.
Sheikh Shihxb al-Din Aba Shma, God bless him, tried to reconcile the
differing interpretations of the night journey by grouping them variously. He
concluded that there were three night journeys. One was from Mecca specifically
to Jerusalem, mounted on al-Buraq. One again was from Mecca to heaven also
upon al-Buraq, according to the hadith of Hudhayfa, and one was from Mecca to
Jerusalem and thereafter to heaven.
We comment that if it is merely the differences in the accounts that leads him
to these three views, then the wording relating thereto differs even more than
these three.
Anyone wishing to understand these matters should peruse the research materials
we compiled in our book of exegesis relating to the words of the Almighty,
"Glory be to Him who took his servant by night" (smut al-Isrz'; XVII, v.1).
Even if one concluded that such division was restricted to three possibilities
relating to Jerusalem and to heaven, such mental computations have no impact
on actual events. But God knows best.