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The vision of the Prophet was a vision of the amazing celestial form of Gabriel who is associated with the equally gigantic Sidrat al-Muntahā. This was a truthful glimpse of Gabriel whose wingspan, another tradition cited by al-Tabari had it, stretched between the East and the West of the cosmos (ibid). It might be noted at this point that certain hadith recorded by Ṭabarī, establish a suggestive parallelism between Moses' and Muhammad's visionary and auditory experiences of God. عن كعب أنه أخبره أن الله تبارك وتعالى قسم رؤيته وكلامه بين موسى ومحمد، فكلَّمه موسى مرّتين، ورآه محمد مرّتين... In his Tafsir on Qur'an 53:13ff he records that the Yemenite Rabbi and convert to Islam Abu Isḥāq Ka`b al-Ahbar (d. 32/652) informed a contemporary that "God apportioned vision (ru'yat) of Him and converse (kallām) with Him between Moses and Muhammad. This such that Moses conversed with Him [God] on two occasions and Muhammad saw Him on two occasions" (Jami` al-Bayān [13] 27: 62-63; cf. Qur'an 53: 13b = "another time", implying two visions). It was much disputed whether Muhammad actually saw God directly or his vision was an indirect encounter with Gabriel. The former viewpoint came to be rejected although a variant of the above tradition from Ka`b associated with `Abd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān (d. ADD) had it that while Muhammad saw God once, Moses conversed with Him twice: قال: سمعت كعباً، ثم ذكر نحو حديث عبد الحميد بن بيان، غير أنه قال في حديثه فرآه محمد مرّة، وكلَّمه موسى مرّتين. قال ابن عباس قد رآه النبيّ صلى الله عليه وسلم. "Ibn `Abbās said, `The Prophet -- may be blessings and peace of God be upon him -- did indeed see Him [God-Gabriel] Commenting upon Qur'an 53: 14 = عِندَ سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى ("nigh the Sidrat al-Muntahā") in his Tafsir al-Ṭabarī writes records:وقوله: { عِنْدَ سِدْرَةِ المُنْتَهَى } يقول تعالى ذكره: ولقد رآه عند سدرة المنتهى، فعند من صلة قوله: [ رآهُ ] والسدرة: شجرة النبق. وقيل لها سدرة المنتهى في قول بعض أهل العلم من أهل التأويل، لأنه إليها ينتهي علم كلّ عالم And His speech [in Q. 53:14], "nigh the Sidrat al-Muntahā"; He says, exalted be His mention, "And he indeed saw Him nigh the Sidrat al-Muntahā" ... And the Sidrat [al-Muntaha] is the tree of the nabq [Jujube Tree] (shajarat al-nabq). And it has been said regarding it, "Sidrat al-Muntahā, in the opinion of some of the educated among the exegetes (ahl al-`ilm min ahl al-ta`wil), is that at which the knowledge of every world terminates..." (Jami` al-Bayan, 13 27:63). Following this al-Tabari records a tradition again stemming from the fountainhead of Isrā'īliyyāt Ka`b al-Ahbar:
حدثنا ابن حُميد، قال: ثنا يعقوب،
عن حفص بن حميد، عن شمر، قال: جاء ابن عباس إلى كعب الأحبار، فقال
له: حدثني عن قول الله:
{ عِنْدَ
سِدْرَةِ
المُنْتَهَى عِنْدَها جَنَّةُ المَأْوَى }
فقال كعب: إنها سدرة في أصل العرش، إليها ينتهي علم كلّ عالم، مَلك
مقرّب، أو نبيّ مرسل، ما خلفها غيب، لا يعلمه إلا الله. At this point al-Ṭabari records another tradition again stemming from Ka`b al-Ahbar as relayed to Ibn `Abbās: "Ibn `Abbās came to Ka`b al-Aḥbar and said to him, "Narrate for me about the saying of God [in the Qur'an], ""nigh the Sidrat al-Muntahā, nearby the Garden of Repose (jannat al-māwā)" [Q. 53:14-15] whereupon Ka`b replied, "Such refers to a Lote-Tree (sidrat) at the foundation [base] of the Divine Throne (fī aṣl al-`arsh). Thereat terminates the knowledge of every world [including] an angel brought nigh unto God [cherub] (malak muqarrib) or a Prophet who is a sent Messenger (nabī mursal). Whatsoever lieth beyond it is hidden for none knoweth it save God" (Jami` al-Bayan, 27:63). Another similar tradition is recorded immediately after the above and again refers to the authority of Ka`b al-Ahbar: حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال أخبرني جرير بن حازم، عن الأعمش، عن شمر بن عطية، عن هلال بن يساف، قال: سأل ابن عباس كعباً، عن سدرة المنتهى وأنا حاضر، فقال كعب: إنها سدرة على رؤوس حملة العرش، وإليها ينتهي علم الخلائق، ثم ليس لأحد وراءها علم، ولذلك سميت سدرة المنتهى، لانتهاء العلم إليها. "... We informed the son of Wahb [ibn Munabbih] [and] he said `I was informed by ..... that Ibn `Abbās asked Ka`b [al-Ahbar] about the Sidrat al-Muntahā and I was present [witnessing that] Ka`b said. "It is a Lote-Tree (sidra) above the heads of the bearers of the Throne. At it terminates the knowledge of all the creatures. It is thus not for anyone to claim knowledge of what is beyond it. Wherefore is it named the Sidrat al-Muntahā (Lote-Tree of the Extremity) for knowledge terminates about it".
وقال آخرون: قيل لها
سدرة المنتهى، لأنها ينتهي ما يهبط من فوقها، ويصعد من تحتها من أمر الله إليها.
ذكر من قال ذلك: Tabari on Qur'an 53:16 إِذْ يَغْشَى السِّدْرَةَ مَا يَغْشَى In context this verse reads in translation.
The key root-verb gh-sh-a indicating, to cover, envelop, enshroud... is also used in the oath opening the Surat al-Layl, the Surah of the Night which (Q. 92) which commences: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى Arberry translates these two verses [my transliteration added] of Qur'an 92:1-2 as [1] By the night enshrouding (wa'l-layl idha yaghshā) [2] and the day in splendour (wa'l-nahar idhā tajalla). Reminiscent of the biblical burning bush being "covered" or enveloped by the divine ADD On al-Tabari and the `Sidrat al-Munataha' see below on the Tarikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk ("The History of Prophets and Kings").
The Persian receation of al-Tabari's Tafsir by Bal`ami and others A very early Persian quasi-Tafsir work is the highly creative and Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā' (stories of the prophets) oriented translation (actually a recreation!) of the abovementioned Jami` al-Bayān Tafsir of al-Tabarī . This was accomplished by a group of `ulamā including Abu `Ali Muhammad Bal`amī (d. 387/997) for Manṣūr ibn Nūḥ (d.365/976), the Samānid ruler of Transoxiana and Khurasan who found the Arabic difficult. While the qur'anic Sūrat al-Nūr (Q. 24) all but becomes a Persian account of the `Slander of `Ā'isha' (Ayesha), the translation-recreation of the Sūrat al-Bani Isra'il (17) here named here the Sūrat al-Isrā' (the `Surah of the Night Journey') and the (Per.) Sūrat-i Subḥān (Surah of Glorification) (see Q. 17:1 opening), includes a quite lengthy and unusual account of the Mi`rāj of the Prophet (Bal`ami, Tafsir, 909-918). The Sidrat al-Muntahā is not mentioned in this extended and sometimes eccentric Persian account of the ascent of the Prophet in which attention is often focused upon the "fourth heaven". Located therein the Sidrat al-Muntaha would seem to be conflated with the Shajarat al-ṭūbā (Tree of Blessedness) (cf. Q. 13:29):
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