Asked: Did Muhammad literally fly to heaven on a winged horse? Or was it a visionary experience? Or a lucid
I'm intrigued by this article — http://heresycorner.blogspot.com/2013/04 — and by some of the comments.
As I understand it, according to the Koran and Hadiths, in Muhammad's "Night Journey" he was taken at night to Jerusalem and thence on a tour of the heavens in the company of the Archangel Gabriel.In the course of the journey, the prophet had meetings with Biblical characters including Moses and John the Baptist, and conversed with Allah.
My question is: how do Muslims interpret the Night Journey?Of course, different people might have different interpretations.Please select one of the following options:
A) Muhammad literally flew to heaven on a winged horse. That is, in his physical body, Muhammad rode a physical winged horse, from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven, where he met and conversed with physical dead prophets.
B) Muhammad had a visionary experience; i.e., he was vouchsafed a vision of heaven, a vision that was more real than an ordinary dream, in the sense that the vision that came from Allah and may therefore be described as being "real". But he did not literally fly to heaven on a winged horse.
C) Muhammad had a lucid dream, or similar experience in a state midway between sleep and wakefulness, which did not come from Allah.
D) None of the above.(Please elaborate.)
No abusive comments, please.
