The ''Kitab al-Mi'raj'' (Arabic: كتاب المعراج "Book of the Ascension") is a book by
al-Qushayri
'Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawazin Abū al-Qāsim Banu Qushayr, al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī ( fa, , ar, عبد الكريم بن هوازن بن عبد الملك بن طلحة أبو القاسم القشيري; 986 – 30 December 1072) was an Ara ...
(died 1072) concerning the ''
Miraj
Miraj (Pronunciation: iɾəd͡z ) is a city in Sangli District and also in Maharashtra, India, that was founded in the early 10th century. It was an important jagir of the Adil Shahi court of Bijapur.
Shivaji Maharaj stayed in Miraj for ...
'', that is,
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
's ascension into
Heaven following his miraculous one-night journey from
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The book is divided into seven chapters, and was written in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
using the
Naskh script.
In the second half of the 13th century, the book was translated into
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
(as ''
Liber scalae Machometi'') and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
(by
Abraham of Toledo Abraham of Toledo (–1294), also known as Abraham Alfaquín and Abraham ibn Waqar, was an Iberian Jewish physician and translator of the Toledo School of Translators.
Life
Abraham's birthplace is unknown, but was probably either Toledo or Burgos ...
), and soon thereafter (in 1264
CE) into
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...
.
[I. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in ''Le Livre de l'échelle de Mahomet'', translated by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection ''Lettres Gothiques'', Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22.] Its
Islamic depictions of Hell are believed by some scholars to have been a major influence on
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
's ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...
'' (completed in 1320), including
Miguel Asín Palacios
Miguel Asín Palacios (5 July 1871 – 12 August 1944) was a Spanish scholar of Islamic studies and the Arabic language, and a Roman Catholic priest. He is primarily known for suggesting Muslim sources for ideas and motifs present in Dante's Divin ...
, and
Enrico Cerulli
Enrico Cerulli (15 February 1898 - 19 September 1988) was an Italian scholar of Somali and Ethiopian studies, a governor and a diplomat.
Biography
Cerulli was born in Naples, Italy in 1898. He wrote his doctoral thesis at the University of Nap ...
.
Notes
{{reflist
References
Traces de soufisme en Europe occidentale
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080319003125/http://www20.brinkster.com/gurupak/Miraaj%20-%20The%20Ascension%20to%20Heaven.htm THE NIGHT JOURNEY OF MUHAMMAD TO HEAVEN
Sunni literature
Medieval Arabic literature
Entering heaven alive