My father رضي الله عنه narrated to us. He said: Sa`d b. `Abdullah narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Abi `Abdillah al-Barqi narrated to us from his father from Khalaf b. Hammad al-Asadi from Abi’l Hasan al-`Abdi from al-A`mash from `Uyayna b. Rabi`i from `Abdullah b. `Abbas. He said: When the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم was taken on a journey to heaven, Gabriel brought him to a river called “The Light” (al-nur), and it is the saying of Allah, “He created the darkness and the light”
(6:1). When he ended up at that river with him, Gabriel
عليه السلام said to him: O Muhammad! Ascend, upon the blessing of Allah, for Allah has illuminated your sight and stretched out your purview. Surely, no one ascends [through] this river – not an Angel of Proximity and not a commissioned prophet – except I dip in it every day, then I leave it and shake my wings. There is not a drop that drops out of my wings except that Allah creates an Angel of Proximity from it with twenty thousand faces and forty thousand tongues; each tongue pronounces in a language that the other tongue does not understand. So, the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم ascended until he reached the veils. The veils consist of five hundred veils, and the distance between each veil is the travel distance of five hundred years. Then, he said: Proceed, Muhammad. So, he said to him: O Gabriel! Will you not be with me? He said: It is not for me to cross into this place. So, the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم proceeded as much as Allah wished for him to proceed, until he heard what the Lord said: I am the Praiseworthy (Mahmud) and you are the Praised (Muhammad). I have derived your name from My name. So, whoever connects to you, I connect to him, and whoever cuts you off, I cut him off. Descend to My servants and inform them of how much I have honoured you. Surely, I have not sent a prophet except that I have given him a vizier. You are My Messenger, and `Ali is your vizier. So, the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم descended, but he detested mentioning something that the people would hate lest they accuse him, as they had just come out of Jahiliyya. Six days passed, so Allah revealed: “Perhaps you may wish to abandon part of the revelation to you as it tightens your chest [with distress].”
(11:12) So, the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم bore that until the eighth day. So, Allah revealed to him: “O Messenger! Convey that which was revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not do that, then you will not have conveyed His message. Allah will protect you from the people.”
(5:67) So, the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said: A threat after a warning. I will proceed with the order of Allah. If they accuse me and bely me, that would be better for me than His encompassing punishment in this world and the Hereafter. He said: Gabriel delivered his salaam to `Ali over his leadership over the believers, so `Ali
عليه السلام said: O Messenger of Allah! I heard the words, but I did not sense a vision. So, he said: O `Ali! This is Gabriel. He came from the direction of my Lord to confirm what was promised to me.