Muhammad’s Night Journey and Connections to Christianity

I recently read a text that detailed the Night Journey of Muhammad, and it was especially interesting because it reminded me of Dante’s Inferno. In that narrative, the poet Dante travels, with a guide (who is the famous poet, Virgil) as well, through the seven circles of hell, through purgatory, and then through paradise, or heaven. He meets important figures in the world of literature throughout, just like how Muhammad also met other prophets. In the case of Muhammad’s Night Journey, he only travels through the seven layers of heaven with his guide, Gabriel. It is interesting that there are many similarities between Christianity and Islam, when it comes to the important figures. For example, Muhammad meets Moses and Moses is a person that I would never associate importance within the Islamic tradition with. This reminded me of our discussion in class, where we talked about Islam’s view of Jesus. Jesus was mentioned in the night journey as one of the prophets that Muhammad greets, which helps instill that idea. Another idea that I find interesting is that Adam is mentioned as one of the prophets that Muhammad meets, which is especially interesting because it shows how much overlap there truly is in Islam and Christianity.