All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
It is established in the Sunnah and in the statements of a number of scholars that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj. Among the strongest evidence for this is the hadith concerning the obligation of the prayers, in which the Prophet ﷺ repeatedly returned to his Lord, privately addressed Him, and Allah Almighty addressed him saying, “O Muhammad.” This indicates that communication took place between them.
It is authentically reported in Sahih Muslim in the hadith of the Isra’ and Mi‘raj, from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that after fifty prayers had been prescribed, the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Then I returned to my Lord and said, ‘O Lord, reduce it for my Ummah.’ So He reduced five for me...”
The Prophet ﷺ continued returning to his Lord until Allah said to him:
“O Muhammad, they are five prayers every day and night...”
Narrated by Muslim (162).
This is among the clearest evidence that communication took place between the Prophet ﷺ and his Lord Almighty on the night of the Mi‘raj. The Prophet ﷺ informed us that he returned to his Lord and addressed Him saying, “O Lord,” and Allah Almighty then addressed him saying, “O Muhammad.”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“Indeed, Allah spoke to Musa and commanded him without an intermediary. Likewise, He spoke to Muhammad ﷺ and commanded him on the night of the Mi‘raj, and likewise He spoke to Adam and commanded him without an intermediary.”
This shows that, according to Ibn Taymiyyah, Allah’s speaking to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj is established and was real speech.
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“Allah spoke to Musa ibn ‘Imran. This rank is unquestionably established for Musa by the explicit text of the Qur’an, and its establishment for our Prophet ﷺ is found in the hadith of the Isra’.”
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Fath al-Bari (7/216):
“This is among the strongest evidence used to establish that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on the night of the Isra’ without an intermediary.”
Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, also mentioned when explaining Allah’s statement:
“Among them were those to whom Allah spoke.”
[Al-Baqarah 2:253]
that among them were Musa and Muhammad ﷺ, as well as Adam, peace be upon them.
The apparent meaning of the hadith of the Mi‘raj indicates that the Prophet ﷺ was spoken to by his Lord Almighty without an intermediary. This is the view preferred by a number of scholars. Among the strongest indications is what is mentioned in the hadith concerning the Prophet’s ﷺ repeated return to his Lord regarding the prayers and his saying to Him, “O Lord.”
Some scholars held that Allah’s statement:
“Then He revealed to His servant what He revealed.”
[An-Najm 53:10]
may refer to revelation through Jibril, peace be upon him. However, this interpretation does not prevent the establishment of Allah’s direct speech to the Prophet ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj through the hadith concerning the obligation of the prayers.
It is important to distinguish between speech and vision. Affirming that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ does not necessarily mean that the Prophet ﷺ saw Him.
It is established that Allah Almighty spoke to Musa, peace be upon him, yet Musa did not see Him. Allah says:
“And when Musa came at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him...”
[Al-A‘raf 7:143]
When Musa, peace be upon him, asked his Lord to allow him to see Him, Allah said:
“You will not see Me.”
[Al-A‘raf 7:143]
This demonstrates that Allah may speak from behind a veil without vision taking place.
Therefore, affirming that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj does not necessarily entail saying that the Prophet ﷺ saw Him on that night. Scholars differed regarding the issue of seeing Allah, but the majority of Ahl al-Sunnah hold that the Prophet ﷺ did not see his Lord with his physical eyes on the night of the Isra’.
It is established by strong evidence that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj. Among the clearest evidence is the hadith in Sahih Muslim concerning the obligation of the prayers, in which the Prophet ﷺ repeatedly returned to his Lord and said, “O Lord,” and Allah Almighty addressed him saying, “O Muhammad.”
A number of major scholars affirmed this, including Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, and Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on them. They mentioned that this is among the strongest evidence that Allah Almighty spoke to His Prophet ﷺ on the night of the Mi‘raj.
Speech does not necessitate vision. Allah spoke to Musa, peace be upon him, without Musa seeing Him. Therefore, affirming Allah’s speech to the Prophet ﷺ does not depend upon affirming that he saw Allah Almighty on that night.
And Allah knows best.