Isra and Mi'raj
Some time in 620, Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the "Isra and Mi'raj", a supernatural journey to Jerusalem ("Isra") and ascension to the Seven Heavens ("Mi'raj"), said to have been accomplished in one night along with the angel Gabriel. Muhammad is said to have toured heaven and hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, including Adam, Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa. Ibn Ishaq, author of first biography of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience while later historians like al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir present it as a physical journey. Some western scholars of Islam hold that the oldest Muslim tradition identified as a journey traveled through the heavens from the sacred enclosure at Mecca to the "Bayt al-Ma'mur" (a celestial recreation of the Kaaba); others identify it as Muhammad's journey from Mecca to the "Bayt al-Maqdis" in Jerusalem.