Arda Wiraz Namag (Iranian “Divina Commedia”) And The Prophet’s Night Journey

Written by mquran.org

Wednesday, 22 November 2006

1. IntroductionThe earliest Orientalist who suggested the direct influence of Zoroastrianism on Islam was Goldziher.[1] His work gained so much popularity that it was translated into English[2] and became the basis on which further arguments concerning the Zoroastrian influences on Islam were developed. One such alleged influence of Zoroastrianism on Islam was the ascent of the Prophet to the heavens as mentioned briefly in the Qur’an and discussed in detail in the hadith literature. It has been claimed that this event as well as the details in it had been borrowed from the well-known Iranian “Divina Commedia” called Arda Wiraz Namag.[3] As expected, the Christian missionaries were not far behind and they jumped on this bandwagon pretty early. Tisdall made a similar argument that Arda Wiraz Namag was indeed the source of the event of ascension of the Prophet to the heavens and his witnessing of denizens of heaven and hell. The Chinwad bridge mentioned in Arda Wiraz Namag was compared with the bridge over the Hell as mentioned in the hadith literature. Tisdall even made a claim that the book Arda Wiraz Namag was composed some 400 years before the hijra.[4] Instead of embarking upon a critical scholarship, Ibn Warraq satisfied himself by lifting and expanding the arguments of Tisdall. Like Tisdall, he claimed that