Was the heavenly ascent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) physical or spiritual?

It was spiritual. God is everywhere, so no one can approach Him with the body. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) saw with his heart, and the images of this journey are symbols full of meaning.

A physical body cannot move towards a spiritual being. A comparison helps. Radio waves are present in every room, even though we cannot see them. Which way would you go to get closer to them? No way at all, because they are already where you are sitting. God is present everywhere in a far greater sense. He was with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) wherever he was, and revealed Himself to his pure heart.

The Holy Qur’an gives the key itself. It says that the heart was not untrue to what it saw. The eye sees bodies, but the heart sees spiritual realities. Elsewhere it says that eyes cannot reach God. Seeing God with physical eyes is therefore out of the question.

Understanding the journey as physical leads into difficulties. A tree would then stand at the edge of the universe as a barrier between the Prophet and God, and that tree would be closer to God than the Prophet himself. Such ideas do justice neither to God nor to His Messenger.

Understood as symbols, however, the images become rich in meaning. Of two cups, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) chose the milk rather than the wine, and this was explained as choosing the natural, right way. Milk is a food that is sufficient on its own. A child grows on it alone. So it stands for a teaching that is perfect and meets every human need. In Arabia a lote tree was used to mark a boundary. So the farthest Lote-tree shows the highest station of nearness to God that any created being can reach.

The ascent was therefore not a spectacle but a profound spiritual experience. God showed the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) His attributes more fully than to any prophet before him and revealed to him knowledge of the future of his community.