ABSTRACT
The legends of this cycle really form a synthesis of those of the first two cycles, and their episodes are for the greater part repetitions of previous ones. Nevertheless, although from our point of view they are of minor importance, they represent a distinct stage in the evolution of the legend. In the former cycles the Isra, or Nocturnal Journey, and the Miraj, or Ascension, were related separately; but here the two are fused into one continuous story. One version will suffice to illustrate the earliest type of non-Christian mediaeval legend that related, as in Dante's poem, in one uninterrupted story the visit to hell and purgatory and the ascension to paradise. This version may be called the earliest, for it has been handed down to us in the voluminous Tafsir, or commentary on the Koran, by the celebrated historian Tabari, who lived in the 9th century. Briefly summarised, the legend runs as follows:—
