Muhammad's Night Journey

This is the most delightfully mythic story I've found so far in Islam:

One night, as Muhammad was drifting off to sleep, the angels Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil flew down to him. Accompanying them was a strange creature fitted with a saddle.

"Arise, master! Ride on the back of the Buraq. He will carry you on your journey to the Lord of Power!" said Gabriel. The Buraq is a tall, winged creature, slightly larger than a donkey yet smaller than a mule; it has the face of a human, emerald-green ears, and eyes that shine like brilliant stars. It travels at the speed of light.

Muhammad mounted the Buraq and the gang set off on their adventure. They stopped at various important locations, where Gabriel acted as tour-guide:

"This is where Moses stopped to rest on his flight from Pharoah."
"This is Sinai, where Moses used to speak with God."
"This is Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and from where he spread the message of the King of the Heavens and the Earth."

Etc. Muhammad saw many other places before the gang arrived in Jerusalem. Gabriel bore a hole into a sacred rock with his finger and tied the Buraq's reins to it (so it wouldn't fly off at lightspeed).
The Ladder of Heaven descended, down from loftiest paradise. It had alternate stairs of silver and gold. Gabriel led Muhammad up the ladder until they reached the door to First Heaven.

Gabriel knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" asked the angel Ishmael, who guards First Heaven with an army of 144 million angels.
"It is Gabriel."
"Who is with you?"
"The Prophet Muhammad."
"Has he been sent for?"
"Yes."

The door opened. Inside, Muhammad met Adam, the ancestor of all humanity.
"Hey Mu, how's it going? I hear you're the latest prophet?"

Gabriel and Muhammad ascended the heavens. Each time, Gabriel knocked and the angel guards asked the same questions. In Second Heaven, Muhammad met Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist, who both thought Muhammad was a swell guy. In Third Heaven, he met Joseph (Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph, not Jesus' Dad Joseph); in Fourth Heaven, he met Enoch; in Fifth Heaven, he met Aaron.

In Sixth Heaven, he met a man of astounding beauty and even greater majesty. He had a long mane of curly hair, and a long beard from which light flashed like thunderbolts. His face was stern, yet his eyes were those of a child.
"Who is this man?" asked Muhammad.
"That is Moses."
Moses wept.
"Why are you crying?" asked Muhammad.
"I am crying because I love you," Moses replied. "I am crying because of the great honour which God has granted you. O Muhammad! You are the Seal of the Prophets and the Light of Creation!"

In Seventh Heaven, he met Abraham. Then the pair reached the Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary. A single one of its leaves was large enough to hold all living creatures. Its fruits were like huge clay jugs. On each leaf sat a crowned angel carrying a staff of light. The rivers of the world begin at the bottom of the Lote Tree; Gabriel pointed out the Nile and the Euphrates.

It was there, at the Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary, that Gabriel revealed his true form: he had six hundred wings, each wing big enough to cover the entire earth.

Next, Muhammad was shown Hell, the Fire of God's Wrath, and met Hell's custodian, the stern-faced angel Malik.

Then Muhammad rose up beyond the top of the Lote Tree and into the presence of the Lord. God made his revelations to Muhammad, and ordered him and his followers to pray fifty times per day.
Muhammad began his descent to earth. In Sixth Heaven, Moses asked what God had commanded. Muhammad explained about the fifty prayers per day rule.

"Is he having a laugh? Get back up there and ask him to reduce the number. Your community will never be able to bear that," said Moses.

So Muhammad returned to God and asked for it to be reduced. God lowered it to 45. Muhammad returned to Moses, who once again thought that it was excessive. Muhammad kept going back and forth between God and Moses until the prayer count was reduced to 5 and Muhammad was too embarrassed to try to get it any lower:

"I have gone back and forth so much that now I feel ashamed."

He descended to earth, mounted the Buraq and flew back to Mecca.
And then he woke up.
When he told people what had happened to him, they thought it was ridiculous. They questioned him, asking him to describe Jerusalem, which he did.
"Sounds about right," the questioners assented, "so you really did travel to Jerusalem on a magical flying mount with a human head and green ears. Didn't see that one coming."
"Yep, and I met God."
"For a merchant, you weren't very good at haggling with the All-Powerful Creator of the Universe."
"You're just supposed to surrender to God's will. That's what 'Islam' means: 'surrender'. You can't argue with Ineffability."
"But, Moses?"
"Shhhhhhhh... surrender..."