This study explores the possibility of a richer reading of Dante's Commedia through the lens of the Islamic tradition of the mi'râj, the narratives of the journey of Muhammad through the spheres of the heavens and of hell. The analysis focuses on the relationship between the Commedia and the mi 'râj text known to the West as the Libro della Scala regarding the question of a literary crafting of a truth claim. The thematic overlap between the Libro della Scala and the Commedia suggests that the two texts share similar concerns about the production of a truth-claim within a textual framework.
Departing from previous criticism on the indications of Dante's affinity for Islam, this study instead suggests a look at the ways in which the texts converge and diverge on various points that affect the claim to truth. This thesis does not assume that Dante had direct access to the Libro della Scala, and as such it approaches the analysis from the perspective of discursive parallels, rather than textual references. The discourses that shape the claim to truth of each text are the questionable relationship between dreams and truth, the nature of sight in a visionary experience, the presentation of the right path of faith to the visionary, and the necessity of the transition from visionary to guide. By understanding their mutual participation in these discourses, this study shows that the richest reading of the Commedia has an eye to the interdiscursive influence of Islam in the Christian world.