Seeing Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم in Dream

Huma Jabri

November 27, 2015

Hadith

Seeing Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم :

Narrated Anas رضي الله عنه the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said, “Whoever has seen me in a dream, then no doubt, he has seen me, for Satan cannot imitate my shape. [Sahih al-Bukhari]

Q) There is an issue here, what if a person sees Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم and he feels that it is him but his description in the dream if different than the one we know of from ahadith. So is the person in the dream Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم?

A) Az-Zuhri رحمه الله says that Ibn Sirin رحمه الله said, “If you see him according to his description.” An-Nawawi رحمه الله, however, has a contrary view and he says, “As long as you felt in your dream that the person you saw was Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم then it is him even if he comes in a different form.” Ibn Taymiyyah رضي الله عنه supports the view of Ibn Sirin رحمه الله

Ibn Battal رحمه الله said, “Dreams are of two types: a clear evident dream like somebody would dream about himself giving dates to someone and during the day time he would give somebody dates. This type of dream doesn’t need any interpretation. Secondly, a dream that comes in symbols and this type you would understand its meaning unless you get it interpreted by a person who has knowledge and experience dream interpretation because sometimes the symbols are very delicate and sophisticated.”

Like the dream Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم saw in which he was drinking milk from a vessel and when some of it was remaining, he gave it ‘Umar رضي الله عنه. Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم interpreted it as knowledge. This means that Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم absorbed the knowledge and he mentions that the milk was so much that it started flowing beneath his nails. So he had so much knowledge in him, that it started flowing from him.

It is haram and a great sin to claim that one has a seen a dream whilst he has not seen it or to lie in it.

Narrated ‘AbduLlah ibn ‘Abbas رضي الله عنه that the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said, “Whoever claims to have seen a dream that he has not seen, would be told to tie between two hairs on the Day of Judgement.”