Response from
WWW.ISLAMTODAY.COM - English Fatwa Department
Question:
Had a dream last night, there was a gathering of sum sorts, not sure of the locations.... a man appeared draped in a white sheet (it reminded me of the cloth people were when they die) the ehram everyone was saying it was the prophet mohammed pbuh, i saw the face clearly but all the time i was thinking this was a fake dream...dunno why...it was like why shud i see him...i aint no perfect muslim...etc...etc.. but then i read this morning in a book...those who have seen the prophet mohammed (PBUH) have actually seen him as the shaytaan cant take his form... i saw people gathering......and people were saying the prophet is going to come... then a man came....tall...must have been 5ft ten to 6 ft....he was draped in a white sheet.... then all i saw was the face.... the sheet covered the prophet head to toe.... all that was on view was his face... a long beard, black beard... kinda curly like...no moustache...this i did see.. i saw the complexion of the skin....was kinda olivy brown... thoughout the dream i was in denial.....thinking this cant be real.....why wud i see the prophet pbuh of all people.... #the face..was long, eyebrows didnt join or anything....cheeks were plump.....no white hair.... long black thick beard... curly like in old times....sparkly eyes..thats all i noticed in the dream..... i noticed the whote drapings more.... like how they wrap bodies when people pass on... covereed on the head too.. can u tell me if this was actually a genuine dream?
Answer:
Dear questioner:
Al-Salâm `Alaykum wa Rahmah Allah wa Barakâtuh.
It is possible to see the Prophet (peace be upon him) in dreams. But, this is not something to be done by our own efforts or because someone "deserves" it. It is from Allah.
Likewise, it is no fault on a person that he does not to see the Prophet (peace be upon him) in his dreams. The only blame is for a person not to obey his commands that are found in the Sunnah. Allah says: “Say: ‘If ye do love Allah; follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful” [Sûrah Âl-`Imrân: 31]
As for the possibility of seeing the Prophet (peace be upon him) in dreams, he said: “He who saw me in a dream has indeed seen me, for the Satan does not appear in my form.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (6993) and Sahîh Muslim (2266)]
Whether this means that no one will have a dream where someone in it claims to be the Prophet (peace be upon him) without it being so, or whether the hadîth simply means that no one will have a dream where the exact appearance of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is falsely represented – Allah knows best which of these is the case. In the latter case, the only people who could be sure to have seen the Prophet (peace be upon him) are those who saw him firsthand and knew what he looked like.
In any case, there are no practical consequences for this question. Please read the following answer below from our archives
And Allah knows best.
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Dreams and Islamic Law
By Sheikh Sâmî al-Mâjid, professor at Imam University
In Islamic jurisprudence, we have five legal rulings: obligatory (wâjib), preferred (mustahabb), permissible (mubâh), disliked (makrûh), and forbidden (harâm).
Dreams are not and cannot be a source for these rulings. This is the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamâ’ah on the matter.
Anyone who declares that something is preferred or obligatory on the basis of a dream is coming with an innovation in our religion and calling people to fiction and misguidance.
The great jurist, Imam al-Nawawî writes: “If it was the 29th night of Sha`bân and people could not see the crescent, then someone saw the Prophet (peace be upon him) in his dream informing him that ‘tonight is the beginning of Ramadân’, no one would be allowed to fast on the basis of that dream, not the one who saw the dream nor anyone else.” [al-Majmû` (6/292)]
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Please also read the article:
Sheikh's Articles >> (2005/6) >> On the Interpretation of Dreams
http://islamtoday.com/showme_weekly_2005.cfm?cat_id=30&sub_cat_id=819