Is it possible to see the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in dreams in several forms, i.e., for one person to see him in one form and for another to see him in another form?.
Praise be to Allaah.
It should be noted that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever sees me in a dream has indeed seen me,
for the Shaytaan cannot imitate me.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6994; Muslim,
2266 – this version narrated by Muslim.
In their commentary on this hadeeth, the scholars said that
this is to be understood as referring to seeing the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the physical form that is described in
the saheeh ahaadeeth, for the Shaytaan cannot imitate the form of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
But if the Shaytaan comes in another form, whether one is
asleep or awake, then lies and says, “I am the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),” then this is false and does
not count as seeing the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him).
So you should know the physical attributes of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Please see question no.
1512. These attributes have been
mentioned in many ahaadeeth which describe his stature, his hands, his
forearms, his mouth and teeth, his eyes and his hair – (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him).
There were many people who resembled the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Those who most resembled him were
al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him), and ‘Abd-Allaah ibn
Ja’far ibn Abi Taalib. So if you see the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) in the form that is narrated in the Sunnah, then you
have truly seen him, but if you see him in a form that is other than that
described in the Sunnah and the Seerah – such as if you see him
clean-shaven, or missing a hand or foot – then there are two scholarly
points of view in this case:
1 – That this is indicative of a person’s shortcoming in
religious commitment
2 – The view that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah thought more
likely to be correct, which is that this is a false image that comes from
the Shaytaan, especially if one sees it whilst awake. That is definitely a
false image, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) is alive in al-Barzakh and no one can see him whilst he is awake and he
cannot visit anyone or speak to him.
What some people claim, that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to them when they were awake, and
spoke to them and told them about things, this undoubtedly comes from the
shayaateen (devils) and the jinn, especially since that did not happen to
the greatest Sahaabah such as Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali, al-Zubayr,
Talhah, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf, Sa’eed ibn Zayd, Abu ‘Ubaydah and Sa’d, or
the people who had been present at Badr or had given their bay’ah (oath of
allegiance) beneath the tree, and other great and Allaah-fearing Sahaabah.
If anyone claims that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) whilst he was awake, then undoubtedly the one who appeared to
him was a devil or a jinn, and no ruling can be established from that.
Something worse than that happened to Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qaadir al-Jilaani (may
Allaah have mercy on him), when he saw someone sitting on a throne between
heaven and earth, saying, “I am your Lord.” He said: “Be gone, enemy of
Allaah, for you are Iblees.” He said: “How do you know that I am Iblees?” He
said: “Because Allaah cannot be seen in this world until we die, and because
you said, ‘I am your Lord’ but you did not dare to say, ‘I am Allaah.’” So
visions of this sort come from the Shaytaan. We should not be deceived by
the stories that are narrated by some people who are thought to be
righteous, such as stories about seeing the Prophets and sitting with them.
We may believe that they sat with them but with whom were they sitting? They
sat with the jinn and devils so that that may cause fitnah (tribulation).
But those whom Allaah protects by their following the Qur’aan and Sunnah and
reciting dhikrs, Aayat al-Kursiy, al-Mi’wadhaat (the soorahs seeking refuge
with Allaah) and seeking the help of Allaah, will be protected against that
in sha Allaah, as happened with the awliya’ (close friends of Allaah) and
those who fear Him – as was narrated by Shaykh al-Islam in his valuable
book: al-Furqaan bayna Awliya’ al-Rahmaan wa Awliya’ al-Shaytaan.
There remains another issue to which we must refer, which is
that if a person sees the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) in the form described in the saheeh Sunnah, this is glad
tidings, telling him that he will also see him when he is awake. If he tells
him of some shar’i matter that seems to go against the apparent meaning of
the Qur’aan and Sunnah, should he follow what he has been told or follow the
apparent meaning of the Qur’aan and Sunnah? Or if he tells him about some
matter concerning which there has to be proof – such as the people being
shown the new moon when they did not see it, and he says that tomorrow is
Ramadaan – should he follow that or not? Or if he tells him that So and so
stole something from So and so, or that in the case of a dispute So and so
is in the right – should he bear witness to that?
The scholars have stated that if a person sees the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he tells him something
that goes against the apparent meaning of the Qur’aan or Sunnah, or tells
him of some matter concerning which there has to be proof, he should not act
upon it, because what one sees in a dream is not binding; what is binding is
the facts that one learns when awake. You should note that the dreams of the
Prophets are wahy (revelation), but seeing the Prophets in a dream is not
wahy – according to scholarly consensus. Rather it is bushra (glad tidings),
as was explained by al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him).
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