How to qualify for good and true dreams? - DREAMS IN ISLAM

How to qualify for good and true dreams?

If a believer, male or female, wishes to be blessed by Allah with good and true dreams he/she should first take all necessary steps to ensure that life is lived in conformity with the laws of Allah  Most High.  The believer should remove hatred, enmity, malice, greed and lust from his/her heart, and must learn how to forgive.  Fasting and the prayer of the night-vigil can be of great help in this regards. The believer must fill his/her heart with love for all those whom Allah Most High loves, and must be charitable etc.  

 Anyone who wishes to see good and true dreams should eat less, sleep less and talk less.  Such people should dislike noise (which is what music is today) and should long for solitude.  Most of all they must acquire the consciousness of living continuously in the presence of Allah Most High. That is not possible without the Sufi epistemology.

The believer should regulate his day in such a way that he gets to take a little nap (of sleep) in the mid-afternoon.  He should take his evening meal either before or after the maghrib prayer (at sunset) and should avoid taking a heavy meal.  He should try to sleep early, i.e., after the Isha prayer.  He should recite surah al-Falaq (Qur’an: Chapter 113) and surah al-Naas (Qur’an: Chapter 114) before sleeping in order to seek protection from evil:

“Narrated Aisha:

When the Prophet used to lie, he would recite Surah al-Falaq and Surah al-Naas and blow upon his palms, and then wipe them all over his body.”

 (Bukhari, Muslim)

  

He should make wudu (ablution) before sleeping (if he is without wudu) and he should sleep on the right side.  He should then ask Allah Most High to give him a dream.  Such a person will experience deep sleep in the early hours of the night.  It would then be possible for him to rise in the early hours of the morning, before dawn, to worship Allah Most High.  If he has not as yet seen anything, and if he then goes back to sleep, or if he sleeps after the morning prayer (fajr prayer), he is more likely than not to dream, and to be blessed with good dreams and true dreams.

  

Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (ra) did precisely that and this is what happened: Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:  
Men from the companions of Allah’s Apostle used to see dreams during the lifetime of Allah’s Apostle and they used to narrate those dreams to Allah’s Apostle. Allah’s Apostle would interpret them as Allah wished. I was a young man and used to stay in the masjid before my wedlock. I said to myself: “If there were any good in myself, I too would see what these people see.”   
So when I went to bed one night, I said: “O Allah! If you see any good in me, show me a good dream.” So while I was in that state, there came to me (in a dream) two angels. In the hand of each of them there was a mace of iron, and both of them were taking me to Hell, and I was between them, invoking Allah: “O Allah! I seek refuge with You from Hell.” Then I saw myself being confronted by another angel holding a mace of iron in his hand. He said to me: “Do not be afraid, you will be an excellent man if you only pray more often.” So they took me till they stopped me at the edge of Hell, and behold, it was built inside like a well and it had side posts like those of a well, and beside each post there was an angel carrying an iron mace. I saw therein many people hanging upside down with iron chains, and I recognized therein some men from the Quraish. Then (the angels) took me to the right side. I narrated this dream to (my sister) Hafsa. Hafsa told me that she had mentioned it to the Prophet and he said: “Abdullah is a righteous man, if only he would pray more at night.” (Az-Zuhri said: “After that ‘Abdullah used to pray more at night.”) 

 (Bukhari)

In just the same way that dream changed the life of an already righteous Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) to make of him a stronger Muslim, so too can dreams change our lives.  Some of us are wayward Muslims who do not pray, or fast in Ramadan etc., and a dream can change our lives and restore us to the straight path.  In fact I just received a fax from an Egyptian friend in New York with an account of an extraordinary dream that changed his life.  It came just in time to be included in this book, and we thank Allah Most High for that.  He writes:

“I was a college student 18 years old when I saw this dream.  I was not performing my salaat (prayer) regularly at that age despite my father’s persistent appeals and warnings.  Then one night I saw in a dream what appeared to be the Day of Judgement.  It was incredibly scary. Innumerable horrified almost naked human beings of all races, colors and sexes were running in all directions seeking to escape from a destiny of fearsome divine punishment.  Their faces spoke of appalling panic.  Some fell in prostration beseeching their Lord for another chance.  Some were on their knees with their hands stretched upwards and begging for forgiveness.  Screams of horror ripped the air.  The sweeping feeling was that all were doomed.  No one would be spared. The sky was fearfully dark, and as I became aware of the significance of what was taking place around me, I, also, was terrified and overwhelmed with fear.  I sorrowfully  prostrated and cried out begging for another chance: ‘Give me just one or two or three days to return to you O Allah and to be a good Muslim.  I pledge never again to be negligent in the performance of my salaat (prayers), to do good deeds and to abstain from sinful deeds.’  Indeed the very thought of committing sins seemed at that moment to be totally out of question.  I then woke from sleep and experienced unimaginable relief and gratitude as I became aware that my horrifying experience had been a dream.  I realized that the dream was a warning to me from Allah Most High and I humbly thanked Him for that warning.

I left my bed and went out of the home to get some food.  I ate the food but still felt exhausted.  I tried to study but could not do so.  And so I went back to sleep and, surprisingly, I was taken back to the dream and, once again, saw the Day of Judgement.  That dream changed my life. Since that day I have never intentionally missed a salaat (prayer).  All praise is due to Allah Most High Who changed my life with a dream!”

How to respond if anyone says that he has seen a dream?

The Adab (Islamic manners) of responding when anyone says: “I had a dream,” and is about to narrate the dream, is for the listener to immediately say: “God willing, may it be glad tidings.” (Arabic: khair Insha Allah)

Source: Dreams in Islam by Imran Hosein
To be continued ....

First kind of Dream: A good true dream - DREAMS IN ISLAM

First kind of dream:

A good true dream - like

Seeing the Prophet in a dream

Shaikh Abdul Ghani al-Nabulisi began his work entitled: Ta’teer al-Anaam fi tafseer al-Ahlaam, with a hadith of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam as follows:

“Whoever does not believe in ‘good and true’ dreams (R’uya al-Saliha) certainly does not believe in Allah and in the Last Day.” ²⁷  

                              

The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam also commented on the subject of which dreams were the best of all dreams:

“The best of all dreams”, said the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, “are the ones where you see your Lord, or your Prophet, or your Muslim parents.” ²⁸

                                                                                 

Prophet Muhammad sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam also spoke of believers seeing him in a dream:

Anas reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever has seen me in a dream has truly seen me, for Satan cannot take my form.”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me in a dream will see me while awake (perhaps this means he will see the Prophet in a vision, - visions and dreams appear to differ only in form, but represent the same substance),  and Satan cannot take my form.”   Abu ‘Abdullah said that Ibn Sireen said: “Only if he sees the Prophet in his (real) form.”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Qatada narrated that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me (in a dream) has indeed seen the Truth (i.e., he has truly seen me).”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri narrated that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me (in a dream) has truly seen the Truth, for Satan cannot appear in my form.”

 (Bukhari)

For Muslims who live in this age, when the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam is no longer physically in our midst, the only medium through which we may satisfy the deepest longings in our heart for even a glimpse of his blessed face or person, is through the medium of a dream.  And no one can possibly over-estimate the importance of such an experience in terms of the impact it makes in sealing a private compact with the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam to love, to obey, to follow, to defend and to project his person, his mission, and the Truth on which it is founded.

That mission of his, which remains with us (the ummah) as the most sacred of all trusts (amanah), and which requires of us that we make the supreme effort towards achieving once again, in the historical process, the supremacy of the truth over falsehood, is in dire need of renewal.

Now the Qur’an declares that success lies in purification and growth (tazkiyah) (91:9). And purification and growth implies, most of all, moral and spiritual growth. But for the Muslim moral and spiritual growth is not possible without intense love for Allah Most High and for the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Since it is not possible for one to be blessed by Allah Most High with a dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  if intense love for the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  does not reside in the heart, it follows that dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam are, perhaps, an indicator of some measure of moral and spiritual growth.  

   

I remember the smile and the relief which was written on the face of the Pakistani Islamic scholar, Mr. A. K. Brohi, who confided to me just before he died in 1987 that it was only very late in life that he experienced, for the first time, a dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. And who could possibly have failed to see the light on the face of the Ft. Lauderdale Pakistani Muslim doctor who informed me in 1990 that he had already seen the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in dreams on eight occasions!

One of the most extraordinary of all dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam I have ever encountered was narrated to me in Singapore in 1991.  I had just finished delivering a lecture on the subject of ‘Dreams in Islam’ at the new headquarters of PERTAPIS, the Islamic Theological Society of Singapore which has now become an Islamic social welfare organization.  I had also completed a long and interesting question and answer session which was dominated with questions, comments and revelations concerning dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.  A young man approached me and requested a moment with me in privacy.  I took him to the corner of the room where he could speak to me without anyone being able to listen.  He then informed me that he had just returned about a month earlier from a visit to Makkah where he had experienced an extraordinary dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam one night while asleep in his hotel room.  The dream was so extraordinary that he was reluctant to speak of it in public, hence his request to speak in private.  In the dream the blessed Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam entered the room in which he was asleep.  The most remarkable thing of the event was that he was overwhelmed by a heavenly fragrance which came from the person of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Apparently the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam did not speak to him.  And that was the end of the dream.  When he woke from sleep, however, he found to his utter astonishment that the heavenly fragrance he had experienced in the dream was present in the room and continued to linger in the room for a few hours.

My teacher of blessed memory, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari al-Qaderi, (1914-1974) told us, his students, of a dream he had of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam which changed his life.  He was 17 years of age and an exceptionally talented and brilliant student.  He was unimpressed by the exposition of religion by those with whom he came into contact.  His studies of science at school pushed him further into scepticism until he was close to being an atheist.  Then one hot summer night as he lay tossing restlessly on his bed on the roof of his home in Meerut, India, he saw the Prophetsallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream.  That dream impacted upon him with such pulsating power that it shook him to the very core of his being. That was the moment that utterly changed his life.  He spent the rest of his life in total devotion to the cause of Islam and rose to become not only a Sufi Shaikh of the Qaderiyyah Order, but also one of the most outstanding scholars of Islam of the age in which he lived.  He produced a masterpiece of scholarship, ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society’ in two volumes that ranks as the most important scholarly work on Islam to have emerged from those who came under the influence of the thought of Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.  He traveled around the world on no less than five occasions for the purpose of tableeg and da’wah.  And he also established the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, where a young man from Trinidad, West Indies, (who is the author of this book) could study Islam.    

There are many who may read this book and who may, themselves, have had dreams of the Prophet that they may wish to share with others.  We may, perhaps, have an opportunity to publish another edition of this book that may include such dreams Insha Allah.      

I interrupted the printing of this book to include the following two dreams that were narrated to me at the funeral of my beloved friend and brother, Shaikh Alphahim Jobe, which took place on Saturday May 31, 1997.  I was about to conduct the salatul janaza (funeral prayer) over the body of Shaikh Alphahim when someone approached me and said that he would like to speak to me urgently.  I took him aside and he then informed me that he had a dream of Shaikh Alphahim some two weeks previously in which the Shaikh was leading the morning prayer as Imam.  He led the first raka’at of prayer but did not lead the second.  The prayer was thus left unfinished. That was the dream! Had he informed Shaikh Alphahim or myself about the dream we might have understood it.   

The second dream was narrated to me later the same day.  An American of Puerto Rican origin resident in Astoria, Queens, New York, came to an Astoria Masjid recently and declared that he had seen Prophet Muhammad sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream and, as a consequence of that dream, he wanted to become a Muslim.  The Muslims present in the Masjid attempted to first teach him what was Islam  but he interrupted them and insisted that he wanted to enter into Islam there and then.  They asked him to make wudu (ablutions) and he then made the declaration: “I declare that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger.” After entering into Islam he stayed in the Masjid for the rest of the afternoon and evening, joining in the Asr, Maghrib and Isha prayers.  He then returned to his home and died during that very night.

All through the history of this ummah, and even in this godless age, pious Muslims have continuously been blessed with dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. In fact there are those who repeatedly dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam - not to mention other more profound spiritual experiences which occur in states other than that of sleep.  And in the context of the statement of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam just quoted, one is justified in concluding that such people have, in fact, truly seen the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream!  But if dreams are exclusively constructed from the material of past experiences how can it be possible to construct a face no one in our age has ever actually seen, - and no likeness of which has ever been permitted to be drawn or painted or sculptured?

A dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam cannot possibly be constructed from the material of past experiences since none exist today. Indeed, none has existed since the age of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam since Muslims, all through history, faithfully observed the prohibition of representing any human form and, in particular, the form of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. And yet, when we dream the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam we have the assurance that we have actually seen him. How else is this possible other than through the belief that a good or true dream, which come from Allah, is a transcendental experience (known in philosophy as a religious experience) that discloses transcendental knowledge and thus confirms a transcendental reality! True and good dreams have a very important status indeed.  They are so important that the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  described them to be a one fortieth part of prophethood and, indeed, the only part of prophethood now remaining in the world:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah’s Apostle said, “A good dream of a righteous person (which comes true) is one of forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated ‘Ubada bin As-Samit: 

The Prophet said, “The (good) dreams of a faithful believer is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “The (good) dream of a faithful believer is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri:

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “A good dream is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.”

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Huraira: 

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Nothing is left of the prophethood except al-Mubashshirat.” They asked, “What are al-Mubashshirat?” He replied, “The true good dreams (that conveys glad tidings).” 

 (Bukhari)

“Abu Huraira reported: When the Apostle of Allah finished his morning prayer he used to ask whether anyone had dreamt a dream, and he used to say: After me there would be nothing left of Prophethood except good dreams”

 (Muwatta, Imam Malick)

  

‘Ata bin Yasaar reported: The Apostle of Allah declared: Nothing would remain of prophethood after me except al-Mubashshiraat.  The companions asked: Apostle of Allah, what do you mean by al-Mubashshiraat?  He replied: Good dreams seen by a good man and those seen for him by another man.  This is one part of the forty-six parts comprising prophethood.”

 (Muwatta, Imam Malick)

The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam declared that Prophethood consisted of forty-six parts. True dreams constituted one-forty-sixth part of Prophethood. After me, declared the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, nothing remains of Prophethood except true dreams.  The only means we now have, therefore, of understanding anything of the nature of prophetic experience is through the study and analysis of the phenomenon of true dreams.

Prophethood consists essentially in a particular form of divine communication to a human being who has been chosen by Allah Most High to be a Prophet.  Such communication constitutes mandatory divine guidance for those to whom he transmits it.  The phenomenon of true dreams contain something which can assist us in understanding the phenomenon of Prophetic revelation.

Source: Dreams in Islam by Imran Hosein
To be continued ....

American Christian Has Dream of Prophet Muhammad and Becomes Muslim