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In Fadhail-e-Durood Moulana Zakariyya Kandhelwi Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi says:
For anyone to see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in a dream is indeed very fortunate. The experience itself is of endless worth. However there are 2 points to bear in mind with regard to any vision of Nabi Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam. The first of these is the point mentioned by Maulana Thaanwi Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi in his famous book ‘Nashrutteeb’. The respected Maulana writes, “Let it be known that whoever does not see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam while he is awake but he instead sees him in his sleep has indeed been granted with a very great blessing and favour. This fortunate position cannot be attained by deeds. It is only granted (by Allah).”
For anyone to see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in a dream is indeed very fortunate. The experience itself is of endless worth. However there are 2 points to bear in mind with regard to any vision of Nabi Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam. The first of these is the point mentioned by Maulana Thaanwi Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi in his famous book ‘Nashrutteeb’. The respected Maulana writes, “Let it be known that whoever does not see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam while he is awake but he instead sees him in his sleep has indeed been granted with a very great blessing and favour. This fortunate position cannot be attained by deeds. It is only granted (by Allah).”
Says the poet,
“Verily this great favour not the strength of strivings avail, when indeed from Allah’s side great favour not prevailed”
Multitude have even spent entire lives to attain this gift but to no avail in most cases. It is however possible that this gift may be granted by Allah as reward for numerous recitations of Salaat alan Nabi (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam) and of perfectly following the sunnah, and also having overwhelming love for him. But there is no fixed law or guarantee that for such righteousness and obedience such a version will surely be granted. No righteous person need to feel disappointed or frustrated beyond bounds when they do not see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam as they desire. For many it is in fact a mercy from Allah that they do not see him. For them that is best in Allah’s sight. The aim of the lover is to attain the pleasure and satisfaction of the beloved whether he meets him or not.
Says the poet,
اُرِيْدُ وِصَالَهُ وَ يُرِيْدُ هَجْرِيْ فَأًتْرُكُ مَا اُرِيْدُ لِمَا يُرِيْدُ
Indeed do I love to be joined with my beloved one. While he is the desire that from him I remain parted. Hence for the sake of his pleasure I sacrifice and foresake the pleasure desired by my heart.
And Aarif Shiraazi writes,
Why wail thee about meeting the beloved or separation from him ? for the greatest pleasure in gaining his pleasure does lie. And to seek anything else save his pleasure is unjust indeed, hence search ye then to please him.
It often does happen that someone is blessed with a vision of Nabi Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam while his life never to date showed him as having gained Nabi’s Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam’s pleasure through obedience to him. In such a case the version is not the end of the story. It should be borne in mind that even during the lifetime our Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam there were many who laid eyes on his blessed countenance while inwardly they were filled with disbelief and hypocrisy. On the other hand there were ones like Sayyiduna Uwais Qarni Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi who inspite of being a contemporary of Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in time, as well as in faith and a true believer, never saw the Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam. He is noted to be the most famous Tabi’ee (one who did not see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam but saw his companions). He had already accepted Islam during the lifetime of Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam, but because of the fact that he was in the service of his ailing mother he could not meet Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in person.
In spite of him never having met the Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam. Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam once told the Sahaaba Radhiyallahu ‘Anhum, “ Whosoever amongst you should happen to meet him, beg of him to pray for your forgiveness”.
Sayyiduna Umar Radhiyallahu ‘Anhu says that while Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam once spoke about Sayyiduna Uwais Qarni Radhiyallahu ‘Anhu, he said,” Whenever he shall swear by Allah as to occurrence of a future event, Allah shall cause that to come pass. Ask him to pray for forgiveness for you “. (Isaaba)
Sings the poet,
گوتھے اویس دور مگر ـوگۓ قریب بوجھل تھا قریب مگر دور ہوگیا
Thou Uwais resided afar, he attained great nearness. And thou Abu Jahal was near he became removed afar.
The second point to note is that when anyone has been blessed to see Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in a dream, it is certain that it was indeed Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam he had the pleasure of seeing and no one else. According to many authentic ahadeeth Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam is reported to have said that shaytaan had not been granted the power to appear in anyone’s dream while pretending to be the messenger of Allah. Hence, he cannot appear in anyone’s dream saying,” I am Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam, the messenger of Allah”. Neither can anyone ever have the idea when seeing Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam that this must be shaytaan, Allah forbid.
However it is possible that Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam may appear to a person in a dream in such a form that does not befit him. In such a case the fault of imperfect form is not with Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam but in the eyesight of his beholder, just as in the case of a person looking at something while wearing black blue or green eye glasses. In these cases the objects will appear in the colour of spectacles used and not in their actual and true colours. Similarly, a double visioned person sees 2 objects instead of one. This is also the case of the person who looks at his own form on uneven services which reflect a distorted image which is laughable (such as special mirrors which according to their shape reflect a very long or very broad reflection).
Now having understood that, when a person hears Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam giving a command which outwardly is anti Shariat, the command requires proper interpretation and it is not permissible for anyone to obey such commands literally even thou the person who sees the dream may be a learned and eminent scholar. In this manner it is possible for the person to hear Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam giving permission to or commanding something which bis clearly prohibited by Shariat. In such a case the Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam is actually scolding that person for committing such acts. The example is as that of a father is scolding his son. A father may have spoken to the child on numerous occasions advising him against doing some wrong deed without success. Now seeing that the son still refuses to heed his words of advice, he says to him,” Alright then go and do it. Go and do more of it “. In actual fact this is not permission, nor is it a command to perform some wrong deed. It is actually a form of rebuke after numerous and continuous admission. Meaning that he should have experience the adverse result of his action. As for the interpretation of dreams, this is an art which few are able to do. In his book ‘ Ta’teerul Anaam ’ by Ibn Sereen Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi, the author, tells a story of a man who in his dream saw an angel telling him that his wife intends poisoning him through the help of one of his most trusted friends. He proceeded to a very saintly man in order to hear a correct interpretation of his dream and was told that in actual fact his wife has committed adultery with that same man. This later proved to be true. Many similar stories are found in the books on the interpretation of dreams.
In the book ‘Mazaahir Haq’ it is written that Imam Nawawi Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi said, “it is correct that whoever had seen Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in a dream had indeed seen him and no one else, whether the Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam appeared in his actual form or not. Let it be known that a vision of Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam in his perfect form or anything lesser, depends on the degree of spiritual development and righteousness of the beholder of the dreams. Hence, whoever saw him in a beautiful form has seen him thus because of his own diligent following of the faith, and whoever sees him in any undesirable form has seen him thus because of his own lack of spiritual depth. For this reason it is possible that someone may see him as an old man, someone else may see him as a youth while another may see him pleased or angry. All this depends on the dreamer and his condition”. These visions in themselves are a fine gauge as to the degree of one’s spiritual progress and for followers of the various lines of tasawwuf (saalik) it is an excellent way of measuring themselves and thereafter to correct and improve themselves.
Sheikh Ali Muttaqi Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi relates a story about one of the fakirs of Morocco, who in a dream saw Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam telling him to drink wine. This greatly worried him and in order to gain its proper interpretation he consulted the Ulama. All of them explained it in several different ways. At the same time there lived in Madina Munawwara a very saintly man called Sheikh Muhammad Urat Rahmatullahu ‘Alaihi When he heard the story about the dream he exclaimed that what Nabi Sallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam had actually said was,” Do not drink wine, but the dreamer only heard drink wine”. (N.B. I have only concisely mentioned what Sheikh Abdul Haq Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi has discussed in detail.)
It is possible that the person who saw the dream heard ‘ishrab’ instead of ‘laa tashrab’ as is interpreted by Sheikh Muhammad Urat Rahmatullahi ‘Alaihi. I have mentioned above that he may have in fact said, ‘ishrab khamr’ (drink wine) and the tone and manner of the expression can be interpreted as a rebuke. Everything depends on the tone of the voice. Changes in the tone can bring about changes in the meaning even thou the same words are utilised. During my childhood while I was studying nahwu and sarf (Arabic grammer) I used to often pass the Khatoli railway station, which is the eighth station between Delhi and Saharanpur. This name in Urdu can be read in many ways with various changes in emphasis to give various meanings, and as a child more than one such meaning used to cross my mind,
يا رب صَلِّ و سلم داءما ابدا على حبيبك خير الخلق كلهم
O Sustainer, shower salaat and salaam forever and ever upon Your beloved, who is the best of all creation.
Reference: Virtues of Durood, pg 90
مَولايَ صلِّ وسلِّم دائماً أبدًا
على حبيبكَ خيرِ الخلقِ كُلهِمِ
محمدٌ سيدُ الكونَين والثَّقَلَين
و الفريقَينِ من عُربٍ و من عَجمِ
هو الحبيبُ الذي تُرجَى شفاعتُه
لكل هَولٍ من الأهوال مُقتحِمِ
ثم الرِّضا عن أبي بكرٍ وعن عُمرٍ
وعن عليٍّ وعن عثمانَ ذي الكَرمِ
مولايَ صلِّ وسلِّم
مولايَ صلِّ وسلِّم
مولايَ صلِّ وسلِّم دائماً أبدًا
على حبيبكَ خيرِ الخلقِ كُلهِمِ
يا ربي بالمصطفى بلِّغْ مَقاصِدنا
و اغفِرْ لنا ما مَضَى يا واسِعَ الكَرمِ
مولايَ صلِّ وسلِّم دائماً أبدًا
على حبيبكَ خيرِ الخلقِ كُلهِمِ
