Him, in Dream Islam

Detailed book entry

and honored him and forgave him, or brought him to account but concealed him, and he did not see Him in a physical sense, then he will meet Allah like that on the Day of Resurrection. He said: If he sees a (physical) likeness and it was said to him, This is your God, or he thought that this was his God and worshipped him or prostrated to him, then he is a man who is striving in falsehood and thinking that he is following the truth. This is the dream of someone who fabricates lies against Allah, may He be exalted. He stated clearly that if a person sees a physical likeness, it means that he is striving in falsehood, the reason being that Allah, may He be exalted, has no physical likeness. What we mentioned above may be refuted by noting that when we see likeness, we do not mean His Essence, rather it is in a way that is likeness in name, such as Knower, Sovereign and Judge, according to the view of al-Hanbali. Our Shaykh, Shihaab-ud-Deen al-‘Iraqi, said: Seeing the Creator (in a dream) is possible, and may occur in three forms: 1. Seeing Him in the way indicated by reason and reports, with perfection of attributes and being free of any physical attributes and the like. This is possible in this world and we are certain that it will happen in the Hereafter for the believers, but if a sinner or a person who is falling short claims that, then it is to be rejected, but if he is one of the pious then we believe him and accept what he is saying. The Words of Allah, “No vision can grasp Him” [al-An’aam 6:103], are general in meaning though they may be subject to exceptions. If we accept the view of some ‘Awliya’ with regard to extraordinary things that are miracles, how can we not accept it when it comes to making specific something that is general? 2. Seeing Him in the form of a man, and it is understood that He has manifested Himself to him in that image, and he is certain that that image is a creation. This image is possible. 3. Seeing Him in a physical image and believing that this is Allah in a true sense, and it never occurs to him in his dream that this is no more than an image. It is possible that this could be true and the mistake is only because of the dreamer, or it may be from Satan who makes him imagine that in order to mislead him. What I think is that it depends on the one who has attributes indicated by the names of Allah or is characterized by some of the attributes of Allah, as some of the scholars said concerning the words of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), “Allah has ninety-nine names; whoever memorizes them will enter Paradise.” He said: What is meant by memorizing is acquiring those characteristics. One of the Imams said: If a man dreams that he is standing before Allah and He, may He be glorified, is looking at him, then if the dreamer is one of the righteous then he has to be careful, because Allah says: “The Day when (all) mankind will stand before the Lord of the ‘Aalameen (mankind, Jinn and all that exists).”[al-Mutaffifeen 83:6] i.e. because he does not know why He is looking at him. If he dreams that He is conversing with him, then he will be honored by being brought closer to Him and people will like him, because Allah says: “And made him draw near to Us for a talk with him.”[Maryam 19:52] And if he sees himself prostrating before Him, the dream has a similar meaning, because Allah says: “ Fall prostrate and draw near to Allah.” [al - ‘Alaq 96:19] If he dreams that Allah speaks to him from behind a screen, then his religious commitment will get better and he will fulfil his trust if anyone has entrusted something to him, and his authority will increase. If he dreams that Allah spoke to him without a screen, then he will fall into error regarding his religious commitment, because Allah says: “ It is not given to any human being that Allah should speak to him unless (it be) by Revelation, or from behind a veil.”[al - Shoora 42:51]

Allah knows best. This is not a fatwa.