The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever sees me in a dream will see me in waking.” What is the interpretation

The Shaykh : The questioner says: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , he asks: What is the interpretation of: ? And he adds, saying: And does the seer count as having seen him if some of his attributes are missing?
The second question is clear, meaning if he saw him in a form other than the known attributes in the books of al-Shama'il; does that mean he saw him?
Perhaps answering this second question and being content with that is more appropriate than answering the first question:
I say: If you had reflected on his saying (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him): , you would have known that whoever saw him in a form other than the attributes he possessed did not see him; because whoever saw me in a dream did not see the master builder, and whoever saw the master builder did not see al-Albani, and so on. I clarify this with an example:
Among the known attributes of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the biography and in the Prophetic attributes, especially in the book of Imam al-Tirmidhi known as “al-Shama’il,” is: “When he walked, it was as if he was being poured down from a slope”; meaning: he was strong in his gait (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him). So if a claimant claims that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) walking with a shuffling, hunched step, his back bent like this, and his beard white, and walking like this with a shuffle; can it be said that he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him)? And among his attributes is that his beard had only ten hairs or close to that, so he was young and had reached the age of sixty and then three years after that, and he did not grow gray (peace be upon him) except in a few scattered hairs like this. He saw him completely gray; so he did not see the Messenger (peace be upon him). The Messenger used to walk, and his companions from behind would strive but could not catch up with him or follow him. So he sees him walking like this, the walk of the disabled; can it be said that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?! Far from it, he must see him as his descriptions and attributes have reached us.
Once you know this reality, then we say in answer to the first question: The intended meaning of “waking” here is not the waking of this fleeting, ending world that is followed by death, but rather the intended meaning is the waking after which there is no death, and it is eternal life. So the hadith contains good news for this one who saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that he will see him in Paradise.

The questioner : A comment on this question: if he saw him as he read in the attributes, then he ordered him to do something that contradicts his Sunnah, claiming that he saw him as he is in the attributes in al-Shama'il.

The Shaykh : This is a question...
...

The questioner : ... , because I... a lot, even in his lifetime, meaning Satan may come in the form of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) close to him?

The Shaykh : This question contradicts the previous question.

The questioner : I say: If he saw him in the form that is in al-Shama'il, does this form that is in al-Shama'il apply only to the Messenger or does it apply to many people?

The Shaykh : No, it does not apply.

The questioner : Meaning a person cannot...

The Shaykh : Because the intended meaning of what came in al-Shama'il is not that we take one attribute, but rather it is the sum of the attributes, yes.

The questioner : Meaning such attributes do not gather... he walks, I saw his black beard with hairs in it, his aquiline nose, his eyebrows... his shoulders, and then is it not possible that Satan came in a form other than the form of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and close to him in form? Meaning some people divide.

The Shaykh : This – without offense – it is not permissible to say this; because it is not hidden from you that the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the other narration: , and if we open the door to this interpretation, it means that the words of the Messenger (peace be upon him): have no value at all.

The questioner : I say – may Allah bless you – I say: Who is being addressed?

The Shaykh : The Muslims are being addressed.

The questioner : Those who saw him first... that it is complete, meaning how if fifty or a hundred people come in his form and appearance, can they distinguish him from among them? Meaning like Shaykh al-Albani, there are many people exactly like him, meaning no matter how much a describer describes, a person cannot distinguish him unless he sees his shape and form, meaning – for example – if any describer described me, no matter how good a describer he is, there are thousands of people of my shape, but I do not think one person can know me from my shape unless he saw me before this.

The Shaykh : All of this is understood; what is the value of: ?

The questioner : What I understand – without offense – is that the Companions, certainly, whoever saw him has seen him. Those after them, if he came with the attributes he read, and he did not order him to do what contradicts his Shari'ah, then it is the Messenger truly. So if he came with those attributes and ordered him to do something that contradicts what he legislated in his worldly life, it is said: this is Satan, meaning he did not imagine a form close to the form of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : Shaykh Ahmad, has it been half an hour or not?

The questioner : Yes?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : You know what I like; therefore this is a trick.

The questioner : ... .

Another questioner : Evidence that the waking...

The Shaykh : You may remember that a man came to Ibn Abbas and mentioned that he saw the Messenger in a dream. He said to him: Describe him to me. So he described him; he said to him: You have seen him.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So we can agree that the vision mentioned in the hadith is not specific to the Companions.

The questioner : It is not specific to the Companions.

The Shaykh : Okay, let’s take a step.
Your problem is only that if he claims that he saw the Messenger and that he ordered him to do something contrary to what? Contrary to the Shari'ah, this is the answer as previously explained.

The questioner : Is it interpreted?

The Shaykh : Most visions are interpreted, even beautiful visions are interpreted.

The questioner : This is one of our brothers from Britain, and although it means...

The Shaykh : Yes?

Another questioner : Evidence that he is in waking...

The Shaykh : No, it does not happen in waking; this is an impossible matter, an impossible matter, and this falls within the methodology of the Salafi da'wah that we always and forever talk about. The righteous Salaf lived, and at their head were the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and none of them saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) in waking. Then came the era of the second century, the century of the Tabi'un, and none of them claimed that he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) in waking. Then came the followers of the Tabi'un and none of them claimed that claim at all. Then these claims multiplied in the centuries not known for excellence. So how do we believe that the centuries known for excellence do not have even a weak narration that so-and-so saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) in waking, while the narrations are mass-transmitted from the later people that so-and-so sees the Messenger (peace be upon him) in waking, and so-and-so, I don’t know what he said if he did not see the Messenger so many times a day. Do you not remember, Shaykh, what he said? If he did not see the Messenger so many times a day, I don’t know what happens to him, meaning? In waking, this is from the Khalaf!!
Therefore we say: Every claim, every action, every belief that we believe or know that the Salaf did not know is not from Islam at all. This is the reality: many narrations are reported about the Salaf that they saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) in a dream, and none of them said: then I saw him in waking at all. Therefore, this reality led the scholars and whoever wished to expand the speech on this specific issue in a particular way that the intended meaning of “waking” here is the waking of the Hereafter and not the waking of this world. So let him refer to the book of Shaykh “Ali al-Qari,” the commentator of “Mishkat al-Masabih,” his commentary on “al-Shama’il al-Nabawiyyah” of “al-Tirmidhi,” and he will find this research at the end of the book very well explained, such that a person is convinced that the intended waking in the hadith is the waking of the Hereafter, and that is, as we said earlier: good news for the seer that he will see the Messenger (peace be upon him) there.