The Book of Faith-02a

The reciter: And Suwayd ibn Sa'id narrated to us, saying: 'Ali ibn Masihr narrated to us, saying: "I heard, and Hamzah al-Ziyat heard, from Aban ibn Abi 'Iyash approximately a thousand hadiths. 'Ali said: Then I met Hamzah, and he informed me that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream, so he presented to him what he had heard from Aban, but he did not recognize from them except a small amount, five or six".

The Shaykh : And such situations are rare, meaning that something becomes unclear to a person, and then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) appears to him in a dream and informs him of the truth. This is in the narration of hadith. I saw it in the book "I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in" by Ibn al-Qayyim, regarding his shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), that the ruling on funerals became unclear to him; he was brought forward to be prayed over, and a person doubts whether this deceased is a Muslim or a disbeliever, along with other matters. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream, so I asked him what we should do with these funerals? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as Ibn Taymiyyah narrated from him in the dream: "Stick to the condition, O Ahmad." And this is undoubtedly a karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) for the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, that Allah facilitated for him a source of knowledge from which to draw. Then another karamah is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that the name of this man from his ummah (the Muslim community) is Ahmad. And this is undoubtedly a karamah that testifies to the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him).
If someone asks: Do you act upon dreams in such cases? The answer is: If it has a basis in the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) and this is a branch of it, or if it has a basis in the Shari'ah and this is analogous to it—meaning in the first case there are generalities and this comes as a detail, and in the second case it is qiyas (analogical reasoning)—then we act upon it. But if it has no basis, then we do not act upon dreams. And this statement is the middle path between the superstitious who act upon every dream, until some of them, may Allah protect us from that, claim that they saw Allah, and that He spoke to them and dictated His Shari'ah to them. And some people deny this absolutely, saying that the dead cannot perceive anything of the conditions of the living ever. Usually, the middle statement is the middle one. Is there a difference between them? What is the difference? The middle between two separated groups, and the middle is the acceptable choice. So what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned, as the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah narrated from him in the dream, has a basis in the Shari'ah. In the rulings, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Lubaydah bint al-Zubayr, and she complained to him while she intended to perform Hajj (the major pilgrimage), saying: meaning, say: "If something prevents me, then my place of completion is where I am prevented." This is in the rulings.
In supplication, in the verse of li'an (mutual oath-swearing in an accusation of adultery) Is this a restricted or unrestricted supplication? When? If he is among the liars, and she says: Based on the Shari'ah witness for this vision, we ruled on its validity. And with this, if a deceased is brought to us and he is known for being negligent in prayer, then we do not assert that we will pray for him, but we say: "O Allah, if he was a believer, then forgive him." And if one is brought to us whom we know does not pray and has not repented, then it is forbidden for us to pray over him, and it is obligatory for us to turn away, except that two witnesses testify to his Islam and his return to Islam through prayer. Because Allah the Exalted said regarding the hypocrites: And prayer over the deceased is seeking forgiveness for him. And Allah the Exalted said:
And the seeking of forgiveness by Ibrahim (Abraham) was brought up regarding this, where he said about his father: So Allah the Exalted responded to this implied question: ... : And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the most noble of people in status with Allah, as we know. When he sought permission from his Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, to seek forgiveness for his mother, it was said: Allah did not permit him to seek forgiveness for her, because she died while she was a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). Allah did not permit seeking forgiveness for her. So he sought permission from his Lord to visit her grave, and He permitted him. He visits the grave not to supplicate for her, but for reflection. So he visited the grave and stood over it, and he began to weep (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the people wept with him. So the result is that a dream vision, if it has a witness in the Shari'ah, is accepted, and if it has no witness, it is not accepted, if it involves changing the Shari'ah of Allah. So this is what Muslim mentioned in the introduction of the Sahih: there is a dream vision in the narration of hadith, where hadiths were presented to him, but he did not recognize from them except the small amount.