Bi-smillaah wa l-hamdu li-llaah wa s-salaatu was-salaam 'alaa
rasoolihi l-mustafaa. [In the Name of Allaah. All Praise belongs to
Allaah. Prayers and Peace be upon His Messenger, the Chosen One.]

As-salaamu `alaykum.

As those of you in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) may know, a chain letter is circulating on the internet which is supposedly from "Shaikh Ahmed" a "watchman" of the Masjid al-Haraam in Makkah (Makkah). In this letter the "watchman" claims to have seen the Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and send peace upon him) in a dream. The watchman goes on to say that in the dream the Messenger commented on the disobedience of his Ummah and encouraged Muslims to repent and mend their ways. According to the letter, the Prophet charged Shaikh Ahmad with the task of relaying this message to the Muslims around the world by requiring them to forward a chain letter! The letter ends as many chain letters do by promising blessings to those who forward the letter to a number of other people and bad luck to those who do not.

The letter came to my attention when a recent revert sent me an e-mail message asking about the letter. Our brother Suheil Laher wrote this brief but effective response, exposing the letter as a fraud. By the grace of Allah, his letter was forwarded to some of the national discussion groups and e-mail lists.

Al-hamdu li-llaah. The chain letter was also confirmed as a fraud by other trustworthy brothers who informed us that the same letter has been circulated several times in the past and declared a hoax by `ulamaa in Arabia and Jordan.

May Allah save the Muslims from attacks on their religion.

Alright, lets just clear this up in case people start forwarding this en masse in panic.

1. It is authentically established that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and his Household and grant them peace) said that whoever sees him in a dream has indeed seen him, for Satan cannot impersonate him. Hence, if Sheik Ahmed really claims that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream, we will not refute him.

However, the way it stands, we have no way of verifying even that. All we have is an anonymous message claiming that; we don't know from whom the message originated, whether the writer is a reliable and upright Muslim or not. At this point, I don't really know if the watchman of al-Masjid al-Nabawiyy is even named Sheik Ahmed.

2. The hadith talks about _seeing_ the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), not about _hearing_. It is not inconceivable that one may see the Prophet in a dream, but that Satan may whisper something to the person, resulting in his thinking that the Prophet said it.

3. Even assuming that he claims to have heard the Prophet saying something, those words do not become binding because:

3.1 Firstly, one of the conditions for acceptance of hadith is dabt (precision in narrating) of the narrator. A sleeping person is not conscious, and is therefore not considered dabit (precise/reliable) in what he reports from that state. Otherwise, what the dreamer reports would be a hadith, and the dreamer would be a Sahabi!

3.2 Even if, for the sake of argument, we say that he is dabit in his narration, it still does not become binding, according to most scholars. Legislation was completed and perfected by the death of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Hence, a dream cannot make something farD, or sunnah, or makruh, or Haram. Imam al-Nawawi has reported consensus (ijma`) on this.

4. So, if someone thinks he heard the Prophet tell him something in a dream, he is not obliged to follow it, although some considered that he may follow it himself, but that he cannot oblige others to follow it. All this is assuming that what he heard is in conformance with the shari`ah. If it conflicts with the shar`iah, there is no disagreement
that it should be rejected as imaginings or Satanic whisperings, and neither he nor anyone else may act on it.

5. Having established these general principles, we now turn to the specific matter at hand. The things which this letter claims were advised by the Prophet in the dream (wives obeying their husbands, helping the poor, performance of pilgrimage, establishment of salah) are certainly good things, in conformance with the shari`ah. Hence, if someone wants to remind Muslims to do these good deeds, then inshaAllah there is reward for him in that. In fact, this would be the case even if there had been no such dream as that reported.

6. However, to make it a fard on Muslims to distribute 20 copies of the letter, and to say that they will be punished in this world if they do not do so is not a part of the shari`ah:

i) According to the Qur'an and Sunnah, a person is not necessarily punished in this world for a sin. A Muslim may be punished in this world, in which case he is freed from punishment for it in the Hereafter. Or, Allah may forgive him in the Hereafter, or in fact even before that if he repents sincerely. Evil people may not be punished in this world, by way of istidraj (deception) - i.e. Allah gives them more and more luxury and comfort, so that they fall further and deeper into evil.
ii) Rationally, it is not sound for one to be punished heavily for failing to distribute a letter, when one is not punished to the same extent for not making da`wah to non-Muslims by propagating the message of tawHeed and the Qur'an (which is a farD for Muslims, especially in a non-Muslim country). Admittedly, this second argument is only speculative, and not decisive.

Attached below is an extract from Imam Nawawi's commentary on SaHeeH Muslim, for those who are interested in reading it, although I have already mentioned above most of the points he discusses.

And Allah, the Flawless, knows best.

Suheil

Translated from Sharh Saheeh Muslim, by Imam al-Nawawi.
Text (C) by Suheil Laher

Qadi `Iyad (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, ". . . . [It is] not that one can be certain of the matter of a dream, nor that an established sunnah can be invalidated on account of [a dream], nor that an unproved sunnah can be established [by it]. This is by the consensus of the scholars."

These are the words of Qadi `Iyad, and the same has been said by others of our colleagues [the Shafi`is] and others [besides them]. They reported agreement that that which is established in the Law cannot be changed on account of that which the sleeping person sees. This, which we have mentioned, does not contradict the saying of [the Messenger of Allah] (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), "Whoever sees me in a dream has [indeed] seen me," for the meaning of the hadith is that his vision is authentic and not part of [mere] muddled dreams, nor of the deception of Satan. However, it is not permissible to establish a legal ruling by it, because the state of sleep is not one of retention and exactitude for that which the seer [of the dream] hears. [Scholars] have agreed that among the conditions [stipulated] for those whose narration and testimony may be accepted is that he be alert, not inattentive nor of poor memory, nor very error-prone, nor of impeded retention. The sleeping person does not have these characteristics, and so his narration is not accepted, because of the impariment of his retentive ability. All of this is with regard to a dream associated with initiation of a verdict in contradiction to that by which the people of authority judge. If, on the other hand, one saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordering one to do something which is recommended, or forbidding one to do something forbidden, or directing him to do something beneficial, then there is no disagreement over the praiseworthiness of acting by it, for that is not a verdict based merely on the dream, but rather on that which is established [in the Law] regarding the basis of that [deed]. And Allah knows best.