24. VISIONS OF THE PROPHET ARE OF HIS EMBODIMENT
People find difficulty in understanding the words of the Prophet about seeing him in a vision, “Whoever saw me in a dream has seen me in reality.” The hadith apparently means that he sees him in reality. Some people see him in their dream as a youth, while others see him in old age; some see him healthy, while others see him ill.
Therefore, whoever believes that the Messenger’s body that is buried in Madinah exits the grave and arrives to where he is seen, possesses unparalleled ignorance. A thousand people could see him at the same time in a thousand places in different forms, so how can it be thought that they all see him in real person? They only see his embodiment.
Therefore, his saying, “Whoever saw me in a dream has seen me in reality.” means “has seen my image that he knows and that fulfills the intended purpose.”
If someone asks, “What do you say about seeing Allah [the Almighty] in visions?” We say: He only sees an example and not the reality. The example does not lack equality or resemblance, as Allah [the Almighty] said,
“He sends down from the sky, rain, and valleys flow according to their capacity.” [al-Ra’d (13): 17]
So he presented it as an example for the Qur’an and how people benefit from it.
This clarifies that whoever sees Allah Almighty [in a vision] only sees Him in a specific image [and not in reality], Exalted and Unified is He. Therefore, this clarifies what we have said
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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