Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
We have explained the ruling on demonstrations in the answer
to question no. 11469; please read.
Secondly:
The blessings and salaams upon the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) should not be reduced to a single letter or
abbreviation. Whoever can write such a lengthy question is not incapable of
writing (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in full. We have
explained the ruling on writing these abbreviations in the answer to
question no. 47976; please read.
Thirdly:
The angels have been created from light, as was narrated by
Muslim (2996), and no one can claim to have seen them in their true form
unless he is a Prophet whose words are to be believed. As for those who see
them in human form, this is possible for both the common folk and the elite.
There are many such reports in the saheeh Sunnah, whether that happened
among this ummah or among the nations who came before.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
who was blessed with deep wisdom and understanding of religion, could not
bear to see Jibreel (peace be upon him) in his true form with which Allaah
created him, so how can these people bear it – even if we assume that they
saw him at all?
Shaykh ‘Umar al-Ashqar said:
Because the angels have
subtle bodies of light, people cannot see them, especially since Allaah has
not given our eyes the ability to see them. No one in this ummah has seen
the angels in their true form except the Messenger (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him). He saw Jibreel twice in the form with which Allaah
created him. The texts indicate that humans can see angels if the angels
appear in human form.
‘Aalam al-Malaa’ikah al-Abraar,
p. 11.
{Translator’s note: this book by ‘Umar al-Ashqar is available
in English under the title The World of the Noble Angels, published
by International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia}
He also said, in the context of affirming the humanity of the
Messengers and refuting those who said that they were angels:
It is difficult to see the angels. When the kuffaar demanded
to see the angels, and expected that the Messengers who were sent to them
should be angels, they did not understand the nature of the angels and they
did not know the difficulty and hardship that they might encounter as a
result of seeing them.
Contacting the angels and seeing them is not something easy.
Although the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
the best of mankind and was physically and spiritually strong to a great
degree, when he saw Jibreel in his true form, he was stricken with immense
fear and fled back to his house with his heart trembling. He (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) suffered great hardship when the Revelation
came to him, hence Allaah said, refuting them (interpretation of the
meaning):
“On the Day they will see the angels
no glad tidings will there be for the Mujrimoon (criminals, disbelievers,
polytheists, sinners) that day”
[al-Furqaan 25:22]
That is because the
kuffaar only see the angels at the time of death or when the Divine
punishment descends, so when they are able to see angels, that is the day of
their doom.
It was essential that human Messengers be sent, so that they
would be able to address mankind, and so that mankind would be able to learn
from them and understand. If Allaah had sent messengers from among the
angels to them, that would not have been possible.
“And nothing prevented men from believing when the
guidance came to them, except that they said: ‘Has Allaah sent a man as
(His) Messenger?’
95. Say: ‘If there were on the earth, angels walking about
in peace and security, We should certainly have sent down for them from the
heaven an angel as a Messenger’”
[al-Isra’ 17:94, 95]
But those who live on the earth are human, and the mercy and
wisdom of Allaah dictated that their Messengers should be of their own
kind.
“Indeed, Allaah conferred a great favour on the believers
when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:164]
Since humans cannot easily see the angels and learn from
them, this means that if Allaah had wanted to send an angel as a messenger
to mankind, He would have had to make him a man:
“And had We appointed him an angel, We indeed would have
made him a man, and We would have certainly confused them in which they are
already confused (i.e. the Message of Prophet Muhammad)”
[al-An’aam 6:9]
They would have been
confused because of his appearing in human form, and they would not have
been able to verify that he was an angel. As that is the case, there would
have been no point in sending angels as messengers in this manner, rather
sending angels as messengers in this manner would not have achieved the
intended aim, because an angel-messenger would not be able to feel what
humans feel, and share their emotions and reactions, even if he appeared in
their form.
Al-Rusul wa’l-Risaalaat, 72, 73.
{Translator’s note: This book by ‘Umar al-Ashqar is available
in English under the title The Messengers and the Messages, published
by International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia}
Fourthly:
With regard to seeing the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) when one is awake, this is akin to Sufi myths, and
there is no basis for that in sharee’ah or in real life. Tremendous events
befell the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) after the death of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and they were in
the greatest need of seeing him among them, so why did he not appear to
them, and why did they not see him when he was the dearest of people to them
and they were the dearest of people to him?
With regard to some of them quoting the hadeeth that is
narrated in al-Saheehayn from the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) – that he said, “Whoever sees me in a dream will see
me when he is awake” – as evidence that it is possible to see the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when one is awake, there is
nothing in this hadeeth to support what they say. Rather it is glad tidings
to the one who sees him in a dream, that he will see him in Paradise. It
does not mean that he will see him when he is awake in this world.
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
Some of the righteous
erred and claimed that it is possible to see him with one’s own eyes.
Fath al-Baari, 12/384.
Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, concerning the
meaning of the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), “he will see me when he is awake”, there are a number of opinions
concerning this.
1 – That what is meant is
the people of his own time, i.e., that whoever saw him in a dream and had
not migrated, Allaah would enable him to migrate and to see him with his own
eyes when he was awake.
2 – That he would see the confirmation of that dream whilst
awake in the Hereafter, because all of his ummah will see him in the
Hereafter.
3 – That he will see him in a specific sense in the
Hereafter, by being close to him and attaining his intercession, and so on.
Sharh Muslim, 15/26
What al-Nawawi mentioned in the first opinion is not
contradicted by the opinion of al-Haafiz ibn Hajar that it is not possible
to see him, because al-Nawawi stated that what was meant was the people of
his own time, and what al-Haafiz was objecting to was those who claim to
have seen him in a real sense after he (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) died.
Abu’l-‘Abbaas al-Qurtubi said, refuting those who said that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) could be seen
when one is awake:
This idea (that the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) may be seen when one is awake) may easily be refuted by
common sense, because it implies that no one can see him except in the form
in which he died, and that two people may see him at the same time in two
different places, and that he may come to life sometimes and emerge from his
grave and walk about in the marketplaces and converse with the people. That
implies that his body is not in his grave and there is nothing left in his
grave, so the grave is visited and salaam is said to one who is not there,
because he may be seen by night and by day in his real form outside his
grave.
Quoted by al-Haafiz ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari,
12/384
Moreover, if it were true
that someone could see the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) when he is awake, then he would be one of his companions and there
would be Sahabaah until the Day of Resurrection.
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar
al-‘Asqallaani stated that Ibn Abi Jamrah narrated from some of the Sufis
that they saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
in a dream, then they saw him after that when they were awake, and they
asked him about some things which they were worried about, and he told them
how to deal with them, and they followed his advice and achieved the desired
results. Then al-Haafiz commented on that by saying: This is very odd. If we
interpret it as it appears to be, then these people would be Sahaabah, and
there could be Sahaabah until the Day of Resurrection. But this may be
refuted by the fact that many people see him when they are asleep but no one
says that that they saw him when they were awake, so there is an
inconsistency.
Fath al-Baari, 12/385
The scholars of the Standing Committee said, refuting the
beliefs of al-Tijaani:
There is no proven report
from the Rightly-Guided Caliphs or from the rest of the Sahaabah (may Allaah
be pleased with them), who are the best of mankind after the Prophets, that
any of them claimed to have seen the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) when he was awake. It is well known, and no Muslim has
any excuse for not knowing, that the religion was completed during the
lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
that Allaah perfected this ummah’s religion for it and completed His Favour
upon it before the death of His Messenger (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him). Allaah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“This day, I have perfected your religion for you,
completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your
religion”
[al-Maa’idah 5:3]
So there can be no doubt
that what Ahmad al-Tijaani claims, that he saw the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was awake, and learned the Tijani
tareeqah from him orally when he was awake, and that he told him what wird
to recite to remember Allaah (dhikr) and send blessings upon His Messenger,
is false and is evident misguidance.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah,
2/325, 326
They also said:
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) died after having conveyed the Message in full and after Allaah
had perfected His religion through him and established proof against His
creation through him. His companions (may Allaah be pleased with them)
offered the funeral prayer for him and buried him where he died, in the room
of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her). After him came the
Rightly-Guided Caliphs, during whose time events occurred which they dealt
with on the basis of their own reasoning (ijtihad), and they did not refer
concerning any of them to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him). Whoever claims after that to have seen the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was awake, living
and speaking to him, or to have heard anything from him before the Day of
Resurrection, his claim is false, because it goes against the texts, the
narrated reports and the laws of Allaah that govern His creation. There is
nothing in this hadeeth to suggest that he will be seen when one is awake in
this world, because it could be interpreted as meaning, “he will see me in
the Hereafter,” or it may mean, “he will see the interpretation of his
dream”, because this dream is true according to what is stated in other
reports, namely that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “… he has indeed seen me.” The believer may truly see the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in his dream in the form in
which he appeared when he was alive.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah,
1/486, 487.
To sum up:
It is not permissible for
anyone – after the Prophets – to claim to have see the angels, for they have
bodies of light which Allaah has not enabled humans to see, unless the
angels appear in human form.
It is not permissible for anyone to claim to have seen the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was awake.
Perhaps these illusions came from some of those who do not have any Islamic
knowledge or maturity, so they imagine things that are not there.
And Allaah knows best.
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