𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥-𝐒𝐮𝐲ūṭī’𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 ﷺ 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞.

𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥-𝐒𝐮𝐲ūṭī’𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 ﷺ 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞.

Among the controversial views attributed to 𝐉𝐚𝐥ā𝐥 𝐚𝐥-𝐃ī𝐧 𝐚𝐥-𝐒𝐮𝐲ūṭī (رحمه الله) is the claim that it is possible for a person to see the Prophet ﷺ while awake and to receive knowledge from him after his passing. This assertion was not accepted by scholars of his time and those who came after him.

Below is a documented overview of classical scholarly refutations of this claim.

𝟏. 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐥-Ṣ𝐚𝐧‘ā𝐧ī (𝟏𝟎𝟗𝟗𝐇–𝟏𝟏𝟖𝟐𝐇) 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝:

فإن لم يكن هذا القول من أقوال أهل الجنون وإلا فلا جنون في الأكوان، وأعجب من هذا قول السيوطي: (أن من كرامة الولي أن يرى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ويجتمع به في اليقظة ويأخذ عنه ما قسم من مذاهب ومعارف).

“If this statement is not among the sayings of the insane, then there is no insanity in existence. Even more astonishing than this is al-Suyūṭī’s claim: ‘That among the miracles (karāmāt) of a walī is that he sees the Prophet ﷺ, meets him while awake, and takes from him what is apportioned of schools of thought and knowledge.’”

[al-Inṣāf fī Ḥaqīqat al-Awliyā’ wa Mā Lahum min al-Karāmāt wa al-Alṭāf (p.124)]

𝟐. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐤𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐫 𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝:

وليت شعري لم كان عثمان يطلب شاهدين من كل من أتاه بآية يشهدان على أنها من القرآن، وهلا رأى النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم- يقظة وسأله عن تلك الآية، وهو وسائر الصحابة أحق ممن ذكر بهذه الفضيلة،

وقد وقع بينهم من الاختلاف لم يره أحد منهم ويدفع إشكاله!

والسيوطي -رحمه الله- كان فيما ألفه من الكتب حاطب ليل في كل كتاب له مذهب ومشرب، وما أتى به في كتابه هذا لا يعول عليه كما سيرد عليك مردودا”

And I do not comprehend why Sayyidunā ‘Uthmān used to ask for two witnesses from anyone who came to him with an āyah of the Qur’an. Why did he not see the Prophet ﷺ while awake and ask him regarding the āyah? Sayyidunā ‘Uthmān and all the Ṣaḥābah were more deserving of this virtue (i.e., seeing the Prophet ﷺ in a wakeful state) than those mentioned. Differences occurred among the Ṣaḥābah, yet none of them saw him ﷺ while awake to resolve the ambiguity.

As for al-Suyūṭī (raḥimahullāh), in his writings he is like one gathering wood in the dark. In every book, he adopts a particular method and style, and whatever he came across, he would record without thorough verification even if it included rejected matters.

[Al-Irshad wal-Taleem by Badr al-din al-Halabi, quoted by Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi in Ghayat al-Amani 1/51]

𝟑. 𝐚𝐥-𝐒𝐚𝐤𝐡ā𝐰ī (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐛𝐧 Ḥ𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐥-‘𝐀𝐬𝐪𝐚𝐥ā𝐧ī)was a staunch rival of al Suyuti and even criticized him harshly in al-Ḍaw’ al-Lāmi‘. Al-Suyūṭī later replied with al-Kāwī fī Tārīkh al-Sakhāwī.

Sufi Qasṭallānī reported that his teacher al-Sakhāwī said regarding seeing the Prophet ﷺ while awake:

“لم يصل إلينا ذلك عن أحد من الصحابة، ولا عن من بعدهم. وقد اشتد حزن فاطمة عليه- صلى الله عليه وسلم- حتى ماتت كمدا بعده بستة أشهر- على الصحيح- وبيتها مجاور لضريحه الشريف، ولم ينقل عنها رؤيته فى المدة التى تأخرت عنه.”
“Nothing of this has reached us from any of the Companions, nor from those who came after them. As an example, Fāṭimah (may Allah be pleased with her) was so grieved over him ﷺ that she passed away out of sorrow six months later—as is the sound view—while her house was adjacent to his noble grave. Yet it was never reported that she saw him in the time after his passing.”

[Qasṭallānī quoted in al-Mawāhib al-Ladunniyyah 2/371; Sharḥ al-Zarqānī 7/292 notes that by “his teacher,” Qasṭallānī was referring to al-Sakhāwī.]

𝟒. 𝐀𝐥-𝐒𝐚𝐤𝐡ā𝐰ī held the same position as his teacher Ibn Ḥajar al-‘Asqalānī.

𝟓. 𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢 𝐚𝐥 𝐊𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐮𝐟𝐭𝐢 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐝 also wrote against these stances, he tried to do taweel as well.

𝟔. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 mentioned above are only some of those who refuted al Suyuti. In reality:

a) The vast majority of earlier scholars held that seeing the Prophet ﷺ while awake after his passing is not possible.

b) Even some classical Sufis, such as Ibn al-Ḥājj (d. 737 AH), stated nearly 900 years ago that such occurrences were extremely rare and nearly extinct in his time.

c) If that was the case centuries ago, then by logical and historical reasoning, such claims today are entirely unfounded.

𝟕. 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐀𝐥𝐢 𝐚𝐥 𝐐𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢 𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐟𝐢

(إنه لو كان له حقيقة لكان يجب العمل بما سمعوه منه صلى الله عليه وسلم من أمر ونهي وإثبات ونفي ومن المعلوم أنه لا يجوز ذلك إجماعاً كما لا يجوز بما يقع حال المنام ولو كان الرائي من أكابر الأنام وقد صرح المازري وغيره بأن من رآه يأمر بقتل من يحرم قتله كان هذا من الصفات المتخيلة لا المرئية)

“If this had any real basis, then it would be necessary to act upon what they heard from him ﷺ in terms of commands and prohibitions, affirmations and negations. Yet it is well known that this is unanimously impermissible just as it is impermissible to act upon what occurs in a dream, even if the one who sees it is among the greatest of mankind. Al-Māzarī and others have explicitly stated that if someone sees him ﷺ commanding the killing of one whose killing is unlawful, then this is from imagined attributes, not something actually seen.” [Jama al Wasail Sharah al Shumail Tirmidhi 2/238]

8. 𝐀𝐪𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐢 𝐑𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐡𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡 were against ghullat al soofiyah present today.

a) He even considered Ibn Taymiyyah as “Shaykh ul Islam”

𝐇𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐥-𝐃𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥-𝐒𝐮𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐢 (𝐫𝐚) on 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐤𝐡 𝐚𝐥-𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦 𝐈𝐛𝐧 𝐓𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐢𝐲𝐲𝐚𝐡 (𝐫𝐚)

ابن تيمية ، الشيخ ، الإمام ، العلامة ، الحافظ ، الناقد ، الفقيه ، المجتهد ، المفسر البارع ، شيخ الإسلام ، علَم الزهاد ، نادرة العصر ، تقي الدين أبو العباس أحمد المفتي شهاب الدين عبد الحليم بن الإمام المجتهد شيخ الإسلام مجد الدين عبد السلام بن عبد الله بن أبي القاسم الحراني

أحد الأعلام ، ولد في ربيع الأول سنة إحدى وستين وستمائة ، وسمع ابن أبي اليسر ، وابن عبد الدائم ، وعدّة
وعني بالحديث ، وخرَّج ، وانتقى ، وبرع في الرجال ، وعلل الحديث ، وفقهه ، وفي علوم الإسلام ، وعلم الكلام ، وغير ذلك
وكان من بحور العلم ، ومن الأذكياء المعدودين ، والزهاد ، والأفراد ، ألَّف ثلاثمائة مجلدة ، وامتحن وأوذي مراراً
مات في العشرين من ذي القعدة سنة ثمان وعشرين وسبعمائة

Ibn Taymiyyah the shaykh, the imam, the ‘allāmah (great scholar), the ḥāfiẓ, the critic, the faqīh, the mujtahid, the brilliant mufassir, Shaykh al-Islam, the leader of ascetics, the unparalleled scholar of his time Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad al-Muftī Shihāb al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm, the son of the imam and mujtahid Shaykh al-Islam Majd al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Salām ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī al-Qāsim al-Ḥarrānī.

He was one of the eminent scholars. He was born in Rabī‘ al-Awwal in the year 661 AH. He learned from Ibn Abī al-Yasar, Ibn ‘Abd al-Dā’im, and others. He devoted himself to the study of ḥadīth, narrated and critically selected reports, and excelled in the knowledge of narrators, the hidden defects of ḥadīth, fiqh, the sciences of Islam, ‘ilm al-kalām, and other disciplines.

He was an ocean of knowledge, one of the few exceptionally intelligent scholars, an ascetic, and a truly unique individual. He authored three hundred volumes and was tested and persecuted many times. He passed away on the twentieth of Dhū al-Qa‘dah in the year 728 AH.

[Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥuffāẓ, no. 1142]

b) He even spoke against Waasitah between Allah tala and People.

c) He spoke against Istigatha as well.

𝟖. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

The claim that the Prophet ﷺ can be seen while awake after his passing was not accepted by the overwhelming majority of classical scholars. Leading authorities from ḥadīth, fiqh, and even early taṣawwuf decisively rejected it, noting that such an occurrence was never reported from the Companions, despite their closeness to the Prophet ﷺ and their need for clarification in times of disagreement. Scholars further emphasized that no rulings, commands, or knowledge can be taken from such claims, just as they cannot be taken from dreams. Even early Sufis acknowledged that such reports were exceedingly rare and nearly extinct centuries ago, making modern claims entirely unfounded. The preserved religion of Islam remains grounded in the Qur’an, authentic Sunnah, and the understanding of the Salaf not in unverifiable personal experiences. For more: Read Article on Jalal ud din al Suyuti Rahimahullah on systemoflife . com

See Full Article On “Can We See Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) While Awake.