Claiming to know the future through dreams
Fatwa No: 99176

Question

There are many christian Pastors and leaders and some non- muslims who make prophecy or claim to see the future or have dreams which sometimes come to pass, waht is the islamic position on this? 2. How does a muderer repent and would Allah forgive him?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

The claim of some people –Muslims or non-Muslims- that they know the future is a false claim, as it is rejected clearly in Quran. Allaah Says (what means): {And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow.}[Quran 31:34]. It is proved from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that he said: "The keys of unseen are five which none knows but Allaah… None knows what will happen in the future except Allaah”. [Al-Bukhari]

As for some true news which are informed by the soothsayers and astrologers, they obtain this through the jinn who hear it from the angels when Allaah predestines it, and then they whisper it in the magicians ears, as informed by The Prophet . Sometimes Allaah lets a person know some future matters through good dreams as The Prophet said that a good dream from a believer is a one portion of forty-six portions of Prophethood. The coincidence of a dream to the future event is a fact which no one can deny. Occurrence of such matters especially to a righteous Muslim is a known fact. As for a non-Muslims or dissolute persons, sometimes their dreams may also come true just as a liar sometimes tells the truth.

For details refer to Fatwa 87949.

Finally, a person who sees a dream can not claim that he knows the future since the dream is not his own effort, plus the fact that it does not come true all times.

Allaah Knows best.

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