Bukhari

Hadith Commentary: The knowledge of these forty-six parts belongs to Allah alone; it is possible that Allah also informed His Noble Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about them. There are various narrations regarding the number of these parts, from which the utmost virtue of a righteous dream is intended.

Hadith Commentary:
➊
In this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) himself has referred to the dream as "hasanah" (good), and has declared the good dreams of righteous people to be one forty-sixth part of prophethood. That is, it is not necessary that every dream is merely the result of fluctuations in temperament or personal inclinations, although in one narration this virtue has been mentioned for every dream of a believer.
(: Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Ta’bir, Hadith 6994)
But according to this hadith, the good dreams of a believer attain this status that they are one forty-sixth part of prophethood.

➋
It should also be kept in mind that sometimes even a believer may experience confused or disturbed dreams, but this happens only occasionally, because the interference of Shaytan with a believer is very minimal. The explanation of the good dream being one forty-sixth part of prophethood will be given later,
by the permission of Allah Ta’ala.

Explanation:
1:
The sending of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was the greatest glad tiding for this ummah.
Allah, Lord of the worlds, by sending the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, bestowed a favor upon this ummah such as He did not bestow upon any other ummah.
He honored it with the blessing of Islam.
The Lord of the worlds mentions this favor in the following way: ﴿لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللهُ عَلَى الْمُؤمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولاً مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ ...﴾ ( Aal Imran: 164). Your noble personage was, for this ummah, entirely a source of glad tidings.
After your sallallahu alayhi wa sallam departure from this world, according to your statement, nothing of the glad tidings remains except for good dreams.

Benefits and Issues:
➊
It is a virtue of a person of faith that his dreams are generally true. One explanation for calling the dream of a believer the forty-sixth part of prophethood is that the period of prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was twenty-three years, and during the first six months, he would receive only dreams. These dreams were so true and real, just like the appearance of the true dawn after the darkness of night. So these six months are the forty-sixth part of twenty-three years. Thus, in this proportion, it has been said regarding the dream of a believer. And Allah knows best.

➋
Whoever wishes that his dreams become true should strive to purify his faith and actions, and should always make truthfulness his habit.

Benefits and Issues:

➊
A prophet’s dream is always true,
because Satan has no influence over him. However, sometimes the dream is such
that it requires interpretation.
A righteous person may sometimes have incorrect dreams because he is not infallible.
Nevertheless, the more righteous he is, the greater the hope that his dreams will be true.

➋
Hazrat Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), is the last Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
After him, no person can become a prophet.
Therefore, calling a dream the forty-sixth part of prophethood does not mean that the one who sees the dream shares in the honor of prophethood.
Rather, it means that prophethood consists of forty-six or seventy parts,
and among those, one part is good dreams.
Although prophethood no longer remains, this part of it will remain until the Day of Resurrection.
One explanation of this is as follows:
The period of prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is twenty-three years,
and during the first six months, he (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) used to receive only dreams,
which were so true and based on reality as the appearance of the dawn after the darkness of night. Since these six months are the forty-sixth part of twenty-three years, it is in this proportion that it has been said regarding the dream of a believer.
And Allah knows best.

Takhrij al-Hadith:
[وأخرجه البخاري 6983، من حديث مالك به]

Jurisprudential Explanation:
➊ There are many parts of prophethood, such as revelation (wahy), the coming of Jibril (alayhis salam), direct speech, speech from behind a veil, inspiration (ilham), unveiling (kashf), an angel bringing revelation in human form, news of the unseen, and true dreams, etc. Among these, after the advent of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), all types, parts, and aspects of prophethood have been terminated and discontinued forever, except for true dreams which a righteous person may occasionally see. This absolutely does not mean that whoever sees true dreams is a prophet or a messenger; rather, the door of prophethood and messengership has been closed forever until the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, now neither will a prophet be born nor a messenger be born.
➋ The doctrines of many people of innovation (ahl al-bid‘ah) are based on false, fabricated, and satanic dreams, through which they reject the Qur’an, hadith, and consensus (ijma‘).
➌ It is not necessary that a dream be fulfilled exactly as seen; rather, it is possible for it to have an interpretation, and in dreams there may be symbols, indications, and metaphors, etc.
➍ The well-known trustworthy Imam Qadi Abu Ja‘far Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Bahlul ibn Hassan ibn Sinan al-Tanukhi al-Baghdadi rahimahullah (d. 318 AH) said: “I was upon the religion of the Iraqis, so I saw the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in a dream, and he was performing prayer. I saw that he would raise his hands (raf‘ al-yadayn) in the first takbir, and when bowing (ruku‘), and when rising from ruku‘.” [سنن الدار قطني 1/292 ح1112، وسنده صحيح]
It is evident that the Hanafi scholars do not accept the dream of this truthful and righteous man as valid; thus, it is established that after the Companions (radi Allahu anhum), the dream of any member of the ummah is not a proof, even if he claims to have seen the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
➎ Also see: [ح127، 375، 512]