The Story of Bakht Nasr’s Dream
The reason for the deliverance of the Children of Israel from the land of Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He had a dream that frightened him, so he summoned his priests and magicians. He informed them of the dream that troubled him and asked them to interpret it. They said: Tell us the dream. He said: I have forgotten the dream. So tell me its interpretation. They said: We cannot tell you the interpretation unless you tell us the dream. Consequently, he became angry and said: I have chosen you for this task. I give you three days; if you do not tell me the interpretation, I will kill you. This news spread among the people, and it reached Daniel while he was in prison. He said to his jailer, who was kind to him: Is it possible for you to mention me to the king, because I have knowledge of dreams, and I hope that you will gain favor with the king because of this and that I will be freed? The jailer said: I fear the king’s oppression. Perhaps the sorrow of imprisonment has prompted you to say what you do not know. Still, I think that if anyone knows this dream, it is you. Daniel said: Do not fear for me, for I have a Lord who informs me of my needs. The jailer went and informed Nebuchadnezzar. So he summoned Daniel, and he was brought before him, and everyone who came before him bowed down, but Daniel stood firm and did not bow. The king said to those present in the house: Leave. So they all left. Nebuchadnezzar said to Daniel: Why did you not bow to me? Daniel said: I have a Lord who has given me this knowledge that you have heard. It is incumbent upon me not to bow to anyone else. I fear that if I bow to you, He will take this knowledge away from me, and then I will be illiterate before you. Then you will gain no benefit from me and will kill me. I thought it easier to give up bowing than to be killed. The danger of bowing is greater than the trouble you are in, so I abandoned bowing. Nebuchadnezzar said: No one is more trustworthy to me at this moment than you, as you have fulfilled the promise of your God. I prefer those who fulfill their promises to their kings. The dream I saw, do you know its meaning? He said: Yes, I have knowledge of it and its interpretation. The great statue you saw, whose legs were on the ground, its head in the sky, its upper part gold, its middle part silver, its lower part brass, its calves iron, and its legs clay, and you looked at it. You liked its beauty and structure. Allah sent a stone from the sky that struck the top of its head and crushed it. Its gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay were mixed. You thought that if all jinn and humans combined to separate its parts, they could not. If the wind blew and scattered it, and the stone you saw that was thrown was large and spread until it filled the whole earth. You only saw the sky and the stone. Nebuchadnezzar said: You have spoken the truth; I saw this dream. So what is its interpretation? Daniel said: The statue represents different nations of the past, middle, and last times. The gold is the era and nation in which you are, and you are its king. The silver is your son who will be king after you. The brass is the Romans, the iron is Persia, and the clay represents two nations whose rulers will be two women, one in the east of Yemen and the other in the west of Syria. The stone that struck the statue is the religion of Allah. It will end this nation in the last times so that it will dominate it. Allah will send an unlettered Arab prophet. Allah will erase nations and religions with him, as you saw the stone that erased the statue’s parts. He will dominate religions and nations, as you saw the stone appear on the earth and spread until it dominated it. Allah will strengthen the truth with him and erase falsehood, guide the misguided, teach the ignorant, strengthen the weak, honor the humiliated, and help the weak. Nebuchadnezzar said: Since I became king, I have never sought help from anyone nor has anything dominated me except you. No one is more honored in my eyes than you. I reward you for your kindness and mention the story connected with him.
The details of this incident are as follows:
❀ Imam Abu Nu’aym said:
ثنا أحمد بن السندي بن بحر، قال: ثنا الحسن بن علويه القطان قال ثنا اسماعيل بن عيسى قال ثنا اسحاق بن بشر أبو حذيفة قال: ثنا سعيد بن بشير عن قتادة عن كعب الاحبار قال ……. إلخ
This incident is present without a chain of narration.
The chain of narration of this story is very weak for three reasons:
◈➊ In this chain, one narrator, Ishaq ibn Bashir, is a liar.
❀ Imam Hibban said:
’’كان يضع الحديث على الثقات.
He used to fabricate hadiths about trustworthy narrators.
❀ Imam Abu Zur’ah said:
’’ كان يكذب يحدث عن مالك أبي و معشر بأحادیث موضوعة “
He used to lie. He narrated fabricated hadiths from Imam Malik and Abu Ma’shar.
❀ Imam Abu Hatim said:
’’كان يكذب“
He used to lie. (ایضاً)
◈➋ The second reason is that Qatadah is a mudallis (one who conceals the source) and is narrating ‘an’ (from), and the narration of a mudallis is not accepted unless he explicitly states hearing (sama’).
◈➌ The third reason is that Qatadah’s meeting with Ka’b al-Ahbar is not established, meaning there is a discontinuity because Ka’b al-Ahbar died at the end of the caliphate of Sayyiduna Uthman (RA), so this chain is disconnected.
Summary of the investigation:
This entire story is false, fabricated, and fabricated (made-up).
