Verification of the Dream Report Regarding the Martyrdom of Ḥusayn (RA)
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah (Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 268
This narration is found in Musnad Aḥmad, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī, and other sources, from Ibn ʿAbbās (RA):
Ibn ʿAbbās said: “One day at midday I saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream, his hair disheveled, face covered in dust, and in his hand a bottle filled with blood. I said: ‘May my parents be sacrificed for you, what is this?’ He said: ‘This is the blood of Ḥusayn and his companions. I have been collecting it since this morning.’ Ibn ʿAbbās said: I noted the time, and it was exactly the time Ḥusayn (RA) was martyred.”
This narration has been recorded by:
Chain: Ḥammād ibn Salamah → ʿAmmār ibn Abī ʿAmmār → Ibn ʿAbbās (RA)
al-Dhahabī: “Imām, ḥāfiẓ, Shaykh al-Islām” (Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ 1/202)
Ibn Ḥajar: “Thiqah, worshipper, most reliable in [narrating from] Thābit, his memory changed at the end of his life.” (Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, no. 1499)
The narrations here are from reliable students (e.g., ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, ʿAffān, al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā) and are from before any change in memory. Therefore, criticism on the basis of ikhtilāṭ does not apply.
This report is authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) or at least ḥasan li-dhātih.
Its chain is strong, transmitted by trustworthy narrators, and affirmed by leading muḥaddithīn.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah (Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 268
The Report
This narration is found in Musnad Aḥmad, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī, and other sources, from Ibn ʿAbbās (RA):
Ibn ʿAbbās said: “One day at midday I saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream, his hair disheveled, face covered in dust, and in his hand a bottle filled with blood. I said: ‘May my parents be sacrificed for you, what is this?’ He said: ‘This is the blood of Ḥusayn and his companions. I have been collecting it since this morning.’ Ibn ʿAbbās said: I noted the time, and it was exactly the time Ḥusayn (RA) was martyred.”
Sources
This narration has been recorded by:
- Musnad Aḥmad (1/242, ḥadīth 2165; 1/283, ḥadīth 2553; Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥābah 2/779, ḥadīth 1381)
- al-Ṭabarānī (al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr 3/110, ḥadīth 2822; 12/185, ḥadīth 12837)
- al-Ḥākim (al-Mustadrak 4/397–398, ḥadīth 8201)
- al-Bayhaqī (Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah 6/471)
- Ibn ʿAsākir (Tārīkh Dimashq 14/228)
Chain: Ḥammād ibn Salamah → ʿAmmār ibn Abī ʿAmmār → Ibn ʿAbbās (RA)
Authentication by Scholars
- Imām al-Ḥākim: Ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of Muslim.
- Imām al-Dhahabī: Agreed with al-Ḥākim.
- Ibn Kathīr: “Its isnād is strong.” (al-Bidāyah wa’l-Nihāyah 8/202)
- Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās: “Its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.” (Taḥqīq Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥābah 2/779)
Status of Ḥammād ibn Salamah
- Narrator in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and Sunan al-Arbaʿah
- Declared thiqah by major critics:
- Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn: Thiqah
- al-ʿAjlī: “Trustworthy, righteous, excellent in ḥadīth.”
- Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān: Thiqah
- Imām Aḥmad: Praised him in multiple places
- Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Shāhīn, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn al-Jārūd, al-Ḥākim, Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Sājī: All considered him trustworthy
al-Dhahabī: “Imām, ḥāfiẓ, Shaykh al-Islām” (Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ 1/202)
Ibn Ḥajar: “Thiqah, worshipper, most reliable in [narrating from] Thābit, his memory changed at the end of his life.” (Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, no. 1499)
Note on Possible Memory Change
The narrations here are from reliable students (e.g., ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, ʿAffān, al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā) and are from before any change in memory. Therefore, criticism on the basis of ikhtilāṭ does not apply.
Conclusion
This report is authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) or at least ḥasan li-dhātih.
Its chain is strong, transmitted by trustworthy narrators, and affirmed by leading muḥaddithīn.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
