the Mu'tazilah and others denied that Allah could be seen; yet this is established by recurrent, independently transmitted reports from those who have seen their Lord in dreams.

Perhaps, however, what they said was that one may not believe that one has seen one's Lord in a dream. They would thus have classified such visions as confused dreams, and, through their excessive denial and negation, denied that seeing Allah in a dream could be a valid vision, like other things seen in dreams. This is a view held by those who adopt Jahmī doctrines. It is false and contradicts the consensus of the early generations of this Ummah and its leading scholars—indeed, the consensus of rational people generally. Seeing Allah in a dream entails no imperfection or defect attributable to Him, glorified and exalted is He. Rather, it reflects the dreamer's condition: the soundness or corruption of his faith, and the uprightness or deviation of his conduct.

The saying, “Whatever occurs to the mind or passes through the imagination, Allah is unlike it,” and similar statements, can be understood correctly if interpreted in this sense. We do not believe that Allah Himself resembles any of the forms a person imagines while asleep or awake, for He Himself is not like them. Indeed, a person cannot conceive of or imagine even the jinn and angels as they truly are. Rather, they differ from what he imagines and pictures while asleep or awake, even if what he has seen corresponds to and resembles them. Allah Most High is more exalted