(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) from the mosque of the Kaaba, three men came to him before he received revelation, while he was asleep in the Sacred Mosque. The first of them said, ‘Which of them is he?’ The one in the middle said, ‘He is the best of them.’ One of them said, ‘Take the best of them.’ That was what happened that night. He did not see them again until they came to him on another night, when he saw them with his heart while his eyes slept; his heart, however, did not sleep. Likewise, the prophets’ eyes sleep, but their hearts do not.”

If this is so, such an experience is like that of someone whose eyes are closed, when the true nature of causes is disclosed to his heart, his spirit is taken up to heaven, and it witnesses things directly. This is not of the same kind as people’s dreams: it is a waking experience, not a dream.

The judge said, “It was also narrated by Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn