our souls.” (1)
[Bilāl said to him, “The One who took hold of my soul is the One who took hold of yours.”] (2)
And he said:
“Whoever sleeps through a prayer should perform it when he remembers it; there is no expiation for it other than that.”
Allah Most High also says concerning the believers:
“Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake.” [Surah al-Baqarah: 286]
Allah Most High said, “I have done so.” (3)
Likewise, an error in independent reasoning comes from the self and Satan, even though the one who commits it is forgiven. Similarly, a nocturnal emission during sleep is from Satan.
In the two Sahih collections, it is reported that he said:
“Dreams are of three kinds: a dream from Allah, a dream from Satan, and a dream arising from what a person says to himself while awake and then sees in his sleep.” (4)
Thus, a sleeper may see in his sleep something that comes from Satan, and his case is as the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“The Pen has been lifted
(1) This phrase occurs in the hadith in *al-Muwatta* cited shortly above. A similar phrase occurs in the hadith of Dhū Mikhmar al-Habashī in *al-Musnad*, al-Halabī ed., 4:90–91.
(2) The passage in square brackets is absent from N and A. W reads: “He took hold of your soul, O Messenger of Allah.” This statement and the one that follows—“Whoever sleeps through a prayer…”—occur in a hadith narrated from Abu Hurayra—may Allah be pleased with him—in Muslim at the location cited above, 1:471. See also what follows several pages later, p. 211.
(3) This hadith was cited previously at 4:458.
(4) This is part of a hadith narrated from Abu Hurayra and, in another version, from Awf ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with them both—in Muslim, 4:1773, Book of Dreams, at the beginning of the book; *Sunan al-Tirmidhī*, 3:363, Book of Dreams, chapter “The Believer’s Dream Is One of Forty-Six Parts of Prophecy”; *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 4:416–17, Book of Etiquette, chapter “Reports Concerning Dreams”; *Sunan Ibn Mājah*, 2:1285, Book of Dream Interpretation, chapter “Dreams Are of Three Kinds”; and *al-Musnad*, al-Ma‘ārif ed., 14:60–61. The wordings of this hadith differ. The version narrated from Abu Hurayra in Muslim begins: “When the end of time draws near, a Muslim’s dream will hardly ever be false…” It also states: “Dreams are of three kinds: a righteous person’s dream (in *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*: ‘a righteous dream’), a distressing dream from Satan, and a dream arising from what a person says to himself.”