1004 — “Whoever sees me in a dream, it is as though he has seen me while awake, for Satan cannot assume my form.”

Ibn Mājah (4/390) narrated it through Ṣadaqah ibn Abī ʿImrān, and Ibn Ḥibbān (1801) through Zayd ibn Abī Unaysah; both from ʿAwn ibn Abī Juḥayfah, from his father, from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission.

Note: The author of Mukhtaṣar al-Mishkāh (no. 118) cited it from Abū Hurayrah as a hadith attributed to the Prophet, with this wording but excluding the words, “for Satan …,” and said: “Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it.” However, Ibn Ḥibbān does not narrate it from Abū Hurayrah; rather, he narrates it from Abū Juḥayfah, along with the addition mentioned above. The hadith also has a supporting report from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording. Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr through a chain whose narrators are trustworthy, as al-Haythamī stated (7/181).

1005 — “Whoever receives an act of kindness from his brother, without asking for it or setting his heart upon it, should accept it and not refuse it, for it is only provision that Allah has sent to him.”

Ibn Ḥibbān (854), al-Ḥākim (2/62), Aḥmad (4/220–221), and Ibn Saʿd (4/350) narrated it from Abū al-Aswad, from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Busr ibn Saʿīd, from Khālid ibn ʿAdī al-Juhanī, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy narrators of the two Shaykhs, except Abū al-Aswad, whose name is al-Naḍr ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Murādī, their client, an Egyptian; he too is trustworthy. Hence al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic in chain,” and al-Dhahabī concurred with him. The hadith has many supporting reports. Aḥmad narrated some of them (5/65 and 195; 6/452), and the two Shaykhs and others narrated it from ʿUmar. It will come, Allah willing, under no. 2209.