.

A really interesting article on the mathematical fraction that was mentioned in a hadith..

_____________________________________

In this short article, I would like to share with you an understanding of a hadith sahih regarding the dreams of righteous people in which a mathematical fraction was mentioned. This has made some ulama wonder why such a fraction was involved and, alhamdulillah, Allah has guide them to the answer. I would like to give special thanks to Ustaz Syed Abdillah Al Jufri for his guidance.

Let us, now, look at the hadith and a couple more for a better understanding.

Narrated Annas bin Malik (r.a.): Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.) said, “A good dream (that comes true) of a righteous man is one of fourty-six parts of An-Nubuwa (Prophethood).” - Sahih Al-Bukhari

(Please note that there are similar hadiths narrated by ‘Ubada bin As-Samit, Abu Huraira, Sa’id Al Khudri and ‘Ata bin Yassar found in Sahih Bukhari and the book of Imam Malik)

Narrated Abu Huraira (r.a.): I heard Allah Messenger (s.a.w.) saying, “Nothing is left from the An-Nubuwa(Prophethood) except Al-Mubashshirat.” They asked, “What are Al-Mubashshirat?” He replied, “Righteous good dreams (that convey glad tidings).” – Sahih Al-Bukhari

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri (r.a.): The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “If anyone of you sees a dream that he likes, then it is from Allah, and he should thank Allah for it and narrate it to others; but if he sees something else, i.e., a dream that he dislikes, then it is from Satan, and he should seek refuge with Allah from its evil, and he should not mention it to anybody, for it will not harm him.” – Sahih Al-Bukhari

From the above three hadiths, we can see that dreams may come from Allah or from Satan. For the righteous people, their dreams are one out of fourty-six (i.e. 1/46) of prophethood and this comes from Allah. Now that there is no morewahyu, the only means for a righteous man to receive information from Allah is through dreams. But why does such a fraction arise in the hadith? What does it imply?

It is explained as follows:

Rasulullah s.a.w. became a prophet when he was at the age of 40 years old (based on lunar calendar). He passed away at the age of 63 years old (according to some ulama he passed away on his own birthday) with a period of exactly 23 years of prophethood. Before he became a prophet, he used to have many righteous good dreams for a period of 6 months till he received the first five verses of Surah Al-‘Alaq from Allah (through Gabriel). This marked the beginning of his prophethood.

So, mathematically, we may write the following:

The period that he had righteous good dreams = 6 months = 0.5 years

The period of his prophethood = 23 years

Therefore, the following ratio could be written:

Period of having righteous good dreams : Period of Prophethood

0.5 : 23

or 1 : 46

Hence, mathematically, it can be said that “A righteous good dream is of prophethood.”

Coincidentally, the 46^th verse of Surah Yusof mentions a dream of a king and refers to Yusof (a.s.) as a man of truth (i.e.a prophet).

For a good reading about dreams, I would like to recommend a book entitled, “Dreams in Islam”, by Imran N. Hosein.

Article by: Najib Khan Surattee