Argument 5: People of “Tassawuff” always discuss about dreams, Kashf & Karamah.
So what about discussing these matters? Let’s discuss them individually.
Dreams:
Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) prophesised that towards the end of time most of the dreams of a true believer will be accurate and that good dreams are part of Nabuwwah (i.e. Prophethood):
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: When the time draws near (when the Resurrection is near) a believer's dream can hardly be false. And the truest vision will be of one who is himself the most truthful in speech, for the vision of a Muslim is the forty-fifth part of Prophecy, and dreams are of three types: one good dream which is a sort of good tidings from Allah; the evil dream which causes pain is from the satan; and the third one is a suggestion of one's own mind; so if any one of you sees a dream which he does not like he should stand tip and offer prayer and he should not relate it to people, and he said: I would love to see fetters (in the dream), but I dislike wearing of necklace, for the fetters is (an indication of) one's steadfastness in religion. The narrator said: I do not know whether this is a part of the hadith or the words of Ibn Sirin. [Muslim]
Kashf, Ilham & Intuition:
In the Qur’aan there are numerous places where the word “Wahi (revelation)” or a derivative thereof is used to indicate a special message by Allah (SWT) revealed to someone other than a prophet.
Example 1 (Honey Bee):
وَأَوۡحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى ٱلنَّحۡلِ أَنِ ٱتَّخِذِى مِنَ ٱلۡجِبَالِ بُيُوتً۬ا وَمِنَ ٱلشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعۡرِشُونَ
[16:68] Your Lord revealed to the honeybee: .Make homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the structures they raise.
Example 2 (Mother of Sayyidina Musa (AS)):
وَأَوۡحَيۡنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰٓ أَنۡ أَرۡضِعِيهِۖ فَإِذَا خِفۡتِ عَلَيۡهِ فَأَلۡقِيهِ فِى ٱلۡيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِى وَلَا تَحۡزَنِىٓۖ إِنَّا رَآدُّوهُ إِلَيۡكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ
[28:7] We inspired the mother of Musa saying, .Suckle him (Musa). Then once you fear about him, cast him in the river, and do not fear, and do not grieve. Surely We are going to bring him back to you and appoint him one of (Our) messengers.
Example 3 (Jinns & Humans):
عَـٰلِمُ ٱلۡغَيۡبِ فَلَا يُظۡهِرُ عَلَىٰ غَيۡبِهِۦۤ أَحَدًا (٢٦) إِلَّا مَنِ ٱرۡتَضَىٰ مِن رَّسُولٍ۬ فَإِنَّهُ ۥ يَسۡلُكُ مِنۢ بَيۡنِ يَدَيۡهِ وَمِنۡ خَلۡفِهِۦ رَصَدً۬ا
[72:26] (He is the) Knower of the Unseen. So He does not let anyone know the Unseen created by Him,
[72:27] except a messenger whom He chooses (to inform through revelation), and then He appoints (angels as) watching guards before him and behind him, (so that devils may not tamper with the divine revelation,)
Therefore we (Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaah) interpret these verses and many incidents in Ahadeeth and believe that Wahi (i.e. revelation) upon Prophets ended with Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has ended but Allah (SWT) can still inspire upon the hearts of the people but these inspirations can neither replace Islamic Shariah nor add or delete anything from it because Islam (our Deen) is complete as emphatically stated in the Qur'aan:
[5:3] ...Today, I have perfected your religion for you, and have completed My blessing upon you, and chosen Islam as Din (religion and a way of life) for you.
Karamat (upon Auliyah):
http://www.central-mosque.com/aqeedah/taymiyahaulia.htm
Karamat are manifestations which defy general rules and laws of physics and it is also the agreed upon belief of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaah that they occur on non prophets and the following are two examples from the Qur'aan itself:
Example 1 (Sayyidina Maryam (AS)):
[3:37] So, her Lord accepted her, a good acceptance, and made her grow, a good growth, and made Zakariyya her guardian. Whenever Zakariyya visited her at the place of worship, he found food with her. He said: .Maryam, from where did you have this?. She said: .It is from Allah. Surely, Allah gives whom He wills without measure..
Example 1 (Sayyidina Kahdir (AS)):
The story of Sayyidina Khidr (Khadir) [AS] is mentioned in the Qur'aan and Allah (SWT) mentions that he was specially blessed so much so that the great Nabi Moosa (AS) asked to accompany him and learn from him.
[18:65] Then they found one of Our servants whom We blessed with mercy from Us and whom We gave knowledge, a knowledge from Our own.
[18:66] Musa said to him, .May I have your company so that you teach me some of the rightful knowledge you have been given.
Conclusions:
So dreams, Ilham, Kashf and Karamat still occur upon the pious and the Auliya-Allah (SWT) and we know of ABSOLUTELY no verses or Ahadeeth to state that they have been discontinued and we also don't believe that powers of Allah (SWT) have diminished in the least.
These are not something which a person can earn or achieve of their own free will rather they are gifts which Allah (SWT) bestows upon whomsoever he (SWT) wills.
However, as previously stated that they CANNOT add or delete even an iota from Islamic Shariah nor can they declare anything permissable or imperssible and nor can Ulama give Fatawa based on them as the foundations remain to be Qur'aan & Sunnah and a person experiencing these matters has no guarentee of salvation or closeness to Allah(SWT) as the yardstick remains to be actions according to the commandments of Allah (SWT) & Sunnah of Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam).
Lastly, the individual actions of person claiming such matters will be considered i.e. a person who is deficient in following the commandments of Allah (SWT) and lenient (or lazy or careless) in following the Sunnah of Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) will be deemed inappropriate and such supernatural feats will be deemed as black magic, Istidraaj and whispers of Shaytaan.
Dreams, utterings and doings of Auliya-Shaytaan (friends of Shaytaan) are REJECTED.
Dreams, utterings and doings of Auliya-Allah (friends of Allah) are DISCUSSED but even they are not included to allowed to tamper with or change injunctions in Islamic Shariah and they will be ACCEPTED or REJECTED based on the actions of the person and the incident in itself.
Jazakullah Khairun
P.S: There are literally hunderds of examples of these from the Sunnah and Islamic history but for the sake of brevity they have been ommitted.
One of the foremost amongst Fuqaha of our times respected, beloved and honoured Shaykh (Mufti) Taqi Usmani (HA) writes in Discourses on Islamic way of life (Volume 5) about dreams of Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) specifcially: