[In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. And blessings and peace be upon the Best of His Messengers, Muhammad, and upon his progeny and all of his Companions.]

After this, be it known that I felt the need to write this book because during this age a grave evil has arisen—in the very same manner that hundreds of other kinds of evils and innovations have arisen—and it is that most people are unaware of the stage and condition in which a dream or revelation can be worthy and reliable, and the circumstances in which there lies the danger that those may be the words of Satan, not God—or the speaking of the self, not the speaking of the Lord.1It ought to be remembered that Satan is a staunch enemy of man. He wants to destroy man through diverse means. It is entirely possible that a dream be true and yet emanate from Satan, and it is possible that a revelation be true and yet originate from Satan, because although Satan is the greatest liar, he sometimes deceives by saying something true in order to snatch one’s faith. Even so, those who attain the degree of perfection in their sincerity, fidelity, and love of God cannot be overpowered by Satan, as Allah the Exalted says:

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Thus, their distinctive mark is that the grace of God rains upon them and thousands of Signs and examples of God’s acceptance are found in them, the likes of which I shall—God willing—elaborate upon in this book. However, it is a pity that there are many people who are still seized in the clutches of Satan, and yet, trusting their dreams and revelations, seek to give glory to their false doctrines and corrupted religions through those dreams and revelations. Indeed, they present these very dreams and revelations as evidence; or their intent is to present such dreams and revelations to scorn the true religion [of Islam]; or to allege that the holy Prophets of God were no better than ordinary people; or to suggest that if true dreams and revelations are the touchstone of a true religion, then the path and religion they follow ought to be accepted as correct. There are still others who do not present their dreams and revelations as proof of the truth of their faith, but instead suggest that such experiences are not a criterion to determine the truth of a religion or a man. There are yet others who relate their dreams only for boasting and self-glory. There are also some, who, on the basis of certain dreams or revelations which they consider to have come true, portray themselves as Imams, spiritual leaders, or Messengers. Such are the evils that have spread in this country, and, instead of leading such people to righteousness and piety, they have made them vain and arrogant. Therefore, I thought it proper to pen this treatise to distinguish truth from falsehood. For, I see that some of the less intelligent people are faced with a tribulation because of such people. For example, Person X, relying on his dream or revelation, declares Person Y—who also claims to be a recipient of revelation—to be a disbeliever; while Person Z, another recipient of revelation, issues an edict of disbelief upon them both. To make matters even more perplexing, all three claim that their own dreams and revelations are true, and even provide evidence of the fulfilment of some of their prophecies. Thus, the people face a serious trial by such contradictions, mutual accusations of falsehood, and rejection. They are left to ponder: If God is One, how could He send down revelation to Person X, say something opposite to Person Y, and then intimate something completely different to Person Z? In this way, those who are ignorant begin to doubt the very existence of God. In short, this state of affairs has become a source of anxiety for the ordinary people, and, because of it, the institution of Prophethood becomes suspect in their eyes. In this context, another matter which discomfits the general public is that at times true dreams are also experienced by those who are immoral, sinners, adulterers, oppressors, faithless, thieves, those who earn their living by unlawful means, and those who act contrary to the injunctions of God. For instance, I personally know that certain women belonging to the profession of sweepers, who eat carrion and live the life of criminals, personally related some dreams to me and they were fulfilled. More surprising is the fact that even prostitutes and pimps who are steeped in the filth of their profession have been known to describe some of their dreams that were fulfilled. Moreover, certain Hindus who are tainted with the filth of idolatry, and are bitter enemies of Islam, have also been known to experience dreams that came to pass accordingly. Even as I was writing this book, a Hindu from Qadian, who is a khatri by caste, came to visit me and told me of a dream in which he saw that orders had been issued for the transfer of a certain sub-postmaster, but later they were postponed. And, indeed, this is what came to pass. On various occasions, this Hindu related to me that several other dreams of his had also been fulfilled. I do not know what his purpose was for narrating these accounts and why he would time and again relate his dreams to me; for, according to the Vedas, the age of true dreams and revelations has come to a close. There is also the case of a Hindu who was both a wretched thief and an adulterer and was sentenced to imprisonment. He happened to meet me for some reason after his release. I recall that he had been sentenced to several years of imprisonment for the crime of theft. He told me that the night before he was to be sentenced by the court, it was disclosed to him in a dream that he would be incarcerated—even though this was not the least bit expected. It happened accordingly, and the very next day he was sent to jail. Similarly, there is an individual in America these days by the name of Dowie, who publishes a newspaper. He believes that Hadrat ‘Isa(as) [Jesus] is God and considers himself to be the reincarnation of Prophet Ilyas(as) [Elijah]. He is a claimant to divine revelation and presents his dreams and revelations to the masses with the claim that they have come true. However, he is a person who, as I have already mentioned, believes in a humble human being to be the Lord of all the worlds. As for his character, it is sufficient to say that his mother was an adulteress and, by his own admission, he is an illegitimate child. He comes from a family of cobblers and a brother of his works in Australia as a cobbler. These statements are not just empty accusations, for I possess all the letters and newspapers which establish his family background to be such.

In short, when various classes of people are able to see such dreams and revelations as come true from time to time, and when there are more than fifty such people in this country who are claimants to such inspiration and revelation—moreover, these people fall within such a wide circle that there seems to be no requisite for following the correct faith or having piety—in this situation, there cannot be any sensible person whose heart does not feel the need to solve the riddle as to how to establish a criterion for distinguishing between them. This is especially the case because there is evidence that, despite a difference of religion and belief, people of every denomination experience dreams and revelations and even denounce one another on the basis of their dreams and revelations, and from time to time the dreams experienced by people of every religion come true. It is obvious that this is a dangerous stumbling block in the path of those who seek the truth, and it is, in particular, a lethal poison for those who claim to be the recipients of revelation and consider themselves to be recipients of revelation from God, whereas, in fact, they have no relationship with God whatsoever. They assign themselves a rank of importance on account of the odd true dream and are consequently deprived of the desire to seek the truth; instead, they come to view the truth with disdain and contempt. This state of affairs has persuaded me to set out a clear distinction for the benefit of those who seek the truth.

Accordingly, I have divided this book into four chapters. Chapter I relates to those people who occasionally experience true dreams or revelations, but do not enjoy a relationship with God in the least. Chapter II relates to those people who occasionally experience true dreams or revelations and have some relationship with God—though not to a great extent. Chapter III relates to those people who receive revelation from God Almighty in its purest and most perfect form and who are honoured with divine communion and discourse in all its perfection. Such people experience dreams that are as clear as daybreak. Like God’s chosen Prophets and Messengers, they have a most perfect, consummate, and pure relationship with God Almighty. Chapter IV relates to my own personal experiences; that is to say, an exposition as to which of the three categories I have been placed in by the grace and munificence of God Almighty. I will now proceed to write on this subject in the following four chapters.

[I have no strength except that which comes from Allah. Our Lord! Guide us to Your right path, and grant us the understanding from Yourself of the correct faith, and teach us knowledge from Yourself (Amin)].