Dreaming that one has uttered blasphemy

A question from a man who dreamt that he cursed God, in which the IslamWeb fatwa centre answered that he is not accountable for what he sees in sleep. ¹

The questioner said he is observant and prays in the mosque, even the dawn prayer, and that after returning from the dawn prayer one day he dreamt that he cursed God. ¹ He said he had never done so, and that a few days earlier he had overheard someone curse God in a phone call. ¹

The centre answered that he is not held to account for anything he sees himself saying or doing in a dream, because the sleeper is free of legal responsibility until he wakes. ¹ It cited the hadith that "the pen is lifted from three", naming those who recorded it and those who judged it sound. ¹ It described what he saw as the kind of dream that comes from Satan's alarms to grieve the believer, citing a hadith of Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) on the kinds of dream. ¹

The IslamWeb fatwa centre published this fatwa as no. 127753, dated 22 Shawwal 1430 (11 October 2009). ¹ The museum records this answer as a historical text attributed to its author; it issues no ruling of its own.