Must one carry out commands issued by the deceased in a dream?
Suppose you see me in a dream! Would I be aware that I appeared in your dream? Certainly not. If it were truly I who appeared in the dream, wouldn't I—the one who appeared—be the first to know about it?
From this, we understand that a person appearing in a dream is not a matter of the visitor's volition; rather, it depends on the thoughts of the dreamer.
Whether it is a deceased person or someone who is alive appearing in your dream, in reality, they have not come; it merely seems to you that they have. That is all. Therefore, there is no scope for someone to appear in a dream and issue a command.
Allah has perfected this religion through His Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). He has not left out any aspect of the religion unstated. Given this, there is no need to issue any commands through dreams. If God were to issue commands through dreams, it would imply that the religion was not perfected through the Prophet.
If God were to issue commands through dreams, He would not have needed to send any prophets, nor would the prophets have had to endure such severe hardships. He could simply have commanded everything to everyone through dreams.
We see in the Hadith that, because prophets have a direct connection with God, only their dreams constitute Wahi (divine revelation).
If you perceive someone issuing a command to you in a dream, it simply means you are imagining it; it does not mean that the person actually came and issued a command.
Suppose someone sees a dream in which a person says, "Perform this many *Rak'ahs* of prayer tonight!" This is certainly not a dream originating from God.
This is because God has already shown us—through the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)—exactly how much prayer is to be performed on any given day. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) left nothing unclarified regarding guidance through dreams.
Furthermore, if such messages were to come from God, they would need to be revealed in the dreams of all Muslims alike; for all are equal in matters of worship. It would be contrary to Divine justice to reveal a virtuous religious act to only one individual while withholding it from others.
If a person sees a dream instructing, "A righteous servant is buried at this spot; build a shrine for him there," that dream originates from Satan.
This is because Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) forbade the construction of buildings or places of worship over the graves of the deceased, as well as the plastering or decorating of tombs.
437- Narrated by Abdullah bin Maslamah, from Malik, from Ibn Shihab, from Sa'id bin Al-Musayyib, from Abu Hurairah, that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
"May Allah curse the Jews; they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship." See : Bukhari 417, 418, 827, 1244, 1301, 3195, 4087, 4089, 5368 See : Muslim 1763, 1765
2286 – وَحَدَّثَنِى أَبُو الطَّاهِرِ أَحْمَدُ بْنُ عَمْرٍو حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ أَخْبَرَنِى عَمْرُو بْنُ الْحَارِِ حَدَّثَنِى هَارُونُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الأَيْلِىُّ حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ حَدَّثَنِى عَمْرُو بْنُ الْحَارِثِ – فِى رِوَايَةِ أَبِى الطَّاهِرِ – اَنَّ أَبَا عَلِىٍّ الْهَمدَانِىَّ حَدَّثَهُ – وَفِى رِوَايَةِ هَارُونَ – أَنَّ ثُمَامَةَ بْنَ شُفَىٍّ حَدَّثَهُ قَالَ كُنَّا مَعَ فَضَالَةَ بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ بِأَرْضِ الرُومِ بِرُودِسَ
- بِتَسْوِيَتِهَا.
God has already announced to us through the Prophet (PBUH) to demolish the erected buildings.
See: Muslim 1764.
Since God would not state anything contrary to that report, one can conclude that this is indeed the work of Satan.
As we have explained this in detail—supported by Hadith evidence—in our book Dreams, we have not cited those sources here. Please refer to that book for further details.