Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
The hadith describes a dream vision, so what is mentioned in it is not, by itself, used to establish coolness as an attribute of Allah, nor to define the manner of His attributes. At the same time, the fatwa does not reduce the phrase “the coolness of the fingertips” merely to knowledge or mercy. Rather, it distinguishes between what the Prophet ﷺ saw and felt in the dream and what resulted from it in terms of the disclosure of knowledge. The dreams of the Prophets are true, while Allah remains exalted above any resemblance to created beings.
Ahmad (22109) and al-Tirmidhi (3235) narrated from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet ﷺ was delayed from joining his Companions for the Fajr prayer. He then told them the reason, saying:
“I got up during the night, performed ablution, and prayed as much as had been decreed for me. Then I became drowsy in my prayer and fell into a deep sleep. Suddenly, I saw my Lord, Blessed and Exalted, in the best form.”
The hadith also states:
“Then I saw Him place His palm between my shoulders until I felt the coolness of His fingertips between my breasts. Thereupon everything became clear to me, and I knew.”
Al-Tirmidhi said:
“This is a hasan sahih hadith.”
He also reported the same grading from Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari.
The phrase, “Then I became drowsy in my prayer and fell into a deep sleep,” explains the context of what followed and shows that this occurred in a dream, not while awake.
The fatwa states that dreams may come in the form of representations or examples, so the images and details seen by a sleeper do not necessarily describe the reality of Allah’s Essence or the manner of His attributes.
Ibn Taymiyyah emphasized that the wording of this hadith explicitly indicates that it was a dream vision and that understanding it in this way is in accordance with its apparent meaning, not an interpretation that diverts it from its meaning. See: Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyyah (7/357, 366).
Ibn Baz also explained that the images a person sees in a dream are not the reality of Allah, Glorified be He, because nothing resembles Allah. Allah says:
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”
[Ash-Shura 42:11]
See: Fatawa Ibn Baz (6/367).
Accordingly, this dream cannot be used to infer that Allah is described by coolness or heat, nor that His palm corresponds to the distance between the Prophet’s ﷺ shoulders. Such conclusions go beyond what the hadith indicates in its context.
The fatwa cites Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari as interpreting “the coolness of His fingertips” as the pleasant effect of what occurred in the Prophet’s ﷺ chest or heart. See: Mirqat al-Mafatih (2/626).
It also cites al-Turbishti as explaining it as an expression of the mercy descending upon the Prophet ﷺ and knowledge being poured into his chest. See: Sharh Masabih al-Sunnah (1/20).
However, the fatwa also presents Ibn Taymiyyah’s objection to making this interpretation the sole meaning of the hadith. The acquisition of knowledge and mercy were among the effects of what happened in the dream, but that does not require them to be identical to the meaning of the placing of the palm or the feeling of coolness.
He explained that the hadith mentions successive matters: the placing of the palm, then the feeling of the coolness of the fingertips, then the acquisition of knowledge. Therefore, one of these meanings should not be treated as identical to the others. See: Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyyah (7/378, 382, 389).
This distinction preserves the context of the hadith: we affirm what the Prophet ﷺ reported seeing in his dream, without turning it into a description of the manner of Allah’s attributes and without reducing the whole vision to a single effect.
Al-Turbishti mentioned, among other things, that divine attributes are not established through solitary reports. However, the fatwa does not agree with this generalization, nor does it agree with the unrestricted claim that such reports can never yield knowledge.
The reason coolness is not established here as an attribute is that the report concerns a dream vision and because there is no other evidence establishing this attribute. It is not simply because the hadith is classified as an ahad report.
This distinction is important so that a broader principle is not inferred from the answer when the fatwa itself does not adopt such a principle.
The fatwa states that it has not found any scholar who counted “the coolness of the fingertips” among the attributes of Allah. Therefore, it is not correct to introduce a new position in this matter based solely on this expression.
The intended understanding is to read the hadith as a whole, take into account that it describes a dream, distinguish between the details of the vision and its effects, and maintain belief that the dreams of the Prophets are true.
“I felt the coolness of His fingertips” describes what the Prophet ﷺ experienced in a dream vision. It is not independent evidence for establishing coolness as an attribute of Allah. The knowledge he received was an effect of what occurred in the vision, but this does not require reducing all of its details to that effect or deriving from them a description of the manner of Allah’s attributes.
And Allah knows best.