Ayatullah Muhsin al-Araki was a scholar who would not teach tafsir of the Holy Qur’an unless he was thoroughly prepared for the lesson. He would often teach by referring to the commentary, Majma’ al-Bayan. One night, during his preparations for the following day’s class, he read the verse, ‘Allah will raise in ranks, those who have believed and are given knowledge.’(Qur’an, 58:11). Reading further into the narrations associated with the verse, his eyes fell on a narration from the Holy Prophet, Muhammad (S), saying, ‘Anyone who intends to search for knowledge, there is only one rank between him and the Prophets.’5
Surprised, Ayatullah al-Araki said to himself, ‘It is very difficult for me to believe this narration. How can there be only one step between a student and a Prophet?’
To research the matter further, Ayatullah al-Araki assessed the chain of narrators and found the chain was mursal: some narrators were missing, reducing the narration’s veracity. Ayatullah al-Araki narrates:
‘This helped me to reject this narration and not believe in it. Thereafter, I closed the book and I slept.
‘The next day, I went to the madrasah to teach the students and I saw someone very tall, sitting amongst the students. Just before we started my class, he greeted me and said, “I would like to talk to you.” I thought he had a need so I told him I would fulfil it after the class as there was no need to cut my class short. “You can wait in that room; I will come after the class,” I told him.
‘The person replied, “Last night I saw the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S) in my dream. He told me, ‘Go tomorrow to the madrasah and tell [Ayatullah al-Araki] that the narration he read last night, the authenticity of which he doubted, came from me – so he should not doubt!’”’
The Ways Of The Righteous Vol. 1