Al-ʿAllāmah Ḥammūd al-Tuwayjirī related from Shaykh Sayf al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad who said:

From among the most singular ramifications of [tablīghī] ignorance are the actions that have occurred from groups in Pakistan and India of men who claim dīn, steadfastness and god-consciousness. These individuals saw themselves in dreams slaughtering their own children, and some saw their children already slaughtered. This vision was especially common among those with sons, [according to them]. [Out of intense ignorance], in the morning they thought that their dream was an actual vision; a kind of inspiration and test from Allāh. So they stood united and [falsely] claimed fulfilment of the order of Allāh. They slaughtered their own children similar to the way one slaughters a ram, their own progeny laid discarded before them while they themselves observed. They then claimed to have perfected their sacrifice and hence rejoiced in the expectation of reward, fully satisfied and content with their actions.

So woe to the gruesomeness of this spectacle! Woe to the depravity of ignorance! When they were finally apprehended and examined, they stated: We have not come with a command from ourselves, nor have we brought an innovation. Rather, we have merely fulfilled what we have been ordered and have imitated the practice set forth by our master Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him). They were ignorant of the fact that the dreams of the prophets were [a form of] revelation [from Allāh]. The dreams of the righteous are either a form of glad tidings, or mixed up false visions; they are but dream visions or the misguided machinations of shayṭān.

The true responsibility for their intense ignorance in this matter lies with their religious leaders, who remain the reason for the ignorance of their followers. We have not yet heard of such occurrences in the Arabian countries. So woe to the catastrophe of their minds and the corruption of their hearts! Woe to the loss of their dīn and dunyā [their children] together! Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.

[Shaykh Hammūd said:] If this catastrophe is considered the work of the ones among them described with dīn, steadfastness, and god-consciousness, then what would be a reasonable supposition regarding those less than them in these attributes? So let the believer who sincerely desires righteousness be very careful from being tricked by the tablīghiīn, or ever joining them. Indeed, they are from among the people of innovation, ignorance, perpetually engaging in acts of misguidance. There is no good in them.

Source: Al-Qawl al-Balīgh: 60-61
Translated by: Riyāḍ al-Kanadī