A classical report preserved by al-Lalaka'i describes an unnamed man who admitted that he had been among those who looted Husayn ibn Ali may Allah be pleased with him and his companions. The man was noticed using perfume while a smell like tar still overpowered him. He then related a frightening dream in which he was thirsty, saw the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him near water, was identified as one of those who had looted Husayn, and was given tar instead of water. He claimed that the tar-like smell remained after he woke. The report is preserved as a karamah connected with Husayn, but the exact dream-and-odor sequence rests essentially on one report family with an anonymous subject.
According to the man's confession, he had been among those who looted Husayn ibn Ali and the people with him. He then described a terrifying dream. In the dream, he saw people raised in a state of intense thirst. He also saw the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him at or near water and asked to be given a drink. The dream narrative then identifies him as one of those who had looted Husayn.
The report says that, instead of being given water, the man was given tar in the dream. He claimed that when he woke, the smell of tar remained with him and continued to overpower the perfume he used. In the way the report is narrated, the man's admission of looting, the dream of thirst and judgment, and the continuing odor form one connected extraordinary sequence.
Al-Lalaka'i includes this account in his section on the karamat of Husayn ibn Ali, which shows the way the story was received in classical Sunni literature. The checked evidence, however, does not provide several independent authenticated routes for this exact event. The principal account comes through Abd al-Malik ibn Umayr to an unnamed man, and the identity of the subject is not established. Later reproductions remain dependent on the same report rather than independently confirming it.
For that reason, the dream must remain a reported dream and the odor a reported extraordinary outcome. The story should not be presented as formal revelation, as certain knowledge of the man's state in the Hereafter, or as a medically explained physical phenomenon. The strongest evidence-based conclusion is narrower: a classical Sunni source preserves a report in which a man who admitted looting Husayn described a punitive dream and claimed that a tar-like odor persisted after waking. The report has clear karamah reception but a weak evidentiary base for historical certainty, so it is best treated as a low-confidence editorial account.
Conclusion
Classical Sunni literature preserves a report that a man who admitted looting Husayn ibn Ali later described a frightening dream and claimed that a tar-like odor remained after waking. Because the exact event rests on an anonymous, essentially single-route report family, it should remain a low-confidence reported karamah rather than an authenticated certainty.