Islamic Dream Traditions

Tony Crisp

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Islam has a foundation in dreams because of the Lailatal-Miraj or Night Journey of Mohammed’s dream. In it he was initiated into the mysteries of the cosmos.

After this original dream initiation, Mohammed found further instruction in his dreams over many years. Mohammed would daily ask his disciples about their dreams, tell them his interpretations, and then share his own dreams with them. It was after hearing the dream of one of his disciples that Mohammed started the daily call to prayers - adhan. Dream interpretation is greatly revered among the Muslims. The interpretation of dreams was considered to be a noble science, taught to Adam by God himself and passed by Adam to Seth, by Seth to Noah, and then on down to Mohammed. It was seen as a vital way Allah communicates with humans.

This positive statement gives dreams a much greater standing than in Christianity and Judaism.

Mohammed quoted parts of the bible in the Koran. The story of Joseph interpreting dreams is used to show how God is the source of such interpretation. To quote, "you shall be chosen by your Lord. He will teach you to interpret visions." (Sura 16). Such dreams were seen as ways God directed the life of the person they were given to.

Mohammed also describes some of his own dreams and how they helped direct his decisions and actions.

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In the Hadith (sayings of Mohammed) methods of working with dreams are given, along with statements about their importance. For instance Mohammed is quoted as saying, ""A dream rests on the feathers of a bird and will not take effect unless it is related to someone." So the importance of telling someone else is stressed, and this suggests working in pairs or in a group that reverence dreams as important. He goes on to say, "tell your dreams only to knowledgeable persons and loved ones," and beware those who will use your dreams against you. Also, a dream in which Mohammed appears is said to be a true dream, and one to be taken particular notice of.

Ibn Arabi, drawing upon Greek theology, says there are three basic types of dream. The first is an "ordinary" dream. This comes about by our imagination, fears and desires creating the imagery and drama of this type of dream.

The second and more important type of dream originates from "Universal Soul." This is probably much the same as what Carl Jung calls the 'collective unconscious', except that the Universal Soul is seen as having a more spiritual quality. Such dreams move beyond the personal and reveal truths that are more universal. But these dreams are still expressing in symbols so still need to be explored to discover the treasures of insight they contain.

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The third type of dreams are direct revelations showing the subtle reality behind the forms of everyday life.

In some Indonesian Muslim teachings, human consciousness is often seen to be dominated by forces of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and forces resident in material objects. This means humans fail to recognise their true nature, and forever feel desirous of material goods, or are led by animal urges. The spiritual force behind dreaming is a means of being delivered from unconscious dominance by these forces. So dreams would show how our will has been weakened or taken over by such forces acting upon us.

In early Islamic teachings, no distinction was made between sleeping dreams and waking visions. The world of imagery existent in dreams and visions was seen as having reality. This world, the alam al-mithral, exists halfway between the material world and the intellect. In today’s language we might call this the world of the psyche, with its imagery. The Islamic teachings say this should not be seen as fantasy. The world of alam al-mithral can be entered by trained imagination and perception. Its imagery expresses truths of its nature. The reality of its landscape can be verified by others who explore its subtle territory - the territory of dreams and visions.

This sounds very much like an early description of lucidity, and the levels of awareness within that experience.

Kelly Bulkeley says, "Valerie J. Hoffman's work on the role of visions in contemporary Egypt indicates that for present-day Muslims religious revelatory dreams are a surprisingly widespread phenomenon. Hoffman argues that the experience of such dreams does not indicate a pre-modern or naively superstitious mentality; on the contrary, the people she describes are well-educated, technologically proficient, and psychologically healthy. Although many Westerners assume modern civilization and religious faith are mutually antithetical, the Egyptians Hoffman studies are living proof that this is not universally true.

See Lucidity One and Two; also Levels of awareness in Sleeping and Waking.

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