DREAMS, THEIR TRUTH AND MEANING

I am neither of the night nor a worshipper of the night;
Rather I am a child of the day and therefore give tidings of the day.
Those fancies that are the traps of saints;
Are the reflections of the moon-faced ones of Divine gardens.
While you sleep with youreyes closed, your ears deaf, your tongue
mute, and your arms and legs motionless, how do you travel, meet
people, and do many things in a few minutes or even seconds? When you
get up in the morning, you feel deeply influenced by that few seconds'
adventure. Although Freud and his followers attribute dreams to the
subconscious self, to thoughts and desires, impulses and past
experiences, how can youexplain dreams that inform you of a future
event with which you have no contact or have never thought about? How
do we dream? With what part of our body or being do we dream? Why do
dreams last only a few seconds? How (and why) do we remember what we
dreamed while asleep? All of these and many similar questions are like
puzzles awaiting to be solved by science.
Sometimes while we are asleep, our thoughts and desires, impulses and
pastexperiences, which constitute our subconscious, are revealed
unconsciously. We may be sick or hungry,or have a problem that we
cannot solve. The imagination gives form tothe deviations of a bad
temper, or the mind remembers an exciting event that happened some
time ago and gives it a new, different form. All dreams coming from
such moods are jumbled; they have some meaning, but they are not worth
interpreting. For example,if we eat salty things before sleep, we may
dream that we are lying by a pool; if we go to bed angry, we may dream
thatwe are fighting with others.
There are some importanthidden truths in sleep anddreams.
Like the dream of the Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), which is the kernel of
the Qur'anic chapter of Yusuf, several verses (such as, We have
appointed the night for you as a rest. (78:9)) show that there are
some important hidden truths in sleep anddreams.
The people of truth do not approve of using the Qur'an as an 'oracle'
to consult, nor of relying on dreams.
The people of truth do not approve of using the Quran as an 'oracle'
to consult, nor of relying on dreams. Since the Quran gives to
unbelievers severe and frequent blows, it may cause despair when the
verses that threaten unbelievers appear before one who opens the Book
to receivecounsel. Likewise, since dreams are often opposite to the
reality, they may also cause despair or demoralizationeven if they are
essentially good and promising. There are many dreams which, though
bad and dreadful in appearance, prove to be good and pleasing in
actual life. Since not everyone is able to find the true relationship
between a dream and its actual meaning, people become uneasy and
anxious. It is for this reason that in the beginning I said as the
people of truth say and quoted Imam Rabbani: "I am neither of the
night nor a worshipper of night."
True dreams are one out of the forty-six aspects of Prophethood.
God's Messenger says in an authentic narration that true dreams are
one out of the forty-six aspects of Prophethood. [That is, since God's
Messenger had true dreams in the initial six months of his
twenty-three years' Prophethood,true dreams are some kind of Divine
inspirations.] This means that true dreams contain some truths and
have some connection with theProphetic mission. This is, however, a
lengthy matter, profound and significant and related to Prophethood,
so I will cut it short here, leaving its elaboration to some later
occasion.
There are three kinds of dreams
Dreams are of three kinds.Two are included in the category of (in the
Quranic expression) jumbled dreams. Either the imagination gives form
to the deviations of a bad temper or the mind remembers an exciting
event which happened some time ago, and gives it a new different form,
and the dreams a man hasin such moods are 'jumbled ones', (as
mentioned in the sura Yusuf in the Quran1) not deserving of
interpretation.
1. The king said: 'I saw (in a dream) seven fat cows which seven lean
ones devoured; and also seven green ears of corn and (seven) others
dry. O my courtiers! Tell me the interpretation of my dream, if you
understand the meanings of dreams.' They said: 'A jumble of dreams;
and we are not skilled in the interpretation of jumbled dreams.'
(Joseph) said: 'You shall sow, as usual, for seven years. Leave in the
ear the corn you reap,except a little which you may eat. Then will
come after that seven years of severity, which will consume all but a
little of that which you have stored for them. Then will.....come
after that a year inwhich the people will have abundant water andin
which they will press (juice, oil, etc.)' (Yusuf, 12.43-4, 47-9.)
True dreams
One type of dream has nothing to do with the subconscious self. Such
dreams carry important messages: either they are good tidings from
God, which encourage us to dogood things and guide us,or warnings
concerning the evils we have done. Those dreams, which we call true
dreams, are very clear and unforgettable.
Some true dreams containnews of the future. To understand the nature
and mechanism of such dreams, consider the following:
As the essence of a piece of writing, its meaning, exists before it
assumes a written, visible form, everything has an essential form of
existence in God's Knowledge before it appears in the world. Islamic
philosophers call these essential forms archetypes. When God wills to
send them to this world, through the manifestation of His Wisdom and
Power and the appropriate Divine Names, He clothes them inmaterial
bodies. Between the world of archetypes (where God's Knowledge has
primary manifestation) and this world is another world-the world of
immaterial forms or symbols. In this world, things exist in ideal
forms or as symbols, and the concept and measure of time are
completely different from their counterparts in our world. One who
dreams finds or receives these symbols differently, basedon such
factors as time and place, culture and even national and individual
characteristics.
When we sleep, our spirit ascends to this world of ideal forms without
completely breaking its connection to the body. It continues this
connection through a cord. It enters adifferent dimension of existence
in the world of ideal forms or symbols, where past, present, and
future are combined. As a result, it may experience apast event or
witness a future one. However, since things in that world exist in
ideal forms or symbols, the spirit usually receives symbols that
require interpretation.
For example, clear water in that world may correspond to knowledgein
this world. If you see your own waste matter, itmay be interpreted to
mean that you will earn money in lawful ways; if the waste matter
belongs to others, its may mean that money will come to you in
unlawful ways. As mentioned in Sura Yusuf, a fat cow may mean a year
of abundant crops, while a lean one means a year of severity. The
metaphors, similes, and parables found in the Qur'an and the Prophetic
sayings, and sometimes among people, may provide significant keys to
interpret dreams. Sometrue dreams are so clear that no interpretation
is needed.
As the measurement of time is completely different in these two
worlds, and as the spirit isfar more active when not confined by the
limits of the body while the personis dreaming, great saints who free
their spirits, to acertain some degree, can travel long distances in a
much shorter time than normal people.
Examples of true dreams
Abraham Lincoln's dream the night before his assassination is famous.
Inhis dream, he saw the White House servants running to and fro,
tellingeach other that Mr. Lincoln had been killed. He woke from his
sleep in great excitement and spent an uneasy day. Despite warnings,
he went to a theater that evening and was killed.
Eisenhower's dream just before he landed on Normandy in June 1944
changed the course of theSecond World War. A few days before the date
on which he had decided to land, Eisenhower dreamed that a big storm
broke out and overturnedthe landing crafts. This caused him to move up
the date. History records that his dream was accurate. The mother of
Anne Ostrovosky, a Russian writer, saw many scenes of the
German-Russian battles 5 years before the Second World War broke out.
Her dreamwas published in several newspapers.
Several scientific or technological discoveries were first seen in
dreams. Elias Howe, while trying to figure out how to thread a sewing
machine,dreamed that he was a prisoner of a tribe who wanted him to
thread a sewing machine. In mortal fear and puzzled, he suddenly saw
holes at the ends of his captors' spears. He woke up and made a little
"spear" with a hole at one end. Niels Bohr, who was studying atomic
structures, dreamed of planets connected to the sun withthreads and
turning around it. When he woke up, he conceived of a resemblance
between what he had dreamed and atomic structures.
Many other true dreams have predicted future events or resulted in
scientific or technological discoveries. But these fewexamples must
suffice to understand the true nature of dreams-that is, they are the
result .....of the sprit's journey in inner dimensions of existence
(the world of immaterial forms or symbols) and receiving signals
therein.
Finally, dreams provide a strong proof for the existence of immaterial
worlds as well as for Divine Knowledge and Destiny. If God Almighty
had not predetermined and recorded all events in"the Supreme Guarded
Tablet," how could we be informed of future events? Also, dreams
showthat the measure of time differs greatly according to each world's
features.
A true dream is the result of the elaboration of a presentiment
A true dream is the result of the elaboration of a presentiment.
Presentiment is found in everybody to some extent; it is possessed
even by animals. I have even discovered that man and animals have, in
addition to their inner and outer ones, two othersenses that may be
called 'motivating and enticing senses or impulses'. Although the
people of misguidance and corrupt thinking foolishly call those
unperceived senses 'instincts', they should rather be regarded as
'inborn inspiration' through which Divine Destiny directs man and
animals. It is through suchdirection of Destiny that, for example,
when its eye is blind, a cat goes and finds the herb with whichto heal
its eye, and, by rubbing it against that herb, its eye is healed.
Likewise, such flesh-eating birds as vultures, which may be regarded
as the sanitary officials of the surface of the earth because of being
creationally charged with removing the corpses of wild animals, are
informed of the existence of a carcass tens of miles away through that
direction of Destiny or theinspiration of presentiment or through
Divine orientation and are able to locate that carcass.
It is in the same way that some days-old bee can fly miles away and,
without losing its way, return to its hive. It even happens frequently
that a man unexpectedly appears before you at the momentyou have
mentioned him. This is because your spiritual faculty has felt,
through presentiment, the coming of that man. Such occurrences are so
common and often that it is said in Turkey as a proverb: 'When you
mentioned a wolf, get hold of a staff to hit it with.' You are, in
fact, unaware of the coming ofthe man or a wolf, nor could you have
been informed of it by reason. Rather, it is because you felt it
through presentiment that you mention it unintentionally. This
presentiment develops so far in men of piety, especially in saintly
people, that it becomes the source of wonders.
Since the common people are also endowed with some kind of sainthood,
they grasp in true dreams some things of the future or the Unseen
World. Just as sleep is like a rank of sainthood in respect of true
dreams, so also it is a time or space of recreation in which
magnificent Divine moving pictures are shown.
Now, a man of good conduct thinks of that which is better, and he who
thinks of that which is better sights beautiful tablets. By contrast,
a manof evil conduct thinks of that which is worse and thereby sights
ugly tablets.
Sleep is, again on accountof true dreams, also a window opening on the
World of the Unseen in the corporeal world. Further, it is a field of
release and freedom for mortal man confined in a restricted area, and
also a theatre which has a kind of permanence and where time consists
in thepresent only in which pastand future are united. In addition,
sleep is a periodof repose for living beingscrushed under the burdens
of life. It is because of such aspects ofsleep that the Wise
Qur'anteaches us the truth of sleep in such verses as, Wehave
appointed sleep for you as a rest.
True dreams demonstrate God's Compassion and point to Divine Destiny
True dreams have long convinced me through direct experience and
provided a decisive proof for me that Divine Destiny encompasses
everything. Those dreams have, in fact, come to mean for methat what
will happen to me tomorrow, down to the most insignificant event or
business or conversation, has already been predetermined. I learn of
them at night in dreams as if I read them with my eyes. It has
happened not once or a hundred times, but perhaps a thousand
times,that the people I have seen or the matters I havetalked about in
dreams, turn out the following day to be true with only a slight
interpretation. This means that nothing is accidental or coincidental
in the universe, nor it is random; rather, everything down to the most
insignificant events, has already been destinedand predetermined.