Posted by Mohammad Awais Tahir
"
Dreams are of three types: one good dream which is a sort of good
tidings from Allah; the evil dream which causes pain is from the satan;
and the third one is a suggestion of one's own mind "
When we say our prayers we talk to Allah سبحانه و تعالى and when we read
the Qur'an Allah سبحانه و تعالى talks to us. There is another way in which Allah سبحانه و تعالى talks
to us, that is through dreams. The only source of glad tidings,
prophecy and revelation, that remains to the present day are dreams
revealed upon the momineen by Allahسبحانه و تعالى . And as the time draws near
the end the importance of dreams increases. Allah سبحانه و تعالى talks to us in
dreams, sometimes giving us direct messages and sometimes encoded
messages which only the wise can interpret. These few lines just for
those, who think dreams are nothing more than imagination. Yes, for few
of us, dream is nothing more than vain sporting of the shatain and confused plays of the Nafs.
If we are yet to experience the sweetness of dreams that come from
Allah سبحانه و تعالى and almost always experience vague, useless dreams, then we need
to stop and question ourselves, why? I would be giving practical steps
in the end to tune ourselves to the right frequency to get dreams from
the right source.
Modern Science is yet to fully comprehend the phenomenon of dreams. Who
programs different types of dreams? Who dictates the randomness?
Psychologists have played their part in understanding different types of
dreams and their relation with different types of sleeps, but with
their limited tool of 'five-senses' they can only comprehend one type of
dreams; dreams that are a result of what we think during the day or
have something to do with a past experience. There are other types of
dreams which have relation with a dimension which is beyond the scope of
'five-senses', and hence lies in the domain of metaphysics or
parapsychology.
Ibn Al Qayyim says, " Those who says that these dreams are only thoughts
and beliefs, are wrong and make an impossible claim. Because a body
does not have the inbuilt capability to know things which are told in
dreams. In some dreams they are not thoughts as the body has no hint or
sign of them. However, sometimes they might be a result of thoughts, one
cannot disagree with it . Dreams are of three types : From Allah, From
Satan and From Nafs" (Kitab ur Ruh, Ibn Al Qayyim)
The purpose of this write-up is to understand:
B- Mechanism of different types of dreams?
C- What are the subcategories within the main categories?
D- How to deal with different types of dreams?
E- How to differentiate between different types of dream?
F- Guideline for those who have dreams from Shaitan and Nafs only.
To understand the article better see the references mentioned here
(This is already a pretty long write-up, so I've not mentioned the
references along the way. But those who really wish to get something
from the article, should open the references in another tab and consult
them where I've referred to them)
A- Different Types Of Dreams And Their Names
" Dreams are of three types:
one good dream which is a sort of good tidings from Allah; the evil
dream which causes pain is from the satan; and the third one is a
suggestion of one's own mind " (Reference# 35)
(1) Dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى :
They have various names الرُّؤْيَا : Dreams. It comes from the root word (رءى), and it means seeing a something in a dream (الرُّؤْيَا), in contrast to الرؤية which means seeing a physical object. In all the references that we've mentioned below the word الرؤيا is used for good dreams or dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى and the word حلم is used for dreams from satan or those due to one's own thinking. ( See مفردات القران by Imam Raghib)
الرُّؤْيَا الرحمانية : Dreams from Ar-Rahman
الرُّؤْيَا الصادقة : True Dreams
الرُّؤْيَا الصالحة : Good Dreams
الرُّؤْيَا الْحَسَنَةُ : Good Dreams
رُؤْيَا الْمُؤْمِنِ : Dreams of a mo'min (believer)
(2) Dreams from Shaitan :
الحلم : As metnioned above the word حلم is always used
for false dreams (dreams that are from the satan or from one's own
thinking). Hence, within احلام we can form two different categories.
الاحلام الشيطانية and الاحلام النفس . Also, when the word حلم is used
alone in the texts it is used for the dreams from satan, and when dreams
from Nafs (own thinking) are mentioned the word ألاحلام النفس or اضغاث
الاحلام is used.
الاحلام الشيطانية : As mentioned above, used to specificy as dreams from shiatan whereas the word حلم alone also means so.
(3) Dreams from Nafs:
اضغاث الاحلام : The word has been used to refer to
dreams that are a result of one's own thinking, that takes some strange
shapes in dreams. The word has been used twice in the Qur'an. See
Reference # 4 and also Surah Al Anbiya 21:5. اضغاث comes from the root
word ض غ ث which means dry grass or branches, which is used to point
towards mixed up dreams that are of no significance when it comes to
interpretation. ( See مفردات القران by Imam Raghib)
حديث النفس: A thought, a vision that comes from within one's own self.
الاحلام النفس : A false or bad or meaningless dreams that come from with one's own self.
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