All praise is due to Allah the Lord and Cherisher of the Universe. May His peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet, Muhammad (PBUH), his household, companions and all the followers of the right guidance till the Day of Judgment. Before discussing what Islam says on dream, it is better to first discuss sleep that brings about dream. Sleep as a sign of the God wisdom and power, is the agent of stability and tranquility. Sleep has a spiritual dimension. Sincere dreams are the continuation of prophecy and guidance of the God. This study aimed to explain the dream theory from the perspective of Islam. Allah, the Exalted, says: “And among His Signs is the sleep that you take by night and by day and the quest that you (make for livelihood) out of His Bounty: verily in that are Signs for those who hearken”. Q30:23.”It is Allah that takes the souls at death: and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death He keeps back (from returning to life) but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are Signs for those who reflect”. Q39:42. “Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse. And the mountains as pegs. And (have We not) created you in pairs. And made your SLEEP for REST. And made the night as a covering. And made the day as means of subsistence?” Q78:6-11. The state of the mind before going to bed and the cleanness of the sleeping surroundings may have effect on the kind of the dream one will have. Our beloved prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught Muslims sleeping etiquettes, which include lying down on the right side and praying while on bed before sleeping. It is a medical fact that the heart is closer to the left hand side of the body. So, lying on the left side may obstruct breathing. In Islam, sleep is considered as a temporary death. The following are the relevant ahadith. Whenever Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him) went to bed, he said: “O Allah, it is with Thine Name that I live and it is with Thine Name that I die.” And when he got up he used to say: “Praise is due to Allah, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection” (Muslim). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “If anyone who is about to sleep on his bed lies on his right side, then recites “Say, He is Allah, One” a hundred times, the Lord will say to him on the Day of Resurrection, “My servant, enter Paradise to your right.” (Tirmidhi). In Islam, good and bad dreams are nothing to worry about. A Muslim is not expected to seek the interpretation of any dream. If it is a good dream, it is from Allah; he should thank Him and may tell others about it. If it is a bad one, he should seek refuge in Allah and should not relate it to anybody. Hazrat Jabir reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, ‘If someone of you sees an unpleasant dream he should spit three times on his left side and seek Allah’s refuge from the accursed Satan, and change the side on which he was lying.’ (Reported by Muslim, Abu Daw’ud, Nasa-i, and Ibn Majah). Hazrat Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri reported that he heard the Prophet, peace be upon him, saying, “When someone among you sees a good and pleasing dream, he should know that it is from Allah, and so he should praise and thank Allah, and describe to others what he saw in the dream. But if he sees something he dislikes then it is from Satan, so he should seek Allah’s refuge from its evil and should not mention it to anyone. It will not harm him”. (Reported by Tirmidhi and Bukhari). There came to him (the Prophet) a desert Arab and said: I saw in a dream that I had been beheaded and I had been following it (the severed head). Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him) reprimanded him saying: Do not inform us about the vain sporting of devil with you during the night (Muslim)”.
The dreams of prophets of Allah and righteous persons are usually good dreams and will come true. Only prophets of Allah can accurately interpret dreams. Anas bin Malik relates that: Allah’s Apostle said, “A good dream (that comes true) of a righteous man is one of forty-six parts of prophetism” (Bukhari). Hazrat Abu Hurairah relates: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Nothing is left of the prophetism except Al-Mubashshirat”. They asked, “What is Al-Mubashshirat?” He replied, “The true good dreams (that conveys glad tidings).” (Bukhari). So, one need not bother him-/her-self over any dream. Satan can mislead man through bad dreams by instilling fear into his/her heart and pushing him into looking for spiritual assistance here and there. Allah, the Exalted, says:
“It is only the Evil One that suggests to you the fear of his votaries: be you not afraid of them but fear Me (Allah) if you have faith” (Q3:175).
It is necessary that we discuss, in a concise manner, the various opinions that have been propounded in connection with this subject: There have been numerous interpretations about the reality of the dreams which can be categorized into two categories: 1.Materialistic Interpretation 2. Spiritual Interpretation. The materialists say there could be several causes of dreams:
“Dreams are always associated with the past and never informative of the future. It can only be a useful for reading the unconscious self, and it is for this reason that the dreams of patients are utilized for the treatment of psychological disorders that rely on exposing the unconscious mind.”
It is possible that dreams are a direct consequence of the daily acts of man; i.e. whatever has transpired with man over past days becomes embodied for him in his thoughts, whilst he sleeps. Possibly, a series of unfulfilled desires become a reason for witnessing dreams – a thirsty person observes water in his dreams, and a person awaiting someone, who has gone on a journey, dreams that he has arrived. (From ancient times, it has been said that a camel witnesses cottonseed in its dreams!). It is likely that fear of something causes man to dream about it; it has been repeatedly observed that those who possess fear of thieves witness them in their dreams. Freud and the followers of his ideology have presented another material explanation for dreams: In the course of a detailed introduction they define dreams as being the gratification of repressed tendencies which, with alterations, creep into the arena of self-consciousness, to deceive the “I” within man. Explanation: After accepting the fact that the human mind is comprised of two parts: The self-conscious part (that, which is associated with the day-to-day thoughts, voluntary knowledge and the freedom of choice of man) and the sub-conscious part (that, which is concealed within the inner-self as an unfulfilled tendency and inclination), they go on to state: It frequently happens that in the state of sleep, when the ‘self-conscious’ apparatus has shut down, the inclinations and tendencies which we have been unable to gratify due to certain reasons and which have accumulated in our inner-self turn to the sub-conscious in order to achieve a kind of fictitious and imaginary gratification. At times this is reflected without any change (like an aficionado, who witnesses his beloved, whom he has lost, in his dreams), while at other times there occurs a change in form which is reflected in appropriate appearances, in which case there arises the need for interpretation (of the dreams). Accordingly, dreams are always associated with the past and never informative of the future. It can only be a useful for reading the unconscious self, and it is for this reason that the dreams of patients are utilized for the treatment of psychological disorders that rely on exposing the unconscious mind. Some of the experts of the field of nutrition believe that there exists a relationship between ‘dreams’ and ‘the nutritional need of the body’, and are of the opinion that if, for example, a person happens to witness blood trickling from his gums in his dreams, it means that the quantity of ascorbic acid in his body has diminished! And if he dreams that his hair have turned white, it can be inferred that he suffers from an inadequacy of vitamin B!! However, spiritual philosophers offer a different explanation for the occurrence of dreams. They state that dreams are of several kinds: – Dreams that are related to the bygones, inclinations and desires – and these constitute a major portion of man’s dreams. – Dreams that are distressing and incoherent; these are an outcome of delusion and imagination (although it is possible that they could possess psychological reasons). Dreams that are related to the future and provide information in connection with it. Undoubtedly, dreams that are related to the past and the embodiment of the scenarios that man has seen in the course of his life do not possess any particular interpretation. Similarly, distressing dreams – technically referred to as أََضْغاَثُ أََحْلاَم – which are an outcome of disturbing thoughts and are similar to the thoughts that manifest themselves for man in the state of delirium, too cannot possess any particular interpretation in connection with the future issues of life. However, psychologists and psychoanalysts utilize them and consider them to be a door for the comprehension of the human unconscious self and a key for the treatment of psychological disorders. As such, interpretation of these dreams is used for the purpose of uncovering the mysteries of the mind and the origins of diseases, and not for revealing future happenings of life. As for the dreams that are related to the future, they too are of two kinds: One kind consisting of dreams that are plain, clear and explicit, and which do not require any interpretation whatsoever; and amazingly enough, at times, materializing exactly as witnessed either in the near or distant future – without the slightest of differences. The second kind are those dreams which prophesize future events but, due to the influence of certain mental and spiritual factors, have undergone a change of form and hence need to be interpreted. There are so many instances for each of these dreams that the existence of all of them cannot be denied. Not only have they been mentioned in religious sources and books of history, but these have also been noticed in our own lives and the lives of those who are known to us, in a measure that prevents us from considering them to be mere coincidence. Let us learn about Islamic sleeping etiquette as this will assist us to have good health and most importantly, we will be rewarded for following the Sunnah of Prophet of Muhammad (PBUH).
(The authors write regularly on Islamic topics exclusively for the opinion pages of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Dr. Bilal A Bhat
Intizar Ahmad
