Book of Healing - Healing Through Knowledge - Cure of Bad Dreams

Cure of Bad Dreams

Tags: Bad Dreams, Good Dreams, Dreams, Ru'ya, Didar, Vision, Mubashshirat

1. In connection with the discussion of this extremely important, interesting and useful subject, first of all it is necessary to mention what the good dreams are and what the bad ones are, so that the difference and distinction which exists between them may be clear. The greatest benefit of this, God willing, will be that every intelligent person, after the deep study of his own health and illness, will be able to cure himself. For, both the primary fundamental cause of disease and its real medicine is found in man. As Hazrat Amiru'l-mu'minin `Ali, may peace be on him, says: "Your medicine is with you, but you are not aware of it; And your illness is generated from you, but you do not see it".

2. It is said in Bukhari (IX, 96-97): "Good dream is a part of the forty six parts of Prophethood". Further, the holy Prophet has said: "Good dream is from God and bad dream is from the devil...". In the same chapter, there is also the Hadith: "Good dream of a mu'min is a part of the forty six parts of Prophethood". Let us examine some of the conclusions of these wisdom-filled Ahadith.

Good dreams are those special favours of God which, after the Prophets, are also granted to the mu'mins.
A good dream of a mu'min is an experience of spirituality and also the rank of the annihilation in the Prophet (fana' fi'r-rasul).
Since it is among the parts of Prophethood, therefore there is knowledge, wisdom, rectitude and guidance in it.
If a mu'min becomes da'imu'dh-dhikr (one who is in constant remembrance) and imposes upon himself a wisdom-filled sleep, in which all his external and internal senses fall asleep and only the remembrance of God continues, the level of the dream which he will see in such a state, will be extremely high.
A good dream in Arabic is called ru'ya (vision), the root of which is ra', hamzah and ya', and from the same root is the word mir'at (mirror). Thus it is absolutely correct to say that a good dream of a mu'min acts as the mirror of his spirit and spirituality. It has always been a practice to keep a mirror in front to adorn oneself.

3. In Muslim (III, 1773), there are also many Prophetic Traditions regarding the dream. One of them is: "Dream is of three kinds: one is good, which gives glad tidings from God, the other is painful which is from the devil, and the third is the imagination of his heart (i.e. the conversation of the soul)". When someone among you sees a bad dream, he should get up and pray, and should not tell it to people.

4. In the same book this noble Hadith is also recorded: "Man ra'ani faqad ra'a'l-haqq (He who saw me, saw the Truth)" (Muslim, IV, 1776). In view of the extreme comprehensiveness of the Hadith of the Prophet, the following Sufic translation is also correct: "He who saw me, it is as if he saw God". For, if we accept the manifestation (jalwah, tajalli, zuhur, mazhariyyat) of God, then we have to accept that the first mazhar is the exalted personality of the holy Prophet.

5. Here it is very pertinent to ask this question: During the time of Prophethood, those mu'mins who used to see the holy Prophet in their dream, used to recognise him and were sure that they had seen him, but how will the mu'mins of all other ages be sure that they have the holy didar (vision) of the holy Prophet, while they have never seen his blessed countenance in a wakeful state? The correct answer to this question can only be that the wisdom-filled didar of the holy Prophet will be in the form of the Perfect Guide (murshid-i kamil). For vicegerency and representation is a fundamental principle in Islam.

6. In Bukhari (IX, 98), the Hadith is recorded: "From Prophethood only mubashshirat are left". The people asked the Prophet: "What are the mubashshirat"? He said: "They are good dreams". One of the meanings of this Hadith is that all good dreams mean glad tidings. Another meaning is that, for a mu'min good dreams can prove to be an experience of annihilation in the Shaykh (fana' fi'sh-shaykh) and annihilation in the Prophet, as it happens in spirituality. The third meaning is that where the good dream is from God, it is through the holy Prophet and the Perfect Guide. It is in this sense that the miracle of a luminous dream is among the forty-six miracles of Prophethood.

7. Now, in the light of these wisdom-filled Traditions of the holy Prophet, the cure of bad dreams is not difficult, because now it has become quite clear that bad dreams are from the devil. Thus, the only cure of this disease is that the mu'min, by his word and deed, i.e. knowledge and action, should escape from the devil and seek protection in the presence of God, the Sustainer of the world, as the glorious Qur'an says: "He indeed is successful who purified it (his soul)" (91:9). For, if the soul is polluted with dirt, the devil gets a chance to attack it, and if it is pure, he does not get a chance to attack and remains disappointed.

8. In order to understand this subject with wider implications, you should also study the "Allusions of Dreams" in "Qur'anic Healing", so that it may be quite clear that in reality the bad dream is not at fault, it is only the result of the natural photographic x-ray machine of the hidden diseases of man. The fault is that of man himself, who, due to his negligence in remembering God in a wakeful state, provides opportunity to the devil to insinuate disturbing thoughts in his heart.

9. Bad dreams are definitely from the devil, but the question is, what is the cause of this act of the devil? Can he force someone? Is man helpless and compelled? If not, he has to accept all his responsibilities and fight against the devil, and give a crushing defeat to this enemy of religion and faith. For this the mujahid mu'min needs the supreme kind of knowledge through which all the snares of deception which the devil has spread may be torn to pieces like a cobweb. Further, it is necessary to have actions which are in accordance with the Divine Command and against the desire of the carnal soul and the devil, so that one may rescue oneself from the evil of the devil forever, and benefit from the wonders and marvels of good dreams and the secrets of ma`rifat every night.

10. It is a great injustice to ascribe blame to others and in addition to curse them. Etiquette, modesty, justice and wisdom require that a mu'min should consider his own carnal soul the root of evil (12:53). Due to this useful knowledge, he may always be able to watch the real enemy, which is his carnal soul and concentrate and unite all his powers concerning knowledge and action which are scattered due to different and contradicting thoughts, and fight against his carnal soul until it surrenders and becomes a Muslim. Thus, it is this which is the fundamental and permanent cure of bad dreams.

11. The law of nature works equally in all things of the universe and the existents. Thus every gigantic body initially is an extremely small particle. Every huge tree at first is a seed; in the seed is a kernel, in the kernel is a nucleus and in the nucleus the particle of the vegetative soul is dormant. It is also possible that the creation of the planet earth started from an atom (particle). Zoologists say that from one bacterium are generated innumerable bacteria in a short time. Therefore it is also in accordance with the law of nature that, one bad thought of the human soul may give birth to thousands of bad thoughts. God forbid, if it happens, the carnal soul becomes very strong, arrogant and like an intractable horse.

12. In order to attain salvation from bad dreams, and to see the divine miracles of good dreams and above all, for the sake of the friendship of and love for God and His beloved Prophet, remember God abundantly, shed tears, choose the path of piety and make a habit to serve people.

Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai
25/6/87

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