Book of Healing - Healing Through Knowledge - Cure of Kabus (Incubus)
Cure of Kabus (Incubus)
Tags: Kabus, Incubus, Nightmare, Glad Tidings
1. Kubus in the Arabic language literally means the one who presses or squeezes. In the technical language of medicine, it is a disease in which the one who is sleeping, feels that some strong and heavy thing is sitting on his chest, or he is buried under a burden. In this state he is suffocated. He can neither speak, nor move. In this state being terrified he wakes up. In English it is called incubus as well as nightmare. It is also called aphialtes (Medical Dictionary).
2. Spiritual experience clearly shows that incubus or nightmare, in reality, is not a dangerous spiritual disease, provided its allusion and purpose is understood and acted upon properly. Its allusion and purpose is that the one who suffers from a nightmare should not forget to fulfil his religious duties. He should remember God, the Exalted, day and night, recite or listen to the noble Qur'an with extreme yearning, take keen interest in true and useful knowledge, make a habit of serving people and doing every kind of good deed, always take piety into consideration, recite Salawat a hundred times and the two chapters about seeking protection, namely the Dawn (surah 113) and the Mankind (surah 114) and blow on his chest. God willing, the mu'akkal or spiritual guardian will be subjugated or become a friend.
3. Since a nightmare is merely the fear which occurs to a person during sleep, we should have recourse to the priceless treasures of the Qur'anic knowledge and wisdom, so that we may know what kind of fear this is. Is it imposed by God, or is it created by man himself? What is the Will of God in it and what will be its result? Thus here we mention three wisdom-filled verses of the Qur'an, in which five kinds of trial by God are mentioned, among which the first is fear, as follows:
4. "And We will most certainly try you with something of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give glad tidings to the patient, who, when a misfortune befalls them, say: Surely we belong to God and we have to return to Him. These are they on whom are blessings and mercy from their Lord, and these are the rightly guided". (2:155-157) You see God, the most Just of judges, tries the Muslims by five kinds of tests, which can happen to every mu'min individually. Among these, first is mentioned the test of fear. Fear has four places: Wakefulness, i.e. external world, imagination, dream and spirituality, and at every place there are many kinds of fear. Thus God can test any of His servants with whatever kind of fear He wants. The bliss for mu'mins lies in that they should remain patient and grateful to God in any of the above-mentioned calamities, and say in the light of knowledge and wisdom: "We belong to God, therefore, we return to Him not only after death, but also in every trial of this life with heart and soul", so that the Prophet may give glad tidings to them, as God commands him in this Qur'anic teaching: "And give glad tidings!"
5. Every word of the noble Qur'an, in its place, is a bright reality. Therefore it is extremely useful to know in the very light of the holy Qur'an, whether the glad tidings which is given by God and the Prophet is related to the collective state of mu'mins, or is it possible individually, according to their trial? The answer is that the real glad tidings is received individually, in a spiritual form or in the state of dream. (Read "" in Qur'anic Healing). For, the great glad tidings is received as a result of the major jihad, which is to fight against one's carnal soul. The great companions of the Prophet used to receive the collective glad tidings in the time of Prophethood as a result of the minor or external jihad (3:124-126; 8:9-10) in the form of the descent of angels. This shows that glad tidings is an extremely great thing.
6. The holy Prophet says: "The mujahid is the one who fights against his carnal soul (nafs)." (Tirmidhi, I, 606). Thus in this spiritual jihad the great miracle of dying before death occurs in this life to the fortunate mu'min who kills his carnal soul in a specific sense, and he attains the status of a living martyr (57:19). If this is true, then let us see the Qur'anic glad tidings in the light of the concept that undoubtedly many glad tidings are given in the form of practical spirituality. For, the purpose of the glad tidings is to satisfy the mu'min once in the form of faith and spirituality. Qur'anic wisdom alludes that the real place of satisfaction and glad tidings is very high, which is none other than spirituality.
7. An excellent example of the level of loftiness at which the glad tidings can be received and what its majesty and grandeur are, can be seen in the following Hadith: "He who sees his Lord in the dream enters paradise." (Darimi, II, 126). This is a very great glad tidings. But here it should be remembered that this great feat is impossible unless "Die (spiritually) before you die (physically)" (Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 116), is put into practice. For this clear instruction is also in the Hadith: "And you will never see your Lord until you die." (Ibn-i Majah, II, 1360). In this Hadith are mentioned both the spiritual and the physical death. That is, if you wish, then by His help you can attain His didar (vision) in this very life, but for that, as mentioned, the greatest condition is the killing of the carnal soul (nafs-i ammarah). Nonetheless, the didar which is granted in a dream and spirituality is the practical glad tidings. However, if it is not possible to die before death, then accomplishing good deeds, you should await the fragrance of the bouquet of physical death, al-mawtu rayhanat u'l-mu'min, i.e. death is the bouquet (of fragrance) for the mu'min, ( i.e. both physical and spiritual) (Da`a'im, II, 221).
8. Great wisdom is hidden in a nightmare. For it is among the tests of God and contains wisdom-filled allusions. It does not harm the intellect, the soul of faith or the body, it harms only the carnal soul. In this act, on the one hand it alludes to do abundant dhikr-u `ibadat and good deeds, and on the other, it signals that the present carnal soul is rebelling time and again, therefore it should be killed in the path of God, as Hazrat Khidr had done (18:74, 18:80) so that God may replace it with a pure soul, called the satisfied soul (nafs-i mutma'innah).
9. Each of the laws of the Prophets is free from giving a command that a person who is as yet innocent, but there is a fear that he may commit a crime in the future, should be killed physically. This shows that the killing of the boy (18:74,80) was not in a physical sense, but it was the killing of the carnal soul in the personal world, whose parents were the intellect and the soul of faith. The killing of the carnal soul and "Die (spiritually) before you die (physically)" is also implied by God in the spiritual aspect of the story of the killing of the cow, which is mentioned in the Qur'an in verses (2:67-73).
10. According to the people of insight, there is no doubt in the reality that the magnificent feat of spiritual death, which is full of spiritual secrets and treasures of recognition, has continued from the time of Hazrat Adam. First and foremost, this is the path of the Prophets and awliya' and then of those fortunate ones who follow their footsteps. Finally, in the ultimate destination (4:69), the Prophets (anbiya'), the truthful (siddiqin), the martyrs (shuhada'), the righteous (salihin), the obedient (muti'in) or the followers (tabi'in) in their respective order, live together in companionship.
11. Perhaps we have not properly reflected on the Divine teaching, which is: "Guide us on the right path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favours." (1:5-6). This is the same right path, walking upon which, the Prophets and awliya' had attained the favours of knowledge and gnosis. Thus those fortunate mu'mins who will walk on this path in the companionship of these guides of religion, will receive ample spiritual favours, for in mubashshirat, that is, good dreams there is a complete world of spirituality.
12. The wisdom-filled Qur'anic words are full of the allusions of wonderful meanings. Thus when Hazrat `Izra'il is mentioned in the Qur'an, it is said about him "He is made in charge of you" (32:11). That is, he is always with you. For the microcosm or the personal world is a complete world of its own, in which there is everything. Therefore, there is also the power of `Izra'il (quwwat-i `Izra'iliyyah), due to which man sleeps on time. Not only this, but after enough progress in spirituality, `Izra'il appears in the same power and a complete experience of the seizing of the soul is attained. By God! there is an extremely great treasure of the secrets of recognition in the stage of `Izra'il. Thus this article, in fact the whole book, which is based on the allusions of Qur'anic wisdom, is like a successful medical advice, in acting upon which (God willing) there can be many benefits.
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, Karachi,
14 Sha'ban al-Mu'azzam 1408 A.H./23 March, 1988 A.D.
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