Wisdoms of the World of Dream
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Dream is an internal world which is different from the external world and is full of wonders and marvels. Why not, when from one side it adjoins the world of imagination and on the other the spiritual world? Or in short, events and observations of imagination, dream and spirituality become alike and one in the Perfect Human Beings. This means that imagination and dream of an ordinary person is a journey on the spiritual path, whose desired destination is spirituality and the Hereafter.
The dream of God's friends (Awliyā') abounds in spirituality and luminosity. It is not like the dream of an ordinary person that can be disregarded. It appears as a reality of which there are several examples in the wise Qur'ān. That is to say that Prophetic dream is a part of revelation (waḥy), and Ḥaz̤rat-i Ibrāhīm resolved to sacrifice his beloved son, Ḥaz̤rat-i Ismācīl, on the basis of [such] a dream and Ḥaz̤rat-i Ismācīl accepted it as a Divine Command (37:102).
The dream of mu'mins is of two kinds: sometimes it is of a higher level and sometimes of a lower level. The good dreams of the people of faith take place under the name bas̲h̲īr (bringer of glad tidings), and bad dreams under the name naẕīr (warner). These two names of the light of Prophethood are actually there in spirituality.
The goodness and the badness of a dream depend on human beings' deeds, because a dream is a minor resurrection which occurs daily in the state of sleep, so that they can reflect on their readiness or not for a great and decisive resurrection, as the Qur'ān mentions in verse (75:14): "Nay, man is a witness against himself (nafsihi)." Baṣīrat or mus̲h̲āhadah-i bāṭin is the name for the vision of the heart. This implies that human beings can see their own soul and all of its conditions prior to physical death and a minor example of it is a dream. The word nafs in this noble verse means soul. In
spirituality or at least in a dream, whatever individuals observe is their soul and 'I'.
There is a standard to determine the legitimacy of the current currency in this world. For example, scientists have fixed various gauges in machines such as motor cars to collect information about speed, heat and fuel, etc. How is it plausible that Almighty Allāh praises human beings' creation, yet does not have a touchstone to evaluate their good and bad deeds? Truly speaking, the wise Creator has assigned a criterion (furqān) in the exoteric aspect of religion but also within the human being, as mentioned in verse (8:29): "O you who believe, if you fear God, He will assign for you a furqān." Furqān is exoterically the holy personality of the exalted Imām and esoterically it is his light.
Dream is an example of the spiritual world since it transcends time and space. In other words, the world of dreams is independent of this material world. The time in the world of dreams is not connected to the days and nights of this world, rather it is like the time of the hereafter and it is related to the miracles and manifestations of the law of 'Be' (kun), such as a season, a thing, a person, or a place which you wish to see in your imagination. Initially there is very little light or it is like a false dawn, but eventually the real dawn appears.
Allāh says in verse (78:9): "And We made your sleep [a cause of] repose." That is, for the masses sleep, and for the chosen ones, spirituality because nawm at the lower ranks can be the sleep of negligence, as well as at the higher ranks it is spirituality because the reason for this is that the sleep of the friends of God becomes spirituality.
It is also mentioned in Sūrah of Furqān, verse (25:47): "It is He who made the night a covering for you and made sleep repose and made the day for rising." It is said to the people of spirituality, i.e., hierarchs of religion, that in the beginning the bāṭin was made a covering for you in which you attained the perfection of spirituality and then you are granted a chance to manifest yourselves through
spreading knowledge.
It is said in Sūrah of Rūm, verse (30:23): "And of His signs is your sleeping by night and day, and your seeking of His grace. Verily there are signs in this for those who listen." Sleep at night means the initial spirituality, which is hidden in the internal veil. Sleep by day means final spirituality which manifests in the form of knowledge. At this time, it becomes necessary to search for knowledge and wisdom from the grace of God, that is the treasure of intellect. There are only miracles in this for the listeners with the ears of understanding.
It is said in Sūrah of Zumar, verse (39:42): "Allāh seizes the souls of people at the time of their (physical and spiritual) death and [the soul of] those who have not died, (He seizes) during their sleep; Then He withholds those on whom He has decreed death, and sends the others back for an appointed period. Verily, there are signs (miracles) in this for those who reflect."
The ta'wīlī wisdom of this is that the mu'min who dies completely with respect to the carnal soul through worship and spiritual discipline, gets rid of the body and enters paradise. The satisfied soul enters paradise whether the person is alive or dead (89: 27-30), however, the mu'min remains alive in a new soul whereas the person who dies by the physical death, dies. Thus, God retains both kinds of souls in the hereafter and those people who have not died in any manner, their souls are seized during sleep or in the initial spirituality and then they are sent back. And this process continues until an appointed time.
It is solely one's own soul in the dream which becomes a universe and appears before it. There is everything in this soul. There is resurrection, record of deeds, paradise, hell, angels, hope, fear, light and darkness. In short, Almighty Allāh has made the world of dream a model of spirituality and the hereafter so that the prudent mu'mins may benefit from its countless wisdoms.
The interpretation of dreams that is mentioned in common books
has no importance at all, because the ta'wīl of dream is something divine. It is included in God-given knowledge (cilm-i ladunnī). Nonetheless, many of its allusions are such that they are easily understandable, whereby human beings can estimate well their good and bad deeds. Therefore, it is correct to say that the world of dream is full of wisdoms. It is a living and speaking book, which guides people of every rank according to their level of understanding.
Dust under the feet of mu'mins 26th April, 1984
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