Dreams in pagan Arabia
It would be helpful for us, if we are to place the phenomenon of
true dreams in wide perspective, that we should recall that even pre-Islamic
Arabia had its share of vitally important dreams which impacted even on
national affairs. Thus, for example, we
know that the grandfather of the Prophet sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam, ‘Abd al-Muttalib, succeeded in rediscovering
the famous lost spring of Zam Zam in Makkah after he was informed in a
dream of its exact location. This is what
Ibn Ishaq has to say on the subject:
“While Abd al-Muttalib was sleeping in the sacred enclosure he
had a dream in which he was ordered to dig Zam Zam which (was shown to be in) a
depression between two idols of the Quraish, Isaf Na’ila, at the
slaughter-place of Quraish.”7
This event played no little role in making him the Patriarch of
Makkah. And his status as Patriarch of Makkah helped pave the way for his
grandson to win the esteem of all Makkah.
Then, of course, we know that the mother of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam
had a number of dreams prior to his birth in which she saw, for example, that a
light was streaming from her body and illumining the world to such an extent
that she could see the castles of Busra in Syria.
And, sure enough, her dreams came true when Muhammad sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam
was born and grew to become a veritable ‘light unto the worlds’. Ibn Sa’ad has recorded some of those dreams
as follows:
“We used to hear that when Aminah bint Wahb was pregnant with
the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam she used to say: I did not feel as if I was pregnant and I
experienced no heaviness as other women do, except that my periods stopped; but
I had a vision when I was in a state between sleep and wakefulness that a
visitor came in and said: Do you know that you are pregnant? I felt as if I answered: No. Then he said: You are bearing the chief of
this nation and its Prophet; that was on Monday. She (Aminah) said: This fact assured me of my
pregnancy. Then he allowed me a respite
until the time of the delivery approached, and the same visitor came to me and
said: Say, I place him under the protection of the One , to Whom people resort
in important matters (critical situations) to guard themselves against those
who envy. She said: I repeated those words
and I related the circumstances to the women of my family.” 8
We also learn from Ibn Ishaq of the ancient Arab King, Tubba,
who was advised to loot the Ka’aba of treasures but who, instead,
followed the advice of two rabbis who warned him of the danger of such
conduct. And so the King visited the Ka’aba,
and went around it in veneration (tawaf), sacrificed animals, shaved his
head etc. Ibn Ishaq then informs us that
Tubba eventually became the first to cover the Ka’aba with a ghilaf
(covering) and that he was ordered to do so in a dream:
“It was revealed to him in a dream that he should cover the
temple, so he covered it with woven palm branches; a later vision (i.e., dream)
showed him that he must do better so he covered it with Yamani cloth; a third
vision induced him to cloth it with fine striped Yamani cloth. People say that Tubba was the first man to
cover the temple in this way.”9
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