5th. Dream:
The Qur’an draws our attention to the fact that Allah Most
High Himself can choose to communicate a command through a dream. Abraham sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam
was commanded by Allah Most High in a dream to sacrifice his son,
Ishmael sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Wicked people changed the Torah so that they could substitute
the name of Isaac sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam for Ishmael sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam as the child to be sacrificed. (Cf.
the present writer’s book entitled, ‘The Religion of Abraham and the State
of Israel - A View from the Qur’an).
Here is the divine command which came in a dream:
“We gave him the good news of a gentle son. And when he reached the age when he could
work with him his father said to him: My son, I dreamt that I was sacrificing
you. Tell me what you think (i.e., tell
me what is your response). He replied:
Father, do as you are bidden. Allah willing,
you shall find me one of those who are steadfast.
And when they had both surrendered themselves to Allah’s will
and Abraham had laid down his son prostrate upon his face, We called out to
him, saying: Abraham, you have fulfilled your vision. Thus did We reward the righteous. That was
indeed a trial, clear in itself. We
ransomed him with a tremendous sacrifice and bestowed on him (the praise) of
later generations. Peace be on Abraham!”
(Qur’an: al-Saffat:-37:99-109)
The dreams of Prophets have more clarity and reality than the
waking experiences of other human beings.
And so Abraham sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam had absolutely no doubt
that Allah Most High had
commanded him, through the medium of a dream, that he should sacrifice his only
son, Ishmael. For the purposes of our
subject we should recognize in this trial of our father, Abraham, the
possibility that Allah Most High
may choose to communicate with us through the medium of dreams and require of
us that we act in a particular way.
Unless we remain constantly alive to the possibility that a
dream of ours may hold such a communication, and monitor our dreams with care,
we may negligently bypass that communication and may suffer as a result. The revolutionary Islamic forces in the world
need to note this fact with great care.
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