First kind of Dream: A good true dream - DREAMS IN ISLAM

First kind of dream:

A good true dream - like

Seeing the Prophet in a dream

Shaikh Abdul Ghani al-Nabulisi began his work entitled: Ta’teer al-Anaam fi tafseer al-Ahlaam, with a hadith of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam as follows:

“Whoever does not believe in ‘good and true’ dreams (R’uya al-Saliha) certainly does not believe in Allah and in the Last Day.” ²⁷  

                              

The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam also commented on the subject of which dreams were the best of all dreams:

“The best of all dreams”, said the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, “are the ones where you see your Lord, or your Prophet, or your Muslim parents.” ²⁸

                                                                                 

Prophet Muhammad sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam also spoke of believers seeing him in a dream:

Anas reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever has seen me in a dream has truly seen me, for Satan cannot take my form.”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me in a dream will see me while awake (perhaps this means he will see the Prophet in a vision, - visions and dreams appear to differ only in form, but represent the same substance),  and Satan cannot take my form.”   Abu ‘Abdullah said that Ibn Sireen said: “Only if he sees the Prophet in his (real) form.”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Qatada narrated that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me (in a dream) has indeed seen the Truth (i.e., he has truly seen me).”

 (Bukhari)

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri narrated that the Prophet said: “Whoever sees me (in a dream) has truly seen the Truth, for Satan cannot appear in my form.”

 (Bukhari)

For Muslims who live in this age, when the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam is no longer physically in our midst, the only medium through which we may satisfy the deepest longings in our heart for even a glimpse of his blessed face or person, is through the medium of a dream.  And no one can possibly over-estimate the importance of such an experience in terms of the impact it makes in sealing a private compact with the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam to love, to obey, to follow, to defend and to project his person, his mission, and the Truth on which it is founded.

That mission of his, which remains with us (the ummah) as the most sacred of all trusts (amanah), and which requires of us that we make the supreme effort towards achieving once again, in the historical process, the supremacy of the truth over falsehood, is in dire need of renewal.

Now the Qur’an declares that success lies in purification and growth (tazkiyah) (91:9). And purification and growth implies, most of all, moral and spiritual growth. But for the Muslim moral and spiritual growth is not possible without intense love for Allah Most High and for the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Since it is not possible for one to be blessed by Allah Most High with a dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  if intense love for the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  does not reside in the heart, it follows that dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam are, perhaps, an indicator of some measure of moral and spiritual growth.  

   

I remember the smile and the relief which was written on the face of the Pakistani Islamic scholar, Mr. A. K. Brohi, who confided to me just before he died in 1987 that it was only very late in life that he experienced, for the first time, a dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. And who could possibly have failed to see the light on the face of the Ft. Lauderdale Pakistani Muslim doctor who informed me in 1990 that he had already seen the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in dreams on eight occasions!

One of the most extraordinary of all dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam I have ever encountered was narrated to me in Singapore in 1991.  I had just finished delivering a lecture on the subject of ‘Dreams in Islam’ at the new headquarters of PERTAPIS, the Islamic Theological Society of Singapore which has now become an Islamic social welfare organization.  I had also completed a long and interesting question and answer session which was dominated with questions, comments and revelations concerning dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.  A young man approached me and requested a moment with me in privacy.  I took him to the corner of the room where he could speak to me without anyone being able to listen.  He then informed me that he had just returned about a month earlier from a visit to Makkah where he had experienced an extraordinary dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam one night while asleep in his hotel room.  The dream was so extraordinary that he was reluctant to speak of it in public, hence his request to speak in private.  In the dream the blessed Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam entered the room in which he was asleep.  The most remarkable thing of the event was that he was overwhelmed by a heavenly fragrance which came from the person of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Apparently the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam did not speak to him.  And that was the end of the dream.  When he woke from sleep, however, he found to his utter astonishment that the heavenly fragrance he had experienced in the dream was present in the room and continued to linger in the room for a few hours.

My teacher of blessed memory, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari al-Qaderi, (1914-1974) told us, his students, of a dream he had of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam which changed his life.  He was 17 years of age and an exceptionally talented and brilliant student.  He was unimpressed by the exposition of religion by those with whom he came into contact.  His studies of science at school pushed him further into scepticism until he was close to being an atheist.  Then one hot summer night as he lay tossing restlessly on his bed on the roof of his home in Meerut, India, he saw the Prophetsallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream.  That dream impacted upon him with such pulsating power that it shook him to the very core of his being. That was the moment that utterly changed his life.  He spent the rest of his life in total devotion to the cause of Islam and rose to become not only a Sufi Shaikh of the Qaderiyyah Order, but also one of the most outstanding scholars of Islam of the age in which he lived.  He produced a masterpiece of scholarship, ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society’ in two volumes that ranks as the most important scholarly work on Islam to have emerged from those who came under the influence of the thought of Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.  He traveled around the world on no less than five occasions for the purpose of tableeg and da’wah.  And he also established the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, where a young man from Trinidad, West Indies, (who is the author of this book) could study Islam.    

There are many who may read this book and who may, themselves, have had dreams of the Prophet that they may wish to share with others.  We may, perhaps, have an opportunity to publish another edition of this book that may include such dreams Insha Allah.      

I interrupted the printing of this book to include the following two dreams that were narrated to me at the funeral of my beloved friend and brother, Shaikh Alphahim Jobe, which took place on Saturday May 31, 1997.  I was about to conduct the salatul janaza (funeral prayer) over the body of Shaikh Alphahim when someone approached me and said that he would like to speak to me urgently.  I took him aside and he then informed me that he had a dream of Shaikh Alphahim some two weeks previously in which the Shaikh was leading the morning prayer as Imam.  He led the first raka’at of prayer but did not lead the second.  The prayer was thus left unfinished. That was the dream! Had he informed Shaikh Alphahim or myself about the dream we might have understood it.   

The second dream was narrated to me later the same day.  An American of Puerto Rican origin resident in Astoria, Queens, New York, came to an Astoria Masjid recently and declared that he had seen Prophet Muhammad sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream and, as a consequence of that dream, he wanted to become a Muslim.  The Muslims present in the Masjid attempted to first teach him what was Islam  but he interrupted them and insisted that he wanted to enter into Islam there and then.  They asked him to make wudu (ablutions) and he then made the declaration: “I declare that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger.” After entering into Islam he stayed in the Masjid for the rest of the afternoon and evening, joining in the Asr, Maghrib and Isha prayers.  He then returned to his home and died during that very night.

All through the history of this ummah, and even in this godless age, pious Muslims have continuously been blessed with dreams of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. In fact there are those who repeatedly dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam - not to mention other more profound spiritual experiences which occur in states other than that of sleep.  And in the context of the statement of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam just quoted, one is justified in concluding that such people have, in fact, truly seen the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in a dream!  But if dreams are exclusively constructed from the material of past experiences how can it be possible to construct a face no one in our age has ever actually seen, - and no likeness of which has ever been permitted to be drawn or painted or sculptured?

A dream of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam cannot possibly be constructed from the material of past experiences since none exist today. Indeed, none has existed since the age of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam since Muslims, all through history, faithfully observed the prohibition of representing any human form and, in particular, the form of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. And yet, when we dream the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam we have the assurance that we have actually seen him. How else is this possible other than through the belief that a good or true dream, which come from Allah, is a transcendental experience (known in philosophy as a religious experience) that discloses transcendental knowledge and thus confirms a transcendental reality! True and good dreams have a very important status indeed.  They are so important that the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  described them to be a one fortieth part of prophethood and, indeed, the only part of prophethood now remaining in the world:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah’s Apostle said, “A good dream of a righteous person (which comes true) is one of forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated ‘Ubada bin As-Samit: 

The Prophet said, “The (good) dreams of a faithful believer is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “The (good) dream of a faithful believer is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri:

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “A good dream is a part of the forty-six parts of prophethood.”

 (Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Huraira: 

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Nothing is left of the prophethood except al-Mubashshirat.” They asked, “What are al-Mubashshirat?” He replied, “The true good dreams (that conveys glad tidings).” 

 (Bukhari)

“Abu Huraira reported: When the Apostle of Allah finished his morning prayer he used to ask whether anyone had dreamt a dream, and he used to say: After me there would be nothing left of Prophethood except good dreams”

 (Muwatta, Imam Malick)

  

‘Ata bin Yasaar reported: The Apostle of Allah declared: Nothing would remain of prophethood after me except al-Mubashshiraat.  The companions asked: Apostle of Allah, what do you mean by al-Mubashshiraat?  He replied: Good dreams seen by a good man and those seen for him by another man.  This is one part of the forty-six parts comprising prophethood.”

 (Muwatta, Imam Malick)

The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam declared that Prophethood consisted of forty-six parts. True dreams constituted one-forty-sixth part of Prophethood. After me, declared the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, nothing remains of Prophethood except true dreams.  The only means we now have, therefore, of understanding anything of the nature of prophetic experience is through the study and analysis of the phenomenon of true dreams.

Prophethood consists essentially in a particular form of divine communication to a human being who has been chosen by Allah Most High to be a Prophet.  Such communication constitutes mandatory divine guidance for those to whom he transmits it.  The phenomenon of true dreams contain something which can assist us in understanding the phenomenon of Prophetic revelation.

Source: Dreams in Islam by Imran Hosein
To be continued ....

American Christian Has Dream of Prophet Muhammad and Becomes Muslim

Classification of Dreams in Islam - DREAMS IN ISLAM

Classification of Dreams in Islam

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: “When the Day of Resurrection approaches, the dreams of a believer will hardly fail to come true, and a dream of a believer is one of forty-six parts of prophethood, and whatever belongs to prophethood can never be false.”   

Muhammad bin Sirin said: “But I say this.” He said: “It used to be said that there are three types of dreams: 
i) the reflection of one’s thoughts and experiences which one has during wakefulness; 
ii) what is suggested by Satan to frighten the dreamer; 
iii) or glad tidings from Allah. 

So, if someone has a dream which he dislikes, he should not tell it to others, but get up and offer a prayer.” He added: “He (Abu Huraira) hated to see a Ghul (i.e., iron collar around his neck in a dream) and people liked to see fetters (on their feet in a dream). The fetters on the feet symbolizes one’s constant and firm adherence to religion.” And Abu ‘Abdullah said: “Ghuls (iron collars) are used only for necks.” 

 (Bukhari)

The same hadith, recorded in Sahih Muslim, is as follows:

“Abu Huraira reported that Allah’s Messenger had said: When the time (al-Zaman) draws near (i.e., when the end of the world draws near) a believer’s dream can hardly be false.  And the truest vision (i.e., dream) will be of the one who is truest in speech, for the vision of a Muslim is one forty-fifth part of prophethood (al-Nabuwwah), and dreams are of three types: 

• one, ‘good’ dreams which are a sort of good tidings (Bushra) from Allah; 
• the evil dream which causes pain is from Satan; and 
• the third one is a suggestion of one’s own mind.   

 So if any one of you sees a dream which he dislikes he should stand up and offer prayer and should not narrate it to the people; and he said I would love to see fetters (in a dream) but I dislike wearing of necklace, for the fetters are (indication of) one’s steadfastness in religion.  The narrator said: I do not know whether this is a part of the hadith or the words of Ibn Seerin.”

 (Muslim)

The above hadith describes three kinds of dreams: - good and true dreams, which come from Allah Most High, - evil dreams, which come from Satan, - and dreams which come from our own selves.  But we are not certain whether this is the classification given by the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  himself, or by Imam Muhammad Ibn Sireen. 

Let us now examine the three different kinds of dreams:

Source: Dreams in Islam by Imran Hosein
To be continued ....

Dreams and Prophethood - DREAMS IN ISLAM

Dreams and Prophethood

Let us now turn to the phenomenon of dreams and their relation to the institution of prophethood.

Ibn Sa’ad quotes Aisha (ra) who said:

“The beginning of the revelations to the Apostle of Allah sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was in the form of true dreams.  He did not have a dream but it came to him like daybreak.  She said: He remained in this condition as long as Allah Most High willed.  He loved solitude. Nothing was dearer to him.”  ¹⁹

Narrated ‘Aisha:

The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah’s Apostle was in the form of good righteous (true) dreams in his sleep. He never had a dream but that it came true like bright day light. He used to go in seclusion in (the cave of) Hira where he used to worship(Allah) continuously for many (days and) nights. He used to take with him the  food for that (stay) and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take more food for another period, till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him in it and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, “I do not know how to read.” (The Prophet added), “The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, I do not know how to read, whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time ‘till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read, but again I replied, I do not know how to read (or, what shall I  read?). Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released me and said, Read: In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot. Read and Your Lord is Most Generous who has taught (man) the use of the pen, taught man what he did  knew not. (Qur’an: al-‘Alaq:-96:1-5)”

(Bukhari)

It would appear from the experience of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam himself that true and good dreams, when they occur continuously, are indicative of the realization of a stage of spiritual growth and development.  That appears to be the stage, for the believers, which witnesses success in the struggle to achieve inner purity (tazkiyah). It is only when that stage has been reached that the true process of inner growth can commence.  That stage  has been achieved when dreams are invariably good or true.  The believers should ponder over the remark of Aisha (ra) : “The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah’s Apostle was in the form of good righteous (true) dreams in his sleep. He never had a dream but that it came true like bright day light.” 

It should now be possible for us to understand the true importance of the statement of the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam  that good and true dreams are a part of Prophethood:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah’s Apostle said, “A good dream of a righteous person (which comes true) is one of forty-six parts of prophethood.” 

 (Bukhari)

The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, himself, attached such importance to dreams, during his own lifetime, that he warned that: those who did not believe in dreams did not possess iman (faith). We  are told that every morning, after the morning prayer, he would enquire from those who had performed the prayers as to whether anyone “had seen anything last night?”:

“Abu Hurairah reported: When the Apostle of Allah finished his morning prayer he used to ask whether anyone had seen a dream, and used to say:  After me there would be nothing left of prophethood except good dreams.”

 (Muwatta, Imam Malick)

After the construction of the masjid in Madina the search began for an appropriate way of calling the faithful to prayer.  A companion approached the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and informed him that he had a dream of the azan (call to prayer). The Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam immediately recognized it as a dream from Allah  Most High and decided to adopt the azan  as the Muslim call to prayer:

“When the Apostle first came, the people gathered to him for prayer at the appointed times without being summoned.  At first the apostle thought of using a trumpet like that of the Jews who used it to summon to prayer.  Afterwards he disliked the idea and ordered a clapper to be made, so it was duly fashioned to be beaten when the Muslims should pray.  

Meanwhile ‘Abdullah b. Zayd  b. Tha‘laba  b. ‘Abdu Rabbihi, brother of al-Harith, heard a voice in a dream, and came to the apostle saying: A phantom visited me in the night.  There passed by me a man wearing two green garments carrying a clapper in his hand, and I asked him to sell it to me.  When he asked me what I wanted it for I told him that it was to summon people to prayer, whereupon he offered to show me a better way: it was to say thrice: “Allahu Akbar.  I bear witness that there is no God but Allah I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah. Come to prayer.  Come to prayer.  Come to divine service.  Come to divine service.  Allahu Akbar.  Allahu Akbar.  There is no God but Allah”.  When the Apostle was told of  this he said that it was a true vision if God so willed it, and that he should go with Bilal and communicate it to him so that he might call to prayer thus, for he had a more penetrating voice.  When Bilal acted as muezzin ‘Umar heard him in the house and came to the Apostle dragging his cloak on the ground and saying that he had seen precisely the same vision.  The apostle said: ‘Allah be praised for that! ²⁰

It would appear that all through the spiritual history of man, good and true dreams have been accepted as a criterion for recognizing spiritual mobilization and for measuring spiritual growth and development. In addition, dreams have been the easiest and most readily available vehicle through which access to the transcendental dimension of existence (al-ghaib) could be effected. As such, the phenomenon of dreams must be examined with greater attention and with more importance than now obtains in this age in which materialism has impacted even on Islamic religious thought.  Otherwise the spiritual dimension of human personality will be incapable of  resisting the negative impact which today’s materialism (and its Muslim child, scientific ‘Protestant’ Islam) is making on the authentic religious way of life.

The only possible way that one can explain the phenomenon of a true dream, such as the fire which destroyed my neighbor's house, is that events exist before they occur.  In other words, the process of creation of an event, which commences with the divine command ‘be!’, is one which passes through various stages until it culminates as an actual occurrence.  It is when that event is intercepted on its way to occurrence that a true dream occurs.  Perhaps the manner in which it reaches the sleeping person is that it is transmitted by way of the angel of dreams named Siddiqun. ²¹

This explanation seems to be one which has very deep roots in the popular consciousness – for even those who have no involvement in the religious way of life, and may even be atheists, are extremely susceptible to this phenomena and to its interpretation when it pertains to such events as horse racing, casino gambling, betting in lotteries etc.

Perhaps the most important analysis we make in this book is the claim that a true dream can only be explained if one accepts that reality is essentially transcendental (or spiritual).  It is spiritual ‘substance’ which emerges in material ‘form’ in every thing that exists, and every thing that occurs!  All that appears in material ‘form’ were so ‘fashioned’ by Allah Most High that they might function as symbols (ayaat) which would lead to, and reveal, their spiritual ‘substance’. If the material is recognized as ‘real’ then the spiritual will reveal itself as ‘ideal’.

And so, the event seen in a true dream would be an event created by Allah  Most High which then first exists only at the dimension of spiritual ‘substance’.  It subsequently emerges as material ‘form’, and  the dream becomes a ‘true’ dream. The Sufi epistemology locates knowledge at the dimension of ‘substance’ and insists that material ‘form’ must first be penetrated before spiritual ‘substance’ can be discovered.  Iqbal has made the acute observation that “it is the mysterious touch of the ideal that animates and sustains the real, and through it alone we can discover and affirm the ideal.”²²

Sufi epistemology further insists that the act of seeing must extend beyond observation, and beyond enquiry through sense-perception. Iqbal argues that a complete vision of Reality necessitates that sense-perception be supplemented by the perception of what the Qur’an describes as Fuad or Qalb, i.e., heart.  He quotes the Qur’an in this respect:

“God hath made everything which He hath created most good; and began the creation of man with clay; then ordained his progeny from germs of life, from sorry water; then shaped him, and breathed of His spirit unto him, and gave you hearing and seeing and heart: what little thanks do ye return?”  

 (Qur’an: al-Sajda:32:7-9)

and goes on to argue the case as follows:

“The ‘heart’ is a kind of inner intuition or insight which, in the beautiful words of Rumi, feeds on the rays of the sun and brings us into contact with aspects of Reality other than those open to sense-perception. (The bodily sense eats the food of darkness; The spiritual sense feeds from the sun; - Rumi). It is, according to the Qur’an, something which ‘sees’, and its reports, if properly interpreted, are never false.  (Qur’an: al-Najm:-53:11-2).

We must not, however, regard it as a mysterious special faculty; it is, rather, a mode of dealing with reality in which sensation, in the physiological sense of the word, does not play any part.  (Qur’an: al-Hajj:-22:46).  Yet the vista of experience thus opened to us is as real and concrete as any other experience.  To describe it as psychic, mystical or supernatural does not detract from its value as experience.” ²³

When the heart sees, it sees with a nur (‘light’) which comes from Allah Most High which, in the final analysis, permits things to be seen as they ‘are’ (rather than as they merely ‘appear’ to be). Indeed the Prophet  sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam warned  mankind to fear the firasa (intuitive knowledge, acumen, power of discernment) of the mu’min (one possessed of faith) because he sees with the nur (light) of Allah  Most High. (Tirmidhi)

Thus the Sufi epistemology is one which links ‘knowledge’ and the act of ‘knowing’ with nur (light) from Allah Most High.  It directs attention to the statement in the Qur’an that Allah Most High is the nur (light) of the heavens and the earth (Qur’an: al-Nur:-24:35), and when Allah Most High sent down the Qur’an He also sent a nur (light) with it (i.e., He sent light with the Qur’an) (Qur’an: al-Maida:-5:15). 

The Qur’an declares:

“O mankind! Verily there has come to you a burhan (convincing proof, i.e., the Qur’an) from your Lord, and We have (also) sent to you a nur (light) which is plain and manifest.”  

 (Qur’an: al-Nisa:-4:174) 

“O you who believe! Fear Allah and believe in His Messenger, and He will grant you doubly out of His mercy, and He will provide for you a nur (light) by which you shall walk (through the world) . . .” 

 (Qur’an: al-Hadeed:-57:28)

  

“Believe, therefore, in Allah and His Messenger, and in the nur (light) which We have sent down.” 

 (Qur’an: al-Taghabun:-64:8)

The Qur’an further declares of the believers who:

“believe in him (i.e., the Prophet), and to honor and help him, and to follow the nur (light) which was sent down with him, that they will be successful.”

 (Qur’an: al-’Araf:-7:157)

  

It is only with that nur (light) that one can truly ‘see’:

“ . . . And Allah guides whomsoever He wills to His light . . .” 

 (Qur’an: al-Nur:24:35)

“ . . . (and) for any to whom Allah gives not light (for such) there is no light.”

 (Qur’an: al-Nur:24:40)

   

It is only with that light that an Iqbal is produced. Iqbal is the living proof of the validity of the Sufi epistemology. The graduates of the classical education of modern scientific ‘Protestant’ Islam in today’s Al-Azhar University or Darul ‘Uloom Deoband etc. can never be the equal of an Iqbal.   Nor can modern secular education ever produce scholarship who can possibly be the equal of the scholarship which emerges from authentic Islamic education.  The Qur’an asks rhetorically: 

“. . . Are the blind equal with those who see?  Or the depths of darkness equal to light. . .?”

 (Qur’an: al-Ra’ad: 13:16)

and again:

“Is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam so that he is (blessed with) a light from his lord, (equal to one who is without such)?” 

 (Qur’an: al-Zumar:-39:32)

and finally:

“Can he who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a nur (light) whereby he can walk amongst men, be like him who is in the depths of darkness from which he can never come out?” 

 (Qur’an: al-An’am:-6:122)

The Qur’an then returns to answer the question:

“The blind and the seeing are not alike; nor the depths of darkness and the light.” 

 (Qur’an: al-Fatir:-35:19-20)

Our study of the phenomenon of true dreams and of their link with prophethood has led us to the Sufi epistemology which locates knowledge in the dynamic and creative movement of the mind from material ‘form’ (al-Zahir) to spiritual ‘substance’ (al-Haqiqa). Nowhere is this epistemology more necessary that in the study of the Qur’an itself.  Dr. Ansari has made the  extremely important observation concerning the existence of two levels of understanding the Qur’an, viz., the level of religious consciousness, which is embraced by unperverted human common sense, and the level of theoretic consciousness, which necessitates probe and research below the surface of the Qur’anic text. ²⁴

The understanding of the Qur’an at the level of religious consciousness requires the use of the Sufi epistemology.  And it is only at the level of religious consciousness that both the Qur’an and Reality (haqiqah) can be grasped as a unity and as an integrated whole. The logical rational theoretic consciousness is incapable of doing that.  “The logical consciousness”, says, Iqbal, “is incapable of seeing multiplicity as a coherent universe.”  The reason for this is because “it’s only method is generalization based on resemblances . . .” ²⁵

 When, on the other hand, says Dr. Ansari, the believer pursuing the Islamic religious quest arrives at the stage of al-Haqiqah then:

“Allah Most High establishes a light in that servant.  The light illumines all the dimensions of his consciousness to the extent that he lives and moves only under the impact of that light (Qur’an: al-An’am:-6:122), and not through his desire (Qur’an: al-Nazi’at:-79:40).  At that level of experience his ego transcends, in terms of its approach to the reality of existence, the phenomenological level of ‘diversity’ and becomes focused in the realm of ‘unity’, - ‘unity’ being the haqiqah (reality) of existence.” ²⁶

I have been stunned by my discovery that contemporary scientific ‘Protestant’ Islam, which relishes in demonizing even authentic Sufism with charges of bid’ah (innovations), is itself incapable of understanding the subjects of riba or dreams.  Nor is it at all possible for scientific ‘Protestant’ Islam to penetrate Suratul Kahf of the Qur’an. As a consequence scientific ‘Protestant’ Islam cannot understand the modern age.  This is the most likely reason for the successful embrace and imprisonment of Saudi Arabia, and with it the haramain, by the modern dominant godless western civilization!  The so-called salafi wahhabis cannot see!

Source: Dreams in Islam by Imran Hosein
To be continued ....