The dream (ru'ya): its standing, its interpretation and the rules of telling it

A dream (ru'ya) is what a person sees in sleep; it is distinct from inspiration (ilham), from a bad dream (hulm), from a passing thought (khatir) and from revelation (wahy). ^{1 2}

A sound dream is one of the parts of prophethood. It is more often true for people of righteousness, while for others a dream mixes truth with confused fancies. ^{2 3}

Seeing the Prophet in a dream is true. Whether his words or acts seen there bind the dreamer is disputed. ^{4 5}

Interpretation (ta'bir) carries a dream from its outward form to its inward meaning, and its principles are drawn from the Qur'an and the Sunna. ^{6 7}

It is recommended that a dream be told only to a sympathetic or learned person. A dream one likes is met with praise to God and told to others; a disliked one is answered by seeking refuge from its harm and not telling it to anyone. ^{8 9}

The Sheikh says that when the soul is released in sleep with no barriers, it sees beautiful visions and dreams: it sees a late relative, the Prophet, the Companions and the righteous, and the door of good and transparency opens for it ¹⁰. He gives the example that a person may see his brother living in America and his sister living in South Africa while in his room with his wife beside him who sees nothing, and he says this belongs to the picture of sleep (his view) ¹⁰.

He tells of a man who said his longing for the Messenger of God grew strong one night in the time of Umar, so he asked God to let him see him, slept, and saw him (needs_source) ¹¹. He adds that the man saw a tray of fresh dates in the Prophet's hand, who gave him one, which he ate and found sweet, then gave him a second as he woke; the man swore that after waking he still found the sweetness of the dates in his mouth (needs_source) ¹². The Sheikh describes this as a spiritual, luminous telepathy, and says a person does not always see a plain dream ¹².

The Sheikh then tells a personal story about the world of spirits concerning his late sheikh: they were sitting in a group when the sheikh said something he did not accept, and he says he was rebellious at the time, it seems ¹³. After he had stayed away from visiting him, he sat one night at his desk at home, fell asleep at the desk, and saw his sheikh come in through the study door; he woke, took it as a sign that he should visit him, prayed the dawn prayer and went (needs_source) ¹⁴.