On Dream and Its Different Types
In Islam, dreaming is considered as a sort of soul’s movement toward the world of spirits. While asleep, the spirit finds a different form and travels to points where it is impossible to go while awake.
One can say that the spirit is detached while we are asleep and can see the past and the future as time is different in that world. This observance, however, depends on the spiritual growth of individuals.
Dreaming and its involved process are among divine secrets as God Almighty has bestowed the knowledge related to them to some special servants only. There are verses in the Quran that refers to this issue such as: “Allah takes away souls at the time of their death (the temporary death of sleep), and those who do not die during their sleep He withholds that upon which He has decreed death, but turns lose the other till a stated term. Surely, there are signs in this for a nation who contemplate.” (Surah Az-Zumar, verse 42)
Scientists and researchers have been wondering about the nature of the brain’s performance, including the one related to dreaming. They have conducted research on dreaming for the past decades but still, they are not sure about the nature of dreaming.
What is sleeping?
According to the Quranic culture, sleeping is a weak form of death as it was mentioned in the above verse. The relation between spirit and body is of three types: full relation (while we are awake), weak and incomplete relation (while we are asleep), and zero relation (death). Accordingly, sleeping is a brother and a faint form of death.
Different types of dreams
According to narratives, there are several types of dreams. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once put dreams into three categories. “Dreams are of three types: good tidings from God, sorrow coming from Satan, and soliloquies one sees while asleep.”
Also, Imam Sadiq (AS) said: “Dreaming is of three kinds: good tidings from Allah to the believer, warnings from Satan, and disturbed dreams.”
Dreaming is a mysterious phenomenon that has always raised questions. Describing wisdom behind dreams to one of his students, Imam Sadiq (AS) said: “O Mofazzal! Think deeply about dreams and the hikmah behind the amalgamation of truth and lie. If all dreams were true, all people would have been prophets and if all dreams were false, dreaming would have been meaningless. Accordingly, dreams are sometimes true and people benefit from them and go toward goodness and avoid evil by them while most dreams are false; so not all dreams should be trusted.”
This article was a summary of a note written by Seyyed Mahmoud Javadi.
