Dreams are Meant to Be Interpreted

Dreams are Meant to Be Interpreted

A problem which has arised throughout the Muslim ummah in regards to the prophecies of the Messiah is taking everything literally and not giving it room for interpretation. This is the complete opposite of what Allah and His Prophet^saw have taught us. According to both the Qur’an and the Ahadith, visions and dreams are meant to be interpreted. Here are some examples which will clear this misconception, before we go into each sign:

It is Stated in the Qur’an:

إِذْ قَالَ يُوسُفُ لِأَبِيهِ يَا أَبَتِ إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ {5} قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تَقْصُصْ رُؤْيَاكَ عَلَىٰ إِخْوَتِكَ فَيَكِيدُوا لَكَ كَيْدًا ۖ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ {6} وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَجْتَبِيكَ رَبُّكَ وَيُعَلِّمُكَ مِنْ تَأْوِيلِ الْأَحَادِيثِ وَيُتِمُّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ يَعْقُوبَ كَمَا أَتَمَّهَا عَلَىٰ أَبَوَيْكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْحَاقَ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ {7}

Remember the time when Joseph said to his father, ‘O my father, I saw in a dream eleven stars and the sun and the moon, I saw them making obeisance to me.’ He said, ‘O my darling son, relate not thy dream to thy brothers, lest they contrive a plot against thee; for Satan is to man an open enemy. (Chapter 12 verse 5-7)

Now according to this vision, Joseph^as told his father about a dream of eleven stars and the sun and the moon obeisance to him. Allah Himself States in the Qur’an:

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَسْجُدُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ وَالنُّجُومُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَالشَّجَرُ وَالدَّوَابُّ وَكَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ حَقَّ عَلَيْهِ الْعَذَابُ ۗ وَمَنْ يُهِنِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ مُكْرِمٍ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۩ {19}

Hast thou not seen that to Allah submits whosoever is in the heavens and whosoever is in the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the beasts, and many of mankind? But there are many who become deserving of punishment. And whomsoever Allah disgraces, none can raise him to honour. Verily, Allah does what He pleases. (Chapter 22 Verse 19)

Now I ask the non Ahmadi Muslims whether they would take the vision of Yusuf^as literally? He narrated this dream to his father and his father had no objection to this vision. In the same Surah, Allah States:

وَدَخَلَ مَعَهُ السِّجْنَ فَتَيَانِ ۖ قَالَ أَحَدُهُمَا إِنِّي أَرَانِي أَعْصِرُ خَمْرًا ۖ وَقَالَ الْآخَرُ إِنِّي أَرَانِي أَحْمِلُ فَوْقَ رَأْسِي خُبْزًا تَأْكُلُ الطَّيْرُ مِنْهُ ۖ نَبِّئْنَا بِتَأْوِيلِهِ ۖ إِنَّا نَرَاكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ {37}

And with him there entered the prison two young men. One of them said, ‘I saw myself in a dream pressing wine.’ And the other said, ‘I saw myself in a dream carrying upon my head bread of which the birds are eating. Inform us of the interpretation thereof; for we see thee to be of the righteous.’(Chapter 12 verse 37)

These two people ask for the interpretation of he dream rather than taking it literally in the Qur’an. They were in jail so how can their dreams be taken literally? Yusuf^as did not reply by saying “no you are lying, where is the bread or wine” rather he interpreted the dreams by saying you will be saved and the bird would be hanged. Allah explains this interpretation in the Qur’an and shows us that dreams aren’t to be taken literally.

Allah further states in the same Surah:

وَقَالَ الْمَلِكُ إِنِّي أَرَىٰ سَبْعَ بَقَرَاتٍ سِمَانٍ يَأْكُلُهُنَّ سَبْعٌ عِجَافٌ وَسَبْعَ سُنْبُلَاتٍ خُضْرٍ وَأُخَرَ يَابِسَاتٍ ۖ يَا أَيُّهَا الْمَلَأُ أَفْتُونِي فِي رُؤْيَايَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لِلرُّؤْيَا تَعْبُرُونَ {44} قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ ۖ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَأْوِيلِ الْأَحْلَامِ بِعَالِمِينَ {45}

And the King said, ‘I see in a dream seven fat kine which seven lean ones eat up, and seven green ears of corn and seven others withered. O ye chiefs, explain to me the meaning of my dream if you can interpret a dream.’ They replied, ‘They are confused dreams, and we do not know the interpretation of such confused dreams.’ (Chapter 12 Verses 44-45)

The king also saw a vision where seven fat cows were being eaten by seven lean and seven green spies of grain. Cows are not eaten by plants rather eat plants. Now will the non Ahmadi Muslims say the King lied ? Yusuf^as heard this dream and did not say “you lied” rather explained the dream.

Allah also Showed a vision to the Holy Prophet^saw in regards to Badr. Allah States:

إِذْ يُرِيكَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي مَنَامِكَ قَلِيلًا ۖ وَلَوْ أَرَاكَهُمْ كَثِيرًا لَفَشِلْتُمْ وَلَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ سَلَّمَ ۗ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ {44}

When Allah showed them to thee in thy dream as few; and if He had shown them to thee as many, you would have surely faltered and would have disagreed with one another about the matter; but Allah saved you. Surely, He has full knowledge of what is in your breasts.(Chapter 8 Verse 44)

Allah showed the greatest Prophet that the people were fewer in number than they actually were. In a hadith of Bukhari it is stated:

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي حُسَيْنٍ، حَدَّثَنَا نَافِعُ بْنُ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ قَدِمَ مُسَيْلِمَةُ الْكَذَّابُ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَجَعَلَ يَقُولُ إِنْ جَعَلَ لِي مُحَمَّدٌ الأَمْرَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ تَبِعْتُهُ‏.‏ وَقَدِمَهَا فِي بَشَرٍ كَثِيرٍ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ، فَأَقْبَلَ إِلَيْهِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَمَعَهُ ثَابِتُ بْنُ قَيْسِ بْنِ شَمَّاسٍ، وَفِي يَدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قِطْعَةُ جَرِيدٍ، حَتَّى وَقَفَ عَلَى مُسَيْلِمَةَ فِي أَصْحَابِهِ فَقَالَ ‏”‏ لَوْ سَأَلْتَنِي هَذِهِ الْقِطْعَةَ مَا أَعْطَيْتُكَهَا، وَلَنْ تَعْدُوَ أَمْرَ اللَّهِ فِيكَ، وَلَئِنْ أَدْبَرْتَ لَيَعْقِرَنَّكَ اللَّهُ، وَإِنِّي لأَرَاكَ الَّذِي أُرِيتُ فِيكَ مَا رَأَيْتُ ‏”‏‏.‏ فَأَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏”‏ بَيْنَمَا أَنَا نَائِمٌ رَأَيْتُ فِي يَدَىَّ سِوَارَيْنِ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ، فَأَهَمَّنِي شَأْنُهُمَا، فَأُوحِيَ إِلَىَّ فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِ انْفُخْهُمَا، فَنَفَخْتُهُمَا فَطَارَا فَأَوَّلْتُهُمَا كَذَّابَيْنِ يَخْرُجَانِ بَعْدِي ‏”‏‏.‏ فَكَانَ أَحَدُهُمَا الْعَنْسِيَّ وَالآخَرُ مُسَيْلِمَةَ الْكَذَّابَ صَاحِبَ الْيَمَامَةِ‏.‏

Narrated Ibn Abbas: Musailama-al-Kadhdhab (i.e. the liar) came in the life-time of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) with many of his people (to Medina) and said, “If Muhammad makes me his successor, I will follow him.” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) went up to him with Thabit bin Qais bin Shams; and Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) was carrying a piece of a datepalm leaf in his hand. He stood before Musailama (and his companions) and said, “If you asked me even this piece (of a leaf), I would not give it to you. You cannot avoid the fate you are destined to, by Allah. If you reject Islam, Allah will destroy you. I think that you are most probably the same person whom I have seen in the dream.” Abu Huraira told me that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ); said, “While I was sleeping, I saw (in a dream) two gold bracelets round my arm, and that worried me too much. Then I was instructed divinely in my dream, to blow them off and so I blew them off, and they flew away. I interpreted the two bracelets as symbols of two liars who would appear after me. And so one of them was Al-Ansi and the other was Musailama Al-Kadhdhab from Al-Yamama.”(Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Hadith #817)

No companion accused the Prophet^saw of wearing gold as visions are not to be taken literally, rather they awaited his interpretation. They did not start to accuse the Prophet^saw of wearing gold which is haram in Islam either. It is a basic concept in Islam that dreams are interpreted, yet the non Ahmadi Muslims sadly take everything to be literal.

A dream of Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa is as follows:

(حديث مقطوع) شُعَيْبُ بْنُ أَيُّوبَ الصَّرِيفَيْنِيُّ ، ثَنَا أَبُو يَحْيَى الْحِمَّانِيُّ ، سَمِعْتُ أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ ، يَقُولُ : ” رَأَيْتُ رُؤْيَا أَفْزَعَتْنِي ، رَأَيْتُ كَأَنِّي أَنْبِشُ قَبْرَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، فَأَتَيْتُ الْبَصْرَةَ ، فَأَمَرْتُ رَجُلا يَسْأَلُ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ سِيرِينَ ، فَقَالَ : هَذَا رَجُلٌ يَنْشُرُ أَخْبَارَ الرَّسُولِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

Shu‘ayb ibn Ayyub al-Sarifini said, Abu Yahya al-Himmani narrated to us, ‘I heard Abu Hanifah say, “I saw a dream that scared me. I saw I was digging up the grave of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). I came to Basrah and ordered a man to ask Muhammad ibn Sirin and he asked him. He said, ‘This man shall uncover the hadiths of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).’ (رقم الحديث)

Imam Bukhari also saw a similar dream where he was removing flies from the body of the Holy Prophet^saw. The interpretation of the dream was that the flies represented fabricated ahadith and that he would remove such ahadith and distinguish them from authentic ahadith.

There is another famous vision of a famous Muslim saint, Hazrat Syed Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani:

“Hazrat Syed Abdul-Qadir Jilani said, ‘I saw a vision, in which I was in the lap of Hazrat Aishah^ra and I was suckling on her right breast. After that I expressed the left one, and suckled on it. Then, the Holy Prophet^saw entered’.” (Qalaid-ul-Jawahir fi-Manaqib ash-Sheikh Abdul-Qadir Jilani, Egyptian edition, p. 57, line 8.)

We do not take the dreams of Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Bukhari or Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani to God forbid be literal, rather they all have  beautiful interpretations. The prophecies in regards to the latter day Messiah were also visions and therefore need to be interpreted.