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188 15 A Comparison of Islamic and Western Psychological Dream Theories IAIN R. EDGAR In one essential respect there is an ontological gap between Islamic and most Western psychological theories of the dream, and that is their differing conceptions of the self and of what Western psychology views as the unconscious . The unknown hinterland of the self in Islam and also in Christianity is deemed to be the house of God, the Godhead, from which the voice of the Lord, the Prophet, Satan, and shatan can all be heard, often in dreams. No such spiritual ontology defines the broadly secularist concept of the hidden worlds of the psyche in Western psychology. Freudian psychology, in particular, obstinately defines all psychic contents as reflections and transformations of daytime reality, “day residues” in the Freudian vocabulary. Yet Western psychology’s attempts to create a universal and secular language and structure for the nature of the unconscious have defined the very terms in which many people, particularly in Western culture, now approach the rather mysterious, and usually confusing, language of the night dream. Perhaps alone in Western psychological theory, the conceptual and applied work of Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychoanalyst, offers a bridge between these differing schematizations of the unconscious. Islamic Dream Theory The dream in Islam can be very significant, as the Prophet Muhammad reportedly received part of his revelation in night dreams (one forty-sixth is usually stated) and was a notable dream interpreter, starting each day by asking his companions if they had any dreams for him to interpret.1 In the hadiths (the reported sayings and actions of the Prophet) there are many references to dream interpretation. Bukhari, one of the most reliable hadith A COMPA R ISON OF DR E A M T HEOR IES 189 authors, reports the words of Aisha, the Prophet’s wife: the “commencement of the divine inspiration 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 of light.”2 In Islam major prophecy is believed to have ended with the revelation contained in the Qur’an, but spiritual guidance can still be gained through true dreams. In Islam, Muslims understand dreams as they understand and interpret reality. In night dreams, the soul is freed from the material world and can traverse, without limit, the past and the future. The real world and the unseen world that can be manifest in dreams are both created by the one God, Allah. Allah also authorized shatan to delude and misguide humanity, to snare their spiritual strivings in the desires of the material world. This or these unseen but manifest powers created and sustain the universe, and their spiritual guidance can be given through dreams, even to the lowliest of souls. To lie about a dream is a serious sin in Islam. Dream interpretation, though, in Islam as everywhere, is a tricky business . You could say that the devil is in the details. There is general consistency in dream interpretive practices in Islam based on the threefold Islamic dream classification—true dreams from Allah, false dreams from shatan, and largely meaningless dreams from the nafs (a mixture of Freudian id and ego, or the lower self as described in Islamic psychology). Yet the interpretation itself is extremely sophisticated and takes into account the following factors : the piety and spiritual rank of the dreamer; the dreamer’s social position in the world; and the time of year and the time of night of the dream. Islamic dream dictionaries, unlike their Western counterparts, may contain many interpretations for the same symbol. For example, if a poor person dreams of honey, this can be a sign of illness, as only when ill will poor people buy honey; for a rich person to dream of honey is a favorable sign. I was told by religious scholars that only a prophet can determine a true from a false dream; even spiritual leaders such as sheikhs may disagree about interpretations.3 In Islam, an incorrect dream interpretation can lead to delusion, error, and worse. Correct dream interpretation, though, is understood to help believers in the pursuit of spiritual guidance and correct Islamic behavior. The story of Islam is founded on the Prophet Muhammad’s revelation more than fourteen hundred years ago. This revelation, perfectly wrought to the believer, is embodied in the Qur’an, supplemented by the hadiths...

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