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137 10 Dream and Spirit in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah’s Qitab al-Ruh MEHMET DALKILIC This chapter examines the relationship between dreaming and the human spirit in the theological writings of the great medieval scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah. He discussed many dreams for that purpose in his Book of Spirit (Qitab al-Ruh). Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah used these dream discussions to prove the existence of the human spirit, to explain its status after death, and to promote the unity of the Muslim community. Ibn al-Qayyim’s original name was Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr. He became well known as “Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah” because his father was the principal of the ‘al-Jawziyah school in Damascus (a prominent Muslim theological tradition of his time). He was born in the Muslim year 691 (1292 C.E.) in a small village near Damascus, Syria, and was raised in an atmosphere of education and knowledge. In other words, he was born into a scholarly and virtuous family, and at that time Damascus was a center of literature and thought. Many important theological schools were located there and he first studied and graduated under the protection, direction, and sponsorship of his father. He was particularly influenced by Ibn Taimiyah and Ibn al-Shirazi. This offered him the chance to build upon knowledge from the most famous scholars of his time. From an early age, he set about acquiring knowledge of the Islamic sciences from these Muslim teachers.1 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah lived in a time of tremendous strife, internal confusion, and external threats menacing the Islamic state. For this reason, he emphasized holding fast to the Book of God and the behaviors of the Messenger, and he rejected anything leading to separation and disunity. The Muslims of this era were fighting for power and authority in everything , from religious leadership and political rule to academic scholarship and social status. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah believed the terrible disputes  138 MEHMET DA LK ILIC and fights among Muslims were caused by their sectarian attitudes and selfish practices, each person considering only himself and his sect to be true and then claiming that everyone else was on the wrong path. So Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah spent a great portion of his time and efforts trying to unite the people, pointing out to them the dangers of blindly imitating their predecessors. He explained that a Muslim should be open-minded, accepting what is right and good regardless of the teacher, unless it was inconsistent with the Holy Qur’an and Prophetic traditions and the general spirit of the faith. To appreciate the power and significance of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah’s work, it helps to understand how these Islamic sects arose. Ten basic sectarian divisions gave rise to the seventy-three sects that are mentioned in the prophetic tradition. Many small subsects have grown out of those ten basic Islamic sects, but most scholars accept the ten basic divisions from which a generally agreed seventy-three sects have arisen. The Sunnah, the Jahmiyah, the Najjariya, the Zirariya, and the Kullabiya represent one sect each. The Khawarijites are subdivided into fifteen sects. The Mutazilah are made up of six distinct sects. The Murjiah account for twelve sects, the Shia represent no fewer than thirty-two, and the Mushabbiha are made up of three sects. This gives us seventy-three sects, which matches exactly the prophetic tradition . The People of the Sunnah believe the only group saved from damnation is theirs, the sect of Ahl al-Sunnah. Because they are the largest and most powerful of these groups, we will look especially closely at their doctrine and system of belief in relationship to dream and human spirit, as best described in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah’s Book of Spirit. There are many theories about the relationship between dream, sleep, and spirit in Islamic culture. In other words, there are many ways of approaching dreams, based on an understanding of the spiritual nature of human beings. Sleep, dream, death, and spirit or soul represent four realms in which consciousness has the opportunity to deepen its immersion in the divine flow of existence. The Sunnah sect generally accepts dreams as products of the imagination. The people of this sect believe that God creates dreams in the minds of humans; sometimes the dreams are conveyed by an angel and sometimes by the devil. Muslim scholars and prophetic traditions have agreed that dreams are of three basic...

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