Should You Pay Attention To Your Dream?
From the Realities of Mawlana (Q) as taught by Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi
A’uzu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the rejected one
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘aalameen, was salaatu was salaamu ‘alaa Ashraful Mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Mawlana Muhammadul Mustafa ﷺ. Madad ya Sayyidi ya Rasulul Kareem, Ya Habibul ‘Azeem, unzur halana wa ishfa’lana, ‘abidona bi madadikum wa nazarekum.
Everybody Has a Different Level of Understanding
A reminder for myself inshallah (AJ) ana abdukal ‘ajeez, dayeefu, miskinu, wa zhalim, wa jahl and but for the grace of Allah (AJ) that we are still in existence. Allah’s (AJ) infinite rahmah and mercy and we took a path in which to be nothing. Wa alhamdulillah, with the question and answers we always have a chance to hear people’s replies and get an understanding and why Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ taught to repeat constantly in the teachings, repeat things, repeat things; at least three times to repeat them. Tariqah (spiritual path) teaches that they’re repeating all the time because everybody has a different level of understanding, a different level of where they are in the level of understanding, like a journey.
عَنْ أَنَسٍ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ أَنَّهُ كَانَ إِذَا تَكَلَّمَ بِكَلِمَةٍ أَعَادَهَا ثَلَاثًا حَتَّى تُفْهَمَ عَنْهُ وَإِذَا أَتَى عَلَى قَوْمٍ فَسَلَّمَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَلَّمَ عَلَيْهِمْ ثَلَاثًا.
[ صَحِيحُ الْبُخَارِيِّ، كِتَابُ الْعِلْم، حَدِيث٩٥]
‘An Anasin ‘an an Nabiyi ﷺ anahu kana iza takalama bikalimatin a’adaha salasan, hatta tufhama ‘anhu, wa iza ata ‘ala qawmin fasallama ‘alayhim, sallama ‘alayhim salasan. [Sahih ul Bukhari, Kitabul ‘Ilm, Hadith #95]
Anas ibn Malik (ra) reported: When the Prophet (pbuh) would speak, he (pbuh) would repeat himself three times until he was understood. Whenever he (pbuh) came to people and greeted them with peace, he would greet them three times. [Authentic by Al Bukhari, the book of knowledge, Hadith #95]
Start at the Tree Trunks to Reach the Tree Tops
At the beginning of the journey, whatever the shaykh talks about, it’s like we’re in a forest. All we see are the tree trunks and obstacles and inability to understand, inability to see a horizon. As we progress along the path and follow their advice with the energy, with the meditation, tafakkur (contemplation), good characters, we begin to rise in this journey.
So, as they speak that same subject, you may now be seeing a much larger horizon. You may be at the level of the treetops in which your path becomes less of the obstacles and more of understanding the horizon and the reality that is being laid out. So alhamdulillah, that the process is to always repeat that the good character – tariqah comes to teach good character, adab (manners).
Our Nafs is a Toxic Creature That Lives Within Us
There were quite a few comments because they had to be deleted as far as the dreams. We talked about that in our path of ma’rifah (gnosticism), that, ‘In my annihilation, I annihilated.’ Imam Ali (as) comes to teach that in this path of muraqabah (spiritual connection) and tafakkur, that no matter what opens and what understanding opens, we take a path in which to continuously annihilate ourselves. Many spiritual paths talk about ’empty your cup.’
If we become full on ourselves and full with ourselves, content with ourselves, we begin to give everything that is opening for us to the nafs (ego). If the nafs gets involved in any type of spiritual opening, it contaminates it. So, imagine the nafs is a very toxic poisonous creature that lives within us. Anything beatific that opens for us, if the nafs should put its claws into that reality, it becomes nafsani (egocentric). It means it becomes now contaminated and poisonous and toxic and that’s why the teaching of annihilation and annihilating ourselves is continuous.
Don’t Let the Nafs Enter and Contaminate your Contemplation
So, for the servant whom taking a path in which to build themselves, they begin to sit and tafakkur and contemplate. The danger is to begin to enter the imaginal world in which you’re sitting, contemplating and then you want to see something. You want to see where you are and what your horizon is. So, the intention now becomes about how to elevate yourself or to inflate oneself. Now the nafs will enter in and when the nafs (ego) enters in, it begins to show the servant all these beatific visions, ‘You’re this, you’re that. You’ve been given this, you’ve been given that’ and it just becomes nafsani (egocentric) and it will never end.
Every time the servant sits, it becomes all these imaginary things, anything their mind can imagine. They see something on TV, they sit down. They imagine that too and then that person is living within a dream world in their mind and nothing changes in their character. They can be extremely aggressive, angry, disturbed. Then they have all these sort of illusions of beatific things happening to them because the nafs is playing with that individual. They’re not breaking through the nafs and all the bad characteristics.
Negate Yourself to Focus on the Presence of the Shaykh
So, that’s why when the shaykhs are teaching that if you’re going to start to listen to these talks and sit to meditate with yourself and contemplate, it’s the self you have to be worried about. So, when you sit and contemplate, ‘I’m nothing. I’m nothing. I’m no one,’ then it’s not about how am I going to see? Or show me what my station is. Or no, I want these things to come to me, but you’re being trained by the shaykh.
Now the only thing you should visualize is that you’re nothing and that you’re in the presence of the shaykh. That you’re either at the Ka’bah if it’s easy for you, in Madinatul Munawwara (luminous city of Prophet ﷺ) is a bit more difficult. This is not your salah (prayer). This is just your contemplation and that you’re asking that the shaykh to be in front of you and then you take a path in which you say, ‘I’m nothing. I’m no one. I’m not worthy of seeing you with spiritual vision. I just need to know that you’re in front of me. I know that you’re in front of me.’ “Wa kono ma’as sadiqeen,” and Allah (AJ), “Assalamu alayka ayyu hanNabi wa Salamu alaykum Ibadullahi Saliheen.”
﴾يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللّهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ ﴿١١٩
9:119 – “Ya ayyuhal ladheena amanoo ittaqollaha wa kono ma’as sadiqeen.” (Surat At-Tawba)
“O you who have believed, have consciousness of Allah and be with those who are truthful/ Pious /sincere (in words and deed).” (The Repentance, 9:119)
السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ ﷺ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ، السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَى عِبَادِ اللَّهِ الصَّالِحِينَ،.
“Assalamu alayka ayyu hanNabi wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. AsSalamu alayna wa ala Ibadullahi Saliheen.”
“Peace be upon You, O Prophet (Muhammad (pbuh), His Mercy and His blessings too. Peace be on us and on all righteous servants of Allah.”
Do Not Place Importance on Visions
That we say it in our salah, “Ibadullahi Saliheen,” that righteous servants are always surrounding us. So, I’m asking that you’re in front of me, that dress me with your faiz (downpouring blessings). Now I’m going to now sit and meditate and breathe and contemplate. So, the whole process is about, ‘I’m nothing, I’m nothing, I’m nothing.’ If for any reason a vision comes and you’ll see something, alhamdulillah. You see this in the zikr (Divine remembrance), see that.
You can tell yourself, ‘I’m nothing, ya Rabbi. I’m not that one that I’m seeing this jubba (cloak). I’m seeing this being given to me. I saw all the heavens dress me with light and angels come down. I’m nothing, I’m nothing, I’m no one. If it’s real, alhamdulillah, put it into the bank for me – my spiritual bank. But I’m telling You and telling myself I’m nothing; nothing, ya Rabbi. Let me to just reach towards Your oceans of power. Your oceans of light and energy and bring my bad character down.’
Pay No Attention to Your Dreams
Then throughout the day, the focus will be on my character. So, not to live a life of inflating oneself. So, then the subject of dreams because dreams is the world in which everything is inflated and 99% of it is illusionary because people are not at a level of good character anymore, good practices. They’re not at a level of cleanliness so whatever is coming through the dream world, 99% of it is nafsani (egocentric).
So, as a result, we prescribed that pay no attention to your dreams. So, even if it’s whoever is coming to your dreams, you equate it as, ‘Thank you very much. I’m nothing, I’m nothing and that alhamdulillah, Allah (AJ) gave me a reminder of that dream.’ If it was good, alhamdulillah. If I came out of the dream feeling it was good say, ‘Alhamdulillah.’ Again, I go towards my practices and all the things that I have to do. I don’t try to get my nafs involved and say, ‘Oh, that must be that I’m important,’ and then ‘Can I get an interpretation of this dream?’
Leave the Dream State and Enter the Live Heart Channel
Why do you need interpretation of the dream? Is that so that you’ll know or you and your nafs will know? It’s just the dream that Allah (AJ) is sending, the jinn (unseen beings) may be sending. Anybody could be sending that transmission but for the sake of the nafs is pay no attention to it. What’s more impressive and what’s more difficult is to leave the relying on the dream state and to perform and to open up the live state in which you’re able to sit and contemplate and connect your heart.
That when you feel that connection that you’re doing your zikr or your breathing, there’s different types of meditation where you just connect and do your awrad (daily practices). You connect and breathe and just want to feel the energy. That fill my heart with this faiz and this light and I keep breathing, keep breathing. Then as that connection becomes stronger and stronger, I don’t need to dream because the information and the faiz will be coming live via this Naqshbandi channel. This Naqshbandi faiz, these awliyaullah (saints) will begin to broadcast live into the heart for the coordinance of that servant.
Your Dreams Can Be Manipulated By Jinn
But when the servant relies on dream state, then everything will be involved in that dream state. There can be jinn in the room that are merely touching the head and the person now is hallucinating going into the dream world. They could be asked and offered to come into the dream world, ‘Come into this realm. Do this, do..’ All these different variables open. So, the safeguard for that is to negate. So, if you had a dream from this personality, that personality, you say alhamdulillah if it was good and it made you feel better. Alhamdulillah.
Allah (AJ) Allows Us to Remember Our Dreams or Not
If you were given information and you don’t remember it, you weren’t meant to remember it. You were just supposed to give a sense of hope or goodness that, alhamdulillah, continue with what you’re doing. You come to the tariqah (spiritual path), you watch a few videos. You see Mawlana Shaykh (Q) in a dream – that’s beautiful. That’s to confirm to you that alhamdulillah, you’re on the Naqshbandi path. Don’t worry about the rest. Don’t worry what he said, ‘How come I don’t remember what he said?’ If you were to remember it, if Allah (AJ) wanted us to remember, He would let you to remember it. It would be burned into the heart in which you can’t forget it but if it’s not meant to be remembered, it’s not important. Just as a like give a sense of hope, alhamdulillah, and you go on.
The More We Rely on Dreams, the More Jinn Will Play With Our Thoughts
So, that’s an important clarification that somebody was typing, ‘Oh, he said to negate everything and they don’t mean anything and it’s not real.’ That’s not at all what we said. We said whether they’re real or not, don’t give your nafs (ego) any part of it. Don’t live your life in that state because there are beings that are waiting to see if you’re going to be headstrong and relying on your head. Then all day long, that’s all they will be doing is sending signals and all sorts of information into your head. Those people who rely on that realm, they begin to dream about everything from the dunya (material world), ‘Oh, I saw this person was walking in the market here. I saw this person is going there.’
There’s nothing from the heavens. These are just the jinn who are accompanying different people, telling that person things in their head. ‘This person did that. This person did this,’ as if like you’re spying on people’s lives because that’s the jinn realm in which they can see those events and begin to tell that servant because they’re relying. They want some sort of information and they start to feed that person’s mind these types of gossips and intruding into things that they’re not supposed to.
Build Your Heart to Elevate Yourself to a Heavenly Security Clearance
That’s why the level of the heart is the secure realm in which the heart doesn’t do that. You don’t connect with the shaykhs to go and to look into people’s lives, into people’s homes and to do these things that are all forbidden. That’s why it purifies and perfects the character, the akhlaaq, in which to elevate oneself to a higher security clearance in which Allah (AJ) grant the servant a sincerity, inshaAllah. With that, inshallah.
Subhana rabbika rabbal ‘izzati ‘amma yasifoon, wa salaamun ‘alal mursaleen, walhamdulillahi rabbil ‘aalameen. Bi hurmati Muhammad al-Mustafa wa bi siri Surat al-Fatiha.
Special thanks to our transcribers for their help with transcribing this suhbah.
Original Date of Suhbah: January 28th, 2021
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