The Nature of Dreams from the Viewpoints of al-Farabi, Suhrawardi, and Ibn al-Arabi

Abstract

The meaning and status of dreams in Philosophy is an issue discussed by most of the outstanding philosophers on their philosophical principles. From the Muslim theosophers’ viewpoint, the dream is a result of distancing the spirit from the external senses and approaching towards the internal powers. Sometimes human beings perceive the realities of existence as well as the future events through the realm of dreams and accordingly reach the intuitive knowledge. In his explanation of the veridical dream, Suhrawardi believes that the standpoint of the manifestation of images in dream is the soul while its main origins are the celestial souls. According to al-Farabi, dream is an idea created by imagination and its capacity increase due to separation from daytime activities during sleep. In his point of view, one can become united with the active intellect through imagination but that power is exclusive to the elected people. According to Ibn al-Arabi, the dream world is the world of symbols in which one must find the dream symbols in order to recognize the meaning of dreams. He treats the dream as the first origin of receiving the divine revelation for the people of blessing.