The 'true dream' in contemporary Islamic/Jihadist dreamwork: A case study of the dreams of Taliban leader Mullah Omar

Contemporary South Asia

Volumn 15, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 263-272

  Edgar, Iain R ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ISLAMISM; LEADERSHIP;

AFGHANISTAN; ASIA; EURASIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 33845753445     PISSN: 09584935     EISSN: 1469364X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09584930601098000     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. R. Machatschke, The Basics: Islam (Valley Forge, P.A: Trinity Press International, 1996), p 3.
2. An earlier version of part of this section was published in my 2004 paper in the journal Dreaming; see I.E. Edgar, 'A war of dreams? Militant Muslim dreaming in the Context of traditional and contemporary Islamic dream theory and practice', Dreaming, Vol 14, No 1, 2004, pp 21-29.
3. Yehia Gouda. Dreams and their Meanings in the Old Arab Tradition (New York: Vantage Press, 1991), pp 1-2.
4. Bukhari, The Translations of the Meanings of Sahihal-Bukhari, trans. M.M. Khan (Lahore: Kazi Publications, 1979), p 91.
5. Gouda, op cit, Ref 3, p 2.
6. D. Coxhead and S. Hiller, Dreams (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990).
7. Sara Sviri, quoted in 'Dreaming analysed and recorded: Dreams in the world of Medieval Islam', in D. Shulman and G. Stroumsa (eds), Dream Culture (London: Routledge, 1999), p 253.
8. Ibid, p 256.
9. Henry Corbin, 'The visionary dream in Islamic spirituality', in G. Von Grunebaum and R. Callois (eds), The Dream in Human Societies (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1966).
10. Gouda, op cit, Ref 3, p 4.
11. F. Meier, 'Some aspects of inspiration by demons in Islam', in Von Grunebaum and Caillois (eds), op cit, Ref 9, p 422.
12. A.H. Bin Sireen, Dreams and Interpretations (Karachi: Darul - Ishaat Urdu Bazar, 2000).
13. Gouda, op cit, Ref 3, p 3.
14. Ibid.
15. Sviri, op cit, Ref 7, p 252.
16. Corbin, op cit, Ref 9, p 406.
17. Ibid.
18. The study was funded by the British Academy small research grant scheme.
19. Istakhara involves reciting special ritual prayers before going to bed and meditation upon life choices, such as marriage, before sleeping. In the morning, the dreamer, sometimes with specialist assistance from an Imam, will interpret the meaning of their dream using specialist Islamic dream interpretation codes. An example would be that dream imagery portrayed in green and white would signify a favourable outcome to that choice, while dreaming of red and black would signify an unfavourable outcome.
20. Iain R. Edgar, Dreamwork, Anthropology and the Caring Professions: A Cultural Approach to Dreamwork (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995)
21. I.R. Edgar, Guide to Imagework: Imagination-based Research Methods (London: Routledge, 2004).
22. Iain R. Edgar, 'Invisible elites? Authority and the dream', Dreaming, Vol. 12, No 2, 2002, pp 79-92.
23. Andy Lines, 'Sick Videotape proves bin Laden was the evil mastermind behind the horrors of Sept 11', The Mirror, 14 December 2001, p 5.
24. Yosri Fouda, Masterminds of Terror: The Truth Behind the Most Devastating Terrorist Attack the World Has Ever Seen (London: Mainstream Publishing, 2003), p 109.
25. News24.com 'Zarqawi: Delinquent to Extremist', http://www.news24.com/ news24/World/Iraq/0_2-10-1460_1617729_00.html, accessed 8 October 2005.
26. Iain R. Edgar, op cit, Ref 2.
27. Mariam abou Zahab, a French political scientist at IEP/CERI-INALCO, Paris, has spent many years studying the Pakistan and Afghanistan.
28. Ibid.
29. S. Quinn, 'The dreams of Shaykh Safi al-Din and Safavid historical writing', Iranian Studies, Vol 29, Nos 1- 2, 1996, pp 127-147.
30. Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), p 108.
31. Ibid.
32. Edgar, op cit, Ref 21.
33. Edgar, 2004, op cit, Ref 20.
34. Burridge, K. New Heaven, New Earth (Oxford: Blackwell, 1969), p 111.
35. Quinn, op cit, Ref 28.
36. Bukhari, op cit, Ref 4, p 135.
37. Ibid, p 104.
38. Ibid, p 104.
39. Sura XII Joseph, Koran (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964).
40. John Lamoreux, The Early Muslim Tradition of Dream Interpretation (New York: State University of New York Press, 2002).
41. For example, in a recent study of a dozen staff in a religious studies department in a Malaysian university, Muhammad Amanullah of the Department of Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh of the International Islamic University, Malaysia, found that the majority reported true dreams and that 50% had seen the Prophet in a dream. See Muhammad Amanullah, 'Dreams in Islam: An analysis of its truthfulness and influence', unpublished paper presented at the Annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, heldin Berkeley, CA, USA, June 2005.
42. Barbara Tedlock, 'The new anthropology of dreaming', Dreaming, Vol 1, No 2, 1991, pp 161-178.