DREAMS OF POWER AND
STRENGTH
Dr Umar Azam BA PhD DCL Dip.FJ
Dip.IM
MANCHESTER, UK
January 2003
I N T R O D U
C T I O N
I am pleased to
reveal that I have, Mash'Allah, had dreams of strength and
power on numerous occasions. These dreams are very
valuable for three main reasons. Firstly, Allah is the
Omnipotent Sovereign. If a person is humble before Allah
Most High (respects Allah Almighty honestly and from the
heart) and remembers that Allah is the Friend and Helper
of those who believe, Allah blesses that person with
a certain strength and honour. Other people will be able
to detect these qualities in that person because of the
inherent natural Authority. I hope that, Insh'Allah, I
am such a kind of person that Allah Most High has
very mercifully given a certain ability to.
Moreover, these dreams of strength and power are noble because
they acknowledge that I have done religious deeds
(i.e. written and distributed Islamic books, helped people
when they are in trouble, taught people knowledge
that can change their lives for the better etc.) on
an exceptional or record-breaking scale.
Finally, such dreams are essential in encouraging me
to carrry on with tasks that initially seem daunting, or
even impossible.
***********************************
* THE
DREAMS OF POWER AND STRENGTH *
PS These dreams have not been presented
in chronological
order.
DREAM NO
1 24
MARCH 1997
I saw an ox with
horns. It was a strong and handsome animal.
INTERPRETATION
'An ox or bull
with horns symbolises a big and powerful deputy of the King
who wields great power and exercises great control. Such
a person enjoys the liberty of granting benefits to
others.' Ibn Sireen, p.106
DREAM NO
2 c.
LATE 1994/EARLY 1995
I had a dream
that I was at a railway station. I saw a stationary
train. With my right hand I moved the end carriage
forwards and the whole train, many carriages in length, moved
forward. Then the whole train came back when I reversed
the process! The entire train was as light as a toy for
me, even though it was a mass [many tonnes] of
metal.
INTERPRETATION
'Powerful hands
symbolise the wielding of great power.' Ibn Sireen,
p.63
DREAM NO
3 DATE
NOT RECORDED
In my dream, I
saw two cows which were very aggressive, like the queens of
all beasts; they could even attack lions! I saw
them running amok. I was with a friend who was afraid of
the power of these cows, but I was not. The cows were of
some aristocratic breed and colour - 'Radnorshire Lilac' was
how the dream described them!
INTERPRETATION
'A Herd of Black
Cows' is the nearest interpretation I could find in Ibn
Sireen's book. 'They symbolise many prosperous years,
depending on how fat they are.' p.107
DREAM NO
4
SUNDAY 21 MARCH 1992
My friends and I
were fighting against polytheists; Allah Most High gave
us victory!
DREAM NO
5 WEDNESDAY
26 FEBRUARY 1997
I dreamt that I
was on the verge of making an atom bomb. People who knew
me as a person knew that I had this capability, and
the dream confirmed that to make an atom bomb was easy
for me! I already had one of the components -
medium-sized bag of 'Bombay Mix' snacks, made of
gramflour! There was to be only one more component
in the atom bomb!
INTERPRETATION
I had been
preparing the paper THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISLAM [it is one of
the contents of this website: please see to the
left.] This dream is saying that my Islamic work has,
Masha'Allah, tremendous power [symbolised by the atom
bomb], but is beneficial and natural, not
harmful [symbolised by the gramflour from lentils in
the 'Bombay Mix'].
DREAM NO
6 17
JANUARY 1997
I saw huge
mountains, but the level of the sea was so high that only the
tips of the mountains could be seen.
INTERPRETATION
'The sea or the
ocean symbolise a vast kingdom a powerful dynasty, provided
that no filth, muck, sediment or frightening waves are
seen.' Ibn Sireen p.33
'Mountains and
hills represent people, their ranks and positions depending on
the size, height and mass of such mountains and hills.
The person who sees such a dream will attain honour and
dignity.' Ibn Sireen, p.41
DREAM NO
7 DATE
NOT RECORDED
I dreamt that I
was climbing a mountain.
INTERPRETATION
See
interpretation for Dream No 6 above.
DREAM
NO 8
6 JUNE 1997
From my position
on the Earth, I saw bands [or belts] of planets and stars
in the heavens. I was given the message, 'There is a
star for each.....'
When I woke
up from this dream, I couldn't recall for each
...what? [!]
INTERPRETATION
'Seeing the
stars gathered or collected in a certain place means that the
observer of the dream will gain leadership of noble
personalities, thus tending to their needs and fulfilling
them.' Ibn Sireen
DREAM
NO
9
JUNE 1997
I dreamt the
message that the countless planets in the Universe provide the
fresh air which accompanies every dawn on Earth, as well
as the breeze [and other unknown phenomena related to
climate] which herald each new day.
DREAM NO
10
NOVEMBER 1996
There was what
seemed to be a pet tiger sitting beside the
television set of my parents' house. My wife * stroked
the tiger but it tried to 'paw' her [when the big cats
become angry, they stretch out threateningly with their right
paws]. I chided my wife for irritating the tiger [she
was stroking the tiger firmly with both of her hands on both
sides of its head simultaneously]. Imyself was in awe
and fear of the tiger.
* A wife
who I cannot relate to in waking life [an unknown
wife].
INTERPRETATION
There is no
entry for 'stroking a tiger' in Ibn Sireen's book, but there
is one for 'Riding a Tiger: One will attain dignity,
honour and happiness. A strong and powerful opponent
will be subdued.' p.117
DREAM NO
11 EID-UL-FITR:
TUESDAY 7 APRIL 1998
I dreamt that
Salford University manufactures sophisticated military
equipment for Britain's defence forces! Then the dream
acknowledged that I, too, had done important work at the
University of Salford.
CONTEXT
I had visited
Salford University on Thursday 26 March 1998, and managed to
request students to complete 53 documents [44 application
forms for the PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE booklet and nine forms
containing comments on this Booklet]. The
students had welcomed my work and were friendly and
respectful to me, so I had a very satisfying time doing the
paperwork!
DREAM NO
12
EVE OF EID-UL-ADHA: MON 6/4/1998
I dreamt
that I hadpinned a girl down, and I said to her: � can go to
the next Galaxy whenever I want!
�ONTEXT
Two girl
students at Preston College wrote on the comments forms of my
PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE that they did not
believe the following two dreams of mine:
a] that Ihad
dreamt that Allah Almighty had made a Paradise especially for
me and given it a Special Name;
b]
that Allah Most High will be giving me Palaces as
large as the planet Earth for writing and distributing
PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE.
Perhaps this
dream was a message to me from Allah Almighty
that these girls are deluded.
DREAM NO
13 WEDNESDAY
4 JANUARY 1998
I dreamt that
there was a person who had already passed Allah's Test [on
Earth], was already Blessed, yet he was still living
worldly life unremarkably! So he was in the
admirable position of having made passing the Test and Being
Blessed seem so easy because of his capable
character.
DREAM NO
14
THURSDAY 5 JANUARY 1998
I had a dreamt
that someone [I think he was a medical doctor] told my father:
�ou have children who have managed to reach the [ultimate]
heights in both deen [religious matters] and
duniya * [worldly matters], yet you don't
appreciate their success! So you must be ill!
* When my
brother or sisters or I had done something wrong as
children, our parents used to chide us by saying in Punjabi:
'deen-duniya di koiee hosh hee nai' [you've no
consciousness of religion or the world!'
CONTEXT
Later that same
day, I had a heated argument with my father! It started
when I told him that my brother Zaheer's book VISION OF
PARADISE [it is one of the contents of this Website; please
see texts to the left on this page] was going to be published
in Lahore, Pakistan. I expected my father to
congratulate me. But, instead, he became furious and
asked what the use of publishing VISION OF PARADISE was, when
neither my brother nor I were married, had children, or good
jobs. I tried to make him understand that writing an
Islamic booklet and then getting it published are worthy
achievements, but he did not listen. This dream confirms
that I am correct in believing that religious success
overrides all other matters.
DREAM NO
15
27 JANUARY 1998
I had an
inspirational message that I was really MAJOR Umar
Azam!
CONTEXT
When doing
'�utdoor' Islamic work, I frequently stopped the
younger generation of Muslims on the streets, and inside
college and University libraries, and gave them a free
PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE booklet, and asked them to complete
an application form [in confidence] for the booklet [for my
Archive]. This dream is telling me that
my efficiency and organisation, and leadership,
when striving in the way of Allah Almighty, is
typical of high command in the armed forces!
DREAM NO
16 SATURDAY
1 FEBRUARY 2003
There
was some flowery-patterned plant and I found something
naturally shaped in the name of 'Muhammed' [PBUM] -in
Arabic- in it. I showed this natural
phenomenon to my mother and she was very interested in this
miracle [See ASPECTS OF ISLAM section of this Website].
[In another scene] I saw an outline which also spelled the
name of 'Muhammed' [PBUM] but whose shaped formed the sturdy
and powerful features of the head of a bull. *
* I
experienced this dream soon after producing the work
ROMANTIC DREAMS [now on this site].
DREAM NO
17
c. AUGUST 1995
A friend said to
me in an admiring way: 'You are the original!'
INTERPRETATION
This dream could
refer to either my original character or my original Islamic
work.
DREAM NO
18 c.
SEPTEMBER 1997
I dreamt that I
was driving through some kind of safari park or wilderness
(the land could even have been my own private property)
and I saw a few lionesses. Although they looked quite
tame, I was very glad that Iwas in my car, as I felt scared of
the power of these lionesses.
INTERPRETATION
'Drinking the
milk of a lioness: the person seeing this is to become
prosperous. He will also overpower his enemy. To
acquire one means the acquiring of vast lands and
estates. IBN SIREEN, p.116
DREAM NO
19 7
DECEMBER 1997
I dreamt that I
was stil in the 5th Form of my secondary school (Manchester
Central High School for Boys). While having a shower, I
was thinking that there was still a minor part of the fifth
year remaining. I felt that I had achieved so much at
such a young age. I also felt relieved that Ihad
done much better than far older people.
CONTEXT
I had this dream
when I was 37 years old. I had by then written a few
works on Islam [now on this site], and received thousands of
letters and comments from my readers as well as organisations
and institutions. This dream informed me that I had
made more progress in those 37 years than most people do
in their lifetimes!
INTERPRETATION
'Complete
wudhu [ablution] or ghusl [bath]:
these suggest complete pardon from sins and evil'.
IBN SIREEN, p.36
DREAM
NO 20 16
SEPTEMBER 1997
I was in the
house of one of my private tuition pupils [Naveed Julani] and
I wrote down some sort of poem on a piece of paper and put it
on a table, like a message, before I left. This
poem had been written in my own honour! It was as if
Allah Most High had inspired me to write down the verses, so
I just wrote down what was revealed naturally and
what Allah Almighty had willed. When I woke up, I could
only remember the word 'appointed'.
INTERPRETATION
Masha'Allah, the
Islamic work that I do has a certain auithority about
it. This authority has been bestowed by Allah Almighty
because Allah is the One who has appointed me to do the
Islamic work [I get the ideas and capability through
inspiration, Alhamdolillah!].
[b] I was
driving on the thick snow on the very top of the mountains of
the Peak District in Derbyshire. Two of my sisters were
in the car too, and it was if I was taking them for a drive
through all the ice and snowon the spectacular summits.
The peaks of the various mountains were level, like a bumpy
road, and didn't rise and fall as could be
expected.
CONTEXT
I was a
regular guest of Kash Sahota of BBC Radio Derby and went to
Derby to give interviews about various topics of Islam.
I used to enjoy driving there very much, and it gave me
pleasure to know that I was going more than seventy
miles to spend a few minutes in the cause of Islam.
DREAM
NO 21 DATE
NOT RECORDED
I dreamt that my
older sister was surprised [in an admiring way] that I had
managed to achieve publication of my book DREAMS IN ISLAM [now
on this site]. The dream suggested that she
felt that Ihad done something heroic.
CONTEXT
'Vanity Publishing' is a term used to describe the
process whereby the author gives the publishers the money to
publish his book, including promotion costs, and all the other
costs relating to the publishing process as a whole.
'Publishing', in contrast, is conceived of as the
'normal' process by which the publisher bears the entire
cost of producing and promoting the author's book and,
moreover, pays the author a royalty for every copy of the book
is sold [and even an advance payment]. Although
I did pay the publication and promotion
costs for DREAMS IN ISLAM, I cannot believe that my book is an
example of vanity publishing! Just because a
publisher does not think that a book will not sell
sufficiently to make a monetary profit should not be
the sole consideration in judging a book for
publication. My work is specialised and I believe in it
for religious reasons. Therefore, in my opinion,
expenditure on research which is likely to be beneficial to
members of society is justified when none of
the mainstream publishers is willing to commit
themselves to such expenditure. The manuscript
of DREAMS IN ISLAM is, I feel, too valuable to
put away as useless in the same way as the draft of, for
example, a pointless novel! Libraries throughout the UK
did purchase my book and, although I did
make a significant financial loss from my venture, loan
statistics from libraries showed that my book
was well-used by readers, even being reported
ass 'missing' so often! And I got
the satisfactio of seeing in print the work concerning
which I received so many polite rejection letters from
publishers. Even if there have been no financial
benefits, this dream informs me that the very act of achieving
publication is a veritable succes! Moreover,
the Reward in the Hereafter that Allah Most High gives me
for spending money on the publication of a holy book
will, Insh'Allah, be too immense to be calculated!
DREAM
NO 22 WEDNESDAY
11 DECEMBER 2002
I dreamt that I
was doing two very difficult tasks with a heroic
capability. I was expending an extraordinary effort
combined with considerable
ability.
CONTEXT
From 1984-2002,
I privately tutored 'O'/GCSE pupils [English language/maths]
as well as writing and distributing my Islamic
works.
DREAM NO
23
SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2002/THE HOLY MONTH OF RAMADHAN
1423
I dreamt that I
saw the screen of a computer, and it was going to show my
Website. In the left-hand corner of the wide screen were
massive [very broad] turquoise leaves, symbolising
a jungle. The atmosphere was frightening and full of
power. A powerful and aggressive elephant would be
coming out of the region of the leaves, and the atmosphere
exuded an air of the anticipation of might.
CONTEXT
Before going to
sleep, I had been liiking at a printout of the Home Page of my
Website [this Site!] and the badges of the awards I have
won. I had felt content to see the PAKISTAN
SERVICES and 4-ARABS trophies, and the word 'excellence'
on the COMMUNITY WEB SITE AWARD [ARUNDEL ORGANISATION].
I felt that my Site is powerful and a credit to Islam,
Masha'Allah!
DREAM NO
24
SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2002
I dreamt that a
landmark [for example, a work of nature or a building]
could be seen in the distance from Manchester. This
landmark could actually be seen with the naked eye as far as
its location in Staffordshire, near Stoke-on-Trent [a distance
of forty miles or so]!
INTERPRETATION
'The Eye
symbolises [the dreamer's] Deen [religion] and his rightful
conduct. The same applies to his ability to
see...Any excellence in the eye or faculty of sight
bespeaks of similar excellence in his Deen.' IBN SIREEN,
p.61
DREAM NO
25 THURSDAY
21 FEBRUARY 2002/Eve of EID UL-ADHA, 1422
I dreamt
that I went to a shop to buy a book on the life of the Holy
Prophet [PBUM]. The assistant showed me five or so books
on the subject, all written by different authors. These
hardback books were piled on top of one another. But I
didn't want to buy any of them. I asked the assistant,
'Have you got a biography of the Prophet Muhammed [PBUM]
written by an author who has won numerous awards for his
Website?'
INTERPRETATION
This dream
foretold the future, I won the awards for my Site in
December 2002, some ten months after this dream. Imay
write a biography of the Prophet [PBUM] in the
future.
DREAM NO
26 SUNDAY 29 DECEMBER
2002
I dreamt that I
was tutoring a girl pupil. She did a piece of work for
me and the prominent feature of that assignment was the
diagram of a mountain. This drawing was in the centre of
the sheet of paper, surrounded by writing.
INTERPRETATION
According to IBN
SIREEN, mountains represent the noble character of those who
dream of them [See Dream Nos 6 and 7 above]. This dream
means that my tuition is of high standard because of my lofty
character [in many cases I have provided Islamic education
additionally, without charges].
***************************************
C O N C L U S
I O N
I hope these
dreams of strength and power have been interesting to read,
and that readers will get the will-power and inspiratiion to
similarly exert yhemselves to the utmost in the cause of
Islam. As these holy dreams show, Allah Almighty is ever
ready to acknowledge and encourage and reward those of His
servants who try their best.
**********
ABBREVIATIONS
PBUM - PEACE BE
UPON MUHAMMED
********************
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DREAMS AND INTERPRETATIONS
by IBN
SIREEN