Islamic dream interpretation

Balki, Abu 'Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad. Kitab Ta'bir al-ru'ya wa Tafsir al-ahlam [The books of interpretations of visions and dreams].

€ 18,000.00

An epitome of Ahmet Ibn Sirin's book on the "Interpretation of Dreams", summarized and arranged alphabetically by the scholar Abu 'Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad Balki, better known as Ibn al-Muqri (d. 1128/29 CE). The "Interpretation of Dreams" is among the most important and best-known works of Arabic dream interpretation literature. Like Ibn Sirin's original, Ibn al-Muqri's version guides a reader through the categorization, and then meaning, of dreams. Secular dreams are certainly included in his "Interpretation of Dreams" (marriage and adultery, jinn, food and cooking, the sea, and the act of writing, to name a few), but much space is also given to the careful interpretation of dreams of a religious theme: one might, for instance, want to understand dreams of archangels, hell, paradise, or the more familiar acts of prayer and ritual washing.

The present manuscript was copied by Mustafa ibn Ahmad, who identifies himself as the keeper of the grave of the companion of the Prophet Abu al-Darda (d. 652 CE). This places the manuscript's origin most likely in Damascus, or possibly at the tomb attributed to Abu al-Darda in Irbid, Jordan.