Sunday 6 March 2011

Dream: Prophet Isa (a.s)

A Muslim brother or sister has had the following dream:


I was with my auntie by the balcony with the doors closed, and I was saying dua out loud so she was listening too. When I finished I noticed my auntie was crying. I started to look around and then a mansion suddenly appeared close up and on that balcony I saw a figure wearing a purple cloak, but they were really blurry at first. But it was as though they didn’t want anyone else to notice. I wondered who it was and I suddenly got the feeling that it was S. Isa (a.s) watching me. I told my auntie that I saw Prophet Isa (a.s). And I felt safe in the knowledge that Prophet Isa (a.s) was watching.


Link: http://eshaykh.com/dreams/prophet-isa/

There are several features worth pointing out in the dream. The first is simply "technical" if you like. This is not the first time that I have heard a Muslim recount a dream about Jesus as if God was using "camera effects". Notice that Jesus is first seen far off in the mansion and then suddenly zoomed in close. When God shows us something, he likes to make an impression, even in a dream. He will point out to us what is important by holding an image up close to us.

Jesus is dressed in a purple robe. This might not resonate with Muslims for whom green is of religious and spiritual significance. However, purple plays a very significant role in Judeo-Christian theology. It was, for example, the colour of the curtain to the Holy of Holies

Exodus 26:31-34 
You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. "You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold, on four sockets of silver. "You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies. "You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies."

This curtain was torn in half at the point of Christ's death, signifying the fact that we all, by means of His death, have the authority to enter therein - to enter into the presence of God Himself. The purple curtain represents Jesus and the tearing represents his death.

Purple represents royalty throughout the entire Torat and Injil - which can be easily validated by searching "purple" on biblegateway.com.

Most importantly, Jesus is clothed in purple - as a point of mockery - by the Romans while he was being prepared for execution:

John 19:1-3
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

So Jesus appears in a dress that is culturally appropriate in the Jewish and Roman context.  Since he is being represented in the dream as royalty, it should not surprise us that he appears in a mansion.  In fact, he promises us that when he departed earth, he would go and prepare for us a place to stay:

John 14:1-3
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

The Father's house is a great place indeed. Jesus is there and Jesus is calling. But why is he watching you? He is watching you because you have been called to be His. Over time, He will show you more.

John 10:14-16

I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Keep listening for his voice brother!

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Dream Sayidna Isa and the tomb of Prophet

A Muslim brother or sister has had the following dream:

"I saw myself sitting on my knees at the door of the maqam of Prophet (s.) in Madina. While reciting the Fatiha, I realised that I was becoming the Fatiha and so did the walls surrounding the room. I was literally absorbed by the walls (since we were sharing the same «Fatiha nature») and I entered the room, still on my knees. At the immediate right of the grave of Prophet, there was a hole in the shape of a grave which was more like a door to another reality. S. Isa (a.s.) came out of that hole, dressed in white. He came very close to me, his knees touching mine. He had his hands full of white wax shavings that he placed into my hands. Then he looked at me in the eyes and he left, returning by his grave."


Link:http://www.eshaykh.com/dreams/s-isa-and-the-tomb-of-prophet/

This is really an amazing dream and absolutely packed with spiritual significance. The dreamer is visiting the grave of Mohammad and reciting the first Surah of the Qur'an (the Fatiha) which, despite the misgivings of many Christians to assign anything good to the Qur'an, sounds quite like a psalm:

"Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King on the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path,
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;
with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray."

In any case, the dream is just incredible. The piety and desire for God is evident from his humility of posture, his recitation of the Fatiha and his desire to pay tribute to Mohammad. The LORD God is honouring the desire of his heart and showing him something new - something better.

The dreamer is at the tomb of Mohammad. It's self evident that this represents the fact that Mohammad is, of course, dead. Naturally, Mohammad himself then can play no part in interacting with this man - being himself, dead. To the right of Mohammad, the direction Muslims (and others) attribute to the "good way" or the "noble way" appears a grave of Isa - but Isa, is alive. So while this soul searches for spiritual meaning in the tomb of a dead man, he encounters the One who is alive, namely Jesus Christ. This really resonates with the Injil of Luke when some of Jesus' female followers are trying to find him at his tomb:

Luke 24:1-8
" On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words."

Notice that the angel tells them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" The same could be asked here. "Why do you seek the living (Jesus) among the dead (Mohammad)?"

Then the really beautiful part starts, Jesus, dressed in white as he is described in Revelation 1, and as he appears in just about every Muslim dream, approaches this soul and gives him a handful of shavings. How bizarre! But not bizarre at all. The dreamer thinks the white flakes were "wax" - but, I think that the most reasonable thing to assume is the white flakes are manna. Manna was the food that the LORD gave the Israelites every day in the Sinai desert during their forty years migrating from Egypt to Canaan. Spiritually, manna represents Isa, the bread of life, the spiritual food that will nourish our souls. Jesus also says that those who overcome evil to do good will receive "hidden manna" (Revelation 2). Jesus and manna represent the self-same thing, that is, Jesus as our spiritual nourishment.

The dream is rich with Biblical imagery. The point of this is that when the dreamer gets a Bible, he or she will see things that they could not have known but that they already know. This will give them the faith to follow Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

In the Name of Isa al Massih, Yeshua, the Christ
Amen.