Similarities in Wording

This is one of the basic principles of dream interpretation. We have mentioned above the interpretation that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) gave of his dream when he saw himself in the house of Abu Raafi', eating some Ibn Taab dates. An example of that is seeing a stick ['Asaa] in one's hand and one is annoying people with it. It was said that this is a sinner ['Aasin] who mistreats people. Another example is if a sick person dreams that he has an inkpot [Duwaat]. Shaykh Shihaab-ud-Deen said: The sick person will recover because Duwaat [inkpot] is similar to Dawa' [remedy]. Another example is when a person is going through hardship and (in his dream) sees a private part [Farjan] or touches his private parts. He will be relieved from his hardship [Yufarraj 'Anhu], because both words are derived from Al-Faraj [relief]. This was stated by Shaykh Shihab-ud-Deen. Al-Faqeeh Abu 'Abd-Allah ibn Ya'qoob said: I saw the head of Al-Qaadi 'Abd Al-Hameed ibn Abi'l-Dunya in my lap, and I kissed it. Shaykh Shihaab-ud-Deen said to him: The head indicates leadership, and you have got the leadership of this man in your lap, so you will get his position and he will go through some hard times with the ruler, because hardship [Bu's] is similar to kiss [Baws]. And that is how things turned out. Al-Faqeeh Abu Yahya Al-Marwi, the Qaadi, said to me: I saw a guard kiss my right hand. I said to him: Your brother will be persecuted by the ruler, because the kiss [Al-Baws] means hardship [Al-Bu's], and the right hand means a brother. And that is what happened. A man dreamt that a boy was riding on his donkey. I said: The boy [Al-Sabiy] means calamity [Museebah] and the donkey means your position; you will be dismissed from your position. And that is what happened. And another example is a dream of unripe grapes (Husrum) and a mat (Haseer), both of which are indicative of hard times to come because of the similarity of both words to the word Al-Hasrah, meaning constriction. I never interpreted that (i.e., mats) as such in a dream and got it wrong. A man saw (in a dream) trees (Shajar) in his house, when there were no trees in his house at all. I said: a fight (Mushaajarah) will take place in your house, and that is what happened. Another example is seeing a key (in a dream) in the case of one who cannot achieve his aim. Shaykh Shihaab-ud-Deen said: Basil (the herb) is indicative of an epidemic and pennyroyal or Artemisia, if a person eats it or it is with him, and he may be harmed by it, indicates death. In my view, if a man sees basil (Rayhaan) in his dream and he has some crops which need to be watered, this indicates that rain will come soon, because the word Rayhaan (basil) may be broken up into two words, Ray Haan (irrigation is imminent). A woman dreamt she saw a man build a pretty fence (Soor) on her hand. Shaykh Shihaab - ud - Deen said: He will marry you and will put a bracelet (Siwaar) on your hand, and that is what happened. Another woman saw a man build an arch on her ear. He said: This is a man who is trying to cheat you and is promising to buy you earrings. She said: Yes. He said: Do not listen to him. The point here is the similarity between the words Al - Qirt (earrings) and Al - Qantarah (arch). He is m aking a promise, but what indicates that he is lying is that an arch cannot be placed on the ear; rather these are words by means of which he wants to get to her. Another example is that the name 'Ali is derived from the word Al - 'uluw (highness) and the na me Mansoor is derived from An - Nasr (victory). When the Emir Abu Yahya set out for the purpose of meeting Ibn Al - Lahyaani, which was when I was in charge of Al - Jazeerah, I dreamt I saw two men whom I knew, one of whom was called 'Ali and the other was calle d Mansoor. Each of them asked me for something, and one of them held my right shoulder and the other held my left shoulder, and they swore that they would not let me go until I gave them their dues. Then one of them left me and I said: Where are you going? Mansoor said to me: 'Ali became the gatekeeper of Al - Lahyaani and I am going to take his place, because he died. I said to him: Why can he not be the gatekeeper for that sultan? He kept quiet, then he got up and prayed but he did not complete the prayer. Then at that point the gatekeeper took his hand and led him in to that sultan, and he prostrated before him. Then I got up and said: This sultan will be victorious for four reasons, one of which is that they both stayed with me, which indicates that my vic tory will continue, and that continuance is dependent upon his prevailing, because I am his governor. Secondly, the death of the gatekeeper of Ibn Al - Lahyaani means that he will not prevail. Thirdly, he wanted to be his gatekeeper so he prayed but he did n ot complete the prayer. And fourthly, he prostrated before him.