The Inspirational Night Dream in the Motivation and Justification of Jihad

Abstract

This article uses a wide variety of examples to argue that the experience of the true dream (ruya) is a fundamental, inspirational, and even strategic, part of the contemporary militant jihadist movement in the Middle East and elsewhere. Dream narratives are contextualized through a consideration of the historical role of the perceived revelatory power of the night dream in Islam. This article further explores some key aspects of Islamic dream theory and interpretation, and offers examples and analysis of the inspirational guidance claimed by many of the best known al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders and jihadists.

Imprints of Dreaming

“…Dream interpretation is a specialist and complex process in Islam, partly based on ancient Greek practices but also on examples from the interpretive practices of the Prophet. The importance of dreams crosses all kinds of Islam, such as Sunni, Shia, Sufi and even among militant Islamist (Edgar 2007 and2008) threads. In Islam if you dream of the prophet Mohammed and he is complete in the dream and the message of the dream is congruent with teachings of Islam, then this is a true dream and there are numerous reports of this phenomena (for instance, Amanullah 2009).…”

Motivation and Justification from Dreams: Muslim Decision‐Making Strategies in Punjab, Pakistan

“…The case studies discussed in this paper identify a set of beliefs about dreams that are influential in decision making in a number of social contexts in Muslim societies (see Edgar 2006;2007). To make sense of the impact of dreams on decisions, it is useful to employ Lukes' two cases of rationality.…”

“…Consequently, I have re-assessed the significance of that landlord's dream in light of the work of Edgar (2004;2007) which motivated me to ask more questions about dreams more recently with old friends in Pakistan. It is likely that he did not lie about his dream experience and while the narrative he told me may have been embellished and re-constructed into a more coherent script, it was not done so with the intention of twisting or altering the message from God.…”

“…Daily horoscopes are a feature of countless newspapers in North America and Europe, but that does not render them trustworthy in the eyes of most people _ ; so we must be cautious about assuming that Muslims treat such publications are more than entertainment. There are however, enough ethnographic accounts of the seriousness with which many Muslims regard what are classified as true dreams (again, see Balzani; Louw this issue, as well as Edgar 2006;2007), that it is safe to conclude that dreams are not merely entertainment for many (and possibly most) 1 Though clearly not all--if one treats certain bodily functions as decisions, then one could argue that little higher cognitive functioning is necessary to arrive at appropriate decisions._ 2 As with a great many terms used in this paper, I shall dispense with a systematic discussion of the ambiguities and contradictions introduced with the concept of indigenousness. Suffice to say that I do not restrict such a term to subsistence rainforest dwellers or small scale isolated communities, but rather imply something broader that encompasses any relatively coherent, identifiable local population that self identifies as having some communitarian cultural systems in common._ 3 Charpai perhaps needs no translation for a British audience, but for the sake of clarity, a charpai is the four legged cot, sofa or bed that serves so many functions across South Asia._ 4 Even those who subscribe to astrology and accord it a certain degree of external, universal validity, are often disdainful of the daily horoscope found in newspapers._…”

Jihad, Modernity, and Sectarianism

“…In Algeria, the FLN called their fighters mujahidun, but their fight against the French was jihad only in a metaphorical sense-most of the FLN were socialists and secular nationalists. One final note on terminology: a mujahid is not necessarily the same as a "jihadist," although "jihadist" is sometimes used-as by Iain R. Edgar, in this issue 11 -to mean mujahid. For many, a "jihadist" is not just a participant in a jihad, but a believer in "Jihadism."…”