Human life is full of unwanted experiences and situational disorders. These disorders if taking a long time become the disease. Psychological sciences have sometimes a totally different explanation of a disorder compared to the religious beliefs of a person. However, both psychology and religion tell amazing facts about unnatural, supernatural, or paranormal activities in a man’s life.
Today’s topic is also about a seemingly paranormal act with a man, which impacts his thought processes sometimes very badly. Scary dreams at night, that lead to nightmare disorders, always have fascinating and interesting explanations by psychologists, doctors, and religious preachers.
Nightmare disorder in Psychological Sciences
Doctors regard nightmare disorders as parasomnia. It is a sleep disorder basically that a person experiences during his sleep time or when he is about to wake up. There are stages of sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) is one of them. Usually, when a person is in this stage, he experiences nightmares.
Psychology says that a nightmare is one of the disturbed mental health conditions of a person. People who are highly depressed, have bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, etc., often have scary dreams and get disturbed all night. You can say that nightmares can be a signal that tries to tell you the kind of mental health you have. The ratio of adults recorded with nightmares is 2% to 8%.
Nightmare Disorder in Islam
Dreams, no doubt, have much importance in the religion of Islam. The Last Prophet, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) says;
Dream is three-fold, sometimes is divine guidance and glory from God, sometimes is sorrow from the devil, and sometimes are conflicts of daily living or past events. ( 46, 47)
At another place, Hazrat Abu Qatada (R.A) says that Prophet (Peace be upon him) says
the good vision are from Allah and the evil dreams are from the satan. If one sees a dream which one does not like, one should spit on one’s left side and seek the refuge of Allah from the satan; it will not do one any harm, and one should not disclose it to anyone and if one sees a good vision one should feel pleased but should not disclose it to anyone but whom one loves.
Islam gives the concept of nightmare in these ways.
- Nightmare is from the devil (satan). Here is a verse from Quran;
“Secret counsels (conspiracies) are only from Satan that he may grieve those who have believed, but he will not harm them at all except by permission of Allah. And upon Allah let the believers rely.” (QS. Al-Mujadila : 10)
Similarly, reported by Abdullah bin Amr (R.A), the messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) said
“If one of you is frightened by a dream during sleep, let him say: I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from His anger, His punishment, and the evil of His servants, from the insinuations of devils and their presence. Verily, they will never harm him.” Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3528
- Nightmares happen when you eat your bally at full, in the dinner. There are authentic hadiths from Prophet (P.B.U.H) on taking a light meal at night. He (P.B.U.H) used to have barely bread and yogurt only, for His dinner. Sunnah which is related to meals is very clear to us.
- Nightmares are not superstitions. They can have an impact on your life if you take them critically seriously and mention them to everyone. It can have the worst impact on your mental and physical state. There is an authentic hadith forbidding to mention bad dreams to people. According to the messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H);
“If anyone of you sees a dream that he likes, then it is from Allah, and he should thank Allah for it and narrate it to others; but if he sees something else, i.e., a dream that he dislikes, then it is from Satan, and he should seek refuge with Allah from its evil, and he should not mention it to anybody, for it will not harm him.” Sahih al-Bukhari 6985
It is also sunnah to do dry spit on your left, after waking up from a bad dream, seek protection with the Almighty from the devil, and turn your body to the right. If possible, one should pray 2 rakaahs, at that time.
- Sometimes, nightmares originate from the subconscious mind of a person. It means that he uses to think about a particular problem or situation consistently for a long time. He may see the same problem or situation in his dream also. Such dreams are, therefore, referred to as meaningless.
- Muslims also believe nightmares or bad dreams as warnings due to their sins or mistakes that they commit again and again. Sometimes, it is a sign from Allah to leave bad habits and turn to Him. Again, whenever a person goes away from Allah, satan gets more chances to sadden him in any way. So, for a reasonable and rational person, it’s time to turn to the Almighty, as soon as possible.
Final Words
Psychology tells deep cognitive reasons for nightmares lucid dreams, vivid dreams, and likewise disorders. Its main focus is on the mental state of a person who is affected by depression and anxiety, leading to nightmares. Islam, however, gives a way deeper and clear explanation of these things. It tells the cause and solution of the problem in physical and spiritual contexts.
