How about True Dreams?
One type of dream has nothing to do with the subconscious self. Such dreams carry important messages: either they are good tidings from God, which encourage us to do good things and guide us, or warnings concerning the evils we have done. Those dreams, which we call true dreams, are very clear and unforgettable.
Some true dreams contain news of the future. To understand the nature and mechanism of such dreams, consider the following:
As the essence of a piece of writing, its meaning, exists before it assumes a written, visible form, everything has an essential form of existence in God’s Knowledge before it appears in the world. Islamic philosophers call these essential forms archetypes. When God wills to send them to this world, through the manifestation of His Wisdom and Power and the appropriate Divine Names, He clothes them in material bodies. Between the world of archetypes (where God’s Knowledge has primary manifestation) and this world is another world—the world of immaterial forms or symbols. In this world, things exist in ideal forms or as symbols, and the concept and measure of time are completely different from their counterparts in our world. One who dreams finds or receives these symbols differently, based on such factors as time and place, culture and even national and individual characteristics.
When we sleep, our spirit ascends to this world of ideal forms without completely breaking its connection to the body. It continues this connection through a cord. It enters a different dimension of existence in the world of ideal forms or symbols, where past, present, and future are combined. As a result, it may experience a past event or witness a future one. However, since things in that world exist in ideal forms or symbols, the spirit usually receives symbols that require interpretation.
For example, clear water in that world may correspond to knowledge in this world. If you see your own waste matter, it may be interpreted to mean that you will earn money in lawful ways; if the waste matter belongs to others, its may mean that money will come to you in unlawful ways. As mentioned in Sura Yusuf, a fat cow may mean a year of abundant crops, while a lean one means a year of severity. The metaphors, similes, and parables found in the Qur’an and the Prophetic sayings, and sometimes among people, may provide significant keys to interpret dreams. Some true dreams are so clear that no interpretation is needed.
As the measurement of time is completely different in these two worlds, and as the spirit is far more active when not confined by the limits of the body while the person is dreaming, great saints who free their spirits, to a certain some degree, can travel long distances in a much shorter time than normal people.
This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.