The Twenty-Eighth Letter

[This letter consists of eight matters]

The First Matter, which is the First Part

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. If it be that you can interpret dreams.(12:43)

S e c o n d l y : You want me to interpret now the dream you had three years ago three days after meeting me, whose meaning has long since become apparent. That beautiful, happy, and auspicious dream has been consigned to the past, so I’m right to say the following regarding it, am I not?

I am neither the night nor a lover of the night; * I am a servant of the Sun; it is of the Sun that I speak.[1]

Those  illusions  which  are  the  snare  of the saints,  *  Are the moon-faced reflections of the garden of God.[2]

Yes, my brother, we have become accustomed to discussing with you teachings concerning pure reality (hakikat), but to study dreams, the doors of which are open to fancy and illusion in order to ascertain reality, is not completely in keeping with our way  of  researching  into  and  verifying  reality.  So  in  connection  with  that  minor incident  of sleep, we shall explain  six points about  the reality of sleep,  the small brother of death, [3] according to scholarly principles  and from the angle  indicated  by verses  of the Qur’an.  In the seventh, we shall offer a brief interpretation of your dream.

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[1] Imam Rabbani, al-Maktubat, i, 124 (No: 130).

[2] Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, Mathnawi, 10.

[3] al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, x, 415; Daylami, Musnad al-Firdaws, iv, 309.