Adghath ahlam
Confused, meaningless dreams: a Qur'anic term for dreams that merit no interpretation.
Adghath ahlam, literally “confused bundles of dreams”, is an expression going back to the story of Yusuf in the Qur'an, where Pharaoh's dreams are initially described this way by those unable to interpret them. The term is used for jumbled, meaningless dreams without clear structure, and overlaps in practice with hulm: this too is a category the tradition deliberately keeps outside interpretation.
Related terms
- Ru'ya The true dream in Islamic tradition, distinguished from ordinary dreams.
- Ta'bir al-ru'ya The Islamic science of dream interpretation.
- Hadith an-nafs The dream arising from your own thoughts and worries.
- Ibn Sirin Eighth-century scholar, best-known name in Islamic dream interpretation.
- 'Ilm Knowledge; classically linked with clear water in dream interpretation.
- Hulm The disturbing dream, seen as arising from whisperings of the shaytan rather than as a message.
- Mubashshirat Glad tidings; a classically recognised subtype of the true dream (ru'ya).
- Ru'ya sadiqa The classical, more precise term for what is often shortened to “the true dream”.
- Ta'wil Interpreting the deeper, hidden meaning behind a dream image, the core of the interpretive method.
- Muabbir The classical term for a qualified dream interpreter: someone with knowledge, experience and a careful method.
- Kinaya Symbolic or punning language through which a dream image points to another concept.
- Istikhara The prayer for divine guidance in a decision; sometimes, but not necessarily, followed by a clarifying dream.
- Rizq Provision: everything that comes to a person from God, from money to knowledge.
- Sadaqa Voluntary charity in Islam; zakat is the obligatory alms.
- Tahara Purity, physical and ritual, in Islam.
- Yunus The prophet swallowed by a great fish, Jonah in the Bible.