'Ilm
Knowledge; classically linked with clear water in dream interpretation.
'Ilm means knowledge, and holds high value within the Islamic tradition.
In classical dream interpretation clear water is often connected with 'ilm. Drinking clear water is read as taking in something valuable: insight, guidance, or a season of inner calm.
The state of the water is decisive here. Murky or bitter water points instead to confusion, or to something you take in that does not nourish you.
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.
- 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.
- Adghath ahlam Confused, meaningless dreams: a Qur'anic term for dreams that merit no interpretation.
- 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.