Muslim Friend Wants Me to Interpret Her Dreams

  • Thread starter Thread starter SnowAngels
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

SnowAngels

Guest
Hi everyone,

Over the past couple months I have become friends with girl I go to college with. I am a practicing Catholic, and my faith is the most important thing to me. She is a practicing Muslim, and I believe her faith is very important to her as well. We openly talk about our faith, prayer lives, and God together.

She has shared with me a few issues that are bringing her heartache. She prays the Muslim prayers for guidance every night, and I pray for her daily. I understand that Catholics and Muslims are extremely different in terms of our faith doctrine.

She frequently mentions how Muslims believe God speaks to us through our dreams (which I know is contrary to Catholic teaching). Recently, she told me how she has received revelations/confirmations of how these issues will play out through dreams. She then asks me what I think these dreams, or what my opinion/interpretation of them is.

I am not sure how to approach this because she wholeheartedly believes that God is speaking to her in her dreams, and I do not. I already told her one should be extremely wary of interpreting dreams as revelations from God, but she told that it is an Islamic teaching that she believes. How do you recommend I go forward with this?

Thank you, and God bless!
 
Thank her for considering you and then decline the offer…as many times as she asks.
 
I have degrees in psychology. On occasion, people have asked me to interpret their dreams. I tell them that the dreams are made up of the dreamer’s life experiences. Therefore, only the dreamer can interpret their dreams. No other person is qualified.
 
I know a former Muslim who had dreams about Our Blessed Mother. She is now an Eastern Catholic. Do not stop sharing the faith with her.
 
SnowAngels said:
She frequently mentions how Muslims believe God speaks to us through our dreams (which I know is contrary to Catholic teaching). Recently, she told me how she has received revelations/confirmations of how these issues will play out through dreams. She then asks me what I think these dreams, or what my opinion/interpretation of them is.

I am not sure how to approach this because she wholeheartedly believes that God is speaking to her in her dreams, and I do not. I already told her one should be extremely wary of interpreting dreams as revelations from God, but she told that it is an Islamic teaching that she believes. How do you recommend I go forward with this?

Thank you, and God bless!
Click to expand...
Respond with love and charity.

You might also want to point out, that within the boundaries of her own faith tradition, Imams and Scholars recognize 3 types of dreams.
Dreams are of three types: rahmaani (those that come from Allaah), nafsaani (psychological, they come from within a person) and shaytaani (those that come from the Shaytaan). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Dreams are of three types: a dream from Allaah, a dream which causes distress and which comes from the Shaytaan, and a dream which comes from what a person thinks about when he is awake, and he sees it when he is asleep.”
Click to expand...
That’s a quote derived from Muhammad Al-Bukhari.

Dream interpretation in her own faith tradition is an incredibly tricky thing, because of that distinction made by one of her faith’s greatest scholars.

If she really thinks she’s having visions from the Divine, encourage her to speak with her local Imam about it.

You aren’t equipped to point out her mistakes, he is.
 
SnowAngels said:
Hi everyone,

She frequently mentions how Muslims believe God speaks to us through our dreams (which I know is contrary to Catholic teaching). Recently, she told me how she has received revelations/confirmations of how these issues will play out through dreams. She then asks me what I think these dreams, or what my opinion/interpretation of them is.

Thank you, and God bless!
Click to expand...
As far as I know, it is NOT contrary to Catholic doctrine that God can speak to us in dreams. St. Joseph received a message in a dream. You just have to be discerning. If the dream is telling you to do something violent or destructive, it is not from God.
 
I agree with Boomerang! I was just going to say the same thing about St. Joseph! 🙂
 
SnowAngels said:
Hi everyone,

Over the past couple months I have become friends with girl I go to college with. I am a practicing Catholic, and my faith is the most important thing to me. She is a practicing Muslim, and I believe her faith is very important to her as well. We openly talk about our faith, prayer lives, and God together.

She has shared with me a few issues that are bringing her heartache. She prays the Muslim prayers for guidance every night, and I pray for her daily. I understand that Catholics and Muslims are extremely different in terms of our faith doctrine.

She frequently mentions how Muslims believe God speaks to us through our dreams (which I know is contrary to Catholic teaching). Recently, she told me how she has received revelations/confirmations of how these issues will play out through dreams. She then asks me what I think these dreams, or what my opinion/interpretation of them is.

I am not sure how to approach this because she wholeheartedly believes that God is speaking to her in her dreams, and I do not. I already told her one should be extremely wary of interpreting dreams as revelations from God, but she told that it is an Islamic teaching that she believes. How do you recommend I go forward with this?

Thank you, and God bless!
Click to expand...
God speaks to us in many ways – Bible, Church, people and events happening around us. Dreams and prophecies are some of them.

So yes, God can speak to us in dreams (by the power of the Holy Spirit).

*In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. Joel 2:28*

Interpreting dreams is another matter altogether. It can be done if one has the gift of interpretation or discernment.

So going into interpreting dream is a rather delicate risk.

Suffice to say, if the dream seems to edify you spiritually, rejoice on it that God may use the dream to speak to you. Generally, we can allow dream to positively encourage us.

As for your Muslim friend, you can tell her of the above, that dreams are not altogether to be disbelief though we cannot guarantee it is from God or that we can know its meaning.

It needs to be discussed with more experienced people in the church.

More importantly would be, since she is open to you, for you keep the communication line open to witness to her your faith.
 
I have been investigating conversions–to Islam, to Christianity. A awful lot of them (doesn’t seem to matter what religion they are converting to) involve dreams.

A dream is simply your sub-conscious mind at work. If you want to say they are caused by angels, jinn, God, your dead uncle, etc. good for you, but that opens a whole truckload of issues (how do you know it came from God and not the devil? etc. etc.).

Maybe you would also invest your money based on dreams, or move to another country, or quit your job. lf so, I think you have left the rational world far, far behind.

Tell your friend dreams are meaningless and you should ignore them.
 
Fr. Augustine of ETWN’s about dream here.

Generally advises not to seek dream analysis.

The analysis of dreams is in no way limited to the clergy, but when interpreting a dream which may be from God, the advice of one theologically trained in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium is essential.

Dreams can be natural or supernatural. If they are supernatural then their origin lies in God, angels or demons. Dreams can also be induced by hypnosis.

St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas taught dreams.

Christian interpretation of dreams conforms to the following principles:

(1) The dreams may be a legitimate vehicle of divine revelation, in which case God himself provides proofs attesting the divine origin of dreams. He also provides interpretation of the dream.

(2) The majority of dreams are natural phenomena lacking in any special religious meaning.

(3) Superstitious divination through dreams is severely forbidden by God as an immoral practice.

In general the techniques of dream analysis are not in themselves immoral. The moral dimension comes to the fore when considering divination, moral culpability, and the use of dreams in one’s spiritual life.

Divination is the foretelling of the future by means of a dream, and it is legitimate only if one is sure that the dream comes from God.

Fr Augustine is a priest of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, an order founded by Mother Angelica in Birmingham, Alabama.
 
boomerang said:
As far as I know, it is NOT contrary to Catholic doctrine that God can speak to us in dreams. St. Joseph received a message in a dream. You just have to be discerning. If the dream is telling you to do something violent or destructive, it is not from God.
Click to expand...
I think you are absolutely right I don’t think it is contrary to our faith that God speaks to us in our dreams however I would be worrying about interpreting them because as it says in Genesis “Do not interpretations belong to God”?
 
Thank you all for advice. I’m sorry, I should have been more specific with my original post. You are all correct in that God CAN speak to us through our dreams. However, what my friend indicated to me was that Muslims believe dreams ALWAYS contain direct messages from God, which is where my issue was. I will continue to pray for her, and definitely continue to share the faith with her!
 
SnowAngels said:
Thank you all for advice. I’m sorry, I should have been more specific with my original post. You are all correct in that God CAN speak to us through our dreams. However, what my friend indicated to me was that Muslims believe dreams ALWAYS contain direct messages from God, which is where my issue was. I will continue to pray for her, and definitely continue to share the faith with her!
Click to expand...
Ok.

As you can see, no, we do not believe it always contain direct message from God, as the dream can be just a natural phenomenon or artificial (hypnosis) rather than supernatural.
 
The dreams can be defined in three parts.
  1. The mixture of experiences which human lived during awake. These experiences might be lived many years ago
  2. The imaginations which human brain make according to some needs, attentions etc. For instance when human sleep thirsty brain imagine some conditions to have water.
  3. That part called the true dream. That is not revelation from God(for a prophet it can be) and not speaking with God. God knows everything include future and sometimes human soul can(ofcourse if God allow) interact with knowledge of God. Human soul get apart a little from body during sleeping. Soul can realise some facts or detect some events which had not happen yet. But soul cannot see the case very clearly in many cases. It is like looking at a thing behind a transparent curtain. The object behind curtain seems very differently so it required an interpretation.
 
SnowAngels said:
Hi everyone,

Over the past couple months I have become friends with girl I go to college with. I am a practicing Catholic, and my faith is the most important thing to me. She is a practicing Muslim, and I believe her faith is very important to her as well. We openly talk about our faith, prayer lives, and God together.

She has shared with me a few issues that are bringing her heartache. She prays the Muslim prayers for guidance every night, and I pray for her daily. I understand that Catholics and Muslims are extremely different in terms of our faith doctrine.

She frequently mentions how Muslims believe God speaks to us through our dreams (which I know is contrary to Catholic teaching). Recently, she told me how she has received revelations/confirmations of how these issues will play out through dreams. She then asks me what I think these dreams, or what my opinion/interpretation of them is.

I am not sure how to approach this because she wholeheartedly believes that God is speaking to her in her dreams, and I do not. I already told her one should be extremely wary of interpreting dreams as revelations from God, but she told that it is an Islamic teaching that she believes. How do you recommend I go forward with this?

Thank you, and God bless!
Click to expand...
Just politely say it is not permitted. Saying a simple “yes” or “no” is also Catholic teaching.

Actually, Mohamed also implied his belief in Christ has God, but could not totally attribute Divinity to him. He desired to accept the honors attributed to him, the crowds, the cheers, the worship, and that was his downfall.

ecclesia.org/truth/koran.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top