The Inspired Soul

The Visions of Zayd in Rumi’s Masnavi

By JAWID MOJADDEDI

Dreams that predict the future represent for many people their first taste of mystical experience. They turn upside down our ordinary perception of time and causality to such an extent that people often doubt them even after they have been fulfilled in front of their eyes. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of mystics with greater receptivity to dreams and visionary experiences, for whom they provide knowledge with the very highest degree of certainty. The influence of dreams and visions is so pervasive in mystical writings that one need look no further than the first few pages of the mystic Rumi’s (d. 1273) famous poem The Masnavi to find a teaching story that involves a dream.

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