(Don’t stop reading…)
THE DREAM: scene 1
I was in a huge building with maze-like hallways. I was
lost; I exited through a gate that leads to a forest. The trail in the forest
seems to be leading to nowhere until I run into a half-naked man (my spirit
guide) bending along the path. I asked if it was the right path, but he ignored me, so I turned back. My spirit guide was behind me as I took another route. We
(I mean my spirit guide and I) were clawing our way to a slope in the forest
amidst a meshwork of overgrown tree roots (imagine a giant mangrove tree with
all the roots above ground). I heard my spirit guide say ‘snake’ at my left foot, so instinctively, I snapped with my right foot whatever was there at my
left foot. I woke up. With a sigh of relief, I said – thanks, it’s only a dream, but then, trees didn’t pop into my windows and plants didn’t grow from my lights, so I thought, this is not my room, and I woke up again, meaning I woke up twice from two-layered dreams.
(A few days back, I watched the movie Inception on Netflix for the third time. Only then did I understand what the movie was all about? They tried to create a three-layered dream—a dream in a dream in a dream.)
From the nearby mosque, the morning call to prayer was
blaring from the sound system. I got to my feet, did ablution, and performed my
dawn (Fajr) prayer.
I must have fallen asleep as soon as I returned to bed
because I was immediately back to my dream world.
THE DREAM: scene 2
I was in an unfamiliar place with unremarkable houses. I
flagged down a jeep (…to my surprise, the driver was a Maranaw, and with him were two relative women passengers). I asked if he was going to Pasig (I have no idea why Pasig), and he said, "No, but I can drop you where you can get a ride to where you are going."
THE DREAM: scene 3
He dropped me in front of a house and pointed down the
street where I could get another ride.
There was a small store in the house (travel back in time –
our garage house), and in front was a rectangular table in the open where 3-4
men were sitting sipping soft drinks. I joined them, although I knew neither of
the men. A man came out a door from the extreme side, and one of the men asked what happened, and he said; we talked about marriage.
THE DREAM: scene 4 – a journey back in time
I walked down the street to find the bus terminal. (Travel
back in time – I used to do this when I was young, selling px chewing gums,
peanuts, and cigarettes)
The buses looked like rectangular coaches, with long seats arranged in the old-fashioned way (travel back in time). If you are over 50 years of age, you probably rode in one of these buses.
Inside the bus was my aunt (deceased) and a female cousin.
There were other passengers. My aunt handed me money to pay for our fare. I
felt embarrassed that I had already paid for my fare, but I didn’t have enough to pay for the three of us. She was telling me that her son (also deceased) had not
changed his ways.
THE DREAM: scene 5 – questions of faith. (If this dream had not come to me at the end of Ramadan, a holy of holies in Islam, I would not have blogged about it. I don’t want to influence what people believe in.)
I felt that I was still inside the bus with my spirit guide sitting on my side (and by the way, spirit guides are often shadow-like. Often, you just feel their presence.). Young passengers were asking me questions.
Question 1: Is it absolutely necessary for women to wear the
Nikab or veil? (Strange, this is a topic I have not discussed with anyone for a
very long time)
Answer: I will tell you the story of how the veil came to
be, I started. The prophet’s wives were not initially wearing the veil, but as
Islam expanded, multitudes came to the prophet’s house. There were tribes in
the Arabian Peninsula that were traditionally wearing the veil. Those tribes
asked the prophet if he could ask his wives to wear the veil when they were visiting. The prophet’s initial response was to put curtains to isolate his
wives from view, but this was not enough for the tribes. The prophet was in a
dilemma until the angel Gabriel came with a message from God (forgot the number
of the Qur’an verse). It is alright to let his wives wear the veil but (this is
an important “but”) – they should remove their veil when they are in the
vicinity of the scared house. (God unbounded by space and time knew that time
will come when millions will be performing the hajj. It will be extremely
uncomfortable and dangerous for women to be wearing the veil.)
But that is not the true story of the veil…I continued. In
the olden times, and I think this is not unique to the Arabs, clans, and tribes
were endlessly engaged in wars. Clans and tribes veiled their women to conceal
their identity when shepherding in the valleys, hills, and mountains. That was
the sole purpose of the veil…to hide the women’s identity from rival/enemy
clans and tribes until it became a tradition with the real meaning lost in the
carcasses of time.
Question 2: how about women’s circumcision in Islam? (This
is another strange question I have not talked about for how long – I cannot
remember)
…I said; don’t do it (followed by laughter). It is a tradition
by some African tribes that has nothing to do with Islam. Africa just happened
to be a Muslim continent, and it is now considered mutilation by Western nations, meaning if you are living in the West, women circumcision is unlawful, and you
can be in jail. (The explosion of laughter woke me up.)
(I spent another half hour awake, turning in bed, deciding
whether to blog or not to blog. There was another element in the dream where I
traveled so far back in time I’d rather keep it to myself. There is a meaning
to every aspect of the dream; I will eventually figure it out – In-sha Allah.)
