The Origin of the Dreams of Saints of God in Tazkirat-al-Auliyā

Dreaming is one of the puzzles that has preoccupied the mind of man from way back. It has been discussed in many fields such as religions, mythology, psychology, literature and mysticism. Dreams have been categorized into some types like veridical dream, sound dream and so on. As a source of inspiration, mystics and Sufis used dream to solve many of their problems and they had great value for it. Attar of Nishapur has narrated many dreams of Sufis and saints of God in his book, Tazkirat-al-Auliyā. By using descriptive-analytical method, the present article tries to consider the dreams narrated in this book. Also, the characters of the dreams, their subjects and their relationship with facts of life are considered. The results show that many of the dreams are rooted in real life of mystics and Sufis. They intended to express their dreams, because they were considered as part of the Prophecy and messages from the Divine world.