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Life Lessons – I Had a Dream! | Shaykh Waleed Basyouni

Published

May 29, 2013

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I used to look for him in Makkah every Ramadan to pray taraweeh beside him. Praying next to him would give my prayer a completely different taste, making it an unforgettable experience. I could hear the shaykh’s soft voice in sujood, “O Allah grant me Your Forgiveness and Mercy.” Many times, I’d spot the stain of his tears on the carpet when he raised his head from sujood.

I used to occasionally ask him about my dreams and my friend’s dreams, but most of the time, I’d just watch his ‘ibadah and listen to his interpretations of other people’s dreams.

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A young man once told the shaykh that he had seen himself in a dream standing inside a train that was traveling at great speed across a bridge cast between two great mountains. Oddly, the train was moving forward while he remained in place! The young man said, “I ended up on the bridge after the last car passed by me, and then I saw the train fall off the bridge. I quickly ran to see what had happened to the train. The train hit the deep end of the valley only to turn around and quickly come back at me in the shape of a fly that finally entered my mouth! I woke up terrified.”

The shaykh quietly told the young man that he should repent to Allah. The boy was crying and kept asking, “What does it mean, Sh. Yousuf?” but the shaykh just kept asking him in return, “Have you repented to Allah?”

The young man declared, “Yes, Shaykh, I have, I have! But what does it mean?”

The shaykh said, “First you must promise me that you will commit to your Tawbah (repentance)!”

With a voice filled with regret, the young man replied, “I promise you, Shaykh.”

The shaykh then said to him, “If your dream is true, you have HIV/AIDS or a similar disease. You must go check that, my son.”

The young man said, “Yes, I know, Shaykh. I do have it! I contracted the virus while in Bangkok, but as Allah is my witness, I’ve repented from zina, and I will never go back to it again.” The shaykh kept talking to him and encouraging him to move on in his life, and the young man left with a message of hope and words of comfort.

I once asked Shaykh Yousuf Al-Mutlaq about my friend Mubarak who constantly dreamed of falling flat on his face while he was walking. The shaykh said, “If his dream is true, your friend has many penalties due for oaths that he made and never fulfilled. Tell him not to make promises using Allah’s Name that he cannot keep and to hasten in paying what is due.” I asked my friend and he surprisingly said. “I have more than a hundred penalties that I need to pay off!” Pulling out a small, worn-out notebook, he continued, “I have them all recorded in this special notebook with the date of each! How did he know?”

A man once said to the shaykh, “I had a dream. I saw the full moon fall from the sky and break into three pieces. One of the pieces ended up in my lap.”

The shaykh asked, “You have three people living with you in your home, correct?”

The man replied, “Yes.”

Then, the shaykh said, “Khayr, in sha’ Allah, do not worry about it, and be good to them and encourage them to do good.” The man kept insisting to know what his dream meant, and the shaykh kept avoiding him. Finally, he said in a downcast voice, “If your dream is true, then one of them will die.” I was later told by the shaykh’s son that this man’s younger brother experienced a severe seizure and was found dead underneath his bed a few days after that dream.

I can go on and on sharing hundreds of stories about the shaykh’s skills in interpreting dreams. Sometimes I could see where he got the interpretation from, but most of the time I would have no clue! To watch him interpret dreams would remind me of Yousuf and how he would use his talent to give dawah. His goal was never simply to interpret the dream but to use that moment to bring the person closer to Allah. I learned from him to focus on reality and not on the dream itself and to use the opportunity to encourage people to make positive changes in their lives.

The interpretations of dreams is not a science, it is a gift. Even when I asked him about his interpretations, he would say, “That’s what I felt it meant.” I have no doubt in my heart that his soft heart and spirituality played a great role in his ability to interpret dreams.

As Allah says,
“So have Taqwa of Allah; and Allah teaches you. And Allah is the All-Knower of everything.” [2:282]

“O you who believe! If you obey and fear Allah, He will grant you Furqan (a criterion to judge between right and wrong), and will expiate for you your sins, and forgive you; and Allah is the Owner of the great bounty.” [8:29]

My Allah have Mercy upon Shaykh Yousuf Al-Mutlaq and all my teachers and help me to benefit others with their knowledge as I benefited from them.

Don’t forget to share the Khayr!

This is a weekly series of stories about my teachers and what I have learned from them through my years of studying with them. If you enjoy these stories and lessons and think they should continue, please show your support by commenting here and liking and sharing the post on my Facebook page!

Other stories that I have posted so far in this series:

1. Back to the Basics, with Shaykh Ibn Baz

2. The Answer is Tomorrow, with Shaykh Ibn Jebreen

3. The Zucchini, with Shaykh Nuruddeen Julapular

4. ‘Ilm is far more than just words, with Shaykh Hamad Al-Shaetwy

5. The Hand I Never Kissed, with Shaykh Al-Albani

6. VHS, with Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen

7. A Mother’s Letter, with Shaykh Ibn Baz

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Sh. Waleed Basyouni

is Vice President of AlMaghrib Institute and Director of Clear Lake Islamic Center (CLIC). He is a frequent guest speaker at Universities, Conventions, Radio Talk Shows, Television, Interfaith meetings, and community centers nationally and internationally. He is also a member of the North American Imam Federation (NAIF), Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA)-Fatwa and Research Committee, Director of Texas Dawah Convention, and Advisor to numerous Islamic Societies/Organizations around the US. Shaykh Waleed Basyouni graduated with a Bachelors in Islamic Sciences from Al-Imam Muhammad University, KSA; did his Masters in Islamic Theology, World Religions and Modern Religious Sects from Al-Imam Muhammad University; and acquired a Doctorate in Theology. He is also an instructor at the American Open University in Alexandria, VA, USA, and serves as, the Imam of Clear Lake Islamic Center, Houston, TX, USA. Shaykh Waleed has Ijaazahs in reciting the Holy Quran and in several books of Hadeeth, awarded by various scholars. He studied with great scholars time such as Shaykh Ibn Baz, Abdul-Razzaq Afify and others.

11 Comments

Fatima Ariadne

May 29, 2013 at 2:29 PM

Wow masha Allah that shaykh is truly gifted! I would have never thought of such meaning that far, i.e. mountains and AIDS. Falling building and unfulfilled oaths. It’s as if the shaykh can read through their lives before he even meet them. He really reminds me of Ibn Sireen. I remember one time story about a woman came to Ibn Sireen dreaming she saw her daughter brought 3 huge banners, then ripped it one by one. And Ibn Sireen interpreted it as the woman’s daughter will marry 3 influential people, one after another, the leaders of Muslimeen, and all of them will die. I’m agree that no dream “dictionary” (sheesh come on) can make you interpreting dream. It’s something special, a gift.

Reply
- Rehna Jan
  
  March 13, 2016 at 8:41 AM
  
  Masha Allah! These stories truly bring us closer to Allah!
  
  Reply
Brother

May 30, 2013 at 5:19 AM

SubhanAllah, fascinating story. I would love to read a book with all the shaykh’s dream interpretations.

Reply
dawa4allah

May 30, 2013 at 8:17 AM

JZK FOR SHARING..

Reply
واتقوا الله ويعلمكم الله

May 31, 2013 at 6:23 AM

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمدلله رب العالمين, والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد, وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد

Alsalam ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

The following is what I hope to be my sincere advice to all who will read this. Take the time to learn Arabic fluently. Ask Allah to make it easy and He will make it easy. Learn it for His Sake alone.

This is very important. There is a world outside English Islamic forums, websites, institutions, speakers/du’at and so on that is much different to what you have become accustomed to. It is the world in which the real Scholars exist; a world where true knowledge can be found. You will never truly understand Islam and never truly gain any knowledge without understanding Arabic.

You can read a hundred or a thousand English translated books or articles, or listen to thousands of hours of English Islamic lectures or take just as many courses. It is not the same. Learn Arabic and Insha’ Allah you will truly come to know. Take the subject of this article, here. All you will ever probably know of the Sheikh Yousef Al-Mutlaq rahimahullah will be what is written in this article, Wallahu a’lam.

I hope this advice of mine will reach at least one person, who will go on to learn Arabic and find that Allah Subhanah has made learning it easy, and through his knowledge of Arabic he will begin to truly learn Islam as it was meant to be learnt — from the true Scholars in the language of Islam, Arabic — after which he will change into a completely different person. May Allah bless all who read this short message of mine with the blessing of knowledge of the Arabic language.

والحمدلله رب العالمين, والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد, وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين

Reply
Faith

June 24, 2013 at 3:02 PM

What is his email, might I ask?

Reply
- Aly Balagamwala | DiscoMaulvi
  
  June 25, 2013 at 1:25 AM
  
  Dear Faith
  
  Are you asking for Shaykh Waleed’s email? You may contact him through his facebook page as posted above.
  
  Best Regards
  -Aly
  
  Reply
Maisha

June 22, 2015 at 1:27 PM

I went on the Shaikhs facebook page but don’t see any means of messaging him. I recently had a dream and I would really like an interpretation of it. Do you know anyone who might be able to do so?

Reply
Sharif

October 25, 2015 at 9:12 AM

Alhamdulillah for the piece, May Allah grant us sincere repentance to Him always.

Reply
fathima

October 25, 2015 at 4:03 PM

Plz continue with ur stories subhanallah how I wish I too could study under such a sheikh and learn their akhlaq

Reply
Hina

July 27, 2016 at 1:27 AM

I saw a dream in which i was in kitchen with my frnd or cousin then from the hole at the side of da cabinet a white big snake stares me n then emerges .i ran from the kitchen outside nd enter from the front door of my home.so that it can not enter my home.but someone opens da door n it enters again into my home.then after a while i saw black baby snakes everywhere.n i called someone to kill all of them .she said if il kill them it will ruin your furniture etc too..they would b wasted too.i said no problem .jus kill them..nd on the same day when i saw da dream my husband also saw black big snakes .he saw that he with our son was killing snakes in da dream happily with a jacket upon nd with a gun.i want to know the interpretation asap..jazakallah

Reply