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The ‘true dream’ in contemporary Islamic/Jihadist dreamwork: a case study of the dreams of Taliban leader Mullah Omar

Edgar, I.

Authors

I. Edgar



Contributors

D. Drackle
Editor

I.R. Edgar dan0ire@durham.ac.uk
Editor

Abstract

The intention of this paper is to consider and evaluate the hypothesis that Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, was inspired and guided by true night dreams, al-Ruya, to found and lead the Taliban revolution in the 1990s in Afghanistan. The paper contains small excerpts from an interview with Ramimullah Yusufzai, the well respected BBC journalist in Peshawar, Pakistan, which offer first hand evidence that Omar’s charismatic leadership was founded on his commanders’ and followers’ belief in Omar’s divine guidance through night dreams. Such a belief in true dreams is commonplace throughout Islam and is based on the example of the Prophet Mohammed who is reported to have dreamt parts of the Koran (Machatschke 1995: 3). First though I outline the Islamic metaphysical and epistemological context that facilitates Moslem belief in true dreams.

Citation

Edgar, I. (2006). The ‘true dream’ in contemporary Islamic/Jihadist dreamwork: a case study of the dreams of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Contemporary South Asia, 15(3), 263-272. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930601098000

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Dec 22, 2006
Deposit Date Mar 20, 2008
Journal Contemporary South Asia
Print ISSN 0958-4935
Electronic ISSN 1469-364X
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 3
Pages 263-272
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930601098000
Keywords Islam, Dreaming, Taliban, Pakistan, Afghanistan.