Editing Dream (section)

=== Abrahamic ===
[[File:Michael Lukas Leopold Willmann 001.jpg|thumb|Jacob's dream of a [[Jacob's Ladder|ladder of angels]], c. 1690. [[Michael Willmann]]]]

In Judaism, dreams are considered part of the experience of the world that can be interpreted and from which lessons can be garnered. It is discussed in the Talmud, Tractate Berachot 55–60.

The ancient [[Hebrews]] connected their dreams heavily with their religion, though the Hebrews were [[monotheistic]] and believed that dreams were the voice of one God alone. Hebrews also differentiated between good dreams (from God) and bad dreams (from evil spirits). The Hebrews, like many other ancient cultures, incubated dreams in order to receive a divine revelation. For example, the Hebrew prophet [[Samuel]] would "lie down and sleep in the temple at [[Shiloh (biblical city)|Shiloh]] before the Ark and receive the word of the Lord", and [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] interpreted a Pharaoh's dream of seven lean cows swallowing seven fat cows as meaning the subsequent seven years would be bountiful, followed by seven years of famine. Most of the dreams in the [[Bible]] are in the [[Book of Genesis]].<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |id=zs3gup4iFu4C |page=15 |plainurl=yes}} |title=A letter that has not been read: Dreams in the Hebrew Bible |first=Shaul |last=Bar |publisher=Hebrew Union College Press |year=2001 |access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref>

[[Christians]] mostly shared the beliefs of the Hebrews and thought that dreams were of a supernatural character because the [[Old Testament]] includes frequent stories of dreams with divine inspiration. The most famous of these dream stories was [[Jacob's ladder|Jacob's dream of a ladder]] that stretches from Earth to [[Heaven]]. Many Christians preach that God can speak to people through their dreams. The famous glossary, the [[Somniale Danielis]], written in the name of [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]], attempted to teach Christian populations to interpret their dreams.

[[Iain R. Edgar]] has researched the role of dreams in [[Islam]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Edgar |first=Iain |title=The Dream in Islam: From Qur'anic Tradition to Jihadist Inspiration |year=2011 |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-85745-235-1 |page=178 |url=http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=EdgarDream |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929125708/http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=EdgarDream |archive-date=29 September 2011 |access-date=9 March 2012}}</ref> He has argued that dreams play an important role in the history of Islam and the lives of Muslims, since dream interpretation is the only way that Muslims can receive revelations from God since the death of the last prophet, [[Muhammad]].<ref name="Iain">{{cite journal |last=Edgar |first=Iain R. |author2=Henig, David |title=Istikhara: The Guidance and practice of Islamic dream incubation through ethnographic comparison |journal=History and Anthropology |date=September 2010 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=251–262 |doi=10.1080/02757206.2010.496781 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10630.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108072540/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10630.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2017 |citeseerx=10.1.1.1012.7334 |s2cid=144463607 |access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref> According to Edgar, Islam classifies three types of dreams. Firstly, there is the true dream (al-ru’ya), then the false dream, which may come from the devil ([[shaytan]]), and finally, the meaningless everyday dream (hulm). This last dream could be brought forth by the dreamer's ego or base appetite based on what they experienced in the real world. The true dream is often indicated by Islam's [[hadith]] tradition.<ref name="Iain"/> In one narration by [[Aisha]], the wife of the Prophet, it is said that the Prophet's dreams would come true like the ocean's waves.<ref name="Iain"/> Just as in its predecessors, the [[Quran]] also recounts the story of Joseph and his unique ability to interpret dreams.<ref name="Iain"/>

In both Christianity and Islam dreams feature in conversion stories.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bulkeley |first=Kelly |url=https://archive.org/details/big-dreams-the-science-of-dreaming-and-the-origins-of-religion |title=Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming and the Origins of Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780199351534}}</ref> According to ancient authors, Constantine the Great started his conversion to Christianity because he had a dream which prophesied that he would win the [[battle of the Milvian Bridge]] if he [[Constantine the Great#Constantine adopts the Greek letters Chi Rho for Christ's initials|adopted the Chi-Rho as his battle standard]]."<ref>Lactantius, ''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' 44.4–6, tr. J.L. Creed, ''Lactantius: De Mortibus Persecutorum'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), qtd. in Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 71.</ref><ref>Eusebius, ''Vita Constantini'' 1.27–29; Barnes, ''Constantine and Eusebius'', 43, 306; Odahl, 105–06, 319–20.</ref>