The individual's experience as it applies to the community: An examinationof six dream narrations dealing with the Islamic understanding of death

The present article treats the Islamic understanding of death through the e xamination of six dream narrations. Classical Islam gave special emphasis t o dreams, a fact that may explain the central role dreams played in the dec iphering of the enigma of death and dying: Through narrations of dreams tha t deal with day to day events, related in a most unsophisticated way, major questions concerning the process of dying and the nature of the afterworld are examined. Although each dream refers to an individual case and the ans wers supplied by the deceased are presented as drawn from private experienc es, the message is directed to the whole community. While focusing on the e difying nature of the messages delivered, this article shows how the privat e anecdotes turned into a means of conveying the spirit of the community an d, at the same time, establishing the communal spirit.