Islam & Visions (Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B)

The Nature and Importance of Visions for Muslims

The nature of visions

• Visions are intense experiences in which a person sees something vivid that connects them to knowledge about God

• Visions can have a powerful impact on the person who experiences them

  • They can strengthen faith or even lead to belief in something they didn’t believe in before

• There are two main types of visions

  • Corporeal visions are when a person sees the physical appearance of a person like an angel while they are awake

  • Imaginative visions are when a person is aware of the presence of something divine

    • They may be asleep and have a vivid dream in which they receive a message

The importance of visions in Islam

• The Arabic word for vision is ru’ya

• In Islam, visions are an important form of religious experience

• Often the person sees angels in the vision, and they pass on messages from Allah

• Many notable figures in the history of Islam, such as prophets and imams, have experienced some kind of vision

• Like revelations, visions can happen to anyone

  • They aren’t just experienced by prophets

• Visions provide evidence for the existence of God and strengthens the faith of believers because

  • They believe that Allah is contacting them

  • They can gain a greater understanding of Allah

  • They can get closer to Allah

Qur’anic Experiences of Visions

• Several experiences of visions are recorded in the Qur’an

The vision of Maryam (Mary)

• Maryam (Mary) had a vision in which the angel Jibril (Gabriel) appeared and told her she would give birth to a child, even though she was still a virgin

• The account records that Maryam responded with fear at first but was reassured by the angel that he had been sent by God

^{The Annunciation by Philippe de Champaigne is licensed under CC0 1.0}

The vision of Musa (Moses)

• Musa (Moses) had a vision of Allah in the mountains 

• He prayed to God and asked him to show himself so that the prophet could look at him

• Allah said that he should look at a mountain and if it stays firm, he would see Allah

• Musa looks at the mountain

• Allah appears to the mountain and causes it to be levelled into dust

• This causes Musa to collapse, unconscious

• When Musa recovers, he realises the extent of Allah’s power and praises him

• Both Musa and Maryam’s visions are not of Allah directly

• This shows the extent of Allah’s transcendence

  • He is too powerful and great to be seen directly

Islam and Divergent Understandings of the Nature of Visions

• Different Muslims might put differing degrees of importance on visions as evidence for the existence of Allah

• We see this in the different interpretations of two events related to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

• Muhammad (pbuh) made two special journeys:

  • From Makkah to Jerusalem

  • From Makkah to heaven (the Al-Mi’raj)

• Some believe in the literal truth of these events and see them both as miracles

• Others think that both were visions because of how the Qur’an refers to them

  • It relates the Makkah to Jerusalem journey that happened in a single night by saying

• The Hadith supports the idea that the Prophet's journeys were visions because it relates that Muhammad (pbuh) was sleeping when he had these experiences

• Interpretations of visions may vary according to tradition:

  • Some Sunni Muslims accept visions and see them as proof of Allah’s existence

  • Other Muslims, including some Shi’a Muslims, may say that visions aren’t needed

    • They say that faith means putting trust in Allah and not seeking proof

• For some Muslims, including Muslims of the Sufi tradition, visions are more important. These Muslims are more spiritual and therefore place more emphasis on this aspect of faith

Muslim Responses to Non-Religious Arguments About Visions

• Some non-religious people, including humanists and atheists, would say that visions are not real

  • They would say that these experiences are likely to be hallucinations

  • Therefore they do not prove that God exists

  • They would seek scientific proof that the vision was real before they would accept it

• Muslims would respond by saying that visions do happen and should be taken seriously as evidence of the existence of Allah

  • Many of those who claim to have had visions are prophets, so Muslims should respect them and believe their word

  • They might use the evidence of the prophet Ezekiel, who saw the destruction of Jerusalem in approximately 586 BCE

    • Ezekiel asked God when the holy city would be restored

    • God showed him in a vision that it would be rebuilt in one hundred years

    • Jerusalem was actually rebuilt in approximately 457 BCE, just over one hundred years later

    • Ezekiel could not have known this unless it had been revealed to him in his vision