In most cases, dream-inspired actions arc almost as fleeting as the dreams themselves. Other times dream-visitations can have more longlasting, material effects, among them architectural ones. It is not uncommon for saints to announce by way of a dream-vision where they want to be (re)buried, so a number of shrines in Egypt were built as a result of dream-visions. Madame Salwa told me the following story about a saint named Gharib:

Sidi Gharib (may God be content with him) was from Morocco. His name was 'Abdullah, and he was called Gharib [stranger] because he was fighting in the city of Suez and defending it. They say that, after he lost his leg in battle, he took the leg in his hand and used it as a sword.

He was [buried] somewhere--we don't know where exactly--until he came in a dream [gā fi-l-manām] to Shaykh Hāfiz, who was a good man [ragul tayyib], and asked him to take him out from where he was buried and put him in a shrine. They tried to find his [original] grave, but they couldn't find it, and he came again to Shaykh Hāfiz.

He went back and dug deeper and found the body wrapped in white cloth with the leg next to it. The body was still intact, and a pure beautiful smell was emanating from it--auliyā' [saints] don't get eaten by worms. He took the body out and washed it and put it into a shrine as he had been told. Sidi Gharib is now buried in the mosque of the city of Suez, and they called the mosque Gharib.

SOURCE: Dreams that Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination by Amira Mittermaier (2011, University of California Press), p. 160. DATE: uncertain. Wikipedia lists many battles for Suez since its hazy origins in the 900s. The 1300s seemed particularly war-torn, so I've gone with that, but it's only my guess.

EDITOR'S NOTE

There are a lot of auliyā' in Egyptian history, and Gharib seems pretty obscure--Mittermaier has no details or footnotes; I found no mention of him online. But Mittermaier's friend and source Salwa Alshebeny is well-read in the Qur'an, the hadiths, and saints' biographies, so I don't doubt his existence; just a minor figure in the long history of a border town often fought over.

Minor but interesting. Hafīz dreamed of him twice, getting the correct burial spot the first time, just not digging deep enough; the second dream worked, satisfying either (depending on your belief system) his exhumer, apparently clairvoyant, or the saint himself, a very stubborn ghost. ESP, spook, or wild coincidence? Let's credit Gharib; you don't want to cross a guy who'll beat you up with his own severed leg.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sh - Si-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites