al-Manamat li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqāfiyyah
al-Manamat (The Book of Dreams and Visions) is a work by the Baghdadi scholar and hadith transmitter Abu Bakr Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) that compiles transmitted accounts of pious dream visions, encounters with the deceased, and spiritual lessons revealed through sleep .
Subject and Content
The work compiles narrations with chains of transmission documenting dream visions concerning the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Companions, early righteous figures, and departed scholars . Its reports address the post-mortem states of deceased individuals, dialogues between the living and the dead in sleep, and moral or spiritual exhortations . Among its opening narrations is a prophetic report transmitted through Abu Hurayrah stating: لا تفضحوا أقاربكم بسيئات أعمالكم فإنها تعرض على أوليائكم من أهل القبور ("Do not disgrace your deceased relatives with your misdeeds, for they are shown to your guardians among the people of the graves") .
Reception and Scholarly Impact
al-Manamat is recorded among the extensive corpus of treatises authored by Ibn Abi al-Dunya, and it was included in classical bibliographical indices and library transmissions, such as the inventory of books brought to Damascus by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi . Later scholars frequently drew upon its narrations when discussing the soul, the grave, and the afterlife:
- Ibn al-Qayyim cited al-Manamat in Kitab al-Ruh across discussions concerning the awareness of the deceased, the meeting of souls in dreams, and the interactions between the spirits of the living and the dead .
- Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali cited its reports in Ahwal al-Qubur regarding whether the deceased recognize the deeds of living kin .
- Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti incorporated narrations from it into his eschatological work Sharh al-Sudur bi-Sharh Hal al-Mawta wa-al-Qubur .
- Murtada al-Zabidi utilized it in verifying and documenting reports referenced in Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din .
Modern Publication
The book has been edited in a single volume by 'Abd al-Qadir Ahmad 'Ata and published by Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyyah in Beirut (first edition, 1413 AH / 1993 CE) .
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