Commentary: On Genesis

Just as it is obligatory for the judge to investigate fully what opposing parties say and to question them about their situation, so that they may communicate details, it is similarly obligatory for an interpreter of dreams to follow what the person says, and to question him about matters that I will now explain. This [obligation] applies not only to the judge but also to the physician, because he is obliged to listen to what a patient says when describing an illness and to ask about the person’s situation.

As for the topics about which the interpreter of dreams should inquire, they are related to what the interpreter should understand of the science of interpreting dreams. Thirteen topics are indispensable for interpreting a dream correctly. I will mention the most important of them briefly, since I have already discussed some of them sufficiently.

The first topic: he must know the soul, its faculties, and the qualities of its activities based on the separation and combination of its faculties. [That is,] a knowledge that includes what the ancients said concerning the topic, which corresponds to the saying of the sage: Know wisdom, for your soul (Proverbs 24:14).

The second topic: he must know which dreams are connected to the bestial souls—I mean the animal and appetitive [faculties] associated with the body, such as eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, and other items that cannot be expressed.

The third: he should ask about the thought of the person who has the dream—asking whether it [his thought] is connected to the issue, and if it is connected to it, whether it has separated itself or not, since if it has separated itself, then the dream is sound and should be interpreted, but if the thought has not separated itself, then [the dream] is unsound and cannot be interpreted.

The fourth: he should know the diseases of the soul and the diseases of its faculties, understanding the state of the dreamer’s soul on their basis, in case [his] faculties are [simply] sick and [the dream] has no interpretation.

The fifth is that he should know moral traits completely, so that he may know the moral traits of the dreamer—whether they are balanced or if some have prevailed over and dominated the others, so the dreams accord with them.

The sixth is that he should know the normal temperament [Arabic, mizāj, the mixture of the humors in a person] and the particular temperament of the dreamer, so that he may know whether the dream originates from the prevailing temperament or from its opposite.

The seventh is that he should inquire about the quality and quantity of his food intake and should know its nature, so that [the dream] might not be the result of its influence, and so that there is no [undue] influence on his interpretation of it.

The eighth is that he should inquire about the dreamer’s habits, so that the dream might not be the result of what he was accustomed to thinking about, since it will not advance knowledge and will not be worthy of interpretation.

The ninth is that he should know the bodily state of the dreamer, in case he is sick, and his dream unsound.

The tenth is that he should inquire about the time of the night and the season of the year of the dream, since this has an influence, as I explained earlier.

The eleventh is that he should know the location of the dreamer and his situation with regard to property and occupation, so that his interpretation of the dream may accord with them.

The twelfth is that he should verify the words of the dream and determine them precisely, since a small addition or a small omission to it can alter what the dream indicates, and sometimes the indication [of the meaning] is taken from the wording itself, and if he does not establish [the wording] precisely, the interpretation will be unsound.

The thirteenth is that the interpreter should be familiar with the natures of sensible things and their actions so that he may understand the parable [Arabic, mathal] as it corresponds to what is represented, thereby corresponding to the intended meaning of the dream. About this the sage says: [A wise man shall attain wise counsel] to understand a parable [Hebrew, mashal] and a figure, the words of the wise and their dark sayings (Proverbs 1:6).

If the interpreter understands all these things well, he will make no mistake in his interpretation, by any means or for any reason. And if someone objects: “But we see interpreters who have no knowledge of these sciences and yet their dream interpretations are correct”—we answer that this happens for one of two reasons: either [the interpretation] was an inspiration with which he was struck and then made known and reported, or it was a coincidence. But a sure [interpretation] can be reached only in the ways that I have described.