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Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to know the future? Just imagine the possibilities! Well, did you know that our future has actually been foretold; and did you know that it happened more than 2500 years ago? That is just one of the reasons why Allah is called the Almighty! An overview of the World’s history was revealed, by the permission of Al-Awwal wa Al-Aakhir (the First and the Last). Those who put their trust in Him could read about the future in advance, and even we, living over two millenia later, can gain vital knowledge from the prophecies of this ancient nabi. We even have an amazing advantage over his contemporaries. We can see his predictions fulfilled in the history of the world, and confirm that they have indeed become true. Yet, amazingly, even we, so far down the road of history, can look ahead towards the cataclysm of history. as foretold by this nabi. The king, whose dream the nabi explained, consider himself the ruler of the World. Both he and his mighty kingdom are long gone, but the One who knows the end from the beginning is still Al-Malik (the King). While many fear the future, we can look forward assured that everything, ourselves included, is safely in the hands of the Almighty.

Prophet (nabi) Daniel (Daniyal in many languages spoken by Muslims) was one of Allah’s many prophets. Like many other nebiim, he is not mentioned in the Qur’an, but we can read about him in Islamic tradition. Daniyal is hugely popular in the Muslim world. It is generally accepted that he is buried in Susa, Iran. Five places in Iraq and other location in Turkey, Uzbekistan and even Morocco also claim that the old nabi rests there. All of those places attract great numbers of pilgrims – Muslims, Jews and Christians alike. Whichever, if any, of those resting places is the true one, makes little difference. Marble and dead bones cannot speak. The words of the old nabi, nevertheless, are still alive, and anyone can read them. So can you. The whole book of nabi Dainyal can be found in the Bible.

Dreams are a way in which Allah uses to reveal His plans and warnings, but it takes study and prayer to know how to understand them. Nabi Daniyal is an example of interpreting dreams from Allah. He received visions and also interpreted dreams about things that would happen to his people, about future kingdoms and even about our days and the coming of the Yawm al Qiyamat (Day of Judgment).

One night Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonian Empire in today’s Iraq, had a dream that disturbed him to the point that he could no longer sleep. He forgot the dream after he woke up, but he knew that it came from Allah, and that he needed to understand it. The king asked for the wise men and advisers of his court to tell him both the dream, and its meaning:

Daniel 2:2-3

So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.”

However, none of them could reveal the king’s dream, and the king, in anger, decided to kill all the wise men in the court of Babylon. Among them was also young Daniyal, who was a faithful servant of Allah and had been taken captive to Babylon. The young nabi, after understanding what had happened, approached the leader of the killing soldiers, and asked to be brought before the king. Instead of running away to hide and spare his life, Daniyal decided, with the help of Allah in whom he trusted, to try and help the king. He risked his own life in order to save others from the death spelling decree:

Daniel 2:16

At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.

Daniyal submitted in prayer to the Almighty, asking for the mercy and wisdom of Allah, and at night, the dream was revealed to him:

Daniel 2:19

During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven.

The young prophet gave all honor to Allah because he knew that it is only by the permission of Al-Baatin (the Knower of the Hidden) that dreams can be interpreted. Then Daniyal went before king Nebuchadnezzar, and confidently revealed the mystery of the dream:

Daniel 2:31

Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.

When Daniyal began to tell the dream to Nebuchadnezzar, the king remembered right away what he had dreamt about and forgot. Daniyal described a statue from the king’s vision:

Daniel 2:32-35

The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

This is the dream that so disturbed the king of Babylon. To read how Allah explained its meaning, go to: Daniel Explains the Dream