Yūsuf

قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلاَمٍ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَأْوِيلِ الاَحْلامِ بِعَالِمِينَ

44. “They said: ‘confused medley of dreams (they are), and we do not know the interpretation of (such confused) dreams’.”

The Arabic term /’adqa/ is the plural form of /daq/ which means mixing; it also means a bundle of mixed sticks. The Arabic word /ahlam/ is the plural form of /hulm/ which means a nightmarish dream, and /’adqau ’ahlam/ means dreams that are random, having no order and following no sequence so that an interpreter of dreams can not obtain any clues in order to interpret them. The verse says:

“They said: ‘confused medley of dreams (they are), and we do not know the interpretation of (such confused) dreams’.”

Also, the ignorance of the official dream interpreters and their lack of knowledge was the cause for Yusuf’s release from prison, because at that time the cup-bearer of the king suddenly remembered Yusuf. He approached the king and kneeled before him and said that in the course of being imprisoned with the cook, they saw dreams in the prison. They said their dreams to a man there, and he interpreted them. There happened actually what the man had said.

Now, he asked the king to let him go unto that man and bring the interpretation of the king’s dream to him.

Explanations

1. Do not try to justify your ignorance. When the dignitaries of the king’s court did not have any knowledge of interpreting dreams accurately, they said that the dream was confused and lacked coherence.

2. Tasks that require skill must be left to those who are capable. An expert would interpret a dream correctly whereas the non expert would claim that the same dream is confused and non interpretable.