Morality in the Guise of Dreams: A Critical Edition of Kitab al-Manam by Ibn Abi al-Dunya.

• Author: Weninger, Stefan

Among the many works(1) of the Baghdadi author Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya (d. 281/894) is the K. al-Manam, "The Book of Dreams." It is not, as the title might suggest, an oneirocriticon, but an edifying treatise, and thus in line with other works by the same author. The work consists of 350 traditions which are, as is the rule in Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya's works, presented in a disconnected fashion, and arranged unsystematically with regard to theme. Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya records all his sources faithfully according to their isnads. The traditions cited in the K. al-Manam are mainly narratives of dreams, through which pious men who have died speak with the dreamer, or the latter catches glimpses of the afterlife. The dreamer receives moral counsel, and can see the rewards awaiting the pious.

The book under review is a marvelous edition of the K. al-Manam, leaving almost nothing to be desired. The K. al-Manam had been published twice before Kinberg's edition appeared, once by Majdi al-Sayyid Ibrahim (Cairo: Maktabat al-Quran, 1989) and again by Abd al-Qadir Ahmad Ata (Beirut: Muassasat al-Kutub al-thaqafiya, 1413/1993). Arabists will be indebted to Dr. Kinberg in that she did not follow her first impulse to "bury" her work when she learned about the 1989 Egyptian publication. The quality of her edition is far superior to either commercial print.

In the introduction, a brief description of the contents is given and the work is discussed in the context of Abi 'l-Dunya's legacy and that of Islamic literature. The introduction concludes with the prolegomena to the edition. The text is edited on the basis of a unique manuscript which is part of the Acco majmua of works by Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya. After each single tradition, parallels are listed, and set apart from the main text by a smaller typeface. The parallels are either citations from the K. al-Manam found in later works, parallels resulting from identical sources or those from other works by Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya where he used a certain tradition more than once. Even parallels within the K. al-Manam itself occur, where the same tradition appears twice in the book. Parallels of some sort exist for about three-quarters of the traditions in the book. They are harder to find for the poetry citations than for the prose passages. For sixteen of the thirty-four poetry citations no parallels at all could be found. Variants and unclear...