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History has it that US President Abraham Lincoln reportedly dreamt of his own death. Lincoln’s friend and law partner, Ward Hill Lamon, later described the dream as Lincoln recounted it to him.

In his dream, in the East Room of the White House, he found a corpse dressed for a funeral. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ he demanded of one of the soldiers, ‘The President. He was killed by an assassin,’ was the response he got.  While sharing this dream with Lamon, Lincoln appeared disturbed and frightened. This was the dream he had had just nights before his assassination on April 14, 1865.

In Kenya, cases of  elderly  men or women who  call  for family  gatherings with the  intention  of sharing  inheritance  or other news and few days  later, they die are common. Or someone who said something prior to his or her death and you are left wondering if they knew about their impending death. 

No explanations

However, Islamic teacher Ustadh Fatma Ahmed argues that premonitions are mere hallucinations, as life and death are all in God’s hands and no one can tell when it is their turn.

“It is important for people to be prepared for when their time of death comes. This you can do by repenting and atoning  for your sins. At the time of dying it is also believed in Islam that one is able to see where their spirit is going to as it leaves the body — if it’s a good place or a bad place and they can even say what they see. But that’s all,” shares the Islamic teacher.

She shares how we have billions of people worldwide having dozens of dreams each night. The odds are pretty good that on any given night, somebody is going to have a dream about somebody dying who actually dies. That’s inevitable. 

Psychologist Jane Ngugi shares that scientific research give many theories as to why prophetic dreams occur, one details the possible experience of future event through time distortion caused by dream. “Premonition of death is an inexplicable strange feeling someone is going to die. Some people have a  premonition of death that is clear, while others only  have an overwhelming  feeling  of fear or anxiety about an event or person. People who have a premonition  of  their  own death  don’t necessarily die. However, those who have been in an accident  or any other  type of trauma often  have  such premonitions  about  their  death,”  she says

She adds, “Dota and Persinger, 2009 states that certain parts of the brain work at a higher rate during the dream state and because of this, time distortion occur allowing the dreamer to see three to four days into the future. The powers behind premonition have occurred through history leaving profound footprints where they made appearances of life events come true. Premonition happens spontaneously and as of now, there is no explanation of how it happens,” she says. 

Symbolic death

Can anybody have a premonition? Or are some people just gifted? The expert says that many  people who do precognition research suggest that it is an inherent trait that serves a survival function. It is part of our genetic machinery that helps us stay alive. Hence, there are prodigies, people who are truly gifted in this. Back in biblical days they were called prophets.

How do you differentiate a premonition from anxiety? “There is no way to know for certain. But some criteria can point us in the right direction. Vividness is a universal characteristic that people describe–a camera-like quality. Another is recurrence–if these things happen over and over, hammering away at your consciousness to be recognised. Another important indicator is having a shared dream with someone close to you,” she explains.

However, it is good to realise that not all premonitions of death are meant to be interpreted as a literal death. It can be a symbolic death. It could be the death of a career or even a relationship. It can also be a prediction given to you as a warning so you can act on it.

“If you are in a spiritual path and striving  to grow spiritually, the dream could be symbolic  of the  death of your spiritual death and being reborn to a higher level of spirituality. What happens when you have a dream of dying or an actual premonition of your death? Take a breath and calm down. Also, examine any  areas of your life if there is anything coming  to an end such as graduating from college, career change or moving to another city. These are all life altering events that may be symbolised as a type of death,” Jane advises.