Praise be to Allaah.
True dreams are a part of Prophethood, as it was
reported that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “True dreams are one of the forty-six parts of
Prophethood.” (al-Bukhaari, 6472; Muslim, 4201)
Dreams marked the onset of Revelation (al-Bukhaari,
3; Muslim, 231).
The truthfulness of the dream is related to the
sincerity of the dreamer. Those who have the most truthful dreams are
those who are the most truthful in speech. (Muslim, 4200)
Towards the end of time, hardly any dreams will be
untrue. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “That will be because the Prophethood and its effects will be so
far away in time, so the believers will be given some compensation in
the form of dreams which will bring them some good news or will help
them to be patient and steadfast in their faith.” (al-Bukhaari,
6499; Muslim, 4200)
The same may be said of the miracles which appeared after
the time of the Sahaabah. This did not happen during their time because
they did not need them, due to their strong faith, but the people who came
after them needed them (the miracles) because their faith was weak.
Dreams are of three types: rahmaani (those that
come from Allaah), nafsaani (psychological, they come from within
a person) and shaytaani (those that come from the Shaytaan). The
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Dreams
are of three types: a dream from Allaah, a dream which causes distress
and which comes from the Shaytaan, and a dream which comes from what a
person thinks about when he is awake, and he sees it when he is
asleep.” (al-Bukhaari, 6499; Muslim, 4200)
The dreams of the Prophets are wahy (revelation)
for they are protected from the Shaytaan. The Ummah is agreed
upon this. This is why Ibraaheem set out to fulfil the command of Allaah
to sacrifice his son Ismaa’eel when he saw that in a dream; may peace
be upon them both.
The dreams of people other than the Prophets are to be
examined in the light of the clear Wahy [i.e., the Qur’aan and
Sunnah]. If they are in accordance with the Qur’aan and Sunnah, all
well and good; otherwise, they should not be acted upon. This is a very
serious matter indeed, for many of the innovators among the Sufis and
others have gone astray because of this.
Whoever wants to have true dreams should strive to speak
honestly, eat halaal food, adhere to the commandments of sharee’ah,
avoid that which Allaah and His Messenger
(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) have forbidden, sleep in a state of complete purity
facing the Qiblah, and remember Allaah until he feels his eyelids
drooping. If he does all this, then his dreams can hardly be untrue.
The most truthful of dreams are those that are seen at
the time of suhoor [just before dawn], for this is the time when Allaah
descends and when mercy and forgiveness are close. It is also the time
when the devils are quiet, unlike the time of darkness just after
sunset, when the devils and devilish souls spread out.
(See Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 1/50-52)
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said:
All dreams are either of two types:
true dreams. These are the dreams of the Prophets
and of the righteous people who follow them. They may also happen to
other people, but this is very rare, such as the dream of the kaafir
king which was interpreted for him by Yoosuf (peace be upon him).
True dreams are those which come true in real life as they were seen
in the dream.
Mixed up false dreams, which warn of something.
These are of different types:
games of the Shaytaan to make a person distressed,
such as when he sees his head cut off and he is following it, or he
sees himself falling into a crisis and cannot find anyone to save
him from it, and so on.
When he sees some of the angels telling him to do
something forbidden, or other things that cannot possibly make
sense.
When he sees something that happens to him in real
life, or he wishes it would happen, and he sees it very
realistically in his dream; or he see what usually happens to him
when he is awake or what reflects his mood. These dreams usually
speak of the future or the present, rarely of the past.
See: Fath al-Baari, 12/352-354
Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“If any one of you sees a dream that he likes, this is from Allaah, so
let him praise Allaah for it and talk about it to others. If he sees
other than that, a dream that he dislikes, this is from the Shaytaan, so
let him seek refuge with Allaah from its evil and not mention it to
anyone, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari,
6584, and Muslim, 5862).
Abu Qutaadah said: the Prophet
(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: “Good dreams come from Allaah, and (bad)
dreams come from Shaytaan. Whoever sees something that he dislikes, let
him spit to his left three times and seek refuge with Allaah from the
Shaytaan, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari,
6594, and Muslim, 5862). The “spitting” referred to
here is a soft, dry spitting with no saliva ejected.
It was reported from Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit to
his left three times, and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan three
times, and turn over from the side on which he was sleeping.” (Narrated
by Muslim, 5864)
Ibn Hajar said: to sum up what has been said about good
dreams, we may say three things:
A person should praise Allaah for the good dream
He should feel happy about it
He should talk about it to those whom he loves but not
to those whom he dislikes.
To sum up what has been said about bad dreams, we may say
four things:
He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the
dream
He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the
Shaytaan
He should spit to his left three times when he wakes up
He should not mention it to anyone at all.
In al-Bukhaari, Baab al-Qayd fi’l-Manaam, a
fifth thing was narrated from Abu Hurayrah, which is to pray. The
wording of the report is: whoever sees something he dislikes (in a
dream) should not tell anyone about it; rather he should get up and
pray. This was reported as a Mawsool report by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh.
Muslim added a sixth thing, which is to turn over from
the side on which one was lying.
In conclusion, there are six things to do, the four
mentioned above, plus praying two rak’ahs, for example, and turning over
from the side on which one was lying to lie on one’s back, for example.
See Fath al-Baari, 12/370.
According to a hadeeth narrated from Abu Razeen by
al-Tirmidhi, he should not tell anybody about it except a very close
friend who loves him very much, or who is very wise. According to
another report, he should not talk about it except to one who is wise or
one who is dear to him. According to another report, he should not tell
of his dream except to a scholar or one who will give sincere advice.
Al-Qaadi Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi said: as for the scholar, he will
interpret it in a good way for him as much as he can, and the one who
will give him sincere advice will teach him something that will be of
benefit to him and will help him to do that. The one who is wise is the
one who knows how to interpret it and will tell him only that which will
help him, otherwise he will keep quiet. The one who is dear, if he knows
something good he will say it, and if he does not know or he is in
doubt, he will keep quiet.
See Fath al-Baari, 12/369
Imaam al-Baghawi said:
Know that the interpretation of dreams falls into various
categories. Dreams may be interpreted in the light of the Qur’aan or in
the light of the Sunnah, or by means of the proverbs that are current
among people, or by names and metaphors, or in terms of opposites. (Sharh
al-Sunnah, 12/220)
He gave examples of this, such as:
Interpretation in the light of the Qur’aan: such as a
rope meaning a covenant, because Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of
Allaah…” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:103]
Interpretation in the light of the Sunnah: such as the
crow representing an immoral man (faasiq), because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) called it such.
Interpretation by means of proverbs: such a digging a
hole meaning a plot, because people say “Whoever digs a hole will fall in
it.”
Interpretation by means of names: such as seeing a man
called Raashid meaning wisdom.
Interpretation by means of opposites: such as fear
meaning safety, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And He will surely give them in exchange a safe
security after their fear” [al-Noor 24:55]
As for the book “Interpretation of Dreams” that is
attributed to Ibn Seereen, many researchers doubt that it can be
attributed to him at all, so we should be certain that this book was
written by this prominent scholar.
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
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