Assalaamu alikum
Alhamdulillah and someone asked Sh. al-Munajjid about dream interpretation. Below is the answer.
The Shaickh said:
Praise be to Allaah.
1.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)
2.Dreams marked the onset of Revelation (al-Bukhaari, 3; Muslim, 231).
3.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)
4.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.
5.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)
6.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.
7.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.
8.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.
9.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:
10.All dreams are either of two types:
1.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.
2.Mixed up false dreams, which warn of something. These
are of different types:
a.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.
b.When he sees some of the angels telling him to do
something forbidden, or other things that cannot possibly
make sense.
c.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
1.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).
2.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.
3.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:
1.A person should praise Allaah for the good dream
2.He should feel happy about it
3.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:
1.He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the dream
2.He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the Shaytaan
3.He should spit to his left three times when he wakes up
4.He should not mention it to anyone at all.
5.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.
6.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.
1.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:
2.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]
3.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.
Allahumma salli wasallim alaa Nabiyyina Muhammad. Wasalaam.
Modou Mbye
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