The World of Dreams
By Waleed Basyouni | 2026-01-10T11:37:37.656177+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The World of Dreams
بِسْمِ اللهِ الْحَمْدُ للهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَمَنْ وَالَاهُ وَبَعْد
All praise is due to Allah, and His praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad.
Introduction: The Nature of Dreams
First of all, I would like to welcome you all to a new Friday night light and tonight I would like to talk to you about the world of dreams. The world of dreams is part of the world of the unseen and it has to do with the soul more than the body. That's why there is a lot of mysterious things about this world. Also part of it is related to this world because it's a reflection on so many of our thoughts and inner thoughts.
Why This Topic is Important
I'm specifically interested in this topic for several reasons and I want to talk about it tonight for several reasons:
People Believe in Dreams More Than Reality
Number one because I have seen in my life a lot of people so attached to dreams more than the reality. They believe in dreams more than they believe in reality. They're scared of dreams more than they're scared of reality. And they will be moved so much and motivated so much by a dream more than just telling them Allah says this or the Prophet said that or what the science said this and that.
I remember one of the brothers told me that he has a partner in his work who doesn't pray. So one day he came to him and he said to him: "I saw you in my dream. I saw you've been lifted up between heavens and earth and this angel came with the sword that's so big, so huge, made of fire and he said where is so-and-so and you were hanging between the earth and the heavens. Then he came and he chopped your head off with the sword."
He said "My friend, that thing said he doesn't pray." He said "Sheikh Waleed, I told him the dream. He's not only praying now, he makes the Adhan every day for others in our business. He became the first one to come to the masjid."
I said "Okay, is that dream real?" He said "I made up the dream. It's not true. I made it up, but it worked."
I said "That's haram. As a matter of fact, the Prophet said:
(Bukhari 7043)
"Among the worst type of lies is to claim a dream that is not true." Why? Because good dreams are from Allah. So if you made up a dream that means you are attributing a lie to Allah as if Allah is the one who sent that, and it's a lie. And attributing lies to Allah is one of the major sins in Islam.
People Make Major Decisions Based on Dreams
Some people make major decisions in life based on dreams. People make marriage decisions based on a dream. Like one sister once told me "Sheikh, my marriage is not going good." I said "Okay, what happened?" She said "But I saw in my dream that we are happy holding hands." "Is that a reason for you to marry the guy?"
That's not how you make decisions about a business, an investment - it's all based on dreams. Some people accept jobs just because of a dream, quit from a job because of a dream.
People Start Acts of Worship Based on Dreams
Even worse than that, there are people who start acts of worship, certain acts of worship based on dreams. "I saw in my dreams to pray this way."
Ibn Kathir mentioned somebody saw in his dream that something came and told him "pray in the cave such-and-such in the mountain such-and-such in Damascus." People came running to that cave praying in congregation and in groups and it became so famous, like a shrine and a place where people come to pray there just because somebody saw it in a dream.
The celebration of the Prophet's birthday - what is it based on? Hadith? Based on Sunnah? Based on practice of companions? No, it's a dream. Somebody saw a dream and started celebrating the birthday of the Prophet.
Historical Example: The Danger of Dreams
Shareek bin Abdullah is one of the great scholars of Islam, narrators of Hadith. He was brought to al-Mahdi, one of the Abbasid caliphs. He found himself in front of the Khalifa and the Khalifa brought the executioner holding the sword ready to chop somebody's head off.
So Shareek was wondering "Why am I here? I'm the only one here. It looks like this is for me." So he got scared.
Al-Mahdi said to him "I brought him to cut your head off." He said "What did I do?" He said "I saw in my dream that you are on my carpet standing on my carpet but your heart somewhere else. You're turning your back to me and you're looking at someone else. So I interpreted my dream or somebody interpreted my dream that you are coming to me and showing loyalty to me while you are betraying me and your loyalty to someone else. So you are a betrayer and you deserve to be executed."
So Shareek said to him "I'm sure you're not like Ibrahim. Ibrahim's dream was true and I'm sure you're not like him to claim that your dream is true. And I'm sure whoever interpreted that dream to you is not like Yusuf, because Yusuf's interpretation was true. Don't believe them, don't make this decision based on your dream."
Dreams Can Cause Anxiety
Abu Musa al-Ashari, one of the Prophet's companions, known as the wise man of this ummah, a man of Ahl al-Quran, said "I will see a dream and I will be days sick, staying home for days. I couldn't get out of my house because of the dream I saw terrifying me. I think so much of it and I complained to the Prophet about that - that my dreams really caused me so much anxiety, so much stress."
So the Prophet said "Don't worry about your dreams. Don't even think about it and just blow on your left hand side. Say (أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم - A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem). It will not harm you."
Abu Musa al-Ashari said "Since I started doing that, I didn't care for the dreams anymore."
Dreams Throughout History
Dreams are as old as sleeping. Since humans started sleeping, dreams started. That's why we have a narration that Hawwa (Eve) saw in her dream that she would get a child and she was worried about her child. In her dream something came to her and said "name your child Abdul Harith" - and it was a dream from the shaitan because you should not say 'Abd other than with Allah's names. Harith is not one of Allah's names.
Ibrahim saw in his dream that he is offering his son:
About Yusuf, Allah said:
One of Allah's favors upon Yusuf and his parents and his father and forefathers was that they were able to interpret dreams, and Yusuf was very good at interpreting dreams.
Fir'aun saw a dream and because of the dream that he saw, what did he do? He said that he will kill all the children of Israel. Everyone from the Jewish community in Egypt - their boys will be killed. Why? Because he saw in his dream that one of the children will come and will destroy his kingdom.
The Story of Zamzam
Do you know that for years nobody knew where Zamzam was? For years, and how people discovered Zamzam? Through a dream.
In Mecca there were two tribes that always fought over who is in charge of Mecca and in charge of Al-Ka'aba. Jurhum was in charge - they were a tribe called Jurhum. Al-Ka'aba had two big statues of deer
made of pure gold worth a lot, and five gold swords.
Jurhum lost power and the rival Khuza'a took over. So Jurhum didn't want to give Khuza'a, the new tribe, all this gold. So what they did - they took all the gold and they threw it inside the well of Zamzam and they put sand and rocks in Zamzam and they leveled it with the rest of the land.
For years nobody knew where Zamzam was. They couldn't find it and they started digging everywhere. They couldn't find Zamzam until Abdul Muttalib, the great-grandfather of the Prophet, saw in his dream where Zamzam is. He told his people "come and dig here" and he dug and found Zamzam.
Modern Examples of Dreams
Even interesting enough to know, some of the modern technologies that we are enjoying today were a result of dreams. Like for example, the sewing machine. The one who invented the sewing machine, it came out of a dream in 1845. Mr. Howe saw a very interesting dream about spears coming together and he invented the whole entire idea of the sewing machine.
Great Interpreters of Dreams
Through history, there were a lot of great interpreters of dreams from the Prophet, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umar, Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz, Anas, Asma, Abu Dharr, Salman Al-Farisi, Hudhaifa. All these were known among the Sahaba as interpreters of dreams.
From the successors: Hasan al-Basri. No doubt Ibn Sirin was one of the most famous interpreters of dreams. Al-Shafi'i, Imam Ahmed, Al-Awza'i, Ibn Al-Mubarak, many others.
Personal Experience with Dream Interpretation
But one of the people that really surprised me was a sheikh of mine. His name was Sheikh Yusuf Al-Mutlaq. I used to love to pray behind him when I was a young man in Mecca because of the way he prays. He brings khushu' to you, he makes you focus in Salah just by praying next to him. The way he makes his du'a - wallahi, Allah is my witness - so many times he would raise his head from the sujood and I found the carpet wet from his tears and you don't hear his voice.
His interpretation of dreams was amazing. That's what made me interested in the topic when I was in high school.
Once I asked Sheikh Yusuf Al-Mutlaq, I told him "there is a brother I know who sees himself walking and falling, tripping all the time. He walks and he trips all the time. He asked me to ask you, Sheikh."
He looked at me and he said "Your friend makes a lot of oaths, a lot of promises. He makes oaths with Allah's names and he never fulfilled these oaths. Tell him because if you make an oath with Allah's names
and you did not fulfill it or you break it, you're lying. You have to do the penalty. And what's this penalty? It's to feed ten people. If you can't, you fast three days."
I said "What's this? A person walking and tripping, what does this have to do with making an oath?" I really didn't understand.
So I saw my friend and said "My friend, Sheikh said this and that." He said "He told you that?" I said "Yes." Then he took out of his pocket - in those old days we had like little notes we put everything on, we don't have phones at that time - so he took that little note and he said "Look." I said "What?" He said "I have 128 oaths I made, I need to pay kaffara for 128, and I've been carrying this note with me and I've been delaying it."
The Three Types of Dreams
The Prophet said there are three types of dreams:
1. حديث النفس - Inner thoughts (hadith an-nafs)
2. From the shaitan - and you know what this is about: scary things
3. From Ar-Rahman - which is information, warning, or support
Dreams from Allah
Dreams that Allah shows you through the angels are for the following reasons:
Number One: Glad Tidings
Allah wants to give you good news.
Number Two: Warning
Allah wants to warn you.
Number Three: Support
Something to give tranquility and peace and support for yourself.
These are the three main reasons that we know. So any dream from Ar-Rahman is about either telling you something good, warning you from something bad, or to support you and bring peace and tranquility to you.
Meeting Souls of the Dead in Dreams
Among the true dreams is when your soul departs and meets the souls of other people, and those other people are mainly the dead. Because many scholars believe that the righteous dead or pious people, their
Dreams
souls are on earth, or if your soul is taken to some place in the heavens, it might meet some of the souls of your parents who passed away.
So you actually see and meet someone who passed away, and that person who passed away might tell you something - either warning, either glad tidings, either informing you about something.
Ibn Abbas said: (بَلَغَنِي أَنَّ أَرْوَاحَ الْأَحْيَاءِ وَالْأَمْوَاتِ تَتَلَاقَى - "I was told that the souls of the living and the dead meet one another, and they ask and tell each other about their experiences." This was also reported from others, and Ibn al-Qayyim said this is well-known and authentic.
Mujahid said: (بَلَغَنِي أَنَّ الْمَيِّتَ يُخْبَرُ بِمَا يَكُونُ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ - "I was told that when you die, you will be informed about the good things that happen to your children and grandchildren."
Dreams from the Shaitan
Sometimes dreams come from the shaitan. Any dream that is only about making you feel bad, scared, terrified, making you upset - there's no information in it, just to make you feel bad and scared - that's from the shaitan. You don't pay attention to it. No interpretation for it.
(Source Name)
The Prophet said blow on your left hand side like this. Can anybody think of the significance of the Prophet saying like this? It shows you it's nothing - even just a blow will take it away. It has no value. That's why you spit and you blow on the left hand side. It's worth nothing. The shaitan has no power over you, so don't let it even bother you.
Any nightmare, any scary things - there's no meaning in it but to terrify you. It's from the shaitan. Take it as a rule of thumb, so you don't need to worry about it at all.
Dreams from Inner Thoughts
The third type: dreams that have to do with your inner thoughts, with your psychology. And that's I would say maybe 90% of your dreams. It's an inner thought - you're basically thinking about something or something is in the back of your head and you dream about it because you're still thinking about it.
This usually represents your personality. Usually when somebody sees himself or herself naked a lot in their dreams, it means that they have a weak personality. Some people are always running - that means those people always have anxiety. It's a reflection of a person's psychology.
One of the common things people ask me about is people see themselves always drowning. That's usually because this person is weak or somebody is in debt and always feels like he is indebted to others.
Anything that you see so often, so many times, it's not a dream from Ar-Rahman. If you always see the same dream, it also has to do with your inner thoughts.
Rules About Dreams
(Source Name)
The Prophet said: (أَصْدَقُكُمْ رُؤْيَا أَصْدَقُكُمْ حَدِيثًا - "The most truthful of you in dreams are the most truthful of you in speech." The more truthful you are, the more accurate your dreams are.
(Source Name)
The Prophet said: (لَمْ يَبْقَ مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ إِلَّا الْمُبَشِّرَاتُ - "Nothing remains of the beginnings of prophethood except the good vision, the good dream a Muslim may see or to be seen for him or her." Because that's how the prophethood started with the Prophet.
Sometimes even a person with no taqwa can have a true dream. Fir'aun saw a dream which was true, and he was a kafir. But the more taqwa you have, the more likely your dreams become true and become more vivid and clear.
Some scholars said one of the reasons for good dreams to happen is when you sleep on tahara, but this is not a condition.
Some people said dreams become more accurate at the end of time. There is a debate what that means. At the end of time, dreams become more accurate. Is that referring to the end of time of the whole world like before the Day of Judgment? It could be, because remember one of the reasons for dreams is to give you support, and at the end of time of the world there are a lot of trials, a lot of confusion, so these dreams come to give the believers comfort and support.
Some scholars said no, the end of times means the end of your time - before your death you see dreams so clearly. And I found this very true. I know a lot of people who saw their death in dreams before they died.
Etiquette of Dreams
When you see a good dream:
- Say Alhamdulillah
- Only share it with people that you love, so nobody gives you hasad (envy) for those good dreams
- When you see a good dream, ask someone who loves you, who cares, who has wisdom, who has knowledge. There is no sheikh specialized in dreams. Somebody who loves you inshallah will give you a good interpretation.
If you think of a bad interpretation, try to keep it for yourself. Just ask Allah to protect you from the evil of it.
Understanding Dreams
Some dreams are so clear you don't need a sheikh or anyone to interpret them for you. The Prophet saw
in his dream a woman dressed in beautiful silk. Then he uncovered this woman and he saw Aisha. So immediately he interpreted this dream that his wife will be Aisha. At that time Khadija had passed away and was not sure who he was going to marry next.
Sometimes dreams can need a little bit of thinking because they're symbolic. Sometimes you look at and interpret the dream based on the context of the dream - who is seeing the dream, how it looks.
Ibn Abbas a man came to him and said "I have seen in my dream that I am calling Adhan." Ibn Abbas looked at him and he looked like a thug. He said "Take whatever you steal from people back to them."
He said "How do you know that I steal?" He said "I'm just telling you."
He said "Sheikh, I will, but you need to tell me how did you know that I steal. I'm a thief."
He said "Because Allah said in the Quran: (أَيَّتُهَا الْعِيرُ إِنَّكُمْ لَسَارِقُونَ - O caravan, indeed you are thieves.'' (Quran 12:70) "When I looked at your face, I remembered what Allah said - a call was made that there is a thief among you."
Another person came to him on the same day and said "I saw in my dream calling Adhan." Ibn Abbas looked at his face - somebody righteous, somebody trying to be good. Then he said "You will go to Mecca and you will go for Hajj, and Allah inshallah will accept your repentance."
He said "How do you know?" He said "When I looked at his face, I saw in his face what Allah said in the Quran : (وَأَذِّنْ فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا - And proclaim to the people the Hajj; they will come to you on foot.''" (Quran 22:27)
Methods of Dream Interpretation
Sometimes you interpret dreams by looking at the meaning of names. Sometimes you connect the dream to something in the Quran, a parable in the Quran, an example in the Quran.
Sometimes you have to look at hadith. Sometimes culture plays a role in interpreting what the dream means.
Sometimes dreams have nothing to do with you - they have to do with someone else, completely related to someone else.
It doesn't necessarily mean that when somebody interprets the dream, it has to happen the same way as interpreted by this person.
Sometimes you try your best to bring the good meaning, but if there is a bad meaning, it means warning.
Seeing the Prophet in Dreams
(Bukhari 6993, Muslim 2266)
The most beautiful thing you can see is to see the Prophet. The Prophet said: (مَنْ رَآنِي فِي الْمَنَامِ فَقَدْ رَآنِي حَقًّا - "If you see me in a dream, you have seen me truly." (Bukhari 6993, Muslim 2266(
But one condition: you have to see the Prophet's face the same way he was described.
Ibn Abbas said to a man who claimed to see the Prophet: "Describe him to me." When he described him correctly, he said "If you had seen him in reality, you would not say anything less than that."
But somebody told me "I saw the Prophet with a white beard." I said "That's not the Prophet. The Prophet's beard was not white. It was black. You could only count 20 white hairs in the Prophet's beard."
Be careful a shaitan can say words in the middle of these dreams and you think it's from the Prophet when it's not. It's from the shaitan to deceive you. So not everything that you see in the dream or you hear in the dream should be taken, because we don't know how his voice sounds like. We know how he looks like.
Can People See Allah in Dreams?
Yes, but not with a physical description. Because the Prophet saw Allah in his dream. And some people see Allah in their dreams. Seeing Allah in dreams is true (haqq). So what Allah says to you in your dream most likely is true.
Final Advice
Dreams will not change the qadr of Allah. It's something that Allah gives you access to something from the future sometimes, and to a very limited capacity.
Any nightmares, any dreams that scare you - say (أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem), blow on your left hand side, don't talk about it, don't share it, don't pay attention to it, move on, don't ever care about it.
Any bad dreams that have sexual content - it's from the shaitan or from your own thoughts.
Any dreams that give you bad ideas, bid'ah, something haram in Islam, something innovative - "do this, don't do that" in religion that's not from the Sunnah - it's a bad dream from the shaitan.
Interpreting dreams is an art. There are two camps: one camp interprets dreams literally, another camp says it's just something Allah puts in your heart. I believe in both.
Sometimes the interpretation of the dream has nothing to do with the words. It's just something Allah puts in your heart.
Conclusion
May Allah make our dreams always good for us, support for us. And may Allah make our reality better than our dreams. May Allah protect us from all bad dreams and give us the best of dreams.
And may Allah grant us seeing Muhammad in our dreams. Those who see the Prophet in their dreams experience an amount of joy, an amount of happiness, an amount of enthusiasm that is unmatched and unbelievable.
If this is how it feels to see him in your dream, how do you think it felt for the companions who saw him every day in reality? How do you think it will feel when we meet him on the Day of Judgment, when we'll be with him in Jannah?
The Prophet told us: those who say (اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ (Allahumma salli ala Muhammad), an angel will be mentioning your name to the Prophet saying "so-and-so said salam upon you."
So increase your salawat upon Rasulullah.
وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ وَسَلَّمَ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ