The Art of Dream Interpretations
By Yahya Ibrahim | 2026-01-12T20:57:41.453732+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Art of Dream Interpretation - Yahya Ibrahim
Opening
Introduction
The topic that's been assigned, chosen for me by my dear brother Shafiq - jazakAllah khair - is about dreams and dream interpretation and the artistry of it and how we as Muslims value our dreams. And I thought just to begin by speaking about something that I'm sure I have and you have at some point or another felt - that your dream meant something.
And irrespective of your level of faith, whether you believe in God or not, whether you're a Muslim or not, whether you're a practicing Muslim or not, at some point each and every one of us we look into our dreams, we look into the restful sleep we had and we say there was something about that and I feel it means something and I wish I knew who I could ask, or you sit with yourself and you ponder over it.
The First Kind of Dream: Dreams You Can Make Come True
And I want to speak about the first kind of dream which is a dream that you can make come true. So just say you dream that you were eating honey and you wake up in the morning and you actually, jazakAllah khair, thank you so much for that, I appreciate it. So just say you wake up and you were dreaming last night you were going to have a cup of tea and it's within your means to actually walk over to the kitchen and make a cup of tea.
The sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is to make your dream come true. And I want that to be the first point. To make your dream come true, to make the dream of others come true - that's the sunnah.
The Hadith of Huzayn
Where do we get this from? In an authentic hadith there was one sahabi, his name is Huzayn (رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ وَأَرْضَاهُ - radiyallahu anhu wa arda).
He came to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) excited, he goes: "Ya Rasulullah, you won't believe what I saw last night."
The Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "What did you see last night?"
He said: "I saw myself making sujood on your forehead."
And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) laid back on the ground and said: "Okay, go ahead."
And Huzayn made sujood on the forehead of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
Now that's not usually the first thought that comes when you hear that there's a class or a lecture about dream interpretation. You usually think in the abstract, in the figurative, in the symbolism - which we'll come to inshallah because there's usul to it, there's principles that you are taught in how you view dreams for yourself and especially for others. But here you find the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was a dream maker. He was someone who brought someone's dream into a reality.
Personal Example: The Hajj Dream
I had a dream subhanAllah after I got married, the first year after I got married - it's a long time ago - and I dreamt that I was making tawaf and I could see my dream right now like as I'm talking to you, I can see it. I was making tawaf and I had my right shoulder exposed and holding on to my ihram, I looked over, the Kaaba is here, I looked over and there was my brother-in-law and behind him holding on to him was my other brother-in-law and I was leading them in tawaf. They've never been to hajj, they've never been to umrah and I was leading them in tawaf.
And when I woke up I said to my wife: "I'm gonna take Nihat and Nuruddin to umrah or to hajj."
She said: "Why do you say that?"
I said: "I saw it."
She goes: "Oh you saw it."
And subhanAllah about eight years later, I took them to hajj. They took me to hajj and that same dream of them holding on for dear life because it was the hajj where subhanAllah the crane collapsed. I don't know if you... yeah a few years ago just as we were, you know, the crane collapsed and we were holding on, we were running.
And it's not that my dream came true, it's that I made my dream come true. I want you to understand what that means.
The Nature of Dreams and Their Interpretation
That means that you and I have the first say in making your dream a reality. And therefore when you hear hadith of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) where he says that your dreams are attached to the foot of a sparrow and when you interpret them or it's interpreted for you, it lands. It lands as you interpret it.
So be careful who interprets your dream.
Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari and other collections
So you don't go to somebody who's got wickedness in their heart and you say to them, you know, I saw this and this and this. They say: "Oh my gosh, I feel so bad for you. You know what that means?" And they give you this thing that comes to them because in their heart they don't have love for you, they don't have care for you, empathy for you.
They give you something that comes to their mind that causes you to react or them or others to react to make that dream a reality in that negative way. And therefore the first principle that I wish to share with you is that it is the sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to make your dream come true, to make others' dreams come true.
Historical Context of Dream Interpretation
Some of the great sahabah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) used to see magnificent dreams. And I want to keep our discussion kind of a little bit more academic than just spiritual and so on, and I've actually brought some notes with me. If you want something a little bit further, there's a couple of articles that I've written.
They're called "The Art of Dream Interpretation," part one and two. Part three will probably come out next week because the brother invited me so it made me write part three and then there'll be part four - so jazakAllah khair, you've inspired me. So we'll continue the series inshallah and it's on muslimmatters.org so you can follow through with that inshallah.
But I thought I'd just share some notes and I thought we'd keep it at something that was at a level that you can go and see the research behind it and make it of importance to you to carry on this great tradition of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
The First Books of Hadith
Now let me begin by saying the very first books of hadith that were written were collections of dream interpretation. The very first books of hadith way back in the time of the tabi'een, and those who came after them, they were initially structured around dreams that people had at the time of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and what he said about them and what Abu Bakr said about them and what Asma bint Abu Bakr (رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُم - radiyallahu anhum) said about them and what Muhammad ibn Sirin who was her student said about it.
It was collections of those narrations - they were one of the first things that people said we need to preserve these in writing. Those were some of the very first hadith of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) that were collated in indexes and books.
Imam Al-Shafi'i's Criticism
There used to be a split and Imam al-Shafi'i - he used to actually speak really harshly about the industry
of dream interpreters.
Like in today's age in the UK you guys have the industry of ruqya. Everyone's a raqi mashallah. Everyone's getting paid mashallah.
It's an industry. Imam al-Shafi'i he said: "No, this industry about dream interpretation and you go to this person because he knows more than others - it's false" and his words were actually quite cutting. Imam al-Shafi'i Abu Nu'aym, and I'll quote this for you: he said: "I left behind in Iraq" - because he used to be in Baghdad and Iraq and then he transitioned to Egypt where he was buried rahmatullah alayh - "I left behind in Iraq people who don't truly believe in Allah, heretics who concoct things calling it dream interpretation to fool the masses with illicit knowledge and claim from them wealth."
It was a problem even way back then. With a man like Imam al-Shafi'i - could you imagine you have an Imam al-Shafi'i sitting here and some other guy telling you: "Come let me tell you what your dream means and pay me a little bit of dirham" and people will go to that person because he'll make up these fantastical statements that would uplift them, would show them something that they wanted to believe in and they were charlatans.
Islamic Theological Foundation for Dream Interpretation
But of course we know that dreams and their interpretation is very much a part of our theological belief. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says that one of the greatest blessings given to Yusuf (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhi as-salam):
"And as such we gave providence and success and dominion to Yusuf in the earth after all the trouble that he faced and one of the greatest things - the greatest of things as a blessing that we gave unto him is that we taught him - it is from us that this learning arrived to him - the interpretation and the understanding of dreams."
Quran Reference: Surah Yusuf (12:21)
And Yusuf (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhi as-salam) only and simply inherited that wisdom from his father, from his grandfather and from his great-grandfather Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhi as-salam).
Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhi as-salam) was a person who used to receive much of his wahi, much of his revelation in the form of dreams. When he comes to his son and he says: "My son, my son, I see in my dream that I must slaughter you, I must kill you. Tell me what you think of my dream." And that's almost as if it's the first attempt for someone to interpret your dream - what should I do? What do you think that dream means? Is it actionable or not?
He said: "My father, do as you are commanded" because the dreams of the prophets are separate to the rest of humanity - they are a reality, they are from the aspects of reality as if in their wakeful state.
Prophetic Teaching on Dreams
Let's get a bit technical, all right, and I hope you follow through inshallah. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "After me, nothing from prophethood will remain except the things that give you good news of what is to come - something that will prophesy for you good things that will happen in your life."
And they said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, what are these good things that... what does that mean?"
And he said (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam): "It is that a righteous man, a righteous person, a righteous woman sees a good dream for a good purpose (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)."
He then said that there is 46 parts of prophethood and only one of them will remain which is dream interpretation.
Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
Now this hadith was a little bit problematic because the same hadith is narrated by others with different variants. In one other instance the Prophet said one thing that remains from prophethood is dreams and their interpretation and it's out of 25 other prophetic characteristics. In another hadith he says 45. In another hadith he says 70.
And Imam Ibn Abdul Bar, he reconciles this. It's not that the narrators have quoted the same hadith with different numbers. What it means is that the higher your piety and ascension and relationship with Allah, the more likely your dreams are true and carry good messages.
And the best of us who can never be prophets - the greatest ratio you will get is 1 to 25. Some are 1 to 70, and the word 70 is considered nakira - it's considered an open-ended number meaning it's a large number. You might dream night after night after night after night, week after week and not see a righteous dream - one out of 70. It's a one in 70 shot. But the best of them is one out of 25, and the most likely - the average Muslim, the one who's connected to Allah - is one out of 45, one out of 46.
And that's how the sahaba and the tabi'een kind of understood it.
How Daily Life Affects Dreams
Now there was always this attempt of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to emphasize to people that how they live by day affects how they sleep and what they see by night. And therefore you and I are always taught by our imams that before you sleep there are certain sunnah actions to do:
• You should sleep upon wudu
• You should sleep after reading your evening dhikr
• You should include in that evening dhikr Ayatul Kursi
• The last two verses of Surah al-Baqarah
• You should read the last three surahs three times each
• You should cup your hands and read (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ - subhanAllahi wa bihamdihi) seven times and breathe on them and wipe all parts of your body that are exposed and aren't covered by your clothing or your bedspread
All of these are sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and all of them have one aim - that it gives you a restful sleep and protects you from the meddling of the shaitan.
The Three Types of Dreams
What does that mean? Well it comes in the authentic hadith narrated by Imam al-Bukhari where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that there are three types of dreams that a person experiences:
1. Hadithun nafs - that your soul talks to you, hadith meaning a narration or a story that your nafs shares with you
2. That the shaitan shows you an image and a dream
3. A vision - and therefore when we talk about dreams we're actually really talking about visions as they relate to those who are practicing and faithful to Allah who see that vision - one out of every 25, one out of every 45, one out of every 70
Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari
It's something that you see that inspires you because it's sent to you by Allah.
First Type: The Ramblings of the Soul (Hadithun Nafs)
Let's speak about the first one now - the ramblings of the soul. One of the greatest ways that Allah freed him from his false imprisonment was that he caused a king - a pharaoh who was a king, a righteous king, not a believer, an atheist, one who didn't believe in God - to see a dream. And that dream was something that was inspiring and strange.
And Allah retells the dream so you and I can wonder about it. And Allah says that Yusuf was the one who interpreted it. And the dream was that the king saw seven cows - seven well-fed healthy cows being pursued, consumed, eaten by seven sickly cows. And seven ears of corn that were healthy being overcome and consumed by seven that were sickly and unattainable.
He says to his ministers: "Give me a fatwa in what I've seen... if you know what dreams mean."
Quran Reference: Surah Yusuf (12:43)
And in these verses is so much benefit. We don't have time for all of its statements. But here the king says: "I need a fatwa" - meaning it's something that you're going to give but I don't have to follow. The classical definition of fatwa is that someone gives you an opinion but you're not bound to follow it - which is the same as a mufti. You can come to the mufti in Manchester, one of your muftis, and you ask him: "Hey, what should I do in this situation?" He goes: "Well I think you should do this" and you're not bound to follow what he said because it's a fatwa. "What should I do? What's your fatwa on the dream?"
They said: "It's a mixed up rambling of your soul" - meaning we don't know but we don't want to tell you we don't know. We know some of its meaning but not others. We can't interpret. We don't want to be careful because we don't want to say something to you that isn't true.
And subhanAllah this is an evidence that our ulama show that even people who lacked faith understood that if you direct a person about a dream that they saw without being sure and it's just something you're saying, that it can cause greater damage than good. And therefore it is better to be quiet than to give any opinion at all.
Number three: you learn that when somebody doesn't know, it doesn't mean that everybody doesn't know. And that someone who's seen as a lofty position - you know, the priest in a society didn't know - the king wasn't too ashamed to say: "If anyone else knows, bring them forward, even if they're a prisoner."
SubhanAllah, sometimes our dreams mean so much to us that it's worth the effort to find their meaning even in unlikely places with unlikely people. And Yusuf alayhi salam of course provides the answer but makes it conditional to other things.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us an insight into the inner meanings of our dreams and to help us use them in bringing us closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
What We Learn About Dreams from the Quran
What we learn from this is that a person who is immoral, impious, isn't connected to Allah to God in a very meaningful way can and will see dreams that are meaningful to them that can have a prophetic reality. And it's not just believers and righteous people who see good dreams. And that's something that's standard as a text throughout the Quran because after Yusuf there's going to come another king - but it's not a king, he's going to be a pharaoh - and he's going to see a dream of a young child who's going to destroy his kingdom. And that was Fir'awn who is seeing the dream of Musa's arrival alayhi salam.
Aisha's Account of the Prophet's First Revelations
Aisha radiyallahu anha, she spoke about the first signs of the Prophet's revelation coming to him. She asked the Prophet: "You know, before Jibreel came to you, did you feel strange?"
Now it's such a wifey question isn't it? Like she wants to know everything. "So I know you're a Messenger of Allah now, but before you weren't a Messenger of Allah, so kind of like what were you like? What did you used to do? What did you used to like? What happened?"
He said: "You know what Aisha, before Jibreel came, six months before it, every time I went to sleep I would see a dream and the next day it would break in its reality like the break of dawn every night."
And it was as if Allah was saying to him: "Listen, there's going to be so many things that are going to come to you, so many things you're going to see, so much experiences you're going to have, and I want your heart to be steadfast that there's something special about you."
Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari
Dreams of the Mothers of Prophets
In an authentic hadith narrated by Ibn Majah and it's deemed authentic by the ulama of hadith, the Prophet's mother before giving birth to him saw light emanating from her womb, from her stomach, that radiated light all the way to Damascus. It's as if she could see Damascus - that's how much light filled the world. She saw that in a dream.
Hadith Reference: Ibn Majah (authentic)
Moses's mother saw a dream before Moses was born. As she was carrying him, that Pharaoh is going to give an instruction to kill every male child born in that year and that she should begin to design an airtight basket. And she followed the instructions that they saw in the dream.
And Allah describes this moment: "We gave revelation to the mother of Moses: feed him, clothe him, keep him happy. When the time comes and you feel they're going to come - you've seen it in your dream, I've shown you exactly what's going to happen - when that day comes don't be scared. Put him in the basket and throw him in the water. You already know what's going to... he's going to survive, you know he's going to come back to you. We've shown you in your dream that that boy is going to be a Messenger of Allah who will save his people."
Quran Reference: Surah Al-Qasas (28:7)
Allahu akbar! Dreams are found in almost every story of every prophet in the Quran. All of them would see dreams of things that were coming as warnings. And therefore we know that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has said to us that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us these premonitions as a good tidings even when they warn us of hardship.
Musa's mother seen she has to cast her son away in the Nile - it's a bushra: "Don't worry, eventually years later even after your life he's going to be a Messenger of Allah. You won't see it but you've seen it now."
Allahu akbar.
The Prophet's Dream of Tawaf
Now the final dream because I want to get to this - ramblings of the soul - the final dream that I want to share with you is the dream of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) of him making tawaf around the Kaaba.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) after the battle of Khandaq - they were, you know, under siege for more than a month and the enemy finally went back to Mecca and the confederates went to their different tribes and the trench that was dug they were trying to refill it - and the Prophet went to sleep and saw a dream that he was making tawaf.
And he said to Abu Bakr and Umar: "Call out to the people. Umar, you have the loudest voice amongst my companions. Call out to the people to get ready - we're going to umrah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)."
The Prophet interpreted it: "Now we're going to do tawaf. Now everybody get ready. Now everybody get your... now let's go. We're going to make umrah now and we're going to make tawaf around the Kaaba."
And when they got there they were barred and they were stopped. And Allah mentioned this in Surat al-Fath, the chapter of conquest, of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) - that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) saw a dream that some shaved and some cut their hair. And then they got there and the Prophet signed a peace treaty that said he had to return to Medina without tawaf, without entering Месса.
Was it that his dream was untrue? No, his dream was true (صلى الله عليه وسلم). But he interpreted it in its reality but its timeline had not yet arrived.
Quran Reference: Surah Al-Fath (48:27)
And therefore I want you to see the dream of Yusuf alayhi salam where he sees 11 stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to him - that dream took more than 40 years to come to reality. While the dream of the king this year, immediately next year had its negative consequence.
And that becomes a really important discussion that we will have inshallah.
The Nine Principles of Dream Interpretation
The text that we're going to study is one of the earliest texts on dream interpretation. It's by Imam Ibn Qutayba, one of the early, early in the first, you know, generations of the people of Islam - they had the very earliest that still remain intact books of hadith that interpret dreams all right.
And the ulama when they began to analyze dreams and how the Prophet interpreted them (صلى الله عليه وسلم), they began to see that there were certain principles. And I'm going to talk to you about
nine principles. We're going to study a few of them but not all of them, all right. Some of them are a little bit too advanced - you know, interpretation through poetry and other things.
So what are the nine principles?
The first: Ta'weel - the first way of interpreting dreams is through al-asmaa - through the etymology or the names that appear in a dream. Someone's name - it means something. It's not just, you know, you see Yahya in the dream - it's not about me. What does my name have to do with the dream? Yahya means one who has long life, right? So the dream might be considered in accordance to the meaning of my name, right?
Number two: Interpretation bil ma'na - in accordance to the meaning of what occurs in the dream. Something meaningful is exchanged and said and I'll give examples of this.
Number three: Interpreting using verses from the Quran or hadith - verses from the Quran or whole surahs or whole juz or even just single words or even letters from the Quran.
Number four: Interpreting using the prophetic tradition of the Prophet Muhammad - something the Prophet said, a hadith that mentioned something and we'll make this clear shortly inshallah.
Number five: Is using the interpretation of proverbs and poetry. You know, there's certain things that in the culture here make sense to you and interpreting something according to a particular culture is important. It's not that one symbol means the same thing everywhere. If you were to see a snake in your dream, is it a good thing or a bad thing? See, your culture tells you it's a bad thing. If you're Indonesian, seeing a snake is a good thing. Seeing a snake in a dream to Indonesian imams is that that person's going to get married. There's a snake hiding out trying to strike prey - is hunting. There's someone who's looking at you sister and he wants to devour you, right? That's how the Indonesians - that's how the Malaysians see snakes. In Arabic culture it's different and therefore the proverbs of the person who's seeing it and the person interpreting it becomes very important.
Number six: Interpretation according to inversion and opposition. So you see someone dying - it means that there's a birth coming to the family. And you know, you get a lot of people they'll say: "I saw my grandmother dying." I said: "How long have you been married?" He goes: "Oh yeah we got married." I said: "You married a cousin?" "Yes, how did you know? She's from... your grandmother on that side?" He goes: "Yes." I said: "Well there's someone coming along the way," right? So for some people it's an inversion - it's the opposite of what you see in the dream.
Number seven: It's an interpretation that you see an increase which means it's a decrease or you see...
Number eight: ...decrease which means it's an increase. So you see subhanAllah your health going away and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses you in wealth. You see something being deprived but it's actually a sign that something's going to increase in a different way.
And finally number nine: Timelines and time considerations.
I want you to think back of that example I gave you a Prophet interpreting the dream of the king. All nine principles are found in that ayah. And your mission inshallah, if you seek to accept it, is to try to find all nine in those selection of verses - in verses number 42 till 50 in Surat Yusuf after we're done and you've kind of heard everything that I have to say. Go back and read those verses in English and say: "Oh my goodness, there's the name - he's a king, he's identified. And there's the symbol - what does the corn mean? What does the wheat mean? What does the cow mean? Why does the cow refer to years of famine? Why does the corn or the ear of wheat refer to that?" All right.
Practical Examples of Dream Interpretation
First Principle: Names (Al-Asmaa)
So let's begin inshallah. Let's do the first section. What did we say the first principle of interpretation is? Names. All right, let's look into the hadith of the Prophet - how has he interpreted someone's name to mean something.
In the authentic hadith narrated by Imam Muslim, the Prophet - and this hadith is reported by Anas ibn Malik so Anas ibn Malik is with the... and he sees this happen - the Prophet said: "I saw in my sleep at night that I saw... what normally a person sleep meaning I saw a dream in my sleep... in my sleep that we were in the house of... we were in the house of... and there was brought to us in that house dates from the farm... the farm of a man named... so I interpret my dream - look at the words of the Prophet - to mean that goodness and sublimeness has finally come to us in Medina and I take it from the name Ibn Tab."
Ibn Tab means tayyib - right? Have you ever heard the word... goodness. So he interpreted that the dates that came - dates is something sweet, it's something that nourishes you, it's something that is indicative of Medina. What was Medina known for? Dates. So the Prophet said: "Dates from a farm in Medina and the farmer's name is Ibn Tab. Why is it Tab? Why didn't it come from Abu Talha's farm? Why didn't it come from Uthman's farm? Why did it come from his farm? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala... Ibn Tab... that there is tayyiba has arrived."
And that's one of the names of what? What is one of the names of Medina? Tayyiba - that's where it comes from, right? So you see that the Prophet used somebody's name to refer to something.
(Sahih Muslim)
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, whenever he would see him, he would say: "May Allah elevate you." Rafi means elevation, right? And he would say: "May Allah elevate you." He would use names to make dua for people and to honor people sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The question you're going to ask is: "Well why didn't the Prophet use the name as the interpreter? What made him seek Ibn Tab?" Well now we got to take it to level two, right?
Second Principle: Meanings (Bil Ma'na)
So we said first you can interpret by the names of the people that you see in your dream. Number two, we said what's the second principle? Ta'weel bil ma'na - meanings, right?
There's a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and this is narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu anhu. It's in Sahih al-Bukhari. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said - and I just shared this hadith with you - that Umar... that he said: "I saw in my dream that I was given a bowl of milk and I began to drink from this milk until I noticed its wetness and it filled me so much that it began to come out of my limbs, my every part of my body. Even my nails began that milk would come from it. And I saw that there were people sitting around and the one that I chose to give it to was Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu wa arda."
And they said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, what does it mean?"
He said: "Al-ilm - that I've given ilm, I've handed over ilm, that the milk symbolizes ilm."
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Why does milk symbolize ilm? All right, we said milk is pure and when it's clear it's something beneficial. It's something you enjoy drinking. When it's off it's unusable - you can't hand it to others. It's something that stinks up. It's something that can lead astray and therefore its smell changes, its color changes and no one wants it. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam continuing to drink milk - it meant that the milk was healthy and good for him and it was good for others.
Milk is also seen as nourishment and there is nothing that nourishes the soul more important than ilm - knowledge of Allah, knowledge of our deen. And this is what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "The one whom Allah wishes good for him, he gives them a firmness in their knowledge of the deen."
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Milk is also something that you have to derive - it's not something that's just within you. You have to get it from somewhere else. Same with knowledge. And it has to be from something that's domesticated and something that's willing to share it with you. No one goes out and tries to wrestle a wild animal to get milk. It's an animal - it's something that is within your home and your household that you know and have access to. And therefore ilm is derived as being the interpretation by the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
But there's also an excess in the hadith. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that when I was drinking milk and it was coming: "Zidtu - I added so much of it." And one of the dua that Allah orders the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Quran in Surah Taha:
"And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge."
Quran Reference: Surah Taha (20:114)
And therefore ilm and ziyada are always together. So whenever you see abundance and things that are overflowing, it signifies something related to knowledge. And therefore the meaning of milk is more important than the substance in and of itself according to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And you see this in tune that when Jibreel and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam were about to ascend to heaven, Jibreel gave the Prophet two cups - two bowls - one of milk and one of wine. And the Prophet chose milk and Jibreel said: "Had you drunk the wine, your ummah would have been led astray."
(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
So what does that tell you? The interpretation of wine means misguidance - not following knowledge, right? It's the opposite of milk which is following the knowledge and following the teachings that has been sent to you, oh Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Another Example: The Dragging Shirt
Let me give you another hadith about meaning also referring to Umar bin Khattab radiyallahu anhu. And this hadith is also narrated in Bukhari that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "While I was asleep and I saw in my dream... I saw in my dream in front of me many people. Some of them were clothed just partially - their shoulder showing, their leg showing - you know, people were merely covering up to their chest, their shirt just came down to here, just came down to their stomach and so on. But then Umar radiyallahu anhu passed in front of me and his shirt was dragging on the ground."
What is the symbolism of the shirt? What would you assume it is? More than guidance... what does shirts do for us? They beautify us, they protect us, they also are distinctive, right? This person dresses this way and it makes them different from this person, right? He's wearing a power suit and it's... he has an important meeting. This person, they're wearing something that is, you know, basketball clothes that you know that they're... they're not going to work, they're in their pajamas, right? It gives layers of distinction.
So they ask the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: "Oh Messenger of Allah, what do you interpret the dream as?"
He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: "It is a strictness in his practice of the deen - strictness in it. That it is covering up his faults, that it's something that honors him, that people will make mention of Umar.
Everyone will say Umar radiyallahu anhu - he will become a reference point. His clothing will distinguish him. He will be known and notable for his practice of the deen."
What does Allah describe as in the Quran in Surat al-A'raf?
"Allah says the garment of taqwa is the best one to adorn yourself with."
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Quran Reference: Surah Al-A'raf (7:26)
Third Principle: Using Quranic Verses
All right, let's take another look. Let's look at ta'weel with using the Quran and let's look at how certain verses can be used and how we can make use of them inshallah. And we'll just go through a quick list inshallah.
So let's choose some funny ones. What if you see a donkey in a dream? What do you think it means? Anyone know any verses in the Quran that involve a donkey? A bad sound? Okay, so what do you think that bad sound means? How would you interpret it? It's people turning away from you, right? People turning their ears away from you. People not wanting to listen to you. People not giving you that attention.
What else Allah has described the donkeys as is that they carry books of the Torah on their backs that weren't being practiced by those who were supposed to maintain them. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: "You see the donkey carrying books on their back that aren't inside themselves" and Allah's characterizing me or you as a person of faith that you might have the whole Quran memorized but you don't practice it. "You're like a donkey that's burdened with nothing."
Quran Reference: Surah Al-Jumu'ah (62:5)
So when you see a donkey in your dream, its symbolism can be that you will travel to seek knowledge but that knowledge may not benefit you, or that you will carry knowledge to others who it will benefit and you'll be excluded from it, or you will be a person who will pray and preach and teach and keep talking about knowledge but you're nothing but a donkey - you have no blessing in that regard.
Let's take another symbol all right: a rope. What does it mean? Just say you see yourself holding on to a rope. Is there an image of ropes in the Quran? Yes! And therefore just say you're having a little bit of difficulty in your marriage and you know you're not doing well with your wife and subhanAllah you see yourself and there's a rope as a symbol in your dream. It's a way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala telling you:
"Hold on to the rope of Allah" - meaning the covenant you've given in marriage. Because how did you get into marriage? You gave a promise to Allah and it's to enact... you say when you're shaking the hand of the wali: "In accordance to the book of Allah and the sunnah of the messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam."
Quran Reference: Surah Ali 'Imran (3:103)
What about a ship? What do you think it means? What did Noah ride on? The ship of salvation, right? So if you see yourself cruising in the Mediterranean, that means you have done well to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala - and especially if the ship is in troubled waters and you're on the ship. But what if you see the ship and you're not on it? Something to worry about because the ship is salvation.
And Imam Malik, he used to say that the ship of salvation for the believer is the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - which means to you that imams would say to somebody who saw a dream of a ship that they were doing something that was bid'ah, that they have departed from the sunnah of the messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Examples Using Prophetic Traditions
What about wood? You're sitting there making things out of wood or you see yourself training to be a carpenter? It means hypocrisy. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the hypocrites in the Quran by saying: "You see the hypocrites like leaning beams of timber" - they used to be trees full of life and faith but now they're timber, hollow, they're empty of faith.
Quran Reference: Surah Al-Munafiqun (63:4)
Illness - you see yourself sick? It's hypocrisy. It means between you and Allah you know what you should do but you're not doing it. And what is supposed to be pleasing to Allah you're doing it for the pleasure of other people.
Clothing - clothing can mean marriage. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
"Your wife is your garment, clothing that covers you." Way too much isn't marriage? It's not, it's practice in your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as is the hadith of Umar radiyallahu anhu - it's about taqwa.
Quran Reference: Surah Al-Baqarah (2:187)
Examples from Hadith Traditions
A crow - if you see a crow in your dream, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that crows are treacherous people. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said he labeled the crow fasiq - meaning that there's someone you are trusting who is actually a fasiq who's about to let you down, who seeks your harm rather than your well-being.
(Various authentic collections)
If you see a rib - whether it's ribs of a person who's exposed as you're walking, you see someone who's skinny and their ribs stand out in your mind - it means a woman in your life is about to face hardship.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam described the woman as being created from a rib. And men due to their injustice try to hammer the rib and they break it. And therefore when you see a rib it is a sign that someone in your vicinity, someone you love from the women in your household - your mother, your sister, your daughter - is about to experience difficulty.
Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
Cups, vessels, plates signify women that are important in your life. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam described women as: "They are, you know, blessed vessels. They are like crystals that you have to be careful with. Don't drop her." Look at the imagery of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Your wife - he says: "Deal with the crystal softly sallallahu alayhi wa sallam." Look at the advice he would give because, you know, you drop her, she's going to break, she's going to shatter, right? Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Sahih al-Bukhari
To see a bed or a firash or a sleeping quarter or that you're in your home and your dream ends with you walking into your bedroom or that your dream ends with you laying down on your bed - especially for a sister seeing a dream like that - it means that you are soon to carry a child. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said a child that is soon to be born should always be counted in the bed that he was born in, in the name of the father who shared that bed with that person even if they had passed away sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Horses galloping and running - whether you ride them or you see them in a distance or someone brings them to you or you buy them or you sell them - all of them it means that they will bring an abundance of good and an abundance of rizq and it will come swiftly like the swiftness of a steed.
Various authentic collections
All of those are statements from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Important Principles About True Dreams
So those are the first four of the nine principles and I want you inshallah, because salatul maghrib is soon upon us, to go back and take a look at those verses in Surat Yusuf and what you will see - you will be able to identify that there are names and symbols and meanings, that there are things that are inverted in opposites and things that are given in deficiency that will actually bring plentifulness.
When the king sees that the cows that are small eat the big cows - the healthy cows - he thinks, you know, destruction is coming. But after it, what happens? There's going to be a resurgence and khair and there's going to be so much goodness. So although you see that there's an increase that brought
decrease - the cows were big and then there were small ones that ate them - then you see that there's a resurgence and it comes back. There will come back years that will outdo what has been taken from us.
I want to end with three or four quick points inshallah so that we can end with some important principles. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a person who taught people the value of dreams and wanted others to learn how to interpret them.
After the Prophet: Abu Bakr as the Best Interpreter
And after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the best interpreter of dreams after the prophets of Allah and our Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. And the reason is because of his truthfulness.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: "As-siddiq - the most truthful of you in their dreams are the most truthful of you with their words."
So when you want to see good dreams - real dreams that give you prophecy of what's to come - be careful with your promises and your... you know, the ones that are meaningful and the ones that aren't. Always try to be siddiq, not just sadiq. And therefore Abu Bakr was the most truthful after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - he was the most knowledgeable of the interpretation of dreams.
Various authentic collections
The More You See a Ru'ya, the More Important It Is
Number two: the more you see a ru'ya, the more important it is and the more true it is. And you get this from a number of hadith. More than one sahabi in the same night heard the adhan before it was given to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
One sahabi comes and says: "I saw a dream that this is how we should call the people to prayer."
At the same time they may say: "SubhanAllah, I saw a dream where I saw the same adhan."
Another one: "I heard the same adhan."
The more people who see it or the more times you see it, the more true the dream is.
Various authentic collections regarding the call to prayer
Dreams Can Be About Past, Present, or Future
Next is to know that dreams can be about past events, not just future. And you can see a ru'ya about something you mistakenly understood in the past. It's not just Allah telling you what's going to happen in the future. Most people have this mistake - sometimes you see a dream and you're interpreting it about
future events when that's not the reality. It's actually Allah talking to you about something in the past that you've misunderstood and Allah wants you to re-examine, understand it correctly, right?
They could be about past, present and future. In fact, rarely are they about future events. Most of the imams say that most are to re-ignite for you something that you have misunderstood in the past.
True Dreams Increase Near the End Times
True dreams increase as time comes to an end. People understood this hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to mean that people will see true dreams when the Dajjal is around or something, right? You know what it actually means is that this time that we're in now - the day is coming to an end. It's the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saying in the alterations of the early morning. And that's why people say: "Oh at the very early morning" - they're taking it from this statement that it's right now that then is about to go, that the dream is going to be most truthful at a time of before you wake up or before you sleep. So in the two extremes of the day.
Sahih al-Bukhari
Final Important Points
We're going to pause here and we'll take a quick break for the adhan inshallah and I will conclude just two minutes before we get ready for salah.
So I want to end on just three final quick points inshallah:
First: Most of the dreams that we see that are glad tidings from Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala that are... the ulema agree take long time to be accomplished. Like Prophet Yusuf - 40 years. Like the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he saw making tawaf - it wasn't immediate. He had to wait another year. They take a time for them to come into action. And therefore if you see a dream and it comes into action straight away, usually those are the dreams that are that you can bring about. So you saw a dream that you're drinking honey, you went and drank honey and you fix that yourself. It's not a ru'ya in that sense - it's something you enacted.
The next thing that I think is important to make mention of is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he warned us that if we see true dreams not to become overconfident and not to make it a source of pride where we vie with others in what we see and say: "Oh subhanAllah I saw this and you... you know, subhanAllah I know more than you or this is something that I've been blessed with that you don't have."
And rather dreams are indications inshallah of a good state with Allah and it should not be something that we take pride or go to extremes in.
Finally: Dreams are entirely presumptions in the terms of us having them as a vision. You're presuming you've understood it but that never allows you to contravene the sharia to attain it. And therefore just say
you see in a dream your grandfather - may Allah have mercy on the departed - just say I see my grandfather and he comes to me: "Yahya, I want you inshallah from now on to do this particular thing or to give this particular donation." Might be a good thing he asked to give this particular donation - don't do it. Don't do it just because of the dream.
And this happened in the time of Abdullah ibn Masood radiyallahu anhu. A man woke up and he saw he said: "I saw in a dream that the one who prays two rak'ah today will be forgiven their sins."
So people when they heard and he was a righteous person... and Abdullah ibn Masood is the sahabi... so when Abdullah ibn Masood heard this everyone started coming to the masjid to pray two rak'ah. Abdullah ibn Masood stood at the door of the masjid and said: "Go back to your home. That was a passing shaitan that he saw." SubhanAllah.
Because our sharia does not legislate that you would... wonder why would Abdullah ibn Masood tell people not to pray in the masjid? What? So why did they... went and prayed two rak'ah? It's because the false belief would take root that on account of someone seeing a dream it can change that reality, right? It can change our spiritual reality and our practice of Islam.
So may Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from this. May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala continue to guide our hearts and make us from those who are accessible to the truth. Allahumma ameen.
Closing