Hadith an-nafs
The dream arising from your own thoughts and worries.
Hadith an-nafs means literally the soul speaking with itself: the dream arising from what you experienced, thought or feared during the day.
Islamic tradition places most dreams in this category. That is not a devaluation. It guards against loading ordinary dreams with meaning they do not carry.
A dream about an exam after a hard week at work is, in this reading, simply a processed week, and that is explanation enough.
Related terms
- Ru'ya The true dream in Islamic tradition, distinguished from ordinary dreams.
- Ta'bir al-ru'ya The Islamic science of dream interpretation.
- Ibn Sirin Eighth-century scholar, best-known name in Islamic dream interpretation.
- 'Ilm Knowledge; classically linked with clear water in dream interpretation.
- Hulm The disturbing dream, seen as arising from whisperings of the shaytan rather than as a message.
- Mubashshirat Glad tidings; a classically recognised subtype of the true dream (ru'ya).
- Ru'ya sadiqa The classical, more precise term for what is often shortened to “the true dream”.
- Ta'wil Interpreting the deeper, hidden meaning behind a dream image, the core of the interpretive method.
- Muabbir The classical term for a qualified dream interpreter: someone with knowledge, experience and a careful method.
- Kinaya Symbolic or punning language through which a dream image points to another concept.
- Adghath ahlam Confused, meaningless dreams: a Qur'anic term for dreams that merit no interpretation.
- Istikhara The prayer for divine guidance in a decision; sometimes, but not necessarily, followed by a clarifying dream.
- Rizq Provision: everything that comes to a person from God, from money to knowledge.
- Sadaqa Voluntary charity in Islam; zakat is the obligatory alms.
- Tahara Purity, physical and ritual, in Islam.
- Yunus The prophet swallowed by a great fish, Jonah in the Bible.