Islamic dream interpretation: meanings, symbols and Ibn Sirin
Islamic dream interpretation, ta'bir al-ru'ya, has a tradition over a thousand years old, with Ibn Sirin its best-known name.
A tradition with a long history
Dream interpretation holds a place in the Islamic world that it does not hold in many other traditions. There are narrations describing the true dream as a portion of prophecy, and dreams appear in the Qur'an, among them in the story of Yusuf. Those narrations, in the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, call the good dream of a believer one of the forty-six parts of prophecy.
The best-known name in this tradition is Ibn Sirin, an eighth-century scholar to whom a large body of dream interpretation is attributed. That corpus has been added to and commented on across the centuries. Ibn Sirin lived in Basra and died in 728 (110 AH). The best-known dream book under his name, Muntakhab al-kalam fi tafsir al-ahlam, was most likely compiled by others after his death, and historians treat that attribution with caution. That is why Dreamkin writes "attributed to Ibn Sirin".
The tradition is therefore more extensive and more systematic than many people assume. It is also more restrained: interpretation is understood as a possibility, never a certainty.
Dream images often looked up in Islam
Some dream images are looked up especially often in the Islamic tradition. Each has its own Islamic reading on Dreamkin, with variations and what classical interpretation says about it. As always in this tradition, the meaning depends on the dreamer and the rest of the dream. The readings describe what the classical tradition says, not what will happen.
What are the three kinds of dream in Islam?
The central distinction in Islamic dream interpretation is between three kinds of dream.
The ru'ya is the true dream: clear, ordered, and often lasting in memory. The hadith an-nafs is the dream arising from your own thoughts, worries and impressions of the day. The third kind is the disturbing dream, which the tradition does not read as a message. The distinction goes back to a hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah and recorded in Sahih Muslim, among other collections: a good dream is glad tidings from God, a distressing dream comes from Shaytan, and a dream can come from what a person has been thinking about.
Most dreams fall into the second category. That distinction is made deliberately: it guards against loading ordinary dreams with meaning they do not carry.
How is a dream interpreted in Islam?
Classical interpretation looks at the condition of what appears, not only the image itself. Clear water reads differently from murky water. A full tree differently from a bare one.
Many interpretations work through language: a word in a dream may point to another word sharing its root. Context weighs heavily too, including who the dreamer is and what circumstances they are in. The same dream may be read differently for two people.
The tradition also holds a strong etiquette. A good dream you share with someone who wishes you well. A troubling dream is better not spread widely, and the recommendation is to seek protection and not dwell on it.
What the tradition does not do
Dream interpretation in this tradition is not fortune telling. It does not predict with certainty, and it does not diagnose.
An interpretation is understood as a possible reading that may hold or may not. That is why the classical works so often say that something may point to, and so rarely that something means.
Dreamkin keeps to that tone. Where a classical reading is heavy or unfavourable, we describe it as what the tradition says, not as what will happen.
Symbols in this tradition
- Dreaming of an earthquake in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of being chased in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a car accident in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a baby in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of bees in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of blood in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of the forest in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of dying in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of eggs in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of your ex in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of an exam in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a party in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of money in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of prison in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of your hair in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a dog in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of crying in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a house in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of insects in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a cat in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a crocodile in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a lion in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of an elevator in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of the moon in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of your period in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of your mother in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of mice and rats in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of being naked in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of fingernails in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of vomiting in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a deceased loved one in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a horse in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of poop in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of police in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of rain in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of arguing in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of shoes in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of school in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a scorpion in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of jewellery in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of snakes in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of keys in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of snow in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of spiders in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of losing teeth in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of being late in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of getting married in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of falling in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of moving house in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of fish in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of flying in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of an airplane in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of birds in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of cheating in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of fire in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of water in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a wolf in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of a mermaid in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of being pregnant in the Islamic tradition
- Dreaming of swimming in the Islamic tradition
Guides
- Dreams during Ramadan and Laylat al-Qadr: what does Islam say? During Ramadan your rhythm changes: you get up for suhoor, pray tarawih in the evening and often sleep in pieces. Many Muslims notice that they dream more vividly in that month. The Islamic tradition has more to say about this than you might think.
- Ta'bir al-ru'ya and Ibn Sirin: how classical Islamic dream interpretation works Ta'bir al-ru'ya, the interpretation of dreams, is one of the oldest disciplines in the Islamic world. It is not a dictionary of symbols but a method, with roots in the Quran and the hadith, and with Ibn Sirin as its best-known name. This guide explains the three kinds of dream, the dreams in the Quran, the Prophet and dreams, what is and is not known about Ibn Sirin's book, how an interpreter reads a dream, the etiquette after a dream, and how to read the many online dream dictionaries.
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Write your dream in the appFrequently asked questions
Is every dream in Islam a message?
No. The tradition explicitly distinguishes dreams arising from one's own thoughts from true dreams. Most dreams fall into the first category.
Is it permitted to have dreams interpreted?
The tradition has a long history of dream interpretation, with the recommendation to share a dream with someone who wishes you well. Interpretation is understood as a possibility, never a certainty.
What do you do with a bad dream?
The tradition advises not to dwell on it, not to spread it widely, and to seek protection. A disturbing dream is not read as a message.
Who was Ibn Sirin?
An eighth-century scholar to whom a large body of dream interpretation is attributed. Many classical readings circulating today trace back to that work.
What should you do after a good dream?
The tradition advises praising God for it and sharing it only with someone who loves you or wishes you well. A good dream is welcomed, not broadcast.
Did Ibn Sirin really write the dream dictionary?
Probably not in the form we know it. The best-known dream book under his name was most likely compiled by others after his death, drawing on readings attributed to him. That is why it is usually called 'attributed to Ibn Sirin'. More in our guide to ta'bir al-ru'ya and Ibn Sirin.