Different categories of dreams
The Prophet ﷺ said dreams are of three kinds:
1-Good dreams that are a joyful message from Allah.
2-Dreams that make you sad, these are from Shaytan.
3-Dreams that come from your imagination
[Muslim]
True dreams
True dreams are from Allah and are the only dreams that can be interpreted.
A true dream can be:
- A joyful message of something that has been, is or will be.
- Warnings of something negative about to happen so that you are on your guard.
- Reminders to something that needs to be addressed.
These are what a person sees about themselves or someone else.
True dreams are of two kinds
- Those that don’t need to be interpreted but are done as they are seen.
- Those dreams where you are shown parables, these are the ones that can be interpreted.
True dreams are characterized by the fact that they are
- Free from all the trappings of a nightmare.
- Clear.
- Enjoying the dream and marveling at it.
- That they have a joyful or warning message.
- Remembering all the details of the dream.
- That it is repeated, which is a sign that it should be noticed.
- That it leaves real feelings when you wake up like joy, tears, pain, hunger.
- That they are related to the hidden from the next life, like paradise or fire and judgment day or seeing the departed.
- True dreams are also the least frequent/unusual of dreams.
- That several people have seen the same dream, as long as what they have seen is not against Islam.
- True dreams are usually seen by people who are honest and sincere.
Based on the hadith: “The truest dreams come to those who are most honest in their speech.” [Muslim]
Note that just because a dream contains unpleasant elements does not mean it is a nightmare. Even a true dream can contain unpleasant elements such as seeing yourself being bitten by a snake, stung by a scorpion or seeing yourself losing your teeth, etc.
Al-Muhalab said: ” A dream may be true but at the same time a warning from Allah, this dream may show something one is not happy to see, but Allah shows it to the believer as a mercy and goodness to him in order for him to prepare for an adversity before it comes. “
[sharh ibn Batal på sahe Bukhari]
What should you do if you have a dream?
- Know that it is from Allah.
- Praise and thank Allah.
- Only tell it to someone you like and someone who is knowledgeable and can interpret it.
Abu Salamah said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Good dreams are from Allah”.
“If any of you see something you like, you should only tell it to someone you like…” [Muslim]
“Only tell the dream to a scholar or someone who wishes you well.”
Ibn Hadjr says: “This is because the scholar will try with his knowledge to interpret the dream as positively as he can, and as for the one who wishes you well, he will refer to what favors him or the one who can interpret it.”
[Fathul Bari]
One is also careful to tell the dream to anyone to protect oneself from envy and the evil eye, as we find in Surah Yusuf when the Prophet Yaqub ﷺ said to Yosuf ﷺ “Dear son! Don’t tell your brothers about your dream! [Avundsjuka] can drive them to plot evil against you; the devil is indeed the sworn enemy of man!” [12–5]
The person who has had a dream of truth should also not think too much of himself or believe that he is guaranteed something good. imam Ahmed said that a dream of truth pleases the believer but does not mislead him.”
[adab as-shariaa’ 2/523]
Reasons for having lucid dreams
The first reason is that one is from Allah’s awliya, i.e. Those who are close to Allah.
The proof of that is Allah’s statement:
“Indeed, the close servants of Allah need not fear, nor should they grieve. Those who accepted the faith and showed the fear of God. They will have joy in the earthly life as well as in the afterlife.”
[Yonus 62–64]
This verse proves that the believers who have a correct faith and follow it up with [taqwa /gudsfruktan] which is a correct behavior in the form of good deeds, obligatory and voluntary, while staying away from sins.
These are the ones who are close to Allah and they are the ones who will receive glad tidings in the form of true dreams as the Prophet explained this verse.
Abu Darda said, “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ regarding Allah’s statement: ‘The close servants of Allah certainly do not need to feel fear nor should they grieve’… [yonus 64] The Prophet ﷺ replied: ‘You are the first to ask me about this verse since it was revealed. It’s true dreams that a person sees about himself or someone sees it for him. ‘”
[Tirmizi, saheh]
The second reason is honesty.
Abu Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, “As the Last Days approach, the dream of the believer will seldom be untrue, and the one who will have the truest dream is the one who is most honest in his speech.”
[Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmed, Tirmizi and al-Hakim]
Ibn Abdul Barr said: “Whoever is sincere in his faith and worship of Allah and honest in his speech will have truer dreams.”
[Tamhid 1/273]
Ibn al Qayum said: “Whoever wants to have true dreams should strive to be honest, eat halal, do his duties to Allah and not sin, lie down in a pure state facing the qiblah and then remember Allah until he falls asleep. If he does this, the chances of him having a false dream are minimal.” [Madaridj as Salikin 1/63]
The third reason is to put yourself on the right side.
The fourth reason is to read Ayatul Kursi and the last two verses of Surat Baqarah.
Nightmares
Nightmares are from the shaytan and should not be interpreted.
Nightmares are distinguished by the fact that they are:
- Incoherent and unclear.
- Contradictory.
- Inviting to sin.
- Make you sad and depressed.
- Instills fear and dread.
Jabir said that a man came to the Prophet ﷺ while he was preaching and said: “Messenger of Allah! I saw in the dream last night like my head being chopped off and then falling down, and I see myself going after it to pick it up and then put it back in its place?”
Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If the shaytan plays with you in your sleep, do not tell people.”
In another wording of the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ laughed when he heard about the dream and forbade the man from telling about how the shaytan is playing with him.
[Muslim 27/15 and Ahmed with the addition that his head rolled away. 2/344]
What to do if you have a nightmare:
- Seek protection from Allah from the evil you have seen.
- Seek shelter from the shaytan (three times).
- Spit wrongly to the left side three times.
- To turn around and sleep on the other side.
- Never to mention it to anyone.
- Knowing that it will never hurt you.
- To get up and pray.
- Saying the specific dua taught by the Prophet against nightmares.
Evidence
Abu Qatadah said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“If any of you dreams of something he dislikes, he should spit wrongly to the left side three times and seek shelter from the evil he has seen, then what he has seen will not harm him.”
[Muslim]
And he related that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“If any of you sees a dream he dislikes, he should spit wrongly to his left side three times and seek refuge with Allah from as-shaytan ar-rajeem three times, then he should turn and lie down on his other side.”
[Muslim]
Abu Hurayrah said that the Prophet ﷺ said, “If any of you sees something he dislikes, he should get up and pray and then not tell anyone about the dream.”
[Muslim]
Note that no specific number is mentioned for how many ‘raka’ to pray, so you can pray as many as you want.
Dua for nightmares
Khalid ibn Walid mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ that he used to have nightmares that …
Then the Prophet ﷺ said ” When you lie down on your bed, you should say ” A’uzu bi kalimatillahi at-taamat min ghadhabihi wa ‘iqaabihi wa sharri ‘ibaadihi wa min hamazaat as-shayatiin wa an yahdurun.”
أعوذ بكلمات الله التامات من غضبه وعقابه وشر عباده ومن همزات الشياطين وأن يحضرون
[Ibn abi Shayba 63,39/7 abu Dawud 3893]
What do you do when you wake up after a nightmare?
The Prophet ﷺ said:
” Shaytan ties three knots around your neck as you sleep, and says in each knot ” you have a long night ahead of you, sleep!”
Then, when the person wakes up and remembers their Lord, a knot is untied.
When he makes wudhu, a knot is untied and if he prays, a knot is untied and he starts his day alert and in good spirits.
If he doesn’t do these things, he starts his day lazy and in a bad mood.”
[Bukhari, Muslim]
Note that this hadith is general and something the Muslim should practice every morning.
Abu Salamah narrated, “I used to have nightmares that made me shake with fear until I met Abu Qatadah and mentioned this to him, who then said, ‘I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, “True dreams are from Allah and nightmares are from shaytan, so if any of you has a dream he dislikes, he should spit tort three times on his left side and seek refuge with Allah from its evil. Then it will not harm him.'”
Abu Salamah said: “I used to have nightmares that felt heavier to me than mountains, but when I heard this hadith I no longer cared about them.”
[Muslim]
Fantasy dreams
These dreams have no meaning and are not something you should try to interpret or care about.
Evidence of this category of dreams is a hadith in sahe Muslim where the Prophet ﷺ says: “Dreams are of three kinds: True dreams which are pleasing news from Allah. Sad dreams from Shaytan, and dreams from your imagination…” [Muslim]
Fantasy dreams are characterized by:
- You see yourself going about your daily routine.
- They are about what you do in your everyday life and things you think about or fantasize about.
- Fantasy dreams are also usually about the present and rarely about the past.