Meaning of Dreams

What are dreams? What is meaning of dreams? In this article I will explain It from Islamic point of View. Dreams are the world of sleep. Most people in this world dream when they sleep. There is no logical explanation for dreams in science yet, but Islam does not only explains dreams but also interprets them.

Dreams are sometimes the fragments of our imagination. Some times they are from ALLAH swt and some times Satan shows us bad things. Prophet Muhammad pbuh classified dreams into three categories; the good dreams which make the dreamer happy are from Allah swt. The bad dreams which scare the dreamer are from Satan. And there is another category, the dreams which are the information in our subconscious. Prophet Muhammad pbuh also said that when a bad dream disturbs a person, he should spit three times on his left, recite ayatul kursi and sleep on his right hand. Then the bad dream will not do any harm to him.

One should not tell his dreams to everyone. Instead, the dreams are serious matter. Good dreams should be told to those who are sincere people and who intend no harm to the dreamer while bad dreams should not be told at all. Also, in case one needs his dream interpreted, he should consult an authentic interpreter otherwise the people giving interpretations online or just by the way can cause the dreamer harm because of their lack of knowledge or jealousy. 

The prophet mentioned in Quran who had this knowledge of dream interpretation were prophet Yusuf a.s. He interpreted the dream of the king correctly and saved the nation from a seven years prolonged drought. Similarly, it is mentioned in Holy Quran about two of his prison companions who presented him with their dreams in the following verse;

12:36 Two other young men had also landed in prison at about the same time. One of them said, �I dreamt that I was extracting wine�. The other said, �I saw myself carrying bread over my head and birds were eating out of that bread! Please, interpret our dreams for us! We find you to be so pious!�

While, prophet yusuf a.s. Also saw in dream about his prophet hood which he told his father, prophet yaqoob a.s, as follows;

[012:004] Once, Yusuf said to his father, �Oh my father! I had a dream. I saw eleven planets, the sun and the moon lying prostrate before me!�

[012:005] He said, �Oh my son! Do not narrate your dream to your brothers! They might scheme and plot against you! Surely, Satan is the acknowledged foe of the human beings!�

Thus, the above verse indicates that those who are jealous or not sincere with one might harm the person because of a good dream. Prophet Muhammad's pbuh dream is also mentioned in Quran as follows;

[008:043] In your dream, Allah had you see the enemy as fewer in number. You would have lost courage and disputed about the matter, had He showed many more of them to you (in your dream). But Allah saved you. Indeed, He knows (even) that which lies (buried) in the chest.

It means that a glad tiding in a dream strengthens hearts and gives happiness while a bad dream leaves a person sad and discouraged. This is true, even the modern science now says the same which was told to us more than 1400 years ago. Surely, there is only truth mentioned in Quran and no lies. True and good dreams are 45th part of prophet hood as per a sahih hadith. While in another sahih hadith, prophet Muhammad pbuh said;

Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 119: 

Narrated Abu Huraira:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "Nothing is left of the prophetism except Al-Mubashshirat." They asked, "What are Al-Mubashshirat?" He replied, "The true good dreams (that conveys glad tidings)." 

In another sahih hadith prophet Muhammad pbuh said;

Bukhari, Book 029, Number 5621:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: When the time draws near (when the Resurrection is near) a believer's dream can hardly be false. And the truest vision will be of one who is himself the most truthful in speech, for the vision of a Muslim is the forty-fifth part of Prophecy, and dreams are of three types: one good dream which is a sort of good tidings from Allah; the evil dream which causes pain is from the satan; and the third one is a suggestion of one's own mind; so if any one of you sees a dream which he does not like he should stand tip and offer prayer and he should not relate it to people, and he said: I would love to see fetters (in the dream), but I dislike wearing of necklace, for the fetters is (an indication of) one's steadfastness in religion. The narrator said: I do not know whether this is a part of the hadith or the words of Ibn Sirin.

Thus, in the end times, the believers will see true dreams and again a person true in speech will have true dreams. This can be taken as a litmus test against some modern day liar scholars who claim to see such and such things in dreams. These people are hardly truth tellers so their dreams also  cannot be more than lies. 

The interpretation of dreams is done based on Quran and sunnah in authentic and Islamic way. Some of the dreams might have meanings reverse to them like death means life etc. while some objects in dreams mean experiences according to their nature.

Seeing Allah swt in dream also means different according to the different situations in dream while seeing prophet Muhammad pbuh also means different based on dream. So Is true for other prophets and pious people.

Lying about a dream in the major sin and worst thing. It is forbidden in islam. Instead, if one wants to see good dreams, he should sleep in sunnah way and pray to have good dreams and eep faith in Allah's mercy. There are many books available that contain so-called interpretations. But the most authentic book for dream interpretation is the book by ibn-e sirin. There are other authentic books too. One should look only for dream interpretations based on Quran and sunnah. Hopefully you enjoyed my article on Meaning of Dreams.