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Dreaming of shoes in Islam
In short
For al-Nabulusi, a shoe may symbolize a wife, a son, a mount, a friend, a partner, or a journey. Losing both shoes may signify the theft of a donkey or mount, while walking with only one shoe may mean separation from one’s wife or partner.
A summary of the passages quoted below. These are authors’ interpretations, not a prediction: a dream is understood through the dreamer and all its details.
What the interpretation books say
al-Nabulusi — Taʿṭīr al-Anām fī Taʿbīr al-Manām
هو في المنام زوجة وغلام ودابة وصديق وشريك وسفر.
A shoe in a dream represents a wife, a son, a mount, a friend, a partner, and a journey.
نعليه فقدا ربما سرق حماره أو دابته ومن وقع نعله ذم حال زوجته والنعل المشتركة بنت وإن رأى أنه لبس نعلا مشعرة جديدة محذوة لم تشرك ولم تلبس تزوج بكرا وإن مشى بها في محلته وطىء امرأة وإن مشى قاصدا في طريق فإنه يحج أو يسافر سفرا في بر وإن انقطع شسع نعله أو شراكها برئ من كفالة وإن كان النعل من الفضة فإنها امرأة حرة جميلة وإن كان من الرصاص فامرأة ذات وهن وضعف وإن كان من النار فامرأة سليطة أو من الخشب فامرأة منافقة خائنة وإن كان النعل ذا لون فهي امرأة ذات تخليط وإن كان من جلود البقر فهي من العجم وإن كان من جلود الخيل فهي من العرب وإن كان من جلود السباع فامرأة من ظلمة السلاطين.
[Whoever sees] both his shoes lost, his donkey or mount may be stolen. Whoever’s shoe falls sees his wife’s condition censured. A shared shoe is a daughter. [Whoever sees] that he wears a new, hairy, iron-shod shoe that has neither been shared nor worn marries a virgin. If he walks in it in his neighborhood, he has intercourse with a woman. If he walks purposefully on a road, he performs the pilgrimage or travels overland. If the thong or strap of his shoe breaks, he is released from a surety. If the shoe is silver, it is a free and beautiful woman; if lead, a weak and frail woman; if fire, a woman of difficult temperament; if wood, a hypocritical and treacherous woman. If the shoe is colored, it is a fickle woman. If it is made of cowhide, she is foreign; if horsehide, she is Arab; and if the hide of predatory beasts, she is a woman among the oppressors of rulers.
نعله بلا عقب فامرأته لا تحمل أبدا ومن مشى بفردة نعل واحدة فإنه يفارق زوجته أو شريكه
[Whoever sees] his shoe without a heel, his wife will never bear a child. Whoever walks with only one shoe separates from his wife or partner.
Keep in mind
- An interpretation is a human effort: Abu Bakr himself was partly wrong before the Prophet ﷺ. (al-Bukhari 7046 and Muslim 2269)
- Appearances deceive: an unpleasant-looking dream may be interpreted as good, and vice versa. (al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
- A dream is not a fatwa: make no serious decision on its strength alone. (al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 1/115)
If this dream upset you: what the Sunnah asks
The Prophet ﷺ taught that an unpleasant dream comes from Satan, and that it does not harm the one who does the following. (al-Bukhari 7045 · al-Bukhari 3292)
Seek Allah’s protection, three times
Against the evil of this dream and against Satan. The wording given by al-Nawawi: “aʿūdhu billāhi mina sh-shayṭāni wa min sharrihā” — I seek refuge with Allah from Satan and from the evil of this dream. (al-Bukhari 7044 · Muslim 2262 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
Blow lightly three times to your left
The narrations say “blow” (nafth), “spit lightly” (tafl) or “spit” (basq): a light breath, to drive Satan away. (Muslim 2261 · al-Bukhari 7044 · Muslim 2262)
Turn over onto your other side
Change the side you were sleeping on. (Muslim 2262)
Get up and pray
If you can; al-Nawawi recommends two units of prayer (rakʿa). (Muslim 2263 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
Tell no one about it
Neither recount it nor seek to have it interpreted. A Bedouin dreamt that his head was cut off; the Prophet ﷺ told him: “Do not tell of how Satan toys with you in your sleep.” (al-Bukhari 7045 · Muslim 2263 · Muslim 2268 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
“It will not harm him”: that is the promise of the hadith. Al-Nawawi adds that doing only some of these acts is enough, by Allah’s leave. (al-Bukhari 7045 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
Related symbols
- ClothesThe best clothes are new, thick and ample; worn and dirty clothes are poverty and worry. White is beauty in this world and in religion, green is religion and devotion; black, worn without being used to it, something unpleasant.
- Travel, journeyTravelling, for al-Nabulusi, is moving from one state to another; for the poor, becoming rich. Returning from a journey is repentance and a need fulfilled. Planes and trains, later than the book, do not appear in it.
- Marriage, weddingIn al-Nabulusi, marriage in a dream has contrasting meanings: Allah’s care, a repaid debt and relief for the worried, but also a burdensome commitment or a worry.
All the symbols in the dictionary