Actions and situations
Dreaming of sleeping in Islam
In short
For al-Nabulusi, sleeping generally indicates heedlessness and inactivity, but may signify the end of worries for someone who is afraid or expects hardship. The Muntakhab attributed to Ibn Sirin associates sleep with heedlessness.
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
أنه نائم أو أراد أن ينام فإن ذلك يدل على بطالة وهو رديء لجميع الناس خلا من كان في خوف أو يتوقع شدة أو عذابا يقع فيه لأن النوم يذهب جميع الهموم والغموم.
[Whoever sees himself] sleeping or wanting to sleep, this indicates inactivity and is bad for everyone except someone who is afraid or expects a hardship or punishment to befall him, because sleep dispels all worries and sorrows.
Muntakhab al-Kalām fī Tafsīr al-Aḥlām (attributed to Ibn Sirin)
Attribution to Ibn Sirin rejected: why
والنوم غفلة وقد قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: الناس نيام فإذا ماتوا انتبهوا.
Sleep is heedlessness, and the Prophet ﷺ said: “People are asleep; when they die, they awaken.”
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
- BedFor al-Nabulusi, seeing oneself on a bed may signify the return of something lost, elevation, or travel; a bed without a mattress is associated with travel or a wife. The bed also signifies the dreamer’s wife and livelihood.
- HouseThe house stands for the dreamer’s life and those who live in it: a new, well-equipped house announces ease and relief; what happens to the house happens to its occupants. The “bayt”, the room one retires to, stands for the wife.
- The dead, deathSeeing a deceased person looking happy is, for both books, a good sign for him; seeing him alive announces relief. Dreaming of one’s own death has varied meanings: a journey, poverty, repentance or even marriage.
All the symbols in the dictionary