Home, wealth, objects
Dreaming of a house in Islam
In short
The 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.
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
(دار) هي في المنام دنيا الرجل فمن رأى أنه له دارا جديدة مطينة كاملة المرافق فإنه إن كان فقيرا استغنى وإن كان مهموما فرج عنه
A house in a dream is a man’s worldly life. Whoever sees himself owning a new, plastered house with all its amenities: if poor, he becomes rich; if worried, he is relieved.
(بيت) في المنام على وجوه هو زوجة الرجل التي يأوي إليها ومنه يقال دخل فلان بيته إذا تزوج
The dwelling room (bayt) in a dream has several meanings: it is the wife with whom a man finds refuge; hence people say “so-and-so entered his house” when he married.
Muntakhab al-Kalām fī Tafsīr al-Aḥlām (attributed to Ibn Sirin)
Attribution to Ibn Sirin rejected: why
وأما الدور فهي دالة على أربابها فما نزل بها من هدم أو ضيق أو سعة أو خير أو شر عاد ذلك على أهلها وأربابها وسكانها
Houses stand for their owners: whatever befalls them — demolition, narrowness, spaciousness, good or evil — comes back upon their people, owners and inhabitants.
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
- FireFire has opposite meanings: power, trial or sin, but also guidance and knowledge, since one is guided by its light. Fire in the heart is, for al-Nabulusi, intense love.
- FloodFor al-Nabulusi a torrent is first an enemy’s attack; but clear, calm water from which people benefit announces successive blessings, and seeing a torrent may herald rain.
- 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