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Dreaming of a deceased person or of death in Islam
Did this dream upset you?Seek Allah’s protection, blow lightly three times to your left, turn onto your other side, pray if you can, and tell no one: “it will not harm you”.Details and sources
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)
In short
Seeing 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.
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
ميتا في هيئة حسنة أو عليه ثياب بيض أو خضر وهو ضاحك السن مستبشر فهو كما رأى وإن رآه أشعث أغبر عليه ثياب بالية أو باكيا مقطب الوجه دل على سوء حاله
[Whoever sees] a deceased person in a pleasant state, or dressed in white or green, smiling and cheerful: he is as he was seen. If he sees him dishevelled and dusty, in worn clothes, or weeping with a frowning face, it indicates [the deceased’s] bad state.
وما أخبر به الميت عن نفسه أو غيره في المنام فهو حق وصدق لأنه صار في دار الحق من دار الباطل فلا يقول إلا حقا
What the deceased reports in a dream, about himself or others, is true and sincere, for he has passed from the abode of falsehood to the abode of truth: he says only what is true.
وقيل الموت سفر ونقلة وقيل الموت فقر ومن مات ودفن فإنه يموت بلا توبة وإن خرج من قبره فإنه يتوب وقيل الموت على الإطلاق زواج لأن الميت يحتاج إلى الطيب والغسل كالمتزوج
It has been said that [the dreamer’s own] death is a journey and a move; it has been said that it is poverty. Whoever dies and is buried [in the dream] dies without repenting; if he comes out of his grave, he repents. It has also been said that death, in general, is marriage, for the dead need perfume and washing, as does the bridegroom.
Muntakhab al-Kalām fī Tafsīr al-Aḥlām (attributed to Ibn Sirin)
Attribution to Ibn Sirin rejected: why
فإن رأى ميتا كأنه حي فإنه يصلح أمره بعد الفساد ويعقب عسره يسر من حيث لا يحتسب
If he sees a deceased person as if alive, his affairs are set right after going wrong, and ease follows his hardship from where he did not expect.
فإن رأى الأموات مستبشرين دل على حسن حاله عند الله تعالى لأنهم في دار الحق
If he sees the dead joyful, it indicates his own good standing with Allah, for they are in the abode of truth.
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)
Related symbols
- CryingFor al-Nabulusi, weeping out of fear of Allah, on hearing the Quran or from regret for a sin announces relief, joy and the end of worries; screaming and striking oneself are a bad sign.
- IllnessAl-Nabulusi interprets illness as a weakness in faith, and specifies that whoever sees himself ill is in good health that year.
- The Prophet ﷺThe authentic hadith says the devil cannot take the Prophet’s ﷺ form. Ibn Sirin asked dreamers to describe what they had seen, and interpreters say that seeing him in a fine form reflects the good state of the dreamer’s religion.
All the symbols in the dictionary