1. Towards the end of time, hardly any dream s will be untrue. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “That will be because the Prophethood and its effects will be so far away in time, so the believers will be given some compensation in the form of dream s which will bring them some good news or will help them to be patient and steadfast in their faith.” (al-Bukhaari, 6499; Muslim, 4200)

   Dreams are of three types: rahmaani (those that come from Allaah), nafsaani (psychological, they come from within a person) and shaytaani (those that come from the Shaytaan). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Dreams are of three types: a dream from Allaah, a dream which causes distress and which comes from the Shaytaan, and a dream which comes from what a person thinks about when he is awake, and he sees it when he is asleep.” (al-Bukhaari, 6499; Muslim, 4200)

2. The dream s of the Prophets are wahy (revelation) for they are protected from the Shaytaan. The Ummah is agreed upon this. This is why Ibraaheem set out to fulfil the command of Allaah to sacrifice his son Ismaa'eel when he saw that in a dream ; may peace be upon them both.

3. The dream s of people other than the Prophets are to be examined in the light of the clear Wahy [i.e., the Qur'aan and Sunnah]. If they are in accordance with the Qur'aan and Sunnah, all well and good; otherwise, they should not be acted upon. This is a very serious matter indeed, for many of the innovators among the Sufis and others have gone astray because of this.

4. Whoever wants to have true dream s should strive to speak honestly, eat halaal food, adhere to the commandments of sharee'ah, avoid that which Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have forbidden, sleep in a state of complete purity facing the Qiblah, and remember Allaah until he feels his eyelids drooping. If he does all this, then his dream s can hardly be untrue.

5. The most truthful of dream s are those that are seen at the time of suhoor [just before dawn], for this is the time when Allaah descends and when mercy and forgiveness are close. It is also the time when the devils are quiet, unlike the time of darkness just after sunset, when the devils and devilish souls spread out.

   (See Madaarij al-Saalikeen , 1/50-52)

    

1. Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he likes, this is from Allaah, so let him praise Allaah for it and talk about it to others. If he sees other than that, a dream that he dislikes, this is from the Shaytaan, so let him seek refuge with Allaah from its evil and not mention it to anyone, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6584, and Muslim, 5862).

2. Abu Qutaadah said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Good dream s come from Allaah, and (bad) dream s come from Shaytaan. Whoever sees something that he dislikes, let him spit to his left three times and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6594, and Muslim, 5862). The “spitting” referred to here is a soft, dry spitting with no saliva ejected.

3. It was reported from Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit to his left three times, and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan three times, and turn over from the side on which he was sleeping.” (Narrated by Muslim, 5864)

Ibn Hajar said: to sum up what has been said about good dream s, we may say three things:

1. A person should praise Allaah for the good dream

2. He should feel happy about it

3. He should talk about it to those whom he loves but not to those whom he dislikes.

To sum up what has been said about bad dream s, we may say four things:

1. He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the dream

2. He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the Shaytaan

3. He should spit to his left three times when he wakes up

4. He should not mention it to anyone at all.

5. In al-Bukhaari, Baab al-Qayd fi'l-Manaam , a fifth thing was narrated from Abu Hurayrah, which is to pray. The wording of the report is: whoever sees something he dislikes (in a dream ) should not tell anyone about it; rather he should get up and pray. This was reported as a Mawsool report by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh .

6. Muslim added a sixth thing, which is to turn over from the side on which one was lying.

In conclusion, there are six things to do, the four mentioned above, plus praying two rak'ahs, for example, and turning over from the side on which one was lying to lie on one's back, for example.

-Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid