Dreams (ahlam)

Dreams are the images and tidings that come in sleep. The hadith collections divide them into three: the true dream (ru'ya) from God, the bad dream (hulm) from Satan, and the soul's idle talk which is not acted on ^{1 2}. In the Qur'an dreams appear in many settings: the stories of the prophets such as Joseph ³, Abraham's dream of the sacrifice ³, and the Prophet ﷺ's dream that God fulfilled ³.

The true dream is from God and a glad tidings for the believer, a remnant of prophethood after revelation ceased. Malik relates from Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him) that the Prophet said: "The good dream of a righteous man is one forty-sixth of prophethood" ⁴. From Ata' ibn Yasar: "Nothing will remain of prophethood after me except the mubashshirat." They asked: "And what are the mubashshirat?" He said: "The righteous dream which a righteous man sees, or which is shown to him — one forty-sixth of prophethood" ⁵. After the morning prayer the Prophet would ask his Companions, "Did any of you see a dream last night?", and say: "Nothing will remain of prophethood after me except the righteous dream" ⁵.

Malik also relates from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that he used to say of the verse that holds glad tidings in this world and the next Yunus 64: it is the righteous dream a righteous man sees, or which is shown to him ⁶. The righteous dream connects to mubashshirat, the fiqh of the dream and dream interpretation.

The bad dream is from Satan, who frightens the believer in his sleep. Malik relates from Abu Qatada ibn Rib'i that he heard the Prophet say: "The righteous dream is from God, and the bad dream is from Satan; when one of you sees what he dislikes, let him blow on his left three times when he wakes, and seek refuge in God from its evil, for it will not harm him God willing" ⁶. Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman, who heard this hadith, said: "I used to see a dream heavier on me than a mountain; when I heard this hadith I no longer minded it" ⁶. On it is built what the fiqh books hold of the rulings of the bad dream and ihtilam.

Hadith al-nafs is what a person dreams of himself, neither from God nor from Satan; it is not told and not interpreted, as the reports of the people of knowledge hold ⁷.

Dreams are mentioned in the Qur'an in many places:

• The story of Joseph: the youth's dream of the stars, the sun and the moon, and Jacob's forbidding him to tell his brothers Yusuf 4 5; the two young men's dream in prison 36; the king's dream and the "idle dreams" said of it 43 44; Jacob's "this is the interpretation of my dream of old that my Lord has made true" 100.
• Abraham's dream: "I see in a dream that I am sacrificing you" and "you have fulfilled the vision" As-Saffat 102 105.
• The Prophet's fulfilled dream: the glad tidings of the dream at Badr Al-Fath 27, "the vision We showed you was only a trial for the people" Al-Isra' 60, and "when God showed them to you in your dream as few" Al-Anfal 43.
• Sleep and the sleeper: "and your sleep by night and day" Ar-Rum 23, and "and she who has not died in her sleep" Az-Zumar 42.
• Idle dreams: "idle dreams" said by the deniers Al-Anbiya' 5, and "or do their idle fancies command them to this?" At-Tur 32.

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The hadith books gather the chapter of dreams: a whole book in the two Sahihs, chapters in the Muwatta's Jami', and separate chapters in the Sunan ^{1 2 7 8}. Among the best known reports:

• The Prophet's dream of milk: he drank milk until the whey ran in his nails, then gave to Umar; he interpreted it as knowledge Bukhari 3681.
• The dream of Umar's palace in Paradise: the Prophet saw it and held back from looking, out of Umar's known jealousy Bukhari 3680.
• The dream at the Kaaba: "He showed me last night at the Kaaba" — he saw Jesus circumambulating and a curly one-eyed man called the Dajjal Muwatta 2666.
• The dream of Laylat al-Qadr: shown in Ramadan the night of the dispute, raised, so seek it in the last seven Muwatta 894, and the Companions' agreeing dream of the last ten Muwatta 895.
• Abdullah ibn Zayd's dream of the adhan: two pieces of wood in sleep that became the cause of the call to prayer Muwatta 1:172.
• A'isha's dream of three moons: they fell in her chamber and she told Abu Bakr Muwatta 2:623.
• Ibn Umar's dream of silk brocade: a piece that flew to every place in Paradise; the Prophet said "What a good man Abdullah is — would he prayed at night", and he took to night prayer Muslim 2479.
• Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him)'s dream: it came to him in sleep and he was taught the seeking-refuge formula Muwatta 2737.

The people of knowledge used to interpret dreams for their owners, as in the story of Joseph where the king's companions were asked "expound for me my dream, if ye can interpret dreams" Yusuf 43. For this there are standalone books, the best known being Tafsir al-Ahlam attributed to Ibn Sirin; the museum reviews its modern discussion in dream interpretation today and the fatwa dreaming of blasphemy.

• Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a: the true dream is from God, the bad dream from Satan, and the soul's talk from the soul; no shar'i ruling is built on a bad dream.
• The exegetes: some explained "expound for me my vision, if ye can interpret dreams" in the Joseph story Qur'an 12:43 as an indication that dream interpretation was known in those times.