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The Sunan of Dreams
According to the Hadeeth of Abi Hurayrah, a dream is one of three types:
1) Good dream, which is a glad-tiding from Allāh. There are specific manners of Sunnah on how to deal with good dreams, and these manners will be mentioned later.
2) Bad dream, and it is from Satan. There are specific manners of Sunnah on how to deal with bad dreams. If these manners are followed, bad dreams will never cause any harm.
3) A person may dream about what he was thinking about before sleeping, and it is nothing to worry about.
The Ahādeeth that illustrate the Sunan of Dreams:
Abu Salamah (ABPWH) narrated,
“I used to have dreams that would make me sick. I then heard Abā Qatādah saying, ‘I used to have dreams that would make me sick, until I heard the Prophet (PBUH) saying, “A good dream is from Allāh, so if any one of you has a dream which he likes, he should not tell it to anybody except to someone whom he loves, and if he has a dream which he dislikes, then he should blow three times towards his left side, seek refuge with Allāh from from the evil of Satan and from the evil of this dream, and he should not tell it to anybody, and thus it will not harm him.”.’.”
Abu Salamah (ABPWH) also said,
“I used to have dreams the burden of which is heavier on me than the mountain of Uhud. Since I heard this Hadeeth however, I would just not care about them.”
(Al-Bukhāriy no. 5747, Muslim no. 2261)
In another narration,
“A good dream is from Allāh, and a bad dream is from Satan, so if any one of you sees a dream that he fears, he should blow on his left side and seek refuge with Allāh from the evil of this dream, and thus it will not harm him.”
(Al-Bukhāriy no. 3292, Muslim no. 2261)
Jābir (ABPWH) narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said,
“… and let him ask Allāh’s refuge against Satan, and let him turn around and sleep on his other side.”
(Muslim no. 2262)
Abu Sa‘eed Il-Khudriy (ABPWH) narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said,
“If any one of you saw a dream which he liked then it is from Allāh, and thus he should praise Allāh for it.”
(Al-Bukhāriy no. 7045)
In conlusion from the previous Ahādeeth, the Sunnah for one who sees a good dream is to do the following:
1. Praise Allāh, because it is from Him.
2. Only tell it to those whom he loves.
On the other hand, it is Sunnah for one who sees a bad dream to do the following:
1. Blow on his left side three times.
2. Seek refuge in Allāh, the Almighty, from Satan and from the evil of what he saw by saying, “I seek refuge in Allāh from Satan and from the evil of this dream,” three times.
3. Avoid telling it to anyone in order to avoid its harm as the Prophet (PBUH) commanded.
4. Turn around and sleep on the other side. If one is sleeping on his back then he should turn to sleep on his side, and so on.
5. Rise up from sleep and pray two Rak‘ahs.
We can conclude the following from the previous Ahādeeth:
A Muslim’s dream is a part of the Prophecy, and thus if a Muslim is truthful while he is awake, his dreams will be closer to truth and reality. This is the effect and blessing of truthfulness on the life of a Muslim, even while sleeping.
