Dream

As I was on the tube this afternoon (getting cooked alive!), I did feel pretty please with myself.... I was doing my sudoko and realised that it has been months since I stopped reading my horoscopes... Well after a looooong debate with myself. I used to always read them telling myself I don't believe it but just wanted to read them for fun.

In order to have something as a start, I thought to cover something about dreams in Islam and felt to share my recent reading on this. But prior to that and in continuation of my reading the horoscopes, I remembered one very important thing I had learnt from the Quran. It says there are three types of people in the world. The Believer the Disbeliever and the Hypocrite.
So after a very long time I decided I must stop and this was the best way for me to do it. I put the article in and after that day have never read them again... I will never be a disbeliever but I definitely don't want to be a hypocrite! Nothings easy at first but slowly slowly we can all change bad habits... Anyway nothing in the papers is ever true anyway!
So this is an interesting read that I recently read and shared my thoughts with many in an Inter-Faith seminar....

Dreams are of three types:Rahmaani (those that come from Allah)Nafsaani (psychological, they come from within a person)Shaytaani (those that come from the Shaytaan).

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

The dreams of the Prophets are wahy (revelation) for they are protected from the Shaytaan. The Ummah is agreed upon this. This is why Ibrahim set out to fulfil the command of Allah to sacrifice his son Ismaa'eel when he saw that in a dream; may peace be upon them both. The dreams of people other than the Prophets are to be examined in the light of the clear Wahy [i.e., the Qur'an and Sunnah].

If they are in accordance with the Qur'aan and Sunnah, all well and good.

Whoever wants to have true dreams should strive to speak honestly, eat halaal food, adhere to the commandments of shari'ah, avoid that which Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) have forbidden, sleep in a state ofcomplete purity facing the Qiblah, and remember Allah until he feels his eyelids drooping. If he does all this, then his dreams can hardly be untrue.

The most truthful of dreams are those that are seen at the time of suhoor [just before dawn], for this is the time when Allah descends and when mercy and forgiveness are close Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said: All dreams are either of two types:
True dreams. These are the dreams of the Prophets and of the righteous people who follow them. They may also happen to other people, but this is very rare, such as the dream of the kaafir king which wasinterpreted for him by Yusuf (peace be upon him). True dreams are those which come true in real life as they were seen in the dream.

Mixed up false dreams, which warn of something. These are of different types:
A. games of the Shaytaan to make a person distressed, such as when he sees his head cut off and he is following it, or he sees himself falling into a crisis and cannot find anyone to save him from it, andso on.B. When he sees some of the angels telling him to do something forbidden, or other things that cannot possibly make sense.C. When he sees something that happens to him in real life, or he wishes it would happen, and he sees it very realistically in his dream; or he see what usually happens to him when he is awake or whatreflects his mood. These dreams usually speak of the future or the present, rarely of the past. See: Fath al-Baari , 12/352-354

Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“If any one of you sees a dream that he likes, this is from Allah, so let him praise Allah 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 Allahfrom its evil and not mention it to anyone, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6584, and Muslim, 5862).

Ibn Hajar said: to sum up what has been said about good dreams, we may say three things:
1. A person should praise Allahfor the good dream2. He should feel happy about it3. 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 dreams, we may say four things:1. He should seek refuge with Allahfrom the evil of the dream2. He should seek refuge with Allahfrom the evil of the Shaytaan3. He should spit to his left three times when he wakes up4. He should not mention it to anyone at all.

Know that the interpretation of dreams falls into various categories. Dreams may be interpreted in the light of the Qur'aan or in the light of the Sunnah, or by means of the proverbs that are current amongpeople, or by names and metaphors, or in terms of opposites.

And Allah knows best