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Who Was Ibn Sirin, the Interpreter of Dreams?
Muhammad ibn Sirin, known as Abu Bakr, was a scholar of Basra from the generation of the Tabi’in. He died in the year 110 of the Hijra. His name became the name of dream interpretation itself. He read each dream according to the person who told it, drew on the Qur’an, and often refused to answer. The book that circulates under his name was compiled after him and also quotes other interpreters.
What we know about him for certain
His name is Muhammad ibn Sirin. His kunya is Abu Bakr. He lived in Basra, in Iraq, and belongs to the Tabi’in, the generation that knew the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ without having known the Prophet himself. He died in the year 110 of the Hijra.
Many stories about his life are passed around. We only keep what is certain. One more fact can be checked in the sources: Ibn Sirin was a narrator of hadith. His name appears in the chains of the book of dreams in Sahih Muslim (no. 2263 and 2266) and in Sahih al-Bukhari (no. 6998, 7010 and 7017). Al-Bukhari even quotes his opinion after the hadith “Whoever sees me in a dream will see me in his wakefulness, and Satan cannot imitate me in shape”:
قَالَ ابْنُ سِيرِينَ إِذَا رَآهُ فِي صُورَتِهِIbn Sirin said: “Only if he sees the Prophet (ﷺ) in his (real) shape.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 6993
The hadith of the three types of dreams he narrated
The best-known hadith on the types of dreams comes through him. In Sahih Muslim, the chain ends like this: Ayyub as-Sakhtiyani, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayra, from the Prophet ﷺ.
وَالرُّؤْيَا ثَلاَثَةٌ فَرُؤْيَا الصَّالِحَةِ بُشْرَى مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرُؤْيَا تَحْزِينٌ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ وَرُؤْيَا مِمَّا يُحَدِّثُ الْمَرْءُ نَفْسَهُ“…dreams are of three types: one good dream which is a sort of good tidings from Allah; the evil dream which causes pain is from the satan; and the third one is a suggestion of one’s own mind…”
Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, chain: Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayra
In al-Bukhari’s version (no. 7017), Ibn Sirin presents the part about the three types of dreams as something that “used to be said”, and al-Bukhari notes that other narrators placed it inside the hadith. The details are on our page the three types of dreams in Islam.
An interpreter who often stayed silent
The introduction of the collection quotes Ibn Qutayba, a scholar who came long after him, who holds him up as the model of caution:
وقد كان محمد بن سيرين إمام الناس في هذا الفن، وكان ما يمسك عنه أكثر مما يفسر“Muhammad ibn Sirin was the leading master of this art, and what he declined to interpret was more than what he interpreted.”
Muntakhab al-Kalam, introduction, vol. 1, p. 22
Right after, a man who attended his sittings says that, by his own estimate, Ibn Sirin interpreted only one dream in forty.
When he did answer, he took his time. The collection reports that he would stay a long while with the person, asking about their state, their trade, their family and how they earned a living, and that he overlooked no clue (vol. 1, p. 27).
His method in four stories
Four stories from the collection, in which he is named, show how he worked.
1. The same dream, two answers
Two men tell him the same dream: they were making the call to prayer. To the first, he foretells the Hajj. To the second, the cutting off of hands. The first man looked upright, and he thought of the verse announcing the Hajj, “And proclaim to the people the Hajj” (22:27). The second looked like a man of bad character, and he thought of the verse where a caller accuses a caravan of theft, “O caravan, indeed you are thieves” (12:70). The dream was the same. The dreamer was not.
Muntakhab al-Kalam, chapter 9, vol. 1, pp. 84 and 85
2. Forty dates, in two seasons
A man dreams that he finds forty dates. Ibn Sirin tells him: “You will receive forty lashes.” Later, the same man again dreams of forty dates, this time at the sultan’s door. Ibn Sirin tells him he will receive forty thousand dirhams. The man is surprised by these two opposite answers.
لأنك قصصت علي رؤياك في المرة الأولى وقد يبست الأشجار وأدبرت السنة وأتيتني هذه المرة وقد دبت المياه في الأشجار“Because the first time, you told me your dream when the trees had dried up and the year was coming to its end. This time, you came to me when the sap was rising in the trees.”
Muntakhab al-Kalam, chapter 27, vol. 1, p. 236
The collection adds that both interpretations came true. The introduction gives the same rule: a dream seen when the trees bear their fruit is stronger than a dream seen when they have lost their leaves (vol. 1, p. 26).
3. The shackle, the iron collar and the wooden yoke
A woman tells him she saw a man wearing a shackle and an iron collar. Ibn Sirin at first rejects the dream:
القيد ثبات في الدين وإيمان والغل خيانة وكفر ولا يكون المؤمن كافرا“The shackle is firmness in religion and faith. The iron collar is treachery and disbelief. And a believer cannot be a disbeliever.”
Muntakhab al-Kalam, introduction, vol. 1, pp. 28 and 29
The woman insists and explains that the iron collar was set in a wooden yoke. Then Ibn Sirin understands. Wood, in a dream, stands for hypocrisy, from the verse about the hypocrites: “as if they were pieces of wood propped up” (63:4). The wooden yoke confirms the collar and outweighs the shackle. He concludes that this man claims a father or a tribe other than his own. The collection calls such a detail a “witness”: an element of the dream that tips the interpretation one way.
4. Milk and the fitra
A man tells him a long dream in which a cup of milk is poured into another. Ibn Sirin starts with: “Milk is the fitra“, then gives a meaning to each element, one after the other (chapter 23, vol. 1, p. 180). See the entry milk in a dream in Islam.
The book that bears his name
The Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir al-Ahlam is often presented as “Ibn Sirin’s book”. The text itself shows that it is more complicated.
- The book opens with the introduction of an author named Abu Sa’id al-Wa’iz. He writes there that he asked Allah to guide him before “gathering a part” of this science (vol. 1, p. 40).
- Abu Sa’id quotes the hadith of the three types of dreams with his own chain, which goes through four narrators before reaching Muhammad ibn Sirin (vol. 1, p. 32). So he lived several generations after him.
- The name of Ibn Sirin appears about 170 times. The phrase وقيل (“and it was said”), which introduces another opinion, about 670 times.
- The record of the digital edition (Shamela, taken up in the OpenITI corpus), where our Arabic text comes from, states that the book is attributed to Ibn Sirin and that this attribution is not established.
So it is a collection passed down under his name, where his interpretations sit beside those of other interpreters. We write “Ibn Sirin said” only when the Arabic text names him, and “in the collection of Ibn Sirin” for the rest. Our rules are set out on the page our method and sources.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Ibn Sirin in Islam?
Muhammad ibn Sirin, known as Abu Bakr, was a scholar of Basra from the generation of the Tabi’in. He died in the year 110 of the Hijra. He narrated hadiths found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. His name stayed linked to dream interpretation.
Did Ibn Sirin write the book of dream interpretation?
The book known under his name was compiled after him. Its introduction is by Abu Sa’id al-Wa’iz, who reports Ibn Sirin’s words through a chain of narrators. The collection quotes Ibn Sirin by name, but also many other opinions.
How did Ibn Sirin interpret dreams?
He took into account the person, their state and the time of year. He drew on the Qur’an and on the details of the dream. According to the collection, he declined to answer more often than he answered.
Which hadith about dreams did Ibn Sirin narrate?
He narrated from Abu Hurayra the hadith of the three types of dreams: the good dream that comes from Allah, the dream that causes grief and comes from Satan, and what a person tells himself. It is in Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, and in another form in Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 7017.
Can we rely on Ibn Sirin’s dream interpretations today?
The collection itself reminds us that interpretation is analogy and supposition, not certainty. It depends on the person and on the details of the dream. These interpretations shed light on a dream without deciding the future.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir al-Ahlam, collection passed down under the name of Muhammad ibn Sirin: introduction, vol. 1, pp. 3, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32 and 40; chapter 9, pp. 84 and 85; chapter 23, p. 180; chapter 27, p. 236 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Dreams, no. 2263 and 2266.
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Interpretation of Dreams, no. 6993, 6998, 7010 and 7017.
- Hadiths in English: translations of Muhammad Muhsin Khan (al-Bukhari) and Abdul Hamid Siddiqui (Muslim). Verses: Sahih International. Other English translations: tafsir-a7lem.com.