The Three Types of Dreams in Islam

The full hadith

This hadith is narrated by Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayra. Here is its full text in Muslim’s version.

إِذَا اقْتَرَبَ الزَّمَانُ لَمْ تَكَدْ رُؤْيَا الْمُسْلِمِ تَكْذِبُ وَأَصْدَقُكُمْ رُؤْيَا أَصْدَقُكُمْ حَدِيثًا وَرُؤْيَا الْمُسْلِمِ جُزْءٌ مِنْ خَمْسٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ جُزْءًا مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ وَالرُّؤْيَا ثَلاَثَةٌ فَرُؤْيَا الصَّالِحَةِ بُشْرَى مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرُؤْيَا تَحْزِينٌ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ وَرُؤْيَا مِمَّا يُحَدِّثُ الْمَرْءُ نَفْسَهُ فَإِنْ رَأَى أَحَدُكُمْ مَا يَكْرَهُ فَلْيَقُمْ فَلْيُصَلِّ وَلاَ يُحَدِّثْ بِهَا النَّاسَ“When the time draws near (when the Resurrection is near) a believer’s dream can hardly be false. And the truest vision will be of one who is himself the most truthful in speech, for the vision of a Muslim is the forty-fifth part of Prophecy, and 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; so if any one of you sees a dream which he does not like he should stand up and offer prayer and he should not relate it to people.”
Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, narrated by Abu Hurayra

The text goes on: “I would love to see fetters (in the dream), but I dislike wearing of necklace, for the fetters is (an indication of) one’s steadfastness in religion.” The narrator adds at once: “I do not know whether this is a part of the hadith or the words of Ibn Sirin.”

Al-Bukhari reports the same hadith through another route (no. 7017). In his version, the Prophet ﷺ speaks of the time drawing near and of the part of prophethood. The sentence about the three types of dreams is reported there by Ibn Sirin as something that used to be said. Al-Bukhari notes that other narrators placed all of it inside the hadith, and he finds the version he quotes clearer. In Muslim’s version, the division into three types is still attributed to the Prophet ﷺ.

The good dream, glad tidings

In Arabic, الرؤيا الصالحة. It is the dream that announces some good, or warns against a wrong. The Prophet ﷺ counted it among what remains of prophethood:

لَمْ يَبْقَ مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ إِلاَّ الْمُبَشِّرَاتُ. قَالُوا وَمَا الْمُبَشِّرَاتُ قَالَ الرُّؤْيَا الصَّالِحَةُ“Nothing is left of the prophetism except Al-Mubashshirat.” They asked, “What are Al-Mubashshirat?” He replied, “The true good dreams (that conveys glad tidings).”
Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 6990, narrated by Abu Hurayra

Aisha reports that revelation began, for the Prophet ﷺ, with true dreams: “He never had a dream but that it came true like bright day light” (al-Bukhari, no. 6982).

The good dream may concern the one who sees it, or be shown to him through someone else: “The vision of a Muslim which he sees or which is shown to him” (Muslim, no. 2263, another version). Whoever sees a good dream praises Allah and tells it, but only to those he loves (al-Bukhari, no. 6985 and 7044).

The dream that comes from Satan

The hadith calls it رؤيا تحزين, the dream that causes grief. Other hadiths use the word hulm:

الرُّؤْيَا مِنَ اللَّهِ، وَالْحُلْمُ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ“A true good dream is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 6984, narrated by Abu Qatada

A desert Arab came to tell the Prophet ﷺ that he had dreamt his head was cut off and he was running after it. The Prophet ﷺ answered him: “Do not narrate to the people the vain sporting of satan with you in your sleep” (Muslim, no. 2268). He did not interpret this dream.

The introduction of the collection of Ibn Sirin adds a useful point. The dream attributed to Satan is the one that frightens, that saddens for no reason, or that pushes towards temptation. A dream that warns against a sin or wakes you from heedlessness is not attributed to him, because Satan commands evil and does not turn people away from it. The same passage recalls that Allah remains the creator of everything seen in a dream, the good and the bad alike (vol. 1, p. 2).

For this dream, the Prophet ﷺ taught specific steps, and promised that it would not harm the one who takes them. They are set out on the page what to do after a bad dream in Islam.

What a person tells himself

The third type, حديث النفس, is made of the thoughts of the day. The collection describes it like this: what the soul tells itself of its hopes, its fears and its sorrows, with no wisdom in it that announces anything. It puts in the same place the dreams of someone who falls asleep with a stomach too full or too empty (vol. 1, p. 2).

Abu Sa’id al-Wa’iz, author of the introduction of the collection, is clear: these dreams, like those that come from Satan, have no interpretation (vol. 1, p. 42). Someone who spent the day thinking about an exam and dreams about it at night does not need to look for a message.

A part of prophethood

Several hadiths say that the good dream is a part of prophethood. The numbers differ between the versions, and we quote them as they appear:

• one part in forty-six: al-Bukhari, no. 6983, 6987, 6988, 6989 and 7017; Muslim, no. 2264;
• one part in forty-five: Muslim, no. 2263, in the version quoted above;
• one part in seventy: Muslim, no. 2265, narrated by Ibn Umar.

In the version of Anas, it is “a good dream (that comes true) of a righteous man” (al-Bukhari, no. 6983). The hadith in Muslim also links the quality of dreams to honesty: whoever speaks the truth by day sees truer dreams by night.

True dreams at the end of time

“When the time draws near … a believer’s dream can hardly be false.” This sentence is in al-Bukhari (no. 7017) and in Muslim (no. 2263). The commentators have explained “the time drawing near” in several ways. The most common explanation applies it to the approach of the end of time.

How to tell which type your dream is

The hadiths do not give a test that settles it for sure. They give a way to act, based on how the dream made you feel:

• the dream pleased you: praise Allah, and tell it only to someone who loves you or who has knowledge;
• the dream frightened or saddened you: take the steps that were taught, and do not talk about it;
• the dream replays the worries of the day before: do not look for a meaning in it.

The introduction of the collection adds one marker: a dream that is entirely confused, whose parts do not hold together, belongs to the “jumbled dreams” and is set aside (vol. 1, p. 22). For the dream that can be interpreted, see Ibn Sirin’s method and the entries of the dream dictionary, such as milk in a dream. Our citation rules are on the page method and sources.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Sahih Muslim, Book of Dreams, no. 2263, 2264, 2265 and 2268.
• Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Interpretation of Dreams, no. 6982, 6983, 6984, 6985, 6987, 6988, 6989, 6990, 7017 and 7044.
• Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir al-Ahlam, collection passed down under the name of Muhammad ibn Sirin, introduction, vol. 1, pp. 2, 22, 30 and 42 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
• Hadiths in English: translations of Muhammad Muhsin Khan (al-Bukhari) and Abdul Hamid Siddiqui (Muslim). Other English translations: tafsir-a7lem.com.