Our Method and Our Sources

The collection of Ibn Sirin

Our main source is the Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir al-Ahlam, in Arabic منتخب الكلام في تفسير الأحلام. It is the book commonly called “Ibn Sirin’s dream interpretation”.

• The text. We use the complete Arabic text of al-Maktaba al-Shamela (book no. 21615), as taken up in the OpenITI corpus, which publishes old Arabic texts in open access.
• The edition. This text follows a printed edition by the publisher Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, where the collection appears in the margin of another book, the Ta’tir al-Anam of an-Nabulusi.
• The pages. The book has two volumes and fifty-nine chapters. The digital text keeps the page numbers of the printed edition: when we write “vol. 1, p. 180”, it is the page where the sentence appears in that edition.

Who speaks in the collection

The collection was not written by a single hand. It opens with a general introduction, then with that of Abu Sa’id al-Wa’iz, who says he gathered this material (vol. 1, p. 40). Across the chapters, there are three kinds of passages:

• those where Ibn Sirin is named: a saying or a story, often opening with “a man came to Ibn Sirin”;
• those that name no one, or that quote Abu Sa’id and other interpreters;
• those that begin with وقيل (“and it was said”) or وقال بعضهم (“some said”), which give another opinion.

The record of the digital edition also states that the book is attributed to Ibn Sirin without this attribution being established. From this we draw three writing rules.

1. “Ibn Sirin said”: only when the Arabic text names him for that sentence.
2. “In the collection of Ibn Sirin”: for all other passages of the book.
3. “According to another opinion” or “another opinion quoted in the collection”: for sentences introduced by وقيل or وقال بعضهم.

Stories featuring Ibn Sirin are only used if he is named in them. You will find several on the page who was Ibn Sirin.

How we translate

All translations of the collection from Arabic are made by the site, sentence by sentence, from the original text. We follow three principles:

• stay as close as possible to the Arabic meaning, in short sentences;
• do not soften a negative meaning, and promise nothing the text does not promise;
• keep the usual religious words when English has no exact match, such as fitra or zakat.

When an Arabic sentence is unclear, we say so, or we do not use it.

The hadiths

We quote only two collections, and in each one the book devoted to dreams:

• Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Interpretation of Dreams, hadith no. 6982 to 7047;
• Sahih Muslim, Book of Dreams, hadith no. 2261 to 2275.

The numbers are those of the common numbering, used by most editions and hadith databases. In Muslim, one number often groups several versions of a hadith; when we quote a particular version, we say so. The English text of the hadiths is that of Muhammad Muhsin Khan for al-Bukhari and Abdul Hamid Siddiqui for Muslim, copied without changes. The collection of Ibn Sirin also reports hadiths, sometimes with no chain of narration. We present them as words of the Prophet ﷺ only if we find them in al-Bukhari or Muslim. Otherwise, we write that they are “reported in the collection”.

الرُّؤْيَا الصَّالِحَةُ مِنَ اللَّهِ، وَالْحُلْمُ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ“A good dream that comes true is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 6986, narrated by Abu Qatada

This hadith, together with the hadith of the three types of dreams (Muslim, no. 2263), sets the frame of the site: only the good dream is interpreted. The bad dream calls for specific steps, set out on the page what to do after a bad dream, and the dream that comes from the thoughts of the day has no meaning to look for. See the three types of dreams in Islam.

The Qur’an

The collection often relies on verses. We quote them in Arabic when it helps, with the Sahih International translation, in short quotations, and the reference by surah and verse. An example, from the story of the call to prayer: “And proclaim to the people the Hajj” (Surah al-Hajj, 22:27).

What we leave aside

Some passages of the collection reflect the knowledge of their time more than the religion. We do not present them as rules:

• the meaning given to the cawing of the crow, and the days held to be unlucky for telling a dream (vol. 1, p. 45);
• explanations based on the humours of the body, such as bile or blood (vol. 1, pp. 11, 42 and 43);
• calculations based on the numerical value of letters, found in a few stories.

The collection itself asks the interpreter not to rely on omens or on the calculations of astrologers (vol. 1, pp. 3 and 4). And it reminds us that interpretation is “analogy, reflection, comparison and supposition” (vol. 1, p. 3). Our entries therefore give possible meanings, backed by texts. They do not replace the advice of a scholar on a religious question that concerns you.

Report an error

A translation looks wrong to you, a page does not match, a hadith has the wrong number? Write to us at [to be completed]. Give the address of the page, the sentence in question and, if you have it, the reference you checked. We check against the Arabic text and correct the page if the error is confirmed.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir al-Ahlam (منتخب الكلام في تفسير الأحلام), collection passed down under the name of Muhammad ibn Sirin, Arabic text of al-Maktaba al-Shamela (no. 21615), OpenITI corpus; Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi edition, in the margin of the Ta’tir al-Anam of an-Nabulusi. Introduction, vol. 1, pp. 3, 4, 11, 40, 42, 43 and 45.
• Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Interpretation of Dreams, no. 6982 to 7047 (quoted here: no. 6986), translation of Muhammad Muhsin Khan.
• Sahih Muslim, Book of Dreams, no. 2261 to 2275 (quoted here: no. 2263), translation of Abdul Hamid Siddiqui.
• The Qur’an, Sahih International translation.