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Seeing a Dead Person in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
الميت في المنام
In Islam, seeing a person who has already died in a dream is read first from what he does. The Ibn Sirin collection sets this rule: if the dead person does a good deed, he urges you to do it; if he does a bad deed, he forbids it to you. A dead person who smiles, is well dressed or greets you is in a good state with Allah. One who asks for something needs your supplications.
إذا رأيت ميتا في منامك يعمل شيئا حسنا فإنه يحثك على فعل ذلك وإذا رأيته يعمل عملا سيئا فإنه ينهاك عن فعلهIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “If you see in your dream a dead person doing something good, he is urging you to do it. If you see him doing a bad deed, he is forbidding you from doing it.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 16, vol. 1, p. 117
This rule is given by Abu Sa’id al-Wa’iz, the author who put the collection together, at the end of the chapter on death and the dead. It concerns a person who has already died and whom you see in a dream. The dream in which someone dies, you or a living relative, has its own meaning: it is covered on the page about death.
The meaning according to what the dead person does
Chapter 16 of the collection gives several pages to the dead seen in dreams. Here are the most useful cases, in the order of the text.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| A dead person you know dies a second time, and people weep for him without wailing | One of his descendants marries, and the weeping announces relief in the family. According to another opinion, it is the death of one of his descendants.vol. 1, p. 105 |
| You eat with a dead person | A long life.vol. 1, p. 107 |
| A dead person asks for his clothes to be washed | He needs supplications and charity, or a debt settled, an opponent reconciled, a will carried out. If someone washes his clothes, it is a good that reaches him.vol. 1, p. 107 |
| You see a dead person alive | Your situation improves after it had gone bad, and ease comes after hardship, from where you did not expect it.vol. 1, p. 111 |
| The dead person tells you he is not dead | He is in a good state in the Hereafter. The same if he wears a crown or rings, or if he is seated on a couch. Green clothes show that he died a martyr.vol. 1, p. 111 |
| The dead person laughs, or has a smiling face | The dead person who laughs is forgiven. One with a smiling face who does not speak to you is pleased with you, because your kindness has reached him.vol. 1, p. 111 |
| The dead person turns away from you or strikes you | You have committed an act of disobedience. According to another opinion, the dead person who strikes you is claiming a debt from you.vol. 1, pp. 111-112 |
| The dead person is naked | He left this world without good deeds. According to another opinion, his nakedness is his rest.vol. 1, p. 112 |
| The dead person laughs and then weeps | The collection says that he did not die a Muslim. It says the same of a dead person whose face has turned black.vol. 1, p. 112 |
| Your late father or mother is alive | Relief from a worry. The collection specifies that the dream of the father is stronger.vol. 1, p. 112 |
| A dead person calls you and you follow him into an unknown house without coming out | You will die. If you do not follow him all the way, or if you come out, you come close to death and then you are saved.vol. 1, pp. 114-115 |
| The dead person greets you, takes your hand or embraces you | His greeting shows his good state with Allah. If he takes your hand, an unhoped-for good comes to you. An embrace of affection announces a long life; an embrace of quarrel is not a good sign.vol. 1, p. 116 |
Before you interpret your dream
Not every dream carries a meaning. The Prophet ﷺ described three kinds: a good dream, which is glad tidings from Allah; a distressing dream, which comes from Satan; and what a person tells himself during the day (Sahih Muslim, no. 2263). Only the first is read with a collection like Ibn Sirin’s. See the three kinds of dreams, and if your dream frightened you, what to do after a bad dream.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to see someone who has already died in a dream in Islam?
The collection looks first at what the dead person does. If he does good, he invites you to do it; if he does evil, he forbids it to you (vol. 1, p. 117). Seeing a dead person alive announces that your situation improves after a hard period.
Is seeing a dead person smiling in a dream a good sign?
Yes. According to the collection, the dead person who laughs is forgiven, and the one with a smiling face is pleased with you because your kindness has reached him (vol. 1, p. 111).
What does it mean when a dead person hugs you in a dream?
If the embrace is affectionate, the collection sees in it a long life for the dreamer. If it looks like a grip or a quarrel, the dream is not good (vol. 1, p. 116).
A dead person asks me for something in a dream: what should I do?
The collection says that a dead person who asks for his clothes to be washed needs supplications and charity, or that a debt, a wrong or a will remains to be settled (vol. 1, p. 107). Making supplications and giving charity on his behalf answers this dream.
What does it mean to dream of someone who is already dead dying again?
If people weep for him without cries or wailing, one of his descendants marries and the family finds relief. Another opinion quoted in the collection sees in it the death of one of his descendants (vol. 1, p. 105).
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 16 (death, the dead, graves), vol. 1, pp. 105 to 117 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.