Home › Dream dictionary › Vegetables
Vegetables in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
البقول في المنام
In Islam, vegetables seen in a dream are not a very good sign. The Ibn Sirin collection says that most interpreters see in them worry and sadness, and a group of interpreters it quotes says that eating vegetables is worry. Others consider them praiseworthy. Some vegetables have their own meaning: the gourd announces healing for the sick, the radish lawful provision, garlic a bad reputation.
وأكثر المعبرين يجعلون البقول هما وحزناIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Most interpreters make vegetables a worry and a sadness.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 44, vol. 2, p. 245
The Arabic word in the collection, buqûl, means green vegetables and garden herbs. Chapter 44, on seeds, crops and plants, often mentions them with reserve: they have neither fat nor sweetness, and the Qur’an sets them against “what is better”. The same chapter also gives a meaning to several vegetables one by one.
The meaning according to what you saw
Here are the cases that the Ibn Sirin collection describes for vegetables, in the order of the text.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| You eat vegetables | According to a group of interpreters quoted by the collection, vegetables, and plants whose number of stalks in their ground is not known, are worry and sadness, and eating vegetables is worry and sadness. In the same passage, mint announces someone who brings news of a death.vol. 2, p. 224 |
| Broad beans, lentils or chickpeas | Cooked or roasted, fresh or dried, they are worry and sadness for whoever eats or obtains them. In large quantity, they are wealth. According to another opinion, green broad beans are worry and dried broad beans wealth with joy, and lentils wealth of little value.vol. 2, p. 231 |
| Cucumbers | According to one opinion, the pregnancy of the dreamer’s wife. According to another, they are disliked, like vegetables and lentils. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 2, p. 232 |
| A gourd, or a gourd plant | The plant is a learned man or a useful physician, close to people and blessed; according to one opinion, a poor man. For the sick, the gourd is healing. Eating it cooked: you find a lost object, you retain knowledge or you gather what was scattered. Eating it raw: a quarrel and a fright caused by the jinn. Sitting in the shade of a gourd plant: company after loneliness and peace after a quarrel.vol. 2, p. 232 |
| You pick a gourd in the vegetable garden | You recover from an illness through a remedy or a supplication. The collection links this meaning to the story of the prophet Yunus (Jonah, peace be upon him).vol. 2, p. 232 |
| An aubergine | Out of season, it is disliked. In season, provision obtained with toil.vol. 2, p. 232 |
| An onion | Some interpreters dislike it, because of the verse in which it is mentioned. Others see in it the appearance of hidden things, as with all strong-smelling vegetables. Others say it is money (wealth). Peeling an onion: flattering a man.vol. 2, pp. 232 and 233 |
| Garlic | A bad reputation. According to one opinion, unlawful money. Eating it cooked: repentance from a sin.vol. 2, p. 233 |
| Carrots | Worry and sadness for whoever obtains or eats them. A carrot in the hand: a difficult matter that becomes easy. According to some, eating carrots announces good and a profit.vol. 2, p. 233 |
| Radishes or turnips | The radish is lawful provision. One opinion sees in it the hajj, but the collection considers this unlikely. According to another opinion, whoever eats it does a good deed followed by regret. The turnip, and everything that animals eat, is great provision.vol. 2, p. 240 |
| Vegetables in general | Interpreters disagree. For some, they are good and praiseworthy. For others, they are all disliked, because of the verse: “Would you exchange what is better for what is less?” (Surah 2, verse 61), and because they have neither fat nor sweetness. For others, they are a trade that does not last, a position that does not hold, a child and wealth that do not remain. And when they announce sadness, that sadness does not last.vol. 2, p. 241 |
| A garden plant, or a bunch of vegetables picked in your garden | The garden plant (baqla) stands for beneficent men. If you pick a bunch of vegetables in your garden, harm and a quarrel come to you from your wives’ relatives. A single stalk of a vegetable is a warning, so that you guard yourself against harm. Dried green vegetables are wealth used to restore other wealth. A plant rooted in a place where it is not usually seen is a man. The same goes for any plant, one or two stalks, that grows where it is not expected, in a house or a mosque: it is a man who has entered among the people of that place through a marriage tie or a partnership.vol. 2, p. 245 |
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
Is seeing vegetables in a dream good or bad in Islam?
The Ibn Sirin collection leans towards worry: most interpreters make vegetables a worry and a sadness (vol. 2, p. 245). It also quotes those who consider them praiseworthy, and those for whom the sadness they announce does not last.
What does eating vegetables in a dream mean in Islam?
The collection quotes a group of interpreters for whom eating vegetables is worry and sadness (vol. 2, p. 224). Some vegetables are exceptions: cooked gourd announces a lost object found or knowledge retained, cooked garlic repentance, and for some interpreters, carrots announce good.
What do green or fresh vegetables mean in a dream in Islam?
The collection does not speak of fresh vegetables in general. It only distinguishes green broad beans, a sign of worry, from dried broad beans, a sign of wealth. It also says that dried green vegetables are wealth used to restore other wealth.
What does picking vegetables in a dream mean in Islam?
Picking a bunch of vegetables in your garden announces harm and a quarrel coming from your wives’ relatives (vol. 2, p. 245). Picking a gourd in the vegetable garden, on the other hand, announces healing through a remedy or a supplication (p. 232).
What do interpreters say about onions and garlic in a dream?
For the onion, opinions differ: some dislike it, others see hidden things coming to light, others wealth. Garlic is a bad reputation, or unlawful money, but eating it cooked announces repentance from a sin.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 44, vol. 2, pp. 231 to 245, and chapter 43, vol. 2, p. 224 (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.