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Ants in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
النمل في المنام
In Islam, ants seen in a dream stand for a weak but greedy person, according to the Ibn Sirin collection. In large numbers, they announce an army, offspring, wealth or a long life. On the bed, they are children. If they enter the house carrying food, its wealth grows. If they leave it carrying food, poverty follows.
والنمل إنسان ضعيف حريص والكثير منه جند أو ذرية أو مال أو طول الحياةIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “The ant is a weak and greedy person. Many ants are an army, offspring, wealth or a long life.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 37, vol. 2, p. 9
The collection places the ant in the chapter on insects and small creatures of the earth. It ends that chapter by saying that ants are “thieves and earners”. The ant is also linked to the prophet Sulayman (Solomon), peace be upon him, who understood its speech (Qur’an, surah 27, verses 18 and 19). This is why understanding ants in a dream announces authority.
The meaning according to what you saw
The passage on ants follows the one on lice, over two pages of the collection. Another chapter speaks of the anthill. Here are the cases it describes, in the order of the text.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| You see ants | They stand for the dreamer himself. According to another opinion, his relatives.vol. 2, p. 8 |
| Many ants | An army. Further on, the collection adds: offspring, wealth or a long life.vol. 2, pp. 8 and 9 |
| Ants on the bed | Children.vol. 2, p. 8 |
| Ants come out of their hole | A worry. In the same opinion, seeing ants announces the death of a sick person. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 2, p. 8 |
| You understand the speech of ants | Authority, in reference to the story of Sulayman, peace be upon him.vol. 2, p. 8 |
| Ants enter your house carrying food | The good of the house increases.vol. 2, p. 8 |
| Ants leave your house carrying food | The dreamer becomes poor.vol. 2, pp. 8 and 9 |
| Ants come out of the nose, the ear or another part of the body | The dreamer will die a martyr, if he is glad to see them come out. If it saddens him, there is fear for him.vol. 2, p. 9 |
| Ants enter a village or a town | An army enters it. If they leave it, the soldiers carry something away from that place.vol. 2, p. 9 |
| Ants flee a town or a house | Thieves carry something away from that place, and it will become inhabited, because ants and inhabited places do not go together.vol. 2, p. 9 |
| Many ants in a town, harming no one | The town has many inhabitants.vol. 2, p. 9 |
| You block an ant hole in the ceiling | The collection says that the Arabs call the anthill a “village”. Blocking the ants’ hole in the ceiling of the house means attacking the people of a village unjustly.vol. 2, pp. 74 and 75 |
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 ants in a dream good or bad in Islam?
It depends on what the ants are doing. The Ibn Sirin collection sees an army, children, wealth or a long life when they are many or on the bed. It also sees them as weak and greedy people, or as thieves. Ants leaving the house with food announce poverty.
What does it mean to see ants in the house in a dream?
According to the collection, ants entering the house with food increase its wealth. If they leave with the food, the dreamer becomes poor. If they flee the house, thieves take something from it (vol. 2, pp. 8 and 9).
What do ants on the body mean in a dream in Islam?
The collection speaks of ants coming out of the nose, the ear or another part of the body: the dreamer will die a martyr if he is glad of it, and there is fear for him if it saddens him. It also speaks of ants on the bed, which are children. It says nothing about ants walking on the skin.
Do black, red or flying ants, or killing ants, have a special meaning in Islam?
The collection does not distinguish ants by colour and does not speak of flying ants. Nor does it speak of killing ants. The meanings given to these cases online do not come from this text.
Does the meaning change for a married, single or pregnant woman?
No, the collection makes no such distinction for ants. Its meanings apply to men and women alike. The case closest to family life is that of ants on the bed, which announce children.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 37, vol. 2, pp. 8 and 9 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Same collection, chapter 39, vol. 2, pp. 74 and 75, for the anthill.
- Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.