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Black Colour in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
السواد في المنام
In Islam, black in a dream has two sides. The Ibn Sirin collection says that black clothes point to “standing and wealth, or to evil, illness, sins and punishment”. For someone who usually wears black, it is a good sign. For others, it is disliked. Ibn Sirin himself interpreted the black half of his body, seen in a dream, as his night devotions.
والسواد من ألوان الثياب دال على السودد والمال أو على السوء والمرض والذنوب والعذابIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Black, among the colours of clothes, points to standing and wealth, or to evil, illness, sins and punishment.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 58, vol. 2, p. 352
In Arabic, the word for standing, su’dud, has the same root as the word for black, sawad, and the collection often joins the two. Yet the same sentence also gives black a painful meaning. The collection decides by the context: the dreamer’s habit, the object that is black and its state.
The meaning according to what you saw
The collection speaks of black in connection with clothes, the face, weapons, water and fruit. Here are the cases it describes.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| You wear black clothes | For someone who usually wears them and is known for it, standing, wealth and power. For others, a misfortune that befalls them. According to another opinion, for a sick person they announce death, because the sick person’s family wears them.vol. 1, pp. 247 and 255 |
| Your face turns black while you wear white clothes | The birth of a daughter, after the verse: “And when one of them is informed of [the birth of] a female, his face becomes dark” (Surah an-Nahl, verse 58). The collection reports that the caliph al-Mahdi saw his face black in a dream and woke up frightened. His interpreter announced a daughter to him and recited this verse. A daughter was born to him that same night, and he was glad of it.vol. 1, p. 135 |
| Your face is black and your clothes are dirty | The dreamer lies about Allah. If the face is black and covered with dust, the dream announces his death.vol. 1, p. 135 |
| A brave man sees his face black | He becomes a coward. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 136 |
| Black eyes | The black eye is religion.vol. 1, p. 146 |
| Black banners | Drought. The banner can also stand for an ascetic scholar: if it is black, standing will be seen from him. According to another opinion, black banners announce rain that reaches everyone.vol. 1, p. 275 |
| A black shield | A man with wealth and standing.vol. 1, p. 284 |
| Dead women you knew rise up in your neighbourhood, dressed in black | Matters of wealth and standing come back to life for the dreamer and for the descendants of these women.vol. 1, p. 113 |
| A man dressed in black, with a black cap, on a black donkey | A man told an interpreter that he had seen, in this way, a jurist who was his enemy. The interpreter replied: the black cap is his appointment as a judge, the black clothes are standing he will gain, the black donkey is good, a time of power and standing he will obtain.vol. 1, pp. 249 and 250 |
| A black curtain you do not know | A worry that comes from a king. The collection specifies that this meaning applies to an unknown curtain or one placed in an unknown place.vol. 2, p. 266 |
| Black water | Drawn from a well, it is a woman the dreamer marries in whom there is no good. According to another opinion, seeing black water announces the ruin of houses, and drinking it, the loss of sight.vol. 2, p. 163 |
| You eat black mulberries | A wide gain. Black mulberries are dinars, white ones are dirhams.vol. 2, p. 217 |
The dream Ibn Sirin interpreted about himself
قال ابن سيرين أنا ذلك الرجل أما نصف بدني الأبيض فورد لي بالنهار والنصف الأسود ورد الليلA man said to Ibn Sirin: “I saw a man hanging from the sky by a chain, half of his body black and the other half white, with a tail like that of a donkey.” Ibn Sirin replied: “That man is me. The white half of my body is my devotions by day. The black half is my devotions by night. The chain that hangs me from the sky is my dhikr, which rises to the sky without stopping. As for the tail, it is a debt that will pile up on me and in which I will die.” And it happened as he had interpreted.
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 22, vol. 1, pp. 135 and 136
In this story, black has nothing bad about it: it stands for the night and what is done in it. The painful meaning of the dream lies in the tail, which stands for a debt.
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 black in a dream bad in Islam?
Not always. The collection gives black two meanings: standing and wealth, or evil, illness, sins and punishment (vol. 2, p. 352). The context decides. Black clothes are good for someone who usually wears them, and Ibn Sirin saw in the black half of his body his night devotions.
What does wearing black clothes in a dream mean in Islam?
For someone who usually wears them and is known for it, it is standing, wealth and power. For someone who does not wear them, it is a misfortune that befalls him. According to another opinion, for a sick person, they announce death (vol. 1, pp. 247 and 255).
What does seeing your face black in a dream mean?
The collection first states that black skin is standing gained by leaving religion (vol. 1, p. 135). Then it depends on the clothes: with white clothes, it sees the birth of a daughter, with dirty clothes, a lie about Allah. If the face is black and covered with dust, the dream announces the dreamer’s death.
Does the collection speak of a black snake or a black cat?
The collection gives no particular meaning to the black colour of a snake or a cat. It interprets the animal itself, as you can see on the pages about the snake and the cat.
Does black mean something different for a married woman, a single woman or a pregnant woman?
The collection makes no such distinction for black. What changes the meaning is the dreamer’s habit: black clothes are good for someone who usually wears them and disliked for others. It also singles out the sick person, for whom they announce death according to another opinion.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 58, vol. 2, p. 352 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Same collection, chapters 16, 22, 29 and 31 (vol. 1, pp. 113, 135, 136, 146, 247, 249, 250, 255, 275 and 284), chapters 41, 43 and 47 (vol. 2, pp. 163, 217 and 266).
- Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.