Home › Dream dictionary › Bread
Bread in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
الخبز في المنام
In Islam, seeing bread in a dream is generally a good sign. The Ibn Sirin collection sees in it knowledge and Islam, because bread keeps a person alive, and also the money that keeps him alive. Pure white bread announces a clear life. Dry bread announces a tight life, and eating bread with nothing else, an illness lived in solitude.
وأما الخبز فدال على العلم والإسلام لأنه عمود الدين وقوام الروح وحياة النفسIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Bread points to knowledge and Islam, because it is the pillar of religion, what sustains the soul and what keeps the person alive.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 32, vol. 1, p. 299
The collection adds that bread can stand for life itself and for the money that supports it. A round loaf can represent the Book and the Sunnah, the mother who feeds, or the wife who protects her husband’s religion. Pure white bread points to a clear life, to knowledge without mixture and to a beautiful woman with a fair complexion.
The meaning according to what you saw
The Ibn Sirin collection speaks of bread mainly in chapter 27, on foods, and in chapter 32, with the baker’s trade. Here are the cases it describes.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| You make bread | You seek your provision and a lasting profit. If you bake quickly so that the oven does not cool down: power and money, according to the amount of bread taken out of the oven.vol. 1, p. 220 |
| You find a round loaf of bread | A length of life: the loaf is worth forty years, and what is missing from it is cut from that life. According to another opinion: a thousand dirhams, plenty, provision and the end of a sorrow.vol. 1, p. 220 |
| Many loaves, without eating them | You will soon meet brothers or friends again, who will come to visit you.vol. 1, p. 221; vol. 2, p. 346 |
| A dry loaf | A tight life.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| A barley loaf | A hard life, lived with caution and scruple.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| You are given a piece of bread and you eat it | Your life is coming to its end. According to another opinion, on the contrary, a pleasant life.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| An unmarried person sees a round loaf | A wife.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| Mouldy bread | Much money that does not benefit its owner, and on which he does not pay the zakat.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| You eat bread with nothing else | You fall ill alone and die alone. According to another opinion, badly baked bread announces a strong fever.vol. 1, p. 221 |
| White bread still warm | A child. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 221 |
| You hand out bread to people | For the student, the knowledge he needs. For the preacher, his exhortations and his advice.vol. 1, pp. 299 and 300 |
| A dead person gives you bread | Money or provision that comes to you from a stranger’s hand, from an unexpected place.vol. 1, p. 300 |
Ibn Sirin’s story about the two loaves
رأيت كأن في يدي رقاقتين آكل من هذه ومن هذه فقال أنت رجل تجمع بين الأختينA man came and said to Ibn Sirin: “I saw that I was holding two thin loaves, and I was eating from one and then from the other.” Ibn Sirin replied: “You are a man who joins two sisters together.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 27, vol. 1, p. 221
Marrying two sisters at the same time is forbidden by the Qur’an (Surah an-Nisa, verse 23). The story comes just after the sentence of the collection saying that, for an unmarried person, the round loaf stands for a wife.
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 bread in a dream good in Islam?
Most often yes: bread stands for knowledge, Islam, life and the money that supports it. The collection also gives negative meanings: dry bread for a tight life, bread eaten with nothing else for an illness, mouldy bread for money that brings no benefit.
What does eating bread in a dream mean in Islam?
It depends on the bread. Pure bread announces a clear life for the one who eats it (vol. 2, p. 346). A piece of bread received and eaten can announce the end of life, or a pleasant life according to another opinion. Eating bread with nothing else announces an illness lived alone (vol. 1, p. 221).
What does fresh or white bread mean in a dream?
The collection says that pure white bread stands for a clear life, knowledge without mixture and a beautiful woman with a fair complexion. According to an opinion it quotes, white bread still warm announces a child (vol. 1, pp. 221 and 299).
What does dry or mouldy bread mean in a dream?
A dry loaf announces a tight life. Mouldy bread stands for much money that does not benefit its owner and on which he does not pay the zakat (vol. 1, p. 221).
What does making or buying bread in a dream mean in Islam?
Making bread is seeking your provision and a lasting profit. Buying bread from the baker without seeing the price announces a pleasant life and easy provision, and if the baker takes the price, it is a word about a need (vol. 1, pp. 220 and 299). The collection does not speak of the kinds of bread sold today.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 27, vol. 1, pp. 220 and 221; chapter 32, vol. 1, pp. 299 and 300; chapter 58, vol. 2, p. 346 (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.