Home › Dream dictionary › Cotton
Cotton in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
القطن في المنام
In Islam, seeing cotton in a dream mostly announces wealth. The collection attributed to Ibn Sirin says: “Cotton is wealth below wool, and carding it is the purification of sins.” Cotton garments are also wealth, and sometimes the sign of a sound religion. The collection still mentions negative cases: weaving cotton, or seeing a lion dressed in cotton.
القطن مال دون الصوف وندفه تمحيص للذنوبIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Cotton is wealth below wool, and carding it is the purification of sins.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 44, vol. 2, p. 240
This sentence comes from the chapter on grains, crops and plants. The collection also speaks of cotton in the chapter on clothing: there, the meaning depends on the item (cloak, turban, jubba) and on the person who wears it. For clothes in general, their colour or their condition, see the page on clothes.
The meaning according to what you saw
Here are the passages of the collection that speak of cotton, with their volume and page.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| Cotton | Wealth, less than that of wool. Carding it is the purification of sins.vol. 2, p. 240 |
| Cotton clothes | Wealth. Linen clothes are a lesser wealth.vol. 1, p. 247 |
| A striped cloak (burd) of cotton, without silk | No garment is better than wool, except these cotton cloaks without silk: they bring together the good of this world and of the religion.vol. 1, pp. 247 and 248 |
| A cotton turban | Authority, with religion and worldly life in good order. The collection says the same of the wool turban.vol. 1, p. 248 |
| The outer layer of a jubba made of cotton | A sound religion.vol. 1, p. 254 |
| A lion dressed in cotton or linen | An unjust ruler, who strips people of their wealth and their families.vol. 1, p. 255 |
| A ruler wears cotton clothes | His piety and humility become visible, he has few enemies and lives in safety all his life.vol. 1, p. 267 |
| A man spins cotton, imitating women | He suffers humiliation and does lawful work, but work that does not suit men.vol. 2, p. 279 |
| You weave cotton | Weaving cotton, wool, hair or silk: all of it is bad.vol. 2, p. 341 |
| A jubba lined with cotton, worn in winter | For the poor man, wealth, because it protects from the cold, and cold is poverty. If authority suits him, he obtains it, he is honoured and has a close circle; the cotton inside then stands for lasting wealth, like a treasure in the public treasury. For the unmarried man, a marriage, and the cotton is the dowry. Worn in summer, the jubba announces a worry: because of a wife, a debt, an illness, a prison or hardship.vol. 2, p. 392 |
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 cotton in a dream good or bad in Islam?
Most often it is good. The collection makes cotton a wealth, less than wool, and carding it a purification of sins (vol. 2, p. 240). It also mentions negative cases: weaving cotton is “bad”, and a lion dressed in cotton is an unjust ruler.
What does carding cotton mean in a dream?
The collection says that carding cotton is the purification of sins (vol. 2, p. 240). It is the only meaning it gives to this act.
What does wearing cotton clothes mean in a dream in Islam?
A cotton garment is wealth. A striped cotton cloak without silk brings together the good of this world and of the religion. The cotton turban announces authority, and the outer layer of a jubba in cotton a sound religion (vol. 1, pp. 247 to 254).
What does seeing white cotton in a dream mean in Islam?
The collection gives no meaning to the colour of cotton. It only says, for clothes in general, that white is beauty in this world and in the religion (vol. 1, p. 247).
Does the collection speak of a cotton field in a dream?
No. The collection speaks neither of cotton fields nor of cotton buds. It deals with cotton itself, its carding, its spinning, its weaving and the clothes made from it.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 29 (vol. 1, pp. 247 to 255), chapter 30 (vol. 1, p. 267), chapter 44 (vol. 2, p. 240), chapter 49 (vol. 2, p. 279) and chapter 58 (vol. 2, pp. 341 and 392) (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.