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Crow in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
الغراب في المنام
In Islam, dreaming of a crow is most often a bad sign. The Ibn Sirin collection sees the crow as a wicked, treacherous and lying man, because the crow sent out by Nuh (peace be upon him) never came back. Catching or keeping it is something vain, and eating its flesh brings money from thieves. Only one opinion quoted in the collection makes it a sign of long life.
الغراب الأبقع رجل مختال في مشيته متبختر متكبر بخيلIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “The pied crow is a man who is vain in his walk, who struts, proud and miserly.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 35, vol. 1, p. 400
The collection immediately adds that he is a wicked and lying man. In its introduction, it explains this meaning through the story of the flood: Nuh (peace be upon him) sent the crow to see whether the water had gone down. The crow found a carcass floating on the water, landed on it and did not come back. Since then, people speak of “Nuh’s crow” for anyone who is slow to return or never returns.
The meaning according to what you saw
The Ibn Sirin collection speaks of the crow in its introduction, then in the chapter on birds. Here are the cases it describes.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| A person appears to you in the form of a crow | He is a wicked, treacherous and lying man.vol. 1, p. 24 |
| A pied crow | A vain, proud and miserly man, or a wicked and lying man.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| You hunt a crow | Unlawful money, obtained in sin and by force. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 400 |
| You catch a crow or keep it | A delusion and something vain.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| You have a crow that hunts for you | Gains drawn from vain things.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| A crow speaks to you | It saddens you, then you find relief.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| You eat crow’s flesh | You obtain money from thieves.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| A crow at the king’s door | The dreamer commits a crime he regrets, or he kills his brother and then repents. The collection quotes the verse: “Then Allah sent a crow searching in the ground.”vol. 1, p. 400 |
| Crows scratch you | You perish from intense cold, or wicked people slander you, and you suffer from it.vol. 1, p. 400 |
| The crow, according to another opinion | A sign of long life. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 400 |
| A crow knocks off your cap with its beak | Emir Nasr ibn Ahmad had this dream while sitting on his throne. Hayawa an-Naysaburi interpreted it this way: a man from his own family would rise against him and contest his rule, then the rule would come back to him. That is what happened.vol. 1, pp. 400 and 401 |
The crow on the Kaaba
كأن غرابا على الكعبة فقص رؤياه على ابن سيرين فقال سيتزوج رجل فاسق امرأة شريفة فتزوج الحجاج بنت عبد الله بن جعفر بن أبي طالبA man saw in a dream a crow perched on the Kaaba. He told his dream to Ibn Sirin, who said: “A wicked man will marry a noble woman.” Al-Hajjaj married the daughter of Abdullah ibn Ja’far ibn Abi Talib.
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 35, vol. 1, p. 401
The collection reports this dream as an interpretation that came true.
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 a crow in a dream a bad sign in Islam?
Most often, yes. The Ibn Sirin collection makes the crow a wicked, treacherous and lying man. Catching or keeping it is something vain, and eating its flesh brings money from thieves. According to another opinion, hunting it brings unlawful money, and yet another opinion makes it a sign of long life.
What does a crow attacking you in a dream mean in Islam?
The collection says that whoever is scratched by crows perishes from intense cold, or that wicked people slander him and he suffers from it (vol. 1, p. 400). A crow that knocked off an emir’s cap was interpreted as a relative contesting his rule, before the rule came back to him.
What does a dead crow or killing a crow mean in a dream in Islam?
The collection speaks neither of a dead crow nor of a crow that is killed. It speaks of a crow that is hunted, a sign of unlawful money according to another opinion, and of a crow that is caught or kept, a sign of delusion and of something vain.
What does a talking crow mean in a dream?
According to the collection, whoever is spoken to by a crow is saddened by it, then finds relief (vol. 1, p. 400). The collection does not say what the crow says.
What does eating crow meat mean in a dream in Islam?
According to the collection, whoever eats crow’s flesh obtains money from thieves (vol. 1, p. 400). The collection does not distinguish raw from cooked meat for this bird.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 35, vol. 1, pp. 400 and 401 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Same collection, introduction, vol. 1, p. 24.
- Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.