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Garden in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
البستان في المنام
In Islam, dreaming of a garden has several meanings. The collection attributed to Ibn Sirin says that an unknown garden can stand for Paradise and its delights, or for the Qur’an. The Prophet ﷺ interpreted a garden seen in a dream as Islam. The garden also stands for a woman, her family and her wealth, or for a market. The meaning depends on the dreamer’s state.
وربما دل مجهول البساتين على الجنة ونعيمها لأن العرب تسميه جنة وكذلك سماه الله تعالىIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Unknown gardens may point to Paradise and its delights, because the Arabs call a garden janna, and Allah the Exalted named it so.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 43, vol. 2, p. 197
The collection supports this with the verse: “Would one of you like to have a garden (janna) of palm trees and grapevines underneath which rivers flow in which he has from every fruit?” The same Arabic word names a garden in this world and Paradise. This is why a garden you do not know, in a dream, can point to religion and the Hereafter.
The garden of Islam in the hadith
Abdullah ibn Salam told a dream he had seen, and how the Prophet ﷺ interpreted it:
رأيت كأني في روضة، وسط الروضة عمود في أعلى العمود عروة، فقيل لي ارقه. قلت لا أستطيع. فأتاني وصيف فرفع ثيابي فرقيت، فاستمسكت بالعروة، فانتبهت وأنا مستمسك بها، فقصصتها على النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال تلك الروضة روضة الإسلام، وذلك العمود عمود الإسلام، وتلك العروة عروة الوثقى، لا تزال مستمسكا بالإسلام حتى تموت“(In a dream) I saw myself in a garden, and there was a pillar in the middle of the garden, and there was a handhold at the top of the pillar. I was asked to climb it. I said, ‘I cannot.’ Then a servant came and lifted up my clothes and I climbed (the pillar), and then got hold of the handhold, and I woke up while still holding it. I narrated that to the Prophet ﷺ who said, ‘The garden symbolizes the garden of Islam, and the handhold is the firm Islamic handhold which indicates that you will be adhering firmly to Islam until you die.’”
Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 7014, narrated by Abdullah ibn Salam
The Arabic word is rawda, a green, lush garden. The collection takes up this interpretation of the Prophet ﷺ: an unknown green garden stands for Islam.
The Arabic text also says: “and that pillar is the pillar of Islam”. The English translation quoted above leaves this phrase out.
The meaning according to what you saw
The collection speaks of the garden (bustân) at the start of the chapter on trees and fruit, and of the green garden (rawda) in the chapter on plants. Here are the cases it describes.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| The garden in general | The garden stands for a woman. If the garden is a woman, its trees are hers: her family, her children and her wealth, and its fruit likewise.vol. 2, p. 197 |
| An unknown garden, as the Qur’an | It can stand for the noble Qur’an (the mushaf): one always gathers the fruits of mercy from it, and its promises and warnings are like sweet and sour fruit.vol. 2, p. 197 |
| The garden as a place where people gather | It can stand for the market, or for a house where a wedding is held: its trees are the tables and its fruit the dishes. It can also stand for the house of a scholar, a judge or a ruler, which brings people together.vol. 2, p. 197-198 |
| You are in a garden | One looks at the dreamer’s state. If he is already in the abode of truth (if he has died), he is in Paradise and its delights. If he is sick and the garden is unknown, he dies of his illness and goes to Paradise. If he is fighting in the way of Allah, he attains martyrdom.vol. 2, p. 198 |
| Garden, vineyard and orchard, according to another opinion | Seeking forgiveness from Allah (istighfâr). (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 2, p. 199 |
| You see a vine laden with fruit | A broad and prosperous life in this world.vol. 2, p. 200 |
| An unknown green garden (rawda) | Islam, for its freshness and its beauty. The Prophet ﷺ interpreted it so. It can also stand for any place of merit where Allah is remembered, gatherings of remembrance, or the Qur’an and books of knowledge.vol. 2, p. 238 |
| You leave this garden for barren land | For salty, black or burnt land, for snakes and scorpions, ashes or dung, or a fall into the sea: for a deceased person, Paradise replaced by the Fire. For a living Muslim, he leaves Islam through disbelief or innovation, or he loses the conditions of Islam and the qualities of its people through a major sin and disobedience.vol. 2, p. 238-239 |
| You eat of the greenery of this garden or pick from it | During the days of hajj, or if you make the call to prayer in it: the hajj. For a disbeliever, Islam. For a sinner, repentance. For someone who seeks knowledge and the Qur’an, he obtains them in proportion to what he ate or picked. Otherwise, the reward of a gathering: a Friday prayer, a funeral prayer or a visit to the graves of righteous people.vol. 2, p. 239 |
| You are in the gardens of Paradise | You are given sincerity and a complete religion.vol. 1, p. 126 |
| You pick vegetables in your garden | Harm and a quarrel come to you from your wife’s family. Most interpreters see in vegetables worry and grief.vol. 2, p. 245 |
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 garden in a dream a good sign in Islam?
Most of the time, yes. An unknown garden can stand for Paradise or for the Qur’an, and the Prophet ﷺ interpreted the green garden as Islam (al-Bukhari, 7014). But leaving this garden for burnt or barren land is a very bad sign for one’s religion.
What does seeing a beautiful garden in a dream mean in Islam?
According to the collection, it all depends on the dreamer: for a deceased person, Paradise; for a sick person, death followed by Paradise if the garden is unknown; for someone fighting in the way of Allah, martyrdom (vol. 2, p. 198). Being in the gardens of Paradise is sincerity and a complete religion.
What does a green garden mean in a dream in Islam?
An unknown green garden (rawda) stands for Islam, for its freshness and its beauty (vol. 2, p. 238). Eating or picking from it announces the hajj, the repentance of a sinner, or knowledge for the one who seeks it.
What does seeing a vegetable garden in a dream mean in Islam?
The collection does not speak of a vegetable garden as such. It says that picking vegetables in your garden announces harm and a quarrel coming from your wife’s family, and that most interpreters see in vegetables a worry (vol. 2, p. 245).
What about a garden with fallen leaves, or planting trees in your garden?
These two cases are covered with trees. Entering an unknown garden whose leaves have fallen announces a worry, and planting trees in your garden announces sons. See the page on trees in a dream.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 43, vol. 2, pp. 197 to 200; chapter 44, vol. 2, pp. 238, 239 and 245; chapter 19, vol. 1, p. 126 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Interpretation of Dreams, no. 7014 (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan).
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.