Hole in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin

الحفرة في المنام

In Islam, a hole or a pit seen in a dream mainly points to cunning and deceit. The Ibn Sirin collection explains this by the origin of pits: they were dug to trap wild beasts. Digging a hole can also announce a journey, a gain or a grave, depending on the dreamer’s state. A hole in the ground or in a wall stands for the mouth.

الحفائر دالة على المكر والخداع والشباكIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “Pits point to cunning, deceit and snares.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 39, vol. 2, p. 99

The collection gives the reason for this meaning in the same sentence: in origin, a pit is a hole dug so that wild animals fall into it and are caught. The pit also points to prisons, shackles and ambushes. This is why the collection repeats elsewhere: “The root of digging is cunning.”

The meaning according to what you saw

The collection speaks of holes and pits in the chapter on lands and houses, then again about trades and graves. Here are the cases it describes.

In your dream	Meaning in the collection
You dig the ground and take the earth out	The meaning depends on your state. If you are ill, or someone in your home is ill: it is his grave. If you are travelling: it is your journey, and the earth taken out is your gain. If you are a hunter: it is the game. Otherwise, it is a trick or an indirect means in what you are trying to earn.vol. 2, p. 68
You dig and the earth is dry or damp	Dry earth: money, in proportion to it. Damp earth: a trick played on someone to get what one wants, with fatigue in proportion to the dampness.vol. 2, p. 335
You dig the ground and eat from it	Money obtained by cunning.vol. 2, p. 61
You disappear into a hole with no way out	Someone schemes against you in your affairs, in proportion to this hole.vol. 2, p. 61
You dig a tunnel, or someone digs it for you	You scheme against someone, or someone schemes against you. If you go into it, the scheme turns back on you alone.vol. 2, p. 98
You go into this tunnel until you can no longer see the sky	Thieves enter your home and take your belongings. If you are travelling, highway robbers stop you on the road.vol. 2, p. 98
Water comes out of the hole you dug	Provision obtained by cunning.vol. 2, p. 99
A hole in the ground or in a wall	It is the mouth. If an animal comes out of it, these are words coming out of a mouth, in the image of that animal.vol. 2, p. 98
A storage pit dug in the ground collapses or fills up	The storage pit can point to the mother who feeds. If it collapses and your mother is ill, she dies. If a pregnant woman lives in your home, she gives birth without difficulty.vol. 2, p. 99
People dig a pit for you in a mosque	You are going to marry.vol. 1, p. 92
You dig your own grave	You are going to build yourself a house.vol. 1, p. 110; vol. 2, p. 122
You are a digger, or you dig in loose soil	The digger is a man of cunning and deceit, until the water appears. Digging in loose soil means throwing yourself into something vain and without profit.vol. 1, p. 305

Ibn Sirin’s story about the hole

رأيت جحرا ضيقا خرج منه ثور عظيم فقال الجحر هو الفم تخرج منه الكلمة العظيمة ولا تستطيع العودة اليهIt is reported that a man came to Ibn Sirin and said: “I saw a narrow hole, and a huge bull came out of it.” Ibn Sirin replied: “The hole is the mouth. A huge word comes out of it, and it cannot go back in.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 39, vol. 2, p. 98

From this the collection draws the rule for a hole in the ground or in a wall: it is a mouth, and what comes out of it is speech.

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 hole in a dream a bad sign in Islam?

Often, because the collection links pits to cunning, deceit and snares (vol. 2, p. 99). But not always: digging dry earth announces money, and for a traveller digging announces his journey and his gain.

What does digging a hole in a dream mean in Islam?

The collection looks first at the dreamer’s state. For a sick person, it is his grave. For a traveller, his journey. For a hunter, his game. For others, a trick in their earnings (vol. 2, p. 68). Digging your own grave announces the building of a house.

What does falling into a hole in a dream mean in Islam?

The collection only speaks of falling into a pit in one precise case: a sick person who goes down a staircase and falls into a pit or a well. This means the end of his life (vol. 2, p. 92). For someone who disappears into a hole with no way out, it speaks of a scheme aimed at him.

Is the meaning different for a married woman, a single woman or a pregnant woman?

The collection gives no meaning of its own to the married woman or the single woman for the hole. For someone who wants to marry, it says that the dug earth stands for a wife (vol. 2, p. 68). It mentions the pregnant woman only once: the collapsing storage pit announces that she gives birth without difficulty.

Does the collection speak of a hole in a wall, a black hole or a torn garment?

For a hole in a wall, yes: like a hole in the ground, it stands for the mouth, and what comes out of it is speech (vol. 2, p. 98). The collection does not speak of a black hole, nor, in its passages on holes, of a garment or a shoe with a hole in it. The grave is covered in the pages on death and on the deceased.

Sources

Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 39, vol. 2, pp. 61, 68, 92, 98, 99 and 122 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
Same collection, chapter 11, vol. 1, p. 92; chapter 16, vol. 1, p. 110; chapter 32, vol. 1, p. 305; chapter 58, vol. 2, p. 335.
Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.