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Lightning in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
الصاعقة في المنام
In Islam, dreaming of a lightning strike is a warning. The Ibn Sirin collection counts it among the trials Allah sends to whom He wills, like locusts, hail or epidemics. It can announce a grave order from those in power, the arrival of an unjust ruler, or an event that strikes people: a death, a fire, a collapse or thieves.
البلايا التي يصيب بها ربنا من يشاء ويصرفها عمن يشاءIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “[The thunderbolt shows] the trials with which our Lord strikes whom He wills, and which He turns away from whom He wills.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 38, vol. 2, p. 52
The collection deals with the thunderbolt in chapter 38, right after thunder and the flash of lightning. It explains why it is read as a trial: people are terrified of it, they tremble and turn pale at its sound, and it destroys what it touches. The cases it describes are mostly about places: a house, several houses, fields and orchards.
The meaning according to what you saw
Here are the cases the collection describes for the lightning strike, then for the flash of lightning, which it treats separately in the same chapter.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| A lightning strike in general | The calamities Allah sends: locusts, hail, winds, thunderbolts, illnesses, pleurisy, smallpox, epidemics and fever.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| A lightning strike seen as an order or a ruler | A major order from the king, bringing death, a fine or destruction. Or the arrival of an unjust ruler, who settles on the land where the lightning struck.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| A lightning strike seen as an event that draws people | A well-known event that people come to see on the spot: a horrible death, a fire, a collapse or thieves.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| Lightning strikes your house | If someone there is sick, he dies. If a relative is away, news of his death arrives. If the house harbours suspicion and corruption, an agent of the authorities comes down on it and a police chief climbs over its walls. If the master of the house frequents the ruler, the ruler’s order is carried out against him. Otherwise, a thief, a fire or a collapse, according to the rest of the dream.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| Lightning strikes fall on the houses | Messengers arrive with news of the deaths of those who are away, pilgrims or fighters. Or a fine is imposed on the people.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| Lightning strikes the fields and orchards | Calamities for the crops, tithe collectors and tax collectors. Injustice and corruption cover that place.vol. 2, p. 52 |
| Thunder, clouds and lightning, seen as an army | Thunder then stands for the drums of the attack, the clouds for the armies, the flash of lightning for the blades, the rain for the blood shed, and the thunderbolt for death.vol. 2, p. 49 |
| Black clouds, loaded with thunderbolts | The trials of the ruler, his punishment and his orders, because of the thunderbolts and stones they carry, as with the people of the Shade, who thought they saw a rain cloud and received the punishment.vol. 2, p. 46 |
| A flash of lightning that only you see, or whose light strikes you, dazzles you or enters your home | If you are travelling, a delay due to rain or to an order from the authorities. If your land is thirsty, rain and mercy. If your master, your father or your ruler is angry with you, he comes back to you and smiles at you.vol. 2, p. 51 |
| The same flash, with rain, or seen by a sick person | With rain: something painful that makes you weep, a word, a lash of the whip that wounds you or a sword that takes your life. For a sick person: his eyes weep, his family weeps over him and his death comes quickly.vol. 2, p. 51 |
| You grab a flash of lightning | Someone urges you to do a good deed. The collection adds that lightning is a fear that comes with a benefit.vol. 2, p. 51 |
| A flash of lightning burns your clothes | Your wife dies, if she is sick.vol. 2, p. 51 |
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 lightning in a dream a bad sign in Islam?
In the collection, the lightning strike almost always announces a trial: a calamity, a harsh order from those in power, a death or a loss. The flash of lightning has more mixed meanings: rain for someone whose land is thirsty, the return of an angry relative, or a person who urges you to do good (vol. 2, p. 51).
What does lightning striking a house mean in a dream?
The collection says that if a sick person lives there, he dies, and that if a relative is away, news of his death arrives. Depending on the state of the house and its master, it can also be a visit from the authorities, a thief, a fire or a collapse (vol. 2, p. 52).
What does being struck by lightning in a dream mean in Islam?
The collection does not describe a thunderbolt falling on the dreamer himself. It speaks of the flash of lightning whose light strikes or dazzles the dreamer: a delay for the traveller, rain for the farmer, a smile from the one who was angry, and, for a sick person, a quick death (vol. 2, p. 51).
Do thunder, lightning and a lightning strike have the same meaning?
No. Thunder stands for the threats of the ruler, or sometimes his good promises (vol. 2, p. 49). The flash of lightning stands for fear of the ruler, or on the contrary his good promises (p. 50). The thunderbolt stands for calamities and death (pp. 49 and 52).
What do rain and lightning together mean in a dream in Islam?
The collection says that a flash of lightning seen with rain announces something painful that makes you weep: a word, a lash of the whip that wounds you or a sword that takes your life (vol. 2, p. 51). It does not describe other cases of rain and lightning together.
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 38, vol. 2, pp. 46 to 52 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.