Parents in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin

الوالدان في المنام

In Islam, dreaming of your parents first points to the link between their pleasure and the pleasure of Allah. The Ibn Sirin collection says that seeing your parents displeased announces the displeasure of Allah, according to the verse “Be grateful to Me and to your parents”. The other signs concern their health, their death or the dreamer’s return to them.

فإن رأى كأن أبويه ساخطان عليه دل ذلك على سخط الله عليه لقوله عز اسمه {اشكر لي ولوالديك}In the Ibn Sirin collection: “If he sees that his parents are displeased with him, this points to the displeasure of Allah with him, according to His words, exalted be His name: Be grateful to Me and to your parents.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 1, vol. 1, p. 48

The verse quoted is verse 14 of Surah Luqman. The collection adds a reported saying: “The pleasure of Allah lies in the pleasure of the parents, and His anger in the anger of the parents.” It has no chapter of its own on parents. It finds them through other symbols: the thumb, the pillar, the sun and the moon, the Kaaba. Ibn Sirin’s story about the gold crown, which stood for the dreamer’s father, is given on the page about gold.

The meaning according to what you saw

The passages on the father and the mother are spread across the Ibn Sirin collection. Here they are, in the order of the text, with the chapter where each one is found.

In your dream	Meaning in the collection
Your parents are displeased with you	The displeasure of Allah with you. The other way round, seeing Allah displeased with you shows that your parents are displeased.vol. 1, p. 48
A gate of Paradise closes in front of you	One of your parents dies. Two gates: both your parents. All the gates closed: your parents are displeased with you. If you enter by the gate of your choice, they are pleased with you.vol. 1, p. 125
Your navel is ill	According to a reported opinion, an illness of your parents. If your parents are no longer alive, it concerns the land where they were born. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 167
Your thumb withers	Your father dies. If it is the little finger, a misfortune strikes your mother and your family.vol. 1, p. 208
You slaughter your father or your mother	You disobey them and treat them badly. Another passage says the opposite: slaughtering your father, without seeing blood, announces that you treat him kindly and keep the tie with him.vol. 1, pp. 289 and 301
The sun and the moon rise over you	Your parents are pleased with you. If they have no rays, they are displeased. The sun falling announces a misfortune for the one in charge of the country or for the parents.vol. 2, pp. 29 and 30
Your shop collapses	The shop stands for what keeps you alive, including your parents. If your father is ill, he dies. If your mother is ill, she dies, because she fed you.vol. 2, p. 113
A pillar, for a man	The pillar is his father. For a woman, it is her husband. Its fall announces the illness of this person, or death if the person is already ill.vol. 2, p. 127
You enter the Kaaba	Whoever disobeyed his parents returns to obeying them. Being around it or performing one of its rites means serving with devotion and effort a ruler, a scholar, a devout man, one’s father, one’s mother, a wife or a master.vol. 2, p. 131
You open a door with a key	A supplication made for you, by your parents or by others, is answered, and you obtain what you are seeking.vol. 2, p. 297

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

What does seeing your parents in a dream mean in Islam?

The collection first links this dream to their pleasure: displeased parents announce the displeasure of Allah (vol. 1, p. 48). The sun and the moon rising over you show, on the contrary, that your parents are pleased (vol. 2, p. 30). The other signs concern their health or their death.

What does seeing deceased parents in a dream mean in Islam?

The collection says that seeing your deceased mother come back to life announces relief from a worry, and that seeing your father come back to life has the same meaning, more strongly (vol. 1, p. 112). Other dreams of the dead are explained on the page about dreaming of a deceased person.

What does it mean to see your parents die in a dream?

The collection does not speak of this dream directly. It cites signs that announce the death of a parent: a gate of Paradise closing in front of you (vol. 1, p. 125), the thumb withering for the father (vol. 1, p. 208), or the shop collapsing when the father or mother is ill (vol. 2, p. 113).

What does killing your father or fighting with your parents mean in a dream?

For slaughtering one’s father or mother, the collection gives two opposite opinions: disobedience to them (vol. 1, p. 289), or on the contrary kindness to the father if no blood is seen (vol. 1, p. 301). It speaks neither of a quarrel with one’s parents nor of their divorce.

Does the meaning change for a married, single or pregnant woman?

The collection does not separate the married woman, the single woman or the pregnant woman in dreams about parents. It makes only one difference between men and women: the pillar seen in a dream stands for the father for a man and the husband for a woman (vol. 2, p. 127).

Sources

Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 1, vol. 1, p. 48; chapters 16, 19, 22, 25, 31 and 32, vol. 1, pp. 112 to 301; chapters 38, 39 and 49, vol. 2, pp. 29 to 297 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
Qur’an, Surah 31 (Luqman), verse 14.
Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.