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Rooster in a Dream in Islam: Meaning by Ibn Sirin
الديك في المنام
In Islam, a rooster seen in a dream first stands for a man who depends on another. The Ibn Sirin collection sees in it a slave, or a man with a loud voice and high ambition, like the muezzin. The hen stands for a woman. Some cases are serious: slaughtering a rooster, turning into a rooster, or the rooster that crowed at Abu Awn’s door, in which Ibn Sirin read his coming death.
الديك في أصل التأويل عبد مملوكIn the Ibn Sirin collection: “The rooster, at the root of interpretation, is a slave.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 35, vol. 1, p. 404
The collection explains this meaning as follows: like a captive, the rooster and the hen live in people’s homes without being able to fly away. Despite its size, its comb and its feathers, the rooster remains a farmyard bird. This is why it also stands for a ruler placed under the authority of another.
The meaning according to what you saw
The Ibn Sirin collection speaks of the rooster and the hen in the chapter on birds, then in those on eggs and on objects. Here are the cases it describes.
| In your dream | Meaning in the collection |
|---|---|
| You see a rooster | A slave, or a man descended from slaves. The rooster also stands for a man of high ambition and loud voice, like the muezzin, or a ruler under the authority of another.vol. 1, p. 404 |
| A rooster, according to another opinion | A sturdy, combative man of bad character, who speaks nobly without it being of any use. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 404 |
| You slaughter a rooster | The dreamer does not answer the muezzin. (another opinion quoted in the collection)vol. 1, p. 405 |
| You turn into a rooster | According to some, the dreamer dies soon.vol. 1, p. 405 |
| Young roosters or chicks | Slaves or children of slaves. Female chicks are children of servant girls or of slaves.vol. 1, p. 405 |
| A hen | A foolish and beautiful woman, descended from slaves, or a servant girl.vol. 1, p. 406 |
| You catch a hen | Lawful and good money.vol. 1, p. 406 |
| A hen and a peahen cluck in your house | The dreamer is a man of trials and debauchery. According to another opinion, the hen and its feathers are useful money.vol. 1, p. 406 |
| Your hen lays an egg | You will have a child.vol. 1, p. 193 |
| You put an egg under a hen and a chick hatches | A dead matter comes back to life, and a believing child is born to you. The collection quotes the verse: “He brings the living out of the dead.” You may have as many sons as there are chicks.vol. 1, p. 193 |
| You buy a cage and shut a hen in it | You buy a house and settle your wife in it. The hen cage stands for a house.vol. 2, p. 289 |
The rooster that crowed at Abu Awn’s door
رأيت كأن ديكا كبيرا صاح بباب بيتك هذا فجاء أبو عون إلى ابن سيرين فقص عليه تلك الرؤيا فقال له ابن سيرين لئن صدقت رؤياك لتموتن أنت بعد أربعة وثلاثين يوماA man came and told Abu Awn ad-Darrab: “I saw a large rooster crow at the door of your house.” Abu Awn went and told this dream to Ibn Sirin, who said to him: “If this dream is true, you will die in thirty-four days.” Abu Awn had companions with whom he used to drink. He gave all that up and repented to Allah from the day of the dream. He died suddenly, as Ibn Sirin had said. Asked about his method, Ibn Sirin replied: “By counting the letters: dal is worth four, ya ten and kaf twenty.”
Muntakhab al-kalâm, chapter 35, vol. 1, p. 405
The letters of the Arabic word dîk, “rooster”, add up to thirty-four. In this story, Ibn Sirin draws this number from the letters of the word.
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 rooster in a dream a good sign in Islam?
The collection does not present the rooster as a happy sign in itself: it mostly stands for a slave, or a man with a loud voice like the muezzin. Several cases are bad: slaughtering a rooster, turning into a rooster, or the rooster that crowed at Abu Awn’s door, in Ibn Sirin’s story. The favourable cases mostly concern the hen and her eggs.
What does a rooster attacking or pecking you in a dream mean?
The collection gives no general rule for a rooster that attacks. It only reports a particular dream of Umar ibn al-Khattab, pecked by a rooster, which concerned his own death (vol. 1, p. 405). Otherwise, the rooster keeps its basic meaning: a slave, or a man with a loud voice and high ambition, like the muezzin (vol. 1, p. 404).
What does killing or slaughtering a rooster in a dream mean in Islam?
According to an opinion quoted in the collection, the one who slaughters a rooster does not answer the muezzin, that is, the call to prayer (vol. 1, p. 405). The collection does not speak of a dead rooster found without having killed it.
Does a white, black or red rooster have a special meaning in Islam?
The collection gives no meaning to the rooster’s colour. It distinguishes the rooster, young roosters, the hen and chicks. Meanings given to colours do not come from this text.
What does a hen or a hen’s egg mean in a dream in Islam?
The hen stands for a foolish and beautiful woman, or a servant girl. Catching one brings lawful money. If your hen lays, you will have a child, and a hatched egg from which a chick comes out announces a believing child (vol. 1, pp. 193 and 406).
Sources
- Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm, collection attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin, chapter 35, vol. 1, pp. 404 to 406 (Arabic text, Shamela edition, OpenITI corpus).
- Same collection, vol. 1, p. 193 (eggs), and vol. 2, p. 289 (the hen cage).
- Sahih Muslim, no. 2263, for the three kinds of dreams.
- English translations of the Ibn Sirin collection: tafsir-a7lem.com.