Imprisonment • Being confined to house arrest in an isolated place, an unknown house: Will die, that place being a tomb.
• Being held in a house amid other houses and known to the dreamer, with the doors locked, but without its being defined as a jail: Welfare. If he is tortured in that house, that means more welfare and greener pastures.
• A woman dreaming of being imprisoned by a powerful person, like a sultan: Will marry a great man. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Burial If the other person places him inside a coffin in a dream, it means that he will move to a new home. If the other person fills the grave with dirt on top of him in the dream, it means that he will be piled with money equal to the amount he is being buried under in the dream. It is said that to be buried alive in a dream means losing one's spirituality or religious commitment, unless one comes out of it alive. If one walks out of his grave covered with dirt, then shakes off the dust in the dream, it means that his state is hopeless or that his repentance has little chance to hold. To be buried alive in a dream means imprisonment or despise by others, or a severe punishment which makes one's chastisement an exemplary lesson to others, If a gnostic or a wise man is seen buried alive inside his own house, or if he is brought out of it alive in a dream, it means that one will inherit him in knowledge, wisdom and status. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Church For Christians, says Al-Nabulsi, the church symbolizes knowledge, work, asceticism, and reverence to the extent of crying. But the church, he continues, also symbolizes worries, unhappiness, misery, lying, decadence, slander, heresy, and places where injustice and impure recreation reign supreme. It refers to brothels, gambling places, taverns, and everything that soils the individual. It could also represent a tyrant. Still according to Al-Nabulsi, the church might also allude to the abode of demons, like the garbage place and the bathroom; the grave, the house of the adulteress; the cabaret; the place where people wail; Hell; and jail. The stronger the edifice of the church and the higher the structure, the weaker the Muslims and their religion in that place.24
• A bachelor dreaming of entering a church: (1) Will marry. (2) Will have a child. (3) Will deviate from the right path, especially if he falls prostrate before the statues that are there, kisses them, takes parts in a sacrifice, or wears a waistband. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Hug To embrace a woman in a dream means embracing the pleasures and attractions of this world and to despair of any reward in the hereafter. To hold tight to a piece of fruit, or to endear certain food one loves in a dream means easy profits or lawful earnings. If an unmarried person holds tight or embraces a garment in a dream, it means that he will get married. If one hugs a pair of shoes in a dream, it means that he will hold a new position or a job that will make him extremely happy. (Also see Embrace; Grabbing; Gripping; Sexual intercourse) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Tannery (Leather dying factory) A tannery in a dream has the same interpretation as that of a slaughterhouse. It also represents a school, a fellowship house, or similar places where the mind and spirit are taught and reared to correct oneself, to hold to what is true and to discard what is false. A tannery in a dream also represents a patient, forbearing and a hard-working woman, a housekeeper, or a child. Perhaps a tannery in a dream also could denote a harsh, wretched and a contemptible woman, though she likes cleanliness and guards herself from others impurities. (Also see Dye; Vat) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Human being If he takes money from him in the dream, it represents something he will lose and forgo in despair, or perhaps that a fight will take place between them. Each human being in a dream represents himself, his kind, look alike, someone by the same name, his town, or his craft. If the person whom he recognizes in the dream holds an elevated rank, it means that he will lose it, and if he holds a lower rank, it means that he will be promoted. (Also see Man; Mankind) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Cemetery • Seeing a cemetery: (1) Fear for a person who feels safe and vice versa. (2) Prayers and aspirations. (3) Repentance. (4) A reference to the Hereafter, as a cemetery is the gateway to it; to the asylum; to asceticism; to weeping; to preaching; to death, since a cemetery is the house of death; and to atheist and heretic places or the dwelling of aliens in a Muslim country, since a cemetery houses the dead and death, according to the rules of interpretation, means religious corruption. Likewise, a cemetery could refer to those who indulge in luxury; brothels; bars where drunkards lie like the dead; the homes of those who fail to pray and remember God or do any good; and prison, for the dead is locked in his grave like the prisoner in his cell. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Snail A snail in a dream means that one will move away from his place or town. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Flying • Flying from one’s home to an unknown house: (1) Will move to the grave. (2) Death is near and it is high time to repent.
• Flying while on horseback: (1) The end of prosperity. (2) Will be forced to relinquish an important post.
• The rider and the ridden returning to earth: Prosperity and, perhaps a high post.
• Trying to fly but being unable to or finding oneself upside down: Plenty of evil to come.
• Seeing horsemen flying in the air: Temptation, intrigue, and war will erupt in that place. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
A Rope Coming From The Sky Abu Hurairah narrated that a man came to the Prophet Muhammad and said: "I had a dream of a cloud with shade dripping butter and honey. I saw the people scooping it up with their hands, some taking much and some taking little. I saw a rope extending from the sky to the earth. Then I saw you Prophet Muhammad! You took hold of it and went up, then a man took hold of it after you do so, then a man took hold of it after him to do so. Then a man took hold of it and it was severed, and then connected for him, and he did so (i.e. , went up)." Abu Bakr said: "May my father and mother be ransomed for you O Messenger of Allah! Allow me to interpret it." He said: "Interpret it." so he said: "As for the cloud with its shade, it is Islam. As for what the butter and honey that dropped from it, this is the Quran and its delicateness and sweetness. It means some of them gathered much of the Quran and some of them a little. As for the rope extending from the sky to the earth, it is the truth which you are upon, you clug to it and Allah exalted you. Then another man will take hold of it after you and ascend on it, then after him, another man will take hold of it and ascend on it. Then another [man] will take hold of it but it will break, then be connected so he will ascend on it. Inform me O Messenger of Allah! Am I correct or am I mistaken?" The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said: "You are correct in some of it and mistaken in some of it." He (i.e., Abu Bakr) said: "I swear to you by my father and my mother O Prophet Muhammad! Inform me in what I was mistaken?" The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said: "Do not swear." Dream Interpreter: Imam Tirmidhi
Placing things To place things in the proper position, or to move them to a better place, or to give them a better environment in a dream means commanding what is good and forbidding what is evil. To downgrade things by placing them in an unfitting environment in a dream means the opposite, or it could mean bartering good for evil, or unjustly depreciating and devaluating an object. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Silver • Hoarding silver: Will go to Hell. “… they who hoard up gold and silver if not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Prophet Muhammad) of a painful doom, on the day when it will [all] be heated in the fire of Hell, and their foreheads and their flanks and their backs will be branded therewith (and it will be said unto them): Here is that which ye hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what ye used to hoard.” (“Al-Baraah” or “Al-Taubah,” verses 34–35.)
• Silver roofs, houses, stairs, doors, or couches: A reference to atheism in view of verses 33 to 35 of “Surat Al-Zukhruf” (Ornaments) in the Holy Quran: “And were it not that mankind would have become one community (of disbelievers), We might well have appointed, for those who disbelieve in the Beneficent, roofs of silver for their houses and stairs (of silver) whereby to mount, and for their houses doors (of silver) and couches of silver whereon to recline, and ornaments of gold. Yet all that would have been but a provision of the life of the world. And the Hereafter with your Lord would have been for those who keep away from evil.”
• Melting silver: Will be angry with one’s wife and people will speak ill of the dreamer. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Home The distinction is very vague in Arabic between the words dar and bayt, both meaning “house” or “home.” But after consulting a knowledgeable colleague (a Moroccan ambassador and man of letters), the author assumes that dar is more likely to mean a house as a structure or an apartment block and bayt a room, an apartment, or simply home. However, in the ancient Arab texts the writer often jumps from one meaning to another, and I have taken real pain trying to disentangle them, as usual. Home symbolizes the man’s wife sheltered under his roof and to whom he goes, whence the expression “He went home.” Therefore, home and wife are synonyms. The door is her vagina or her face, the closet or the safe a maiden, like the dreamer’s daughter, whom he does not penetrate, as they are covered or hidden places in which he does not sleep. The servants quarters symbolize the servant (s). The place where cereals are stored is the mother, who used to keep the dreamer alive and let him grow by feeding him milk. The toilet represents those servants who are in charge of cleaning and washing or the dreamer’s wife, whom he embraces and penetrates when isolated, i.e., away from his children and the rest of the household. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Eve • Seeing Adam and Eve: (1) Will move from a clean and honest place to the reverse. (2) Will commit sins or whatever is prohibited. (3) Will be laughed at by those who envy you. (4) Will have worries, pain, and sorrow. (5) Problems and unhappiness of the making of couples and children. (6) The acceptance of apologies, repentance, and remorse. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Mouse The mouse symbolizes the dreamer’s household: those who dwell in his house—his wife and children, et cetera—a debauched woman, or, some say, a devilish Jewish woman or a Jew, as related by Al-Nabulsi. It could also refer to a thief. Many mice means profit and welfare. Mice of the same color allude to women. The rat is a digging thief.
• Dreaming of a mouse playing in one’s house: Prosperity will increase because, according to the ancient Arabs, mice invade only those places that are prosperous. And only people who are not hungry can afford to play.
• Seeing mice in one’s house: Dangerous women will enter that house.
• A mouse leaving one’s house: Livelihood and blessings will decrease.
• Owning a mouse: Will have a servant because, like servants, mice share the food of the master.
• White and black mice coming and going: Long life, as the white indicate the days and the black the nights. To borrow the expressions of Ibn Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Flies It could also mean that someone in a high ranking position is influencing their moves or forcing them to do what he wants. If someone who intends a journey sees flies sitting on him in a dream, perhaps he should delay his travel plans for while. If one sees flies inside his mouth in a dream, it means that some thieves will take refuge or hide in his house. If a fly or a mosquito enters one's ear in a dream, it denotes blessing, status, authority or profits. Killing a fly in a dream means preserving one's health and fitness. If one sees a swarm of flies inside his house in a dream, it means that his enemies will cause him losses. Flies are a weak but a tough enemy. In a dream, a gathering of flies somewhere means profits, medicine, cure, abominable actions or committing an act that will bring rebuke. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Ceiling A ceiling in a dream represents a well respected person. If it is made of wood, then it represents a fallacious and a deceptive person. If the ceiling looks as if it were going to cave over one's head in a dream, it means being afraid of someone in authority. If consequently some dirt falls over his shirt from the ceiling in the dream, it means that he will receive money in compensation for his pain and sufferings. If the central pillar that holds the ceiling cracks and falls in the dream, it means the death of the man of that house. If the ceiling collapses in the dream, it means the death of the man of that house. If one hides under a roof in a dream, it means that he will enter his house and rob his family's belongings. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Dusk (Evening; Morning twilight) In a dream, the dusk represents an oath or the political or military moves of a ruler and his deputies. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Travel • Travelling: (1) Will move from one place to another. (2) Condition will change. (3) Will conduct a land survey.
• Travelling barefoot: Will contract a debt that he will not be able to pay back. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Harvest • Seeing plants being harvested in a country at war or in the executioner’s usual place: People will die by the sword, inasmuch as plants were harvested by the sickle.
• Plants being harvested in the Grand Mosque or in shops and houses in a country that is not at war: The sword of God will strike in the form of a plague or an epidemic. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
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