Dream interpretation traditions
Islamic dream interpretation and the Ibn Sirin tradition
The Islamic dream-interpretation tradition is the largest and most systematic body of symbol reading in the history of the subject. It is also considerably more careful than the version of it that circulates online, and the care is the interesting part.
What this page is
What follows describes readings recorded in this tradition, with the tradition's own qualifications attached. It is not a claim that a dream about any of these things means anything, and it is not religious guidance.
The tradition distinguishes three kinds of dream, and the distinction does most of the work. A true dream (ruya), an ordinary dream produced by the self (hadith al-nafs), and a distressing dream attributed to the devil. Only the first is held to carry meaning, and the tradition is clear that it is the rarest of the three.
That single classification is the most useful thing on this page. A framework in which most dreams mean nothing is a more disciplined instrument than a dictionary in which every dream means something, and it is the opposite of how the tradition is usually presented.
Interpretation was treated as a serious skill with conditions attached: knowledge of the texts, knowledge of the language and its metaphors, and knowledge of the dreamer. The same image was expected to read differently for different people, which places the tradition closer to Artemidorus than to a modern dictionary.
Muhammad ibn Sirin, who died in 728 CE, was a real figure of the generation after the Prophet and was renowned for interpreting dreams. The large manuals sold under his name are later compilations gathering material from several hands, and the single-author attribution does not survive scholarly examination. The tradition is genuine and old; the byline is a convention.
What the tradition says about particular images
Only the images this tradition genuinely treats. A symbol with nothing behind it here does not get a page, which is why this list is shorter than a dream dictionary.
- Snake in the Islamic traditionThe snake in this tradition is read as an enemy or a rival, and the reading is conditioned heavily by the dreamer's circumstances.
- Water in the Islamic traditionClear water is among the most favourable images in the tradition, and the quality of the water carries the reading.
- Fire in the Islamic traditionFire is read by what it does. Controlled and useful is one reading; consuming and spreading is another entirely.
- Teeth in the Islamic traditionTeeth are among the most developed entries in the tradition, and they are read as family members.
- Blood in the Islamic traditionBlood is read in this tradition largely through the lens of what is lawful and what is owed.
- Dead relative in the Islamic traditionSeeing the dead is treated seriously in this tradition, and what they say is weighted more heavily than what they are.
- Wedding in the Islamic traditionMarriage in the manuals is rarely read as marriage. It is read as a joining, and often as an unwelcome one.
- Falling in the Islamic traditionFalling is read as a loss of position, and the height and landing carry the detail.
- Flying in the Islamic traditionFlight is read as travel, elevation and ambition, and the manuals ask where the dreamer was going.
Where this site stands
Memento Somnia does not hold that dreams carry messages, and nothing in this section is offered as an interpretation of your dream. What the database records is what people report dreaming and what research has established about it, which is a different subject and is kept in different pages.
The dream database →Sources and reviewed references
2 references. What these labels mean
- 1.Ta'bir al-Ru'ya and the dream manuals attributed to Ibn SirinReligious or philosophical text
Attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin (died 728 CE)
Cited for: The symbol readings of the classical Islamic dream-interpretation tradition as they circulate. ⚠ Authorship is disputed: Ibn Sirin was a real early figure renowned for dream interpretation, and the large manuals sold under his name are later compilations that gathered material from several hands. The tradition is genuine; the single-author attribution is not, and the pages say so.
- 2.The Early Muslim Tradition of Dream InterpretationAcademic book
John C. Lamoreaux (2002) · State University of New York Press
Cited for: Scholarly treatment of how the Muslim dream-interpretation tradition formed, who its early figures were, and how the manuals attributed to them were assembled.