Islamic tradition
Teeth in Islamic dream interpretation
Teeth are among the most developed entries in the tradition, and they are read as family members.
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 classical manuals map the teeth onto relatives: the front teeth to close family and the back teeth to more distant ones, with the upper and lower rows distinguished by the paternal and maternal lines in most compilations.
A tooth falling out is read accordingly, as something concerning the person that tooth stands for. The reading depends on which tooth, whether it was caught, and whether there was blood or pain, and the manuals give different outcomes for each.
This is the tradition at its most systematic and also at its most obviously constructed. The mapping is elaborate, internally consistent, and rests on an analogy rather than on anything observed.
Worth knowing
Tooth-loss dreams are among the most commonly reported dreams worldwide, including in cultures with no such tradition, which is a point for the entry itself rather than for this page.
What is actually recorded about dreaming of teeth
Teeth falling out is one of the most reported dreams in every population studied, and one of the few where the research is genuinely interesting: it correlates with dental irritation during sleep more strongly than with any of the meanings usually offered for it.
The teeth entrySources 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.