Dream Interpretation Based on Qur'an and Sunnah

Dream interpretation (pentakwilan mimpi) doesn't have an exact science (and we will never have one, because it is of the matters of ruh; and Allah SWT said regarding the matters of ruh, "They ask you [O Prophet] about ruh; say, 'Its nature is known only to my Lord, and you [O humanity] have been given but little knowledge'" [Quran, 17:85],) however, we do have 17 general guidelines from the Qur'an and Sunnah:

1. There are 3 types of dream that we common people (non-prophets) see, baik Muslim baik non-Muslim:

i. Dreams from Allah SWT - (1) these type of dreams are generally good and positive; (2) they come true; (3) they could be visions of the future (could be of tomorrow, next year, or 10 years down the line); and (4) they never terrify you

ii. Dreams from Shaytan - (1) they terrify you (nightmares); (2) they are never true - so don't act upon them; and (3) we should not tell anybody of the dream

iii. Dreams from our own imagination; (1) the sign of this dream is that it vanishes from our memory after a short while - after a few minutes or hours or days.

Sebagaimana sabda Nabi SAW, "Mimpi itu ada tiga macam: (1) Mimpi yang baik adalah khabar gembira (glad tidings) dari Allah. (2) Mimpi yang menakutkan atau menyedihkan datangnya dari syaitan. (3) Mimpi yang timbul kerana ilusi angan-angan, atau khayal seseorang. Maka kerana itu, jika kamu bermimpi yang tidak kamu senangi, bangunlah, kemudian solat, dan jangan menceritakannya kepada orang lain." [Sahih Muslim, Jilid 4, No.2111]

Atau dalam hadith lain, baginda SAW bersabda, "Mimpi yang baik itu dari Allah, sedang mimpi yang tak tentu itu dari syaitan. Kalau seseorang bermimpi dengan mimpi yang tak tentu, hendaklah ia berlindung (kepada Allah) dari mimpi itu (dengan berta'awudz) dan hendaklah meludah (meniup) ke sebelah kirinya, kerananya mimpi buruk itu tidak akan berbahaya kepadanya." [Sahih Bukhari, Jilid 4, No.1849]

As for the prophets, of course their dreams were all wahyu from Allah SWT.

And yes, even non-Muslims see true dreams. E.g. the dream of the Egyptian King during the time of Nabi Yusuf AS, the dreams of the two prisoners, both found in Surah Yusuf [12:36 & 12:43]; the dream of Atikah, the aunt of the Prophet SAW about the after-effects of the Battle of Badr (Perang Badar); and the dream of the grandfather of the Prophet SAW about the location of the Well of Zamzam; etc. They were all non-Muslims.

2. Do not mention the dream for the purpose of interpretation except to a scholar (ulama) or a person who would advise you sincerely, as per Surah Yusuf [12:5].

3. Dari Anas bin Malik RA, katanya Nabi SAW bersabda, "Sesiapa yang bermimpi melihat aku di waktu tidur, maka dia telah melihat aku dengan sebenarnya, kerana syaitan tidak boleh merupakan dirinya serupa aku." [Sahih Bukhari, Jilid 4, No.1851] But question arises: What if a person sees a guy in his dream, and his feeling in his dream tells him that the guy is Rasulullah SAW, but the description of the guy is different than the description we have of Rasulullah SAW (e.g. Medium-build, rambut tak terlalu lurus, tak terlalu keriting, janggut predominannya hitam, etc.)? Menurut Imam al-Zuhri, Ibnu Sirin berkata: "Perlu mengikut deskripsi sebenar (yang telah dirakam dalam kitab-kitab hadith)." Begitu juga pendapat Ibnu Taimiyah. Tetapi Imam al-Nawawi berpendapat, "Asal dirasakan dalam mimpinya bahawa yang dilihat itu adalah Rasulullah SAW." So as you see, there's a difference of opinion in this regard.

4. A repetition of a dream is a sign of its truth, whether the same person frequently sees that dream, or more than one person have the same dream. E.g. Mimpi lokasi Zamzam yang dilihat datuk Nabi SAW berulang kali; Mimpi azan pertama yang dilihat oleh Saidina Umar al-Khattab RA & Abdullah ibn Zaid; mimpi Lailatul Qadar yang dilihat beberapa para sahabat; etc.

5. Menurut Ibnu Sirin, kebarangkalian mendapat mimpi benar di siang hari adalah sama dengan kebarangkalian pada malam hari. Menurut para ulama, waktu paling afdhal mendapat mimpi benar di malam hari adalah sebelum subuh, manakala di siang hari adalah waktu qailulah.

6. Sometimes a true dream requires interpretation, but sometimes it is direct & doesn't require interpretation.

7. Dreams can be about the past, present, or future.

8. True dreams increase towards the End of Time. Sabda Nabi SAW, "Apabila Hari Qiyamat telah dekat, jarang mimpi seorang Muslim yang tidak benar. Mimpi yang paling benar ialah mimpi orang yang selalu berkata benar." [Sahih Muslim, Jilid 4, No.2111] Al-Qurtubi says, "This hadith talks about the band of the believers (mukmin) that will be with Nabi Isa ibn Maryam AS after he kills al-Dajjal." Ibnu Abi Jamrah says, "The reason why the believer sees true dreams in that time is because the believer will be alone." And then Ibnu Hajar comments on all these and says, "Whenever the times are difficult for the believer, he will see true dreams more frequently, because he needs help." i.e. When a believer is alone & doesn't find anyone to support him on Truth, that is when Allah SWT will inspire him and give him glad tidings through true dreams - to give him strength, confidence, and hope.

9. Most of the times, if a dream is a glad tiding from Allah to the believer, it would take a long time for it to occur [e.g. the dream of Nabi Yusuf AS in Surah Yusuf: it took ~40 years]. While if it is a warning, it usually occurs swiftly.

10. Dreams are glad tidings and warnings, and NOT a source of legislation or tasyri' (pensyariatan). E.g. You CANNOT say that you saw a dream where Allah SWT told you that rather than praying 5 times a day, you should only pray 3; or that you saw in your dream that such and such is haram, and such and such is halal.

11. A dream that's too long, most likely, is a meaningless dream. A true dream usually is short & concise.

12. The dream of a believer pleases him, but doesn't make him proud or overconfident. Ibnu Muflah mentions in his book, al-Adab al-Syar'iyah, that Ibrahim al-Humaidi was a righteous man, and one day, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal visited him. Ibrahim al-Humaidi told Imam Ahmad, "My mother has seen a dream for you, where she saw this and that for you, and then she mentioned Jannah." In other words, his mother dreamed that Imam Ahmad was in Jannah. So Imam Ahmad responded, "My brother Sahal ibn Salamah, people used to see dreams for him similar to what you mentioned, but in the end, he ended up shedding blood." As you see, the dream didn't make Imam Ahmad overconfident/boastful. Because most dreams, even if they're true, require interpretations; and the interpretation, sometimes, is not like what you think it is. So you can never be overconfident.

13. Dream interpretation is not certain, and presumptive. E.g. dalam Surah Yusuf [12:42], Nabi Yusuf gunakan perkataan 'zhon' (kata sama dari frasa 'husnuz-zhon' yang sering kita gunakan) i.e. 'menduga'; which shows that even Nabi Yusuf AS wasn't very certain about his interpretation. Terdapat banyak contoh salah tafsir mimpi dalam sejarah Islam. E.g. Telah menceritakan Ibnu Kathir dalam kitabnya al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah, bahawa seorang khalifah Abbasid yang kurang bertaqwa telah bermimpi memanjat tangga yang punya 28 anak tangga. Pentakwil mimpinya mentakwil baginya, "Tuan akan memerintah selama 28 tahun." Tetapi khalifah berkenaan meninggal 6 bulan kemudiannya. Ternyata 28 itu merujuk kepada umur kematiannya, dan bukan kepada tempoh pemerintahannya. Subhan'Allah.

14. It is a great sin to claim that you have seen a dream that you did not see; or to lie about the detail of your dream. Ibnu Abbas RA says, Rasulullah SAW says, "Whoever claims to have seen a dream that he has not seen will be told to tie [a knot] with two fine hairs on the Day of Judgement (Hari Pembalasan)."

15. Sometimes a person would see himself or someone else in a dream, but the manifestation of the dream would occur on somebody else. This is rare, but sometimes it happens. E.g. Ibnu Mubarak narrates that some people saw a dream that Abu Jahal became a Muslim and pledged allegiance to Rasulullah SAW. But obviously, we know that Abu Jahal never did that. It turned out, the dream was for Abu Jahal's son, Ikrimah, who eventually became a Muslim.

16. The same symbol in a dream could mean different things for different people. E.g. A man came to Ibnu Sirin and said, "I saw myself making azan in my dream." Ibnu Sirin told him, "You will make Hajj." Another man came to Ibnu Sirin and said, "I saw myself making azan in my dream." Ibnu Sirin told him, "You are a thief." When asked about this, Ibnu Sirin said, "I saw righteousness in the face of the first man. And Allah SWT says in the Qur'an that Ibrahim AS made azan calling people to Hajj [22:27], so I interpreted it to mean the guy will perform Hajj. While I saw evil in the face of the other guy. And Allah SWT says in Surah Yusuf, a person makes a call ('azan') that, "You caravans are thieves!" [12:70], so I interpreted it to mean that the guy is a thief."

17. There is a hadith that the Prophet SAW said, "A dream is hanging on the leg of a bird [or in another narration: on the wing of a bird]. As soon as it is interpreted, it will happen as it was interpreted." However, there is a difference of opinion regarding this issue. The seal of the hadith masters, Ibnu Hajar says: manifestation of a dream does not necessarily occur according to the first interpretation that is given to it. Dan Ibnu Hajar bawa hadith mimpi takwil Abu Bakar RA ini sebagai dalil:

Dari Ibnu Abbas RA katanya: "Seorang lelaki mendatangi Rasulullah SAW lalu dia berkata: "Ya Rasulullah, semalam aku bermimpi dalam tidurku melihat setumpuk awan menitiskan minyak samin dan madu. Dan ku lihat orang banyak menadahkan tapak tangan mereka. Ada yang mendapat banyak dan ada yang sedikit. Kemudian ku lihat seutas tali terhulur dari langit ke bumi. Ku lihat Anda berpegang dengan tali itu, lalu Anda naik. Kemudian seorang lelaki memegang tali itu lalu dia naik pula mengikuti Anda. Kemudian seorang lelaki lain naik pula. Kemudian seorang lelaki yang lain lagi, tetapi tali itu putus. Setelah tali disambungkannya maka dia terus naik." Kata Abu Bakar, "Ya Rasulullah, ku mohon kepada Anda, berilah aku kesempatan mentakwilkan mimpi itu." Jawab Rasulullah SAW, "Silakan anda mentakwilnya!" Kata Abu Bakar, "Setumpuk awan ertinya agama Islam. Adapun minyak samin dan madu yang menitis ialah kitab Quran, manis dan lembut. Adapun al-Quran yang ditadah orang, ada yang memperoleh banyak dan ada yang sedikit. Sedangkan tali yang terhulur dari langit ke bumi, itulah kebenaran yang Anda bawa, lalu Anda ditinggikan Allah kerananya. Kemudian tali itu dipegang orang yang sesudah Anda, maka dia ditinggikan Allah pula. Kemudian orang yang sesudah itu. Kemudian oleh orang sesudah itu, sayang tali putus, tetapi dapat disambungnya kembali dan dia pun ditinggikan Allah. Maka tunjukkanlah kepada ku, ya Rasulullah, apakah takwilku itu betul atau salah?" Jawab Rasulullah SAW, "Sebahagian betul dan sebahagian salah." Kata Abu Bakar, "Demi Allah, tunjukkanlah mana yang salah." Jawab Rasulullah SAW, "Jangan bersumpah..." [Sahih Muslim, Jilid 4, No.2114]

Wallahu a'lam.