Bad Dreams.

Q; What one should do, if some one had terrible dream or he is scare that the dream will bring me un happy moments or will cause him damage somehow. Is There anything to do in order to seek protection from Allah from any kind of evil or lost.

A; Praise be to Allaah,
Sheikh Muhammed Saalih Al-Munajid (May Allah preserve him) said in regrards to this matter,

Note that the things people see in their sleep may come under one of two categories :

1 – Dreams/visions

2 – Confused dreams

Confused dreams in turn are divided into two categories:

1 – The Shaytaan’s attempts to frighten

2 – The workings of the subconscious.

So it may be said that what people see in their dreams may be divided into three categories:

1- Visions or dreams that come from Allaah.

2- Attempts by the Shaytaan to frighten us

3- The workings of the subconscious.

These categories are indicated by the hadeeth narrated in Saheeh Muslim (no. 2263) from Abu Hurayrah, which says that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When the time (of the Day of Resurrection) draws near, a believer's dream will hardly be false. And the truest vision will be of one who is himself the most truthful in speech, for the vision of a Muslim is the forty-fifth part of Prophecy, and dreams are of three types:

the good dream which is glad tidings from Allah;

the bad dream which causes distress, which is from the Shaytaan;

and the dream which represents what a person is thinking about.

So if any one of you sees a dream which he does not like he should get up and pray, and not tell people about his dream…”

It was narrated from ‘Awf ibn Maalik that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Dreams are of three types: some are terrifying things from the Shaytaan, aimed at causing grief to the son of Adam; some are things that a person is concerned with when he is awake, so he sees them in his dreams; and some are a part of the forty-six parts of Prophecy.”

(Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah, 3155)

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Dreams are of three types: glad tidings from Allaah, what is on a person’s mind, and frightening dreams from the Shaytaan. If any of you sees a dream that he likes, let him tell others of it if he wishes, but if he sees something that he dislikes, he should not tell anyone about it, and he should get up and pray.”

(Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah, 3154)

There follow a number of saheeh ahaadeeth which describe how to deal with what one sees in one’s dream.

1 – It was narrated that Abu Qutaadah said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Good dreams come from Allaah and bad dreams come from the Shaytaan. If anyone sees a bad dream that scares him, let him spit drily to his left and seek refuge with Allaah from its evil, then it will not harm him.”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3292)

2 – It was narrated that Abu Salamah said: I used to see such terrible dreams that that I began to shake and have a fever, but did not cover myself with a cloak until I met Abu Qutaadah, and I mentioned that to him. He said, “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say, ‘Good dreams come from Allaah and bad dreams come from the Shaytaan. If anyone sees a bad dream that he dislikes, let him spit drily to his left three times and seek refuge with Allaah from its evil, then it will not harm him.’”

(Narrated by Muslim, 2261)

3 – It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him turn over, and spit drily to his left three times and ask Allaah of His goodness, and seek refuge with Him from its evil.”

(Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah).

4 – It was narrated from Jaabir that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit drily to his left three times and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan three times, and turn over onto his other side.”

(Narrated by Muslim, 2262).

5 – The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us the difference between good dreams and bad dreams. It was narrated from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri that he heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “If any one of you sees a dream that he likes, it is from Allaah, so let him praise Allaah for it and tell people about it. But if he sees something other than that, that he dislikes, it is from the Shaytaan, so let him seek refuge with Allaah from its evil and not mention it to anyone, for it will not harm him.”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 7045).

So it is clear that good dreams come from Allaah and bad dreams which a person dislikes come from the Shaytaan, so he has to seek refuge with Allaah from their evil.

6 – It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees something that he dislikes, let him get up and pray, and not tell people about it.”

(Narrated by Muslim, 2263).

7 – It was narrated from Jaabir that a Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said, “I dreamt that my head was cut off and I was chasing it.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) rebuked him and said: “Do not tell anyone how the Shaytaan is messing about with you in your dreams.”

(Narrated by Muslim, 2268)

So we may sum up from these ahaadeeth the most important points about what a person should do if he sees a dream that he dislikes, as follows:

1- He should know that this dream is from the Shaytaan who wants to cause him grief, so he should annoy the Shaytaan by not paying any attention to him.

2- He should seek refuge with Allaah from the accursed Shaytaan.

3- He should seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of this dream.

4- He should spit drily to his left three times, i.e., blowing with a little bit of saliva.

5- He should not tell anyone about it.

6- He should turn over from the side on which he was sleeping, so if he was lying on his left side he should turn over to his right side, and vice versa.

7- He should get up and pray.

If a person adheres to this etiquette, then we hope that this bad dream will not harm him, as it says in the texts. And Allaah knows best...

(Islam Q&A FAtwa: 25768)