Dreams in Islam

The sacred book of Muslims, the Quran discusses the story of Prophet Yusuf(Joseph) and Yaqoub(Jacob) in chapter 'Yusuf', it states that Allah gave prophet Joseph the ability to interpret dreams.

[12:6] And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of sayings and make His favor complete to you and to the children of Yaqoub(Jacob), as He made it complete before to your fathers, Ibrahim(Abraham) and Ishaq(Isaac); surely your Lord is Knowing, Wise.

Prophet Yusuf's dream

Thus, in Islam, interpretation of dreams is a wisdom granted to chosen ones of Allah. From the examples of the dreams interpreted by Prophet Yusuf for the pharoah and his prison mates, we can see that it was but the most logical and sensible meaning that could be derived from them. This proves that even though the power to accurately interpret every dream is granted to only a few, but generally it is not the knowledge of 'ghaib' or the 'unknown', neither it is close to 'foretelling' but it is an application of good logic and reasoning based on personal instincts.

However, Islam recognizes a wide range of dreams as 'khuwab-e-pareshan' that translates disturbed dreams, which are the result of stress and do not mean anything.

Prophet Yusuf interpreting Pharoah's dream

In Islam, great importance is also given on the interpretation; positive interpretation causes positive effects and negative ones bring negativity. Thus in ahadith it is suggested to give positive interpretations to dreams and to be careful with whom you share your dream. Some traditions also maintain that one should refrain from sharing their bad dreams as it multiplies the negative effect of the dream.

Yet it is obvious that Islam believes in prophetic dreams or dreams with clear and obvious messages, these dreams manifest themselves into reality and therefore are a form of early signal of future happenings for the person.

According to the Quran, a person does not have his soul with him during sleep - applying that the conscious mind is switched off; a sleeping person has an awakened 'unconscious' which portrays itself in the form of dreams - since the unconscious can sometimes 'sense' what the conscious cannot, therefore it may be helpful in foreseeing.