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Fatwa CenterDreams and interpretations
Question
To what extent is it true that dreams actually have interpretations?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The basis for the interpretation of dreams is the Sharee’ah (Islamic Law) and reality is an evidence for this. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , interpreted his dreams and the dream of others. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, also interpreted dreams in front of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and this is reported in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and other books of Sunan and Musnad (types of Hadeeth). There are a lot of Hadeeths in this regard. What people see in dreams sometimes happens in reality and this is in itself a great evidence.
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, divided dreams into three categories:
Anas Ibn Maalik 
narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said:
"Dreams are of 3 types:
• Satan frightens the child of Aadam to make him/her unhappy.
• A person sees in a dream what he is preoccupied with while awake,
• Some of dreams are a forty-sixth of prophethood."
[Ibn Abi Shaybah and Ibn Majaah]
The first type which is the frightening of Satan should not be interpreted or related to anybody.
The same thing applies to the second type.
It is only the third category that should be interpreted.
There is no difference of opinion among the scholars about the interpretation of dreams, as there is much evidence proving this. Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr said in At-Tamheed, “No one denies dreams except the polytheists and a group of the Mu'tazilah (a deviant sect)." [1/285]
Allaah Knows best.
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