Asalamu Alaykum Shaykh, 

For the past few months, I have been having very scary dreams over and over again.

Dream 1: I am in my house and there is a TORNADO outside and it's heading towards my house. I am very worried, and I tell my dad about it, but he ignores me in the dream, and is busy doing something else. I scream the shahadah over and over again because I think I am about to die in the dream. I don't die, and I wake up.

Dream 2: I am in my house again, and there is a TORNADO happening outside. My brother and sister are crying in the dream, and my brother is asking Allah SWT for forgiveness. I almost-hug my sister to show that she will be protected and I scream the shahadah.

Dream 3: I am not in my house this time. I am in a huge open space or village. There is a TORNADO about to occur. I am so scared that I am about to die. I believe I start reading the shahadah again. The tornado does not occur and I wake up.

Dream 4: I see very dirty water. HUGE amounts of it. A huge flood just occurred. I believe the water color is red. I am in a car with this aunty and her daughters. They are very angry in the car. I don't know why. We are on the road. We are driving in the water. I am so scared in the dream. I am scared the water will get me dirty, but it doesn't. 

Dream 6: This is the last recent one I had. I am in a car driving. I am on a bridge. I see lots of water next to me. The water is crystal blue. I am scared I will die and fall into the water. I think my car will tip over the bridge into the water. So I start reading the shahadah. I don't fall inside the water, and I wake up.

Shaykh, I am really worried. Mostly all these dreams happen RIGHT at fajr time. I scream the shahadah in my dream, and then I wake up very scared and I do wudu for fajr and pray. This happened to me four times with the above dreams. Please give me some advice. Is there anything from the Quran and Sunnah that can explain any of the meanings of the dream? Am I a hypocrite? Is this a warning from Allah SWT?

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy

All praise belongs to Allah, and may prayers and peace be upon Allah’s final Messenger.

The dreams you are seeing are from Shaytan, not from Allah. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) said,

"إِذَا رَأَى أَحَدُكُمُ الرُّؤْيَا يُحِبُّهَا فَإِنَّهَا مِنَ اللَّهِ فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ عَلَيْهَا وَلْيُحَدِّثْ بِهَا وَإِذَا رَأَى غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا يَكْرَهُ فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ فَلْيَسْتَعِذْ مِنْ شَرِّهَا وَلا يَذْكُرْهَا لِأَحَدٍ فَإِنَّهَا لَنْ تَضُرَّهُ."

“If one of you sees a dream that he likes, it is from Allah, so let him praise Allah for it and tell people about it. However, if he sees something other than that, that he dislikes, it is from Shaytan, so let him seek refuge with Allah from its evil and not mention it to anyone, for it will not harm him.” [Bukhari from Abi Sa’eed]

This hadith also mentions two of the things you need to do, which are:

1.      To seek refuge with Allah from those dreams

2.      To avoid telling people about them

There are other things you should do, which are mentioned in other hadiths.

The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said,

"... فَإِنْ رَأَى أَحَدُكُمْ مَا يَكْرَهُ فَلْيَقُمْ فَلْيُصَلِّ.. ."

“If one of you sees (in a dream) what he dislikes, let him get up and pray ...” [Muslim from Abi Hurayrah]

He (blessings and peace be upon him) also said,

"إِذَا رَأَى أَحَدُكُمُ الرُّؤْيَا يَكْرَهُهَا فَلْيَبْصُقْ (فلينفث عند مسلم من حديث أبي قتادة) عَنْ يَسَارِهِ ثَلَاثًا وَلْيَسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ ثَلَاثًا وَلْيَتَحَوَّلْ عَنْ جَنْبِهِ الَّذِي كَانَ عَلَيْهِ"

“If one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit (explained in a hadith by Muslim from Abi Qatadah to mean blowing mixed with minimal saliva) to his left three times, seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan three times, and turn over so as to not be on the same side he was on [at the time of the dream].” [Muslim from Jabir]

So what you need to do is:

1. Seek refuge with Allah from those dreams

2. Turn over so as to not be on the same side

3. Dry spit (blow minimal saliva) toward your left side and say: a’oodhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem

4. Pray two rak’ah

5. Avoid telling people about your nightmares

You can do some or all of the above, but what is also important to do is to believe the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him), who said that those dreams will not harm you.

May Allah relieve your distress. If you otherwise tend to be anxious or depressed, you need to seek help with that.

Allah knows best.

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