Seeing “iron stairs”
in your dream

(See Bond; Fetter)

Climbing a ladder or stairs symbolises the religion of Islam by virtue of which he will acquire high stations in the Hereafter.

Climbing stairs constructed of unbaked bricks suggest that he will enjoy honour in the world by giving charity.

Climbing any of these suggest that he will attain high status in the world provided their is something in the dream to suggest this.

• A sick person climbing stairs till reaching the top: He will pass away. If at last he enters a room, his soul will go to Paradise. The reverse is also true.

• Standing on the ladder: The dreamer likes to overhear, in view of the Quranic verse: “Or have they any stairway 
(unto heaven) by means of which they overhear  (decrees)? Then let their listeners produce some warrant manifest!” 
(“Al-Tur” [The Mount], verse 38.)

It could also mean that the dreamer will seek the help of hypocrites or that he will travel.

• Climbing stairs: The dreamer will have a successful and fruitful journey or
fulfil other objectives 
(like going to the pilgrimage, becoming a chief, et cetera) or not, depending on the conclusion and what is waiting for the dreamer or what he ultimately finds when or if he reaches the top. In case, for instance, he finds forty men or forty dinars 
(or dollars, for example), his aims will be achieved. The number thirty is a bad omen in view of the story of Moses. 
(See Numbers)).

Stairs symbolize the rise in life and elevation in the Hereafter. They also allude to the notion of step by step, the
travellers  stopovers or transit points, the years of life, or days of work toward a certain goal.
The staircase also refers to the majordomo or the housekeeper, the dreamer’s horse or whatever animal he rides, et cetera.
For a ruler or a governor of some kind steps made of mortar mean promotion, welfare, and religion. For a merchant they mean business with piety and ethics. Steps made of bricks are resented, because bricks enter the fire. If made of stone, they mean promotion and welfare but arrived at with a stone heart. Made of wood, they mean welfare and promotion with hypocrisy and dissimulation. Steps made of gold mean that the dreamer will govern and enjoy abundance. If the steps are made of silver, the dreamer will have as many slave girls or servants. Brass or bronze steps mean that he will have the best of this world.

• A ladder placed on the ground: Sickness.

• A standing ladder: Good health.

• Going downstairs:  (1) If the dreamer is on a journey, he will return. 
(2) If the dreamer is a chief, he will step down.  (3) If the dreamer is riding, he will continue on foot. 
(4) If the dreamer’s wife is ill, she will die.

• A tyrant or an atheist going down to a good place such as a mosque, a beautiful garden, a fertile land, or a wash house: The dreamer will change for the better. If, on the contrary, he goes down to a precipice, a barren land, an atheist stronghold, or any place where abominations take place or where a fire is raging or a ferocious mammal or a reptile is lurking, it will be the dreamer’s doom.

Every step or degree represents an ascetic person whose proximity benefits the dreamer in terms of piety and religious knowledge. Each step being climbed is better understanding, which will raise the dreamer’s religious standard. For a ruler every degree or step means a year of rule.
Some interpreters say that upward steps represent good deeds, the first being prayers, the second fasting, the third religious dues, the fourth alms giving, the fifth pilgrimage, the sixth Jihad, or holy struggle, and the seventh the Holy Quran.
The wooden ladder symbolizes a prominent or great man but who happens to be a hypocrite. Climbing a ladder means an evidence will be produced, a portent, in view of the Quranic verse: “And if their aversion is grievous unto thee, then, if thou canst, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder unto the sky that thou mayst bring unto them a portent 
(to convince them all)!—If Allah willed, He could have brought them all together to the guidance—So be not thou among the foolish ones.” 
(“Al-Anam” [The Cattle], verse 35.)

• A sick or troubled person going down the staircase:  (1) If he lands in a place he knows such as his house or on chopped straw or anything that alludes to the riches of this world: The dreamer will recover. 
(2) If he lands in an unknown place, in a well or a hole, or among dead people he knew or on a palanquin or a saddle of a
travelling animal, et cetera, or on a ship that immediately sets sail, or in front of a ferocious lion that devours him or a bird that carries him away: The dreamer will die and the steps represent the days left in his life.

Iron symbolizes money, dignity, power, and triumph. However,

• Eating iron with bread means harm and possible end of the dreamer’s livelihood.

• Chewing iron means absence.

In a dream, iron represents longevity. If one sees himself holding a piece of iron in his dream, it means wealth and strength after poverty and weakness. If one sees himself eating a piece of iron in a dream, it means victory in his life. If he eats it with bread in the dream, it means bearing difficulties in his livelihood. Discovering iron as a mineral in a dream means prosperity and strength in one's livelihood. Forging iron in a dream means becoming competent and qualified in one's craft. To own iron in a dream means wealth which is accumulated with great pain. (Also see Bond; Fetter)

(See Poker)

If a person sees his arms, calves of the legs, clothes etc. Becoming iron it means he will attain along life.

Wealth that a person will receive from the king.

He will receive the fortunes of this world if they are in their original form or molten.

The lodestone alludes to whatever is of mean origin but has some hidden benefits, virtues, or value in it. Too many lodestones means cheap or dirty money.

It is related that a man came to Jafar As-saadiq (RA) and said: “ I dreamt that Allah gave me a piece of iron and a sip of vinegar. What is the Interpretation of this dream?” The Imaam replied: “Iron depicts hardships, for Allah says in Quran : And we have sent iron wherein is material for mighty war. But it is possible that your children may learn this tradeoff Dawood (AS) (for he was a blacksmith by trade). As for vinegar, it means you will be afflicted with a disease from sometime, at the same time acquiring abundant wealth. Thereafter, if Allah gives you death, we will be pleased with you and forgive all your sins, past and future.

(Bond; Shackle) To see one's feet put in irons or fettered in a dream represents evil people, or it could mean travels or leaving one's homeland. (Also see Bond)