Merchant If one sees himself as a store owner, sitting in his shop, surrounded with his merchandise, giving orders, buying and selling in a dream, it means a commanding post in his own field. If the person is not a businessman, but still sees himself in a dream carrying some trade tools such as a scale, a scoop, etcetera, it means financial balance in his life. Merchants in a dream also represent travel, news, profits or a high position. A merchant in a dream also may represent a spendthrift, or negligence of several religious obligations set by Allah Almighty. A woman merchant in a dream represents an enemy. (Also see Grain merchant) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Mouse The mouse symbolizes the dreamer’s household: those who dwell in his house—his wife and children, et cetera—a debauched woman, or, some say, a devilish Jewish woman or a Jew, as related by Al-Nabulsi. It could also refer to a thief. Many mice means profit and welfare. Mice of the same color allude to women. The rat is a digging thief. • Dreaming of a mouse playing in one’s house: Prosperity will increase because, according to the ancient Arabs, mice invade only those places that are prosperous. And only people who are not hungry can afford to play. • Seeing mice in one’s house: Dangerous women will enter that house. • A mouse leaving one’s house: Livelihood and blessings will decrease. • Owning a mouse: Will have a servant because, like servants, mice share the food of the master. • White and black mice coming and going: Long life, as the white indicate the days and the black the nights. To borrow the expressions of Ibn Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Wedding • On the contrary, a wedding party in which dancing or any form of entertainment takes place heralds a tragedy. A particularly bad omen is the zaghrouda, the strident, long-drawn, and trilling shrill produced by Arab women by moving the tongue with the rapidity of the drumstick of an electric bell as a manifestation of joy. One zaghrouda means minor worries. • A person giving a wedding party: Catastrophe. • Being invited to a wedding ceremony: Joy and happiness, provided no food or banquet is seen. • Organizing or looking after the preparations of a wedding party: Some members of the dreamer’s family will attend his funeral. • If the wedding ceremony takes place in a house where a person is ill: The latter will die. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Silver But ancient Arab interpreters were divided about the interpretation of dreams involving silver. To some finding silver tablets or bars meant joy or that the dreamer would procure some in reality. To others it meant worries and sorrow; it all depended on the personality of the dreamer himself. According to Al-Kirmani, genuine and intact silver meant some truthful news would arrive. Broken silver is a reference to misleading information and animosity. • Finding some molten piece of silver or receiving it from someone: The dreamer will marry a woman from that person’s folk. • A golden or silver salt cellar: An agreeable woman, as in Arabic salt is melh and agreeable is maliha. But silver is always better than gold. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Sale If one sees himself as a prisoner being sold in a slave market in a dream, it means honor if the buyer is a woman, and difficulties if the buyer is a man. The higher the price he is auctioned for, the better or worse is his luck. In a dream, the more loss the buyer incurs, the better it is for the traded subject and vice versa. There is also a difference between seeing oneself being auctioned and being sold. Being auctioned in a dream means evil. To sell means to part with. In a dream, the buyer is the seller and the seller is a buyer. Selling means giving preference and value to the merchandise. If what is being sold is worldly, the preference is then given to one's benefits in the hereafter. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Grape Black grapes during the right season symbolize fear and disease; otherwise they mean trouble and worries. They are also a harbinger of cold weather. Grapes were believed by the ancient Arabs to be harmful. They also thought that no benefit could be derived from the black color and hated black grapes in any case. Among other things, they argued that the grape was originally white, placed near the son of Nuh (Noah). When his father cursed him, it suddenly turned black. Certain dream interpreters felt that the black grape meant nothing but money that will not last. Separate from the bunch, it symbolized extreme fear or chills. Others regarded the black grape as a not so bad dream, in view of a verse in the Holy Quran: “And of the fruits of the date-palm, and grapes, whence ye derive strong drink and (also) good nourishment. Lo! therein, is indeed a portent for people who have sense.” (“Al-Nahl” [The Bees], verse 67.) They also thought so because the Prophet Zakareyyah (Zacharia) used to find it at Mariam’s (Mary’s) place. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Bee A bee has different meanings depending on whether the dreamer is a civilian, farmer, or military man, for bees produce honey, which is something sweet, useful, and beneficial and, according to a verse of the Holy Quran, a remedy for people. Paradoxically, bees could also be an allusion to disease, by association of ideas. At the same time, bees have a clear-cut hierarchy and are highly disciplined, tenacious, and toiling creatures. They symbolize the military or the Muslim army (once one of the most powerful in the world). In any case, a bee in a dream is a laborious and very gifted person in terms of earning his or her livelihood and whose companions can only benefit from him, but a dangerous person as well. For the ancient Arabs, a bee symbolized the Bedouin or, in abstract terms, perseverance, gains, and the accumulation of wealth. And since Muslims believe that bees are inspired by God to follow a certain order and discipline in excelling in the production of various types of honey with different aromas, they are thought to symbolize knowledge or know-how, division of labour or categorization, erudition, and the authoring of literary or scientific works. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Butcher If the butcher is a man in the dream, he then represents the angel of death. Whatever place he appears in will bear the consequences. A butcher in a dream also represents an unjust person. In a dream, if one sees a butcher who specializes in selling animal heads, he represents a guardian of people's estates, or a treasurer of a company, he also could represent adversities or death. If the animals heads cannot be identified in the dream, and if they still have their skin, hair, and are dripping blood in the dream, then it means the disappearance of the people of knowledge and that knowledge will become selectively disseminated by political leaders. Catties heads here represent people in danger. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Milk Milking an Arabian she camel in a dream means working in an Arab country. Milking an Asian Bactrian camel in a dream means working in another country. If blood comes out of the glands of a she-camel instead of milk in a dream, it means deviation from Allah's path, or it could represent a tyranny. If a venom flows from one's glands instead of milk in the dream, it means earning unlawful money. If a merchant, or a business man milks any milk producing animal in a dream, it means profits. Sucking the gland of a pregnant she-camel, one, two, or three times in a dream means steadfastness in one's religion, performing one's obligatory prayers, distributing charity, acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Garment If one sees himself wearing a silken raiment and portraying a religious jurist in a dream, it means that he is a seeker of worldly titles who may invent something new. Announcing lost and found garments in a dream means attending a pilgrimage to Mecca or a journey to an Arab country. A woman wearing a thin garment in a dream represents her integrity, while if she is wearing a thick garment, it represents her labor and hardships. If one sees himself putting on a new garment after taking a ritual bath in a dream, it means prosperity or repayment of his debts. If one's new garment is torn and cannot be repaired in the dream, it means inability to bear children. If the garment can be repaired in the dream, it means that there is an evil spell over the person wearing it. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Palm tree Uprooting a palm tree in a dream also means a dead end to one's plans, or it could mean a dispute. A palm tree in a dream also represents one's paternal aunt. Palm trees in a dream also represent Arab women. If one sees a seedling become a big palm tree in a dream, it means that a child in that community will grow to be a great scholar. It also connotes that a weak person will grow strong. Seeing a palm tree in a dream also means longevity, a scholar, a teacher, children, a wife, a house, a property, a king, a year, new clothing, money, or bearing a child. To prune or trim a palm tree in a dream means that one's adversity at his work or related to his travels will be dispelled. (Also see Palmyra; Tree) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Bow Carving a bow in a dream means preparing to get married or begetting a son. Shooting an arrow and hitting one's target in a dream means fulfilling one's needs, or attaining one's goal. Selling one's bow and arrows in a dream means giving priority to one's religious life over that of his mundane one. Shooting hazelnuts in a town in a dream means backbiting people, while shooting hazelnuts in the forest means earning lawful money from hunting. Shooting arrows in front of the city hall in a dream means backbiting or slandering others. Shooting a pigeon in a dream means slandering one's own wife. Bending an arch in a dream means preparing for war. (Also see Eye-brow) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Tomcat (Book of records; Cat; Reckoning; Siamese cat; Thief) In a dream, a tomcat means a thief or a servant. A cat in a dream also represents an evil and a treacherous woman. The same interpretation is given for anyone who compasses people, or guards them, or someone who harms the interests of his employer more than he benefits him. If a tomcat scratches someone or bites him in a dream, it means that he will fall sick for a full year. The bite of a wildcat in a dream is more dangerous and has greater implications. If one sees a tomcat sitting peacefully and quietly in his house in a dream, it means that he will have a comfortable, peaceful and a profitable year. Otherwise, a large wildcat in the dream represents a troublesome year. Selling a tomcat in a dream means spending one's money in various charities. Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Slave • Buying a yellow slave girl (Asian): (1) Hurdles. (2) Disease. • Buying a black slave girl: Will escape trouble and worries. • Selling a slave girl of any race: (1) Poverty and need. (2) Will sell one’s house. (3) Will sell a household utensil. • A smiling and nice-looking slave girl coming to the dreamer: (1) Benefits. (2) The chief will accede to the dreamer’s demands. (3) The return of an absent one. • An ugly slave girl coming to the dreamer: Something undesirable will happen. • A slave girl chasing the public and inciting them to bloodshed: Intrigue will break out. • A slave girl beating people or beating drums: Great welfare for the people, commensurate with her beauty. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Grass The same interpretation is given if one sees feathers growing over his body. If poisonous weeds grow over one's body in a dream, they represent an illness or death. As grass is cattle's food and cattle represents people's wealth, then gathering and eating grass in a dream means prosperity. If an ascetic sees himself eating grass in a dream, it means that he will revert to desiring the world and its pleasures, and consequently, he will be deceived by it. Wild grass in a dream represent bad earnings and a miserable life. Cutting and selling grass in a dream means dispelling stress and difficulties, or it could represent a police officer or a tithe collector. (Also see Meadows; Weeds) Dream Interpreter: Ibn Sirin
Market • Stealing or cheating in buying and selling: Will indulge in the worst kind of theft, like that involving people’s bread. If a mujahid—involved in Jihad—will be caught and chained. If a pilgrim, will conquer the heart of a woman and enjoy making love to her. If a scholar, will give bad counsel, will pray the wrong way, will prostrate himself before the imam does, et cetera. • Seeing a specific market full of people but with fire in it or a spring in its midst or seeing a nice breeze blowing in it or its shops filled with chopped straw: Good earnings for the merchants, but hypocrisy as well. • The market looking empty and its people dead or the merchants feeling sleepy or looking dormant or the shops closed and cobwebs appearing here and there, even on the commodities: Stagnation and recession. • Seeing a quiet market: Unemployment for its people. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Breast • A young woman dreaming of having milk in her breast: Will conceive and deliver. • An old woman dreaming of having milk in her breast: Will lose her money and become poor. • The breast having lengthened till touching the belly: (1) If the dreamer is a little boy, he will die. (2) If the dreamer is a man, he is indulging in frivolous matters that arouse the wrath of God. (3) If the dreamer is a childless man, he will become poor and desolate. (4) If the dreamer is a woman, it means extreme sorrow because, says Ibn Siren, in their sorrow Arab women pull and scratch their breasts. • Sucking a woman’s breast: Will get ill. • The dreamer sucking the breast of his pregnant wife: She will give birth to a male child. • A pregnant woman dreaming of sucking another lady’s breast: Will give birth to a girl. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Cat • Shedding blood after being scratched by a cat or losing an eye to its claws: Beware of an implacable enemy! • Selling a cat: The dreamer will spend his money. • Eating cat meat: Will learn magic. • Turning into a cat: Will earn one’s living through illicit practices and theft. • A cat entering one’s house: A robber will break in. Whatever is taken away by the cat will be stolen by the burglar. • Acquiring cat meat or grease: Will get money from a thief or obtain something stolen. • Fighting a cat that bites or scratches the dreamer in the process: Long illness or deep trouble followed by relief. If the cat was overwhelmed, recovery will come faster. The reverse is also true. • A cat and a mouse getting along with each other, as in the case of the wolf and the sheep: (1) Hypocrisy. (2) No more fear of the enemy. (3) The ruler will be just to his subjects. (4) The world will turn upside-down. • Seeing a civet cat: A man of contradictions, combining high virtue and an evil character. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Horse • A horse dying at a person’s hands or in his house: The death of such a person. • Riding on a white-footed horse with a white fringe and all white harness while dressed as a full-fledged horseman: Will gain power and prestige, merit praise, and live secure from all enemies. A bay, roan, or reddish brown horse would be best if the dreamer were a combatant. The salamander (a color of Arab horses) refers to dignity and disease. • Riding on a horse and making it run till it sweats: Will be overcome by passion and commit sins to earn your living. It is noteworthy that sweat emanating from running is an expenditure on some sinful matter, in view of the verse of the Holy Quran that reads: “Run (flee) not, but return to the good things of this life which were given you, and to your homes, in order that ye may be called to account. They said: Alas for us! Woe to us! We were indeed wrongdoers!” (“Al-Anbiyae” [The Prophets], verses 13–14.) Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Donkey • A donkey that goes along well or keeps the pace: The best of this world. • A saddled donkey: A child with a golden spoon (born and living in prosperity). • A donkey with a long tail: The dreamer’s empire or tradition will be preserved by his successors. • Death of a donkey: The owner will die, will be isolated, or will lose his money and his business or his shop will be destroyed or he will be ousted from it. Otherwise, the slave who serves him or his father or grandfather who supported him will pass away, his endeavours will fade, or his master, who was under his spell will die, sell him, or go away. For a woman, her husband will divorce her, die, move away, or travel and leave her behind. • A donkey whose owner is unknown and which, instead of obeying, keeps braying: An ignorant and loud person in view of a verse of the Holy Quran that reads as follows: “Be modest in thy bearing and subdue thy voice. Lo! the harshest of all voices is the voice of the ass.” (“Surat Luqman,” verse 19.) According to the ancient Arabs, it could also be a reference to Jews: “The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Law of Moses, yet apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books. Wretched is the likeness of folk who deny revelations of Allah. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.” (“Surat Al-Jumuah” [The Congregation], verse 5.) Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
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