Scary dreams

“Good dreams come from Allaah, and (bad) dreams come from Shaytaan. Whoever sees something that he dislikes let him spit to his left three times and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan, for it will not harm him.”  al-Bukhaari.

Man is constantly being chased by the accursed one, Shaytan. This avowed enemy of man, not only trouble us while we are awake, but also in our sleep! He manifests his evil ways by creeping into our thoughts and dreams; through disturbing dreams and trouble thoughts that might lead to bad actions by some misguided individuals.

These disturbing dreams are from shaytan, as his goal is to make us fearful and scared because he knows that our power and strength lies in our heart. He wants to weaken our faith, or at least make us sad so that we slack in our worship to Allah. But because of Allah’s love for his Creatures He through the prophet Muhammad SWA, provide us with antidotes for such evil machination. 

It was reported from Jaabir  that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit to his left three times, and seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan three times and turn over from the side on which he was sleeping.” (Narrated: Muslim, 5864). The “spitting” referred to here is a soft, dry spitting with no saliva ejected.

Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet said:“If any one of you sees a dream that he likes, this is from Allaah, so let him praise Allaah for it and talk about it to others. If he sees other than that, a dream that he dislikes, this is from the Shaytaan, so let him seek refuge with Allaah from its evil and not mention it to anyone, for it will not harm him.” (Narrated al-Bukhaari, 6584).

In al-Bukhaari, Baab al-Qayd fi’l-Manaam, it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah,: whoever sees something he dislikes (in a dream) should not tell anyone about it; rather he should get up and pray. This was reported as a Mawsool report by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh.

The aforementioned proofs thus suggest the followings when we have scary and good dreams:

Seek refuge with Allaah from the evil shown in the dream, Seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of the Shaytaan, Recite the isti’adha: A’udhu bi’llahi min ash-shaytani’r-rajim, Spit (dry spit) to one’s left three times, should not mention the dream to anyone at all (for it will not harm you), should change sides, It is recommended to pray two units of prayer as it will act as a double protection from shaytan’s evil traps.

And if it is good ones: Praise and thank Allaah for the good dream (Say Alhumdulillaah), Feel happy about it, talk about it to those whom one loves and trusts, and they too love him/her (i.e. they should not be envious of him as this might trigger them to plot against you.

It is important to follow the sunnah of preparing for sleep as it is a powerful protection from such evil dreams.