For Those Left Behind
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Ep. 9: What If I Dream About Them? | For Those Left Behind
When I see my loved one in a dream, is my soul actually meeting them? What message could they be sending me? How can I be sure it is them?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:27 Narrations of dream interpretations
4:40 Are we actually seeing the dead when we dream of them?
In general, bad dreams are from the Shaytan. If you see a bad dream, seek refuge in Allah SWT and don't seek the interpretation of that dream.
If you see your loved one in a dream, it could be a form of your regurgitated thoughts. But to actually see a person that has passed away (in your dream) is also possible, according to the scholars of Islam. Ibn Qayyim (rahimahullah) said that the soul moves freely at the time of sleep, and it meets with the soul of others. It is not limited by the physical dimensions of this world at the time of sleep. So while you are asleep it is possible for your soul to meet the soul of your dead loved ones.
06:23 Types of dreams of the deceased
When a person sees a dead person in their sleep, the dead may give them advice. The dead may also comfort them, and tell them that they're ok and that everything is good (with them). Sometimes the dead person asks the one who is alive to pay off their debt or seek forgiveness from a person on their behalf.
08:08 Signs of dreams that may be from Shaytan
If the person in your dream tells you to do something wrong, gives you revelation or changes a ruling from Islam then know that it is probably from the Shaytan. But whoever sees the Prophet ﷺ in their dream has no doubt seen him because the Shaytan cannot take the form of the Prophet ﷺ or imitate him.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Some of the most vivid dreams that people will see in their lives are usually of their loved ones that have passed away. And sometimes those dreams have really deep meanings to a point that they scare the person that saw them. How do we come to terms with this? Are we actually seeing the dead when we dream? As-salatu ala l-anwati wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatu. And I was thinking about, you know, which dream to narrate. And I remembered this incident with Tufail ibn Amr al-Dawsi radiAllahu anhu. There are numerous dreams, but I want to start with this one for a reason. Tufail ibn Amr al-Dawsi was of course famous in his interaction with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He brought the tribe of Daws to Islam to accept Islam with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he made hijrah. He migrated to Medina. And when he migrated to Medina, he had a man with him from his tribe. And when this man made the hijrah, left everything behind, made the hijrah with Tufail, with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Medina, the climate of Medina got to him, he became ill. And as he suffered his illness, he cut his fingers. And when he cut his fingers, the blood would flow from his hands and eventually he passed away. Now, this is a very interesting situation. Tufail says, I saw him in a dream and he was in a good state, meaning, you know, he looked to be from the people of Al-Jannah, but his fingers were still cut off or he was, he had his hands wrapped and it was clear that his fingers were still cut off. So he said, I asked him, I said, what has Allah done with you? And he said, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la pardoned me because of my hijrah with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, because of my migration with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, but as for my fingers, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said to me, I will not restore what you yourself ruined. I will not restore what you yourself ruined.
And what did the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam do? Tufail says that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam raised his hands to the sky and he says, Allahumma wa liyadayhi fa-khfir, Allahumma wa liyadayhi fa-khfir. Oh Allah, and for his hands, forgive him. Oh Allah, and for his hands, forgive him. There are numerous dreams that get narrated and we find not just from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the companions, but throughout history of students seeing their teachers. And one of my favorite ones is also Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And I want to actually, before we talk about Uthman radiAllahu Anhu's dream of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, keep in mind that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu feared the grave more so than most of the companions. I don't know if any other companion was narrated to have feared the grave more than Uthman radiAllahu Anhu. It was said about Uthman that he used to cry at the grave in ways that he would weep and his beard would become wet, but he wouldn't cry that way at the mentions of Al-Jannah wal-Nar, of paradise and hellfire, the way that other companions did. And they asked him and Uthman radiAllahu Anhu said, this is the first station of the stations of the hereafter. So if this is good, everything else will be good. And if this is bad, then everything else will be bad. Now, fast forward to when Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was actually about to die. He was under siege and he goes to sleep while he is fasting and he sees in his dream, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Abu Bakr and Umar. May Allah be pleased with them. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is comforting Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu through the trials that he is going through. And he tells Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, irji' fa innaka muftiroon AAindi go back for you will break your fast with me. Your iftar is going to be with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and with Abu Bakr and with Umar. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu wakes up laughing. He wakes up so happy and laughing. And he says, the sun will not set tonight illa wa'ana min ahlil aakhirah except that I am amongst the people of the hereafter.
And he grabs his mushaf and he reads until he is assassinated. And indeed, you know, has iftar with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Abu Bakr and Umar as he saw in that dream. And again, there are so many different narrations. If you read Madaraj As-Salikeen, Ihyaa ilum ad-din, these books where you see, you know, students that see their teachers and the teacher shows up and the teacher is in a state of Jannah and the student asked the teacher, you know, how is it that you reached that place? He says that Allah did not accept anything from me except for two rak'ahs that I prayed at night. And that is a nasiha to the student, an advice to the student to continue forward and to pray those two rak'ahs. How do we come to terms with this? Are we actually seeing the dead when we dream? Are we seeing them? Are we seeing a representation of them? How do we come to terms with this? Well, first and foremost, establish the understanding of the dream. Understanding of the dream in general, that bad dreams are from the shaitaan and we are to seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from them and not to entertain them. So if you see a dream that displeases you, say audhu billahi min ash-shaitaan wa rajim seek refuge in Allah and don't seek the interpretation of that dream. When it comes to good dreams, when it comes to us seeing our deceased ones, of course, some people might be having, you know, just hadithun nafs, just regurgitated thoughts. But the possibility of actually seeing a person that has passed away is established by the scholars of Islam. Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahu wa ta'ala, he describes it as the following. He says that the soul moves freely at the time of sleep. You know, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala compares sleep to moat, it is a minor death. Every time you go to sleep, you are saying, Bismika Allahumma amootu wa ahya. In your name, O Allah, I die and I am given life.
You wake up in the morning, Alhamdulillah all praises be to the one who gave us life after he took our souls after death. So every night you're going to sleep, there is death. Your soul travels, it moves freely during sleep and it meets with the souls of others. And so Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahu wa ta'ala says that while you are asleep, it may be that your soul would meet the soul of your loved one. Remember, we're not limited by the dimensions of this dunya at the time of sleep. And so a person might see a dead person and the dead may give them nasiha, might give them advice. The dead might comfort them, right? To let them know that I'm okay, that everything is good, Alhamdulillah. They might see their dead loved ones in a place of al-jannah or where, you know, something really good happening with them. And the soul will comfort the soul of the living to say that I'm okay, Alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen. It might be that the dead asks the one who is alive to go and pay off a debt. Maybe they weren't aware of it. Remember we talked about the first thing that you do for those that have passed away. So, you know, go to this person and pay off a debt or go seek forgiveness from this person because I hurt that person. SubhanAllah, someone in my own family, you know, passed away in hajj. And this was years ago. And passing away in hajj is a form of shahada. But when he passed away, his children all saw the same dream at night. They saw a dream of him. And I'm talking about numerous children saw a dream of him asking them to go seek forgiveness from a very particular person. They all woke up and they all saw the same dream of him asking them to go seek forgiveness from a particular person. They did so. They went to that person and then they saw a dream of him in al-jannah. As if to say, subhanAllah, I mean, hurting people and having those things can prevent even a righteous person, the person who dies the most ideal of death from reaching their desired place with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So sometimes you might see a dream and your deceased one is telling you go pay
off that debt, go seek forgiveness from that person because I hurt that person. These are all things that we find narrated over and over and over again. And sometimes they might remind you of the hereafter. Sometimes you just seeing them reminds you. Of the hereafter. And that is also something that is there. What can't happen obviously is that a person who you see tells you to do something that is wrong or gives you revelation or, you know, changes a ruling of Islam, none of that is allowed. And none of that could be except from the shaitan. And remember that the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned that one of the blessings of seeing the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in a dream is that whoever sees the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam has definitely seen him because the shaitan cannot take the form of the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Or imitate the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now, what I want to say here, though, to caution a little bit here is that sometimes the counter effect of this is that if I don't see my deceased loved one in a dream, then I start to think something is wrong with me. Then I start to think that, you know, are they, are they upset with me? Or have they gone somewhere that I don't want them to go? Or, you know, is Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la angry with me? And that is also not a way to judge your righteousness. Okay. Because some of the most beloved people to Allah and those that love the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam most never saw the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in a dream. That doesn't mean that they're not upon the sunnah. That doesn't mean that they don't love the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. That means that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gives that blessing to some and he doesn't give it to others. And there is a hikmah, there's a wisdom for that. So yes, your soul may meet the soul of your deceased loved ones and you may long for that and that's okay. But don't judge your righteousness or wickedness except by the standards that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la have set that transcend your death and the death of
anyone else.
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