A person asks about the interpretation of a dream, and the Shaykh says: “We are not knowledgeable about the interpretation of dreams.” And explaining the categories of dreams.

The questioner : All right, O Shaykh, may Allah bless you. We have not sat with you for years, and I have not been able, by Allah, to attend with Shaykh 'Abd al-Samad or Shaykh al-'Ibad because I am in pain.

The Shaykh : May Allah heal you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. A man from among our brothers, meaning we know of him nothing but good, but we do not certify anyone before Allah, saw a dream that the moon was eclipsed. He sees in his sleep that the moon was eclipsed, and there was a man in the mosque who took an interest in this matter, and he stood up calling people, reminding them of Allah. But there were some people causing disturbance and a mob, and the man who saw the dream started saying: “O people, fear Allah, let the Shaykh remind you of Allah, listen to the speech, look at this verse now.” He became heated with them in the discussion and the argumentation. They were saying to him: “Leave it, you, let the boys play, or let these ones, we cannot silence them,” until he woke up from the sleep. So what is this?

The Shaykh : .

The questioner : Some of the brothers have, meaning, some words.

The Shaykh : This is what we can say.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I hope that it is good, and I do not occupy myself with the interpretation of dreams for two reasons. The first reason is that I have known from the collection of hadiths reported regarding dreams or visions that every vision a Muslim sees may be one of three: either it is a vision from Allah, or it is a vision from Satan, a vision from Satan’s manipulation of human beings, or the third and last is the talk of the soul.

The questioner : Jumbled dreams.

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Jumbled dreams.

The Shaykh : The third and the second, obviously, one should not seek to interpret them. The first... and the interpretation, but.

The questioner : From Allah.

The Shaykh : But yes, the one from Allah.

The Shaykh : But when a person comes and relates to me a vision, I have no knowledge to distinguish which of the three categories this vision belongs to. I cannot rule that it is from the first category without the second and third. Then, even if it were distinguished for me by circumstances, I have no knowledge of interpretation. All right, this is the first reason, which is based on the Shari'ah.
The second reason: It is said in what is transmitted from some of them: “Whoever sees a lesson in another, let him take the lesson”. When I was studying Hanafi fiqh with some of the Hanafi jurists in the mosque, we would sit with the Shaykh after the Fajr prayer, three or four students, no more. An old woman would enter and come behind the Shaykh and whisper to him something we could not understand what she was saying... sometimes. We would hear the Shaykh’s answer, but we did not understand the woman’s question. However, we would infer from the Shaykh’s answer that she had related a vision to him. So we would hear the Shaykh’s answer, which was routine, meaning always as a fixed rule, whatever the vision that was related to him, it seemed that the deceased needed charity, so she would give charity on behalf of his soul. That was the interpretation of the vision; he was shy to say: So he would do good, thinking that by saying “give charity on behalf of his soul”!

The questioner : ... and we hope that it will come true.
Another questioner: We hope for Allah.
Another questioner: Give us good news, if Allah wills.
Another questioner: In it, meaning we look forward to it.
Another questioner: If Allah wills, bring it.
Another questioner: We went for da'wah to some villages... in a village named... and I saw in that night that I was in Sham in Damascus, and lo, the goods of the dog, who is Hafez al-Asad, lo, he comes running, saying “Let us go, revolution, revolution, let us go.” He was running away and took me by my hand.
Another questioner: You?
Another questioner: Yes, and he led me and I started walking... then I felt that he put his hand in his pocket and took out a gun, and indeed he took out the gun and shot me here on the wrist, and blood flowed from it. Then I took the gun from his hand and put it in his body and shot him with seven bullets, until I felt, while I was sleeping, that I did not break my fast because I had to... from a distance, I had to... so seven bullets hit his forehead. Then I walked alone, and then some of the brothers from the university students caught up with me and congratulated me on this. And I went to our house and found my father, may Allah have mercy on him, and he was alive at that time. I found him and I found my brother Ziyad, all this in the dream. So we sat and talked about the killing of Hafez.
Another questioner: In the dream?

The questioner : Yes, so my brother Ziyad said to me: “I do not give you good news, and also Rifa'at al-Asad was killed.” After this, I woke up from the sleep and informed the brothers at that time.

The Shaykh : Bring what you have?

The questioner : I have in the books of dream interpretation that the sun and the moon are interpreted... but in my heart there is something other than this, that Islam has been afflicted with what it has been afflicted with, and there are sincere callers and people of evil are causing disturbance to them, and I think this is what happened to Abbas and he is pressing on you.
Another questioner: The dream, O Shaykh, we hope that it is talk of the soul, also that he wishes for this to happen.
Another questioner: Some scholars interpret the Qur'an by the Qur'an, for example, the sun and the moon, they say, for example, the verse and they interpret it as the parents, or they interpret everything a person sees by looking at what is closest to the Qur'an and saying it, or from the hadiths that were reported, and they compare between them.