And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on dreams and what is related to them: “From Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

A true vision

الرؤيا الصالحة

And in another narration:

A good vision (dream) is from Allah and a bad dream is from the Satan. He who sees something in a dream that he dislikes, should blow thrice on his left, must seek Allah's Refuge from the evil of the Satan (i.e., by saying: A'udhu billahi minash-Shaitanir-Rajim). Then it will not harm him.

الرؤيا الحسنة من الله، والحلم من الشيطان، فمن رأى شيئًا يكرهه فلينفث عن شماله ثلاثًا وليتعوذ من الشيطان فإنها لا تضره

Riyad as-Salihin 841

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. And from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who said:

If anyone of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit dryly to his left three times and seek refuge with Allah from Satan three times, and turn over onto his other side.

إذا رأى أحدكم الرؤيا يكرهها فليبصق عن يساره ثلاثًا، وليستعذ بالله من الشيطان ثلاثًا، وليتحول عن جنبه الذي كان عليه

Sunan Ibn Majah 3908Sahih (Darussalam)

Narrated by Muslim. And from Wathilah ibn al-Asqa' (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Verily, one of the worst lies is to claim falsely to be the son of someone other than one's real father, or to claim to have had a dream one has not had, or to attribute to me what I have not said.

إن من أعظم الفرى أن يدعي الرجل إلى غير أبيه أو يري عينه ما لم تر أو يقول على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ما لم يقل

Sahih al-Bukhari 3509

Narrated by al-Bukhari.”

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
These hadiths concern dreams, and some of this has been mentioned previously. We explained that dreams are of three types. The first type is a good, righteous dream, which is from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). We mentioned that it is in what brings joy and is part of the immediate glad tidings for the believer. The second type, or the second category, is a nightmare, which is from Satan. It is generally in what a person dislikes; that is, Satan shows a person what he dislikes so that he becomes frightened, disturbed, and sad, and perhaps even falls ill, because Satan is an enemy to man and loves what makes man miserable and sad. Allah the Exalted said: So a nightmare is this thing that a person sees in his sleep that he dislikes and that disturbs him. But among the blessings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is that for every disease there is a cure; every disease has a cure. So what is the cure for this nightmare? Its cure, first, is for the person to spit to his left three times, and to seek refuge in Allah from the evil of Satan three times, and from the evil of what he saw. He says: “I seek refuge in Allah from the evil of Satan and from the evil of what I saw” three times. And he changes to the other side; if he was on his left side, he changes to his right, and if he was on his right, he changes to his left. Also, he should perform wudu' if this does not help, meaning if he changed from the first side to the second and this nightmare he dislikes returns, let him get up, perform wudu', and pray, and let him not tell anyone about it. He does not say, “I saw this” or “I saw that,” and he does not go to people to have it interpreted; that is, he does not go to anyone to interpret it, because if he does that, the dream will never harm him, and it will be as if it did not happen, and this is relief. Some people, when they see something they dislike, say, “Who will interpret this dream for me?” and they go around to people saying, “Interpret this dream for me,” or “Let someone interpret it for me.” We say, do not trouble yourself. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to see dreams until they would become ill from them. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) informed them of this hadith, they were relieved. So when a person sees a dream he dislikes, he spits to his left three times, seeks refuge in Allah from its evil and the evil of Satan, and does not tell anyone about it, and then it does not harm him, as if it did not become real. As for the third type, it is the dream that comes from the whispers of the self. A person may be preoccupied with something and constantly think about it, so he may see it in his sleep. This also has no ruling and no effect. It is recommended for a person, when he sees a dream that pleases him, which is the righteous dream, to interpret it in the best way that comes to his mind, because if a dream is interpreted by the permission of Allah, it will come to pass. Then, it is important that we do not rely on what is found in some books, such as Ibn Sirin’s interpretation of dreams and the like, for that is an error. This is because a dream differs according to the dreamer, according to the time, according to the place, and according to the circumstances. That is, perhaps a person sees a dream and we interpret it for him with one interpretation, and another person sees the same dream and we interpret it for him with a different interpretation than the first. Why? Because this person saw what is appropriate for him, and that person saw what is appropriate for him, or because the circumstances require that this dream be interpreted with this interpretation, and the like. So the important thing is that a person should not refer to books written on the interpretation of dreams, because dreams differ. It is mentioned that a man saw a dream and it was interpreted for him with one interpretation, then another man saw the same dream and it was interpreted with a different interpretation. The one who interpreted both was asked why, and he said, “Because what this man saw is appropriate for him, and what that man saw is appropriate for him.” Every person is interpreted according to what is appropriate for him. For this reason, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw at Uhud, before the battle or during it, in a dream that there was a notch in his sword and that cows were being slaughtered, he interpreted it as meaning that one of his family members would be killed and that one of his Companions would be killed. The notch meant that one of his family members would be killed, because a person takes refuge in his tribe and takes refuge in his sword, so when there was a notch in the sword, it meant that there would be a notch in his family. And so it happened, with the martyrdom of Hamzah, the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) uncle, at Uhud. As for the cows being slaughtered, those were the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) who were killed at Uhud, about seventy men. He saw them as cows because cows have many benefits; they are the most beneficial of livestock for plowing, for milk, for increase, and for many other interests. And the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were all good, with much good in them for this Ummah. If there were no good in them except that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) guided them to carry the Shari'ah to the Ummah, for there is no path for us to the Shari'ah of Allah except through the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). So the result is that a person may see a dream, and another may see the same, and it is interpreted for this one with one interpretation and for that one with another. Therefore, we do not rely on these books that interpret dreams, because they interpret them in one way, while dreams differ. And success is from Allah.

The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah bless you, regarding climbing the dam.

The Shaykh : What?

The questioner : Climbing the dam that has passed.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : The family in Madinah, for they visit al-Baqi' and visit Uhud and visit the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : If he is with his family, is it permissible for the family to visit these places?