Believing dream interpretations is not an act of unbelief

7-12-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu alikum, I was reading something that was saying that many people have seen royaa (good dreams that are from Allah subhanahu wa taala) specifying a certain year to be the year in which Islam is going to be victorious. I didn't read that thing carefully, so I just skimmed it, and I got very happy about what it was claiming and I started imagining myself and my family being in a good state because of the victory of Islam, so I basically believed (for a while) that these dreams are sure to happen. Now I am scared that me believing this is a kind of believing in someone claiming to know the unknown, which we know that only Allah subhanahu wa talaa knows. I later went back to that piece I read and realized that the interpreter made some very weird calculations to come up with that date, and the dreams he posted had no actual dates in them (so the people who dreamed weren't shown a particular date; the interpreter did some weird calculations to get these dates). My question is: Could my belief in this claim and my happiness in it have made me a murtad or kafir (aoth billah), since I believed it as if it was clear truth? Is this similar to beleiving that someone could know the unknown (aoth billah)? Please help and jazak Allah.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His Slave and Messenger.

You should know that the mere belief that the interpretation of a dream is true is not an act of unbelief. If someone is known with honesty and religiosity and is known to be correct in his interpretations, then there is no harm in giving credence to his word.

Know that interpreting dreams is permissible for those who are good at it. The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) was reported to have interpreted dreams, as well as Abu Bakr  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him.

Dream interpretation is not a form of divination, nor does it fall under the category of claiming to know the unseen as long as the interpreter is good at it. But it is not permissible for anyone else to interpret dreams.

It should be noted that religious laws cannot be derived from dreams, and nor should matters of the future be based on them. Moreover, dreams cannot be relied on in identifying a specific time for the occurrence of a victory or any other matter with certainty because dreams can either come true not turn out not to be true. The most that can be said about them is that if they are good, they are good news (glad tidings), which are only given some consideration. It has been long said "be glad from a good dream but not deceived."

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 18129.

Allaah Knows best.

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