Do your dreams have meaning? Are your dreams mere reflections of your thoughts, or whispers from the unseen?
Each night, your soul departs—sometimes meeting the departed, sometimes witnessing glimpses of paradise, sometimes carrying a message meant just for you.
A wounded man in Gaza dreamt of a heavenly banquet before his friends were martyred. A woman at the time of the Prophet ﷺ saw men entering Jannah—only to wake and find they had just been martyred. Dreams hold truth, but not all dreams are true. So how do we know if it was a dream or a vision?
NOTE: All depictions of Barzakh are purely conceptual and only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.
Download discussion guides for “The Other Side”: https://yqn.io/2e7585
References:
- Anas (ra) said that the Prophet ﷺ used to love good dreams. So he ﷺ would say to the Companions: “Who amongst you had a good dream last night?” And Anas (ra) said, “If the person was known to be of good character, the Prophet ﷺ paid more attention to their dreams.”
So a woman came and said, “Ya Rasulullah, I saw myself entering Paradise.” And she named twelve men that she saw there. She said, “They were covered in blood and then Allah said, ‘Take them to the river of the Barzakh.’ And they came out and their faces were like the full moon. Then they had golden chairs, and plates with fresh food and dates, and I ate with them.” Right as the woman finished her dream, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ with the news of the martyrdom of those same twelve men that the Prophet ﷺ had sent on an expedition. [Musnad Ahmad]
- “The eyes of the Prophet ﷺ would close when he was asleep, but his heart did not sleep.” [Sahih al-Bukhari #3570]
- The Prophet ﷺ said: “Those who have the most accurate dreams are those who are most truthful in speech.” [Sahih Muslim #2263].
- The Prophet ﷺ said: “One of the greatest lies is to claim to have had a dream one has not had.” [Sahih al-Bukhari #3509]
- The Prophet ﷺ said: “As the Day of Judgment comes closer, the dreams of a believer will hardly fail to come true.” [Sahih al-Bukhari #7017]
- And there has always been an element of truth in dreams to the point that the Prophet ﷺ described them as 1/46th of prophethood. [Sahih al-Bukhari #6983; Sahih Muslim #2263].
- The Prophet ﷺ said: Dreams are of three types: a righteous dream, which is glad tidings from Allah; a distressing dream, which is from Shaytan; and a dream that reflects what a person thinks about during the day. So if any of you sees something he dislikes, let him get up and pray and not share it with others.” [Sahih Muslim #2263]
- The Prophet ﷺ said: “Dreams are attached to the foot of a bird until they are interpreted, then when they are interpreted they come to pass.” [Sunan Abi Dawud #5020; Sunan Ibn Majah #3914]
- Khuzaima ibn Thabit said: “I saw in a dream that I was prostrating on the forehead of the Messenger of Allah. So I informed the Allah’s Messenger ﷺ about it, and he said, ‘Indeed, the souls meet.’” [Musnad Ahmad #21878]
- While Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was delivering a sermon, he suddenly said, “O Sariya, the mountain! The mountain!” Umar had sent Sariya ibn Zunaim al-Duʾali to lead a military expedition. During the campaign, Sariya’s forces were surrounded and attacked from all sides. There was a mountain near the Muslim army that, if they retreated to it, would leave them exposed to attack from only one direction. Hearing Umar’s voice, the army retreated to the mountain, regrouped, and fought back, ultimately defeating the enemy. [Adh-Dhahabi, Siyar ‘Alam an-Nubala’; Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah]
- Ibn al-Qayyim (ra) said: “Indeed living souls can even meet in ways Allah only knows.” [Ibn al-Qayyim, Kitab ar-Ruh]
- Allah says: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term…”[Surah Zumar, 39:42]
- Ibn ‘Abbas said regarding the verse: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death” [Az-Zumar: 42]: “The souls of the living and the dead meet in dreams and converse with one another. Then, Allah keeps the souls of the deceased and sends back the souls of the living to their bodies.” [At-Tabarani, Al-Mu’jam al-Awsat]
- Anas ibn Malik reported that on the day of Yamamah, Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas came forward, having applied hanut and wearing two white garments in which he intended to be shrouded…He then charged into the fight and continued battling until he was martyred. Later, his armor was stolen, and a man saw him in a dream, where he told him: “It is in a large pot beneath a saddle at such-and-such location.” He also conveyed other instructions in the dream. When the people searched, they found the armor exactly where he had described, and his final requests were fulfilled. [Ibn Sa’d, At-Tabaqat]
- Sufyan ibn Uyayna said: “I saw my teacher Sufyan Ath-Thawri in a dream and said, “Advise me.” He said, “Keep the company of fewer people.” [Ibn Abi ad-Dunya, Al-Manamat; al-Isfahani, Hilyat al-Awliya’]
- Abdur-Rahman ibn Mahdi said: “I saw Sufyan ath-Thawri in a dream and asked him, ‘What did Allah do with you?’ He replied, ‘No sooner was I placed in the grave than I stood before Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and He held me to an easy reckoning. Then, He commanded that I be admitted into Paradise. As I wandered among its trees and rivers, hearing no sound nor movement, I suddenly heard a voice call out, “Sufyan ibn Saeed!” The voice then asked, “Do you remember a day when you preferred Allah over your own desires?” I replied, “Yes, by Allah.” At that moment, trays of scattered blessings poured upon me from all corners of Paradise.’” [Ibn al-Jawzi, Sifat as-Safwah]
- Su’ayr ibn al-Khims said: “I saw Sufyan in a dream flying from date-palm tree to date-palm tree, and all the while reciting, ‘All the praises and thanks be to Allah Who has fulfilled His Promise to us.’”(Qur’an, Surah Zumar, 39:74) [Adh-Dhahabi, Siyar ‘Alam an-Nubala’]
