Ar-Ru'yaa (visions) are good and straightforward things which one sees while sleeping in a dream. Al-Hilm (dreams or nightmares) are the disturbing, frightening or chaotic dreams which one sees while sleeping.Ar-Ru'yaa (Visions/Dreams)
When a Muslims sees a dream which is disturbing, frightening or chaotic, they should:
- Spit or expell air three times to ones left
- Seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaitan.
- Do not mention the dream to anyone
- Change the side on which one was sleeping or (better yet) get up and make some prayer.
{Fa lammaa balagha ma'ahu as-sa'ya qaala yaa bunaiyya inniy araa fiy al-manaami anniy adhbahuka fandhur ma dha taraa. Qaala yaa abati if'al ma tu'maru sa tajiduniy in shaa Allahu min as-saabireen. Fa lammaa aslamaa wa tallahu liljabeeni wa naadainaahu an yaa Ibrahim qad saddaqta ar-ru'yaa innaa kadhalika najziy al-muhsineen.} As-Saaffaatz:103-105Some of the definite information which the Prophet (sas) received from Allah also came in dreams and that is why it is a part of prophethood. In the hadith:
The Prophet said, "Last night I saw (in a dream) two men coming to me. One of them said, "The person who kindles the fire is Malik, the gate-keeper of the (Hell) Fire, and I am Gabriel, and this is Michael." Al-Bukhari (Volume 4, Book 54, Number 459)When some wicked and envious people worked sorcery on the Prophet (sas), Allah used a dream to communicate to him how to free himself from it.
"Magic was worked on the Prophet so that he began to fancy that he was doing a thing which he was not actually doing. One day he invoked (Allah) for a long period and then said, "I feel that Allah has inspired me as how to cure myself. Two persons came to me (in my dream) and sat, one by my head and the other by my feet. One of them asked the other, "What is the ailment of this man?" The other replied, 'He has been bewitched" The first asked, 'Who has bewitched him?' The other replied, 'Lubaid bin Al-A'sam.' The first one asked, 'What material has he used?' The other replied, 'A comb, the hair gathered on it, and the outer skin of the pollen of the male date-palm.' The first asked, 'Where is that?' The other replied, 'It is in the well of Dharwan.' " So, the Prophet went out towards the well and then returned and said to me on his return, "Its date-palms (the date-palms near the well) are like the heads of the devils." I asked, "Did you take out those things with which the magic was worked?" He said, "No, for I have been cured by Allah and I am afraid that this action may spread evil amongst the people." Later on the well was filled up with earth." Al-Bukhari (Volume 4, Book 54, Number 490)The first six months of the Prophethood consisted of true visions.
The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good righteous (true) dreams in his sleep. He never had a dream but that it came true like bright day light. He used to go in seclusion (the cave of) Hira where he used to worship(Allah Alone) continuously for many (days) nights. He used to take with him the journey food for that (stay) and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again for another period to stay, till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him in it and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read." (The Prophet added), "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, "I do not know how to read," whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read, but again I replied, "I do not know how to read (or, what shall I read?)." Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released me and said, "Read: In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot. Read and Your Lord is Most Generous...up to..... ..that which he knew not." (96.15)The Prophet (sas) was shown the appearances of Isa (as) and Ad-Dajjal in a dream:Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration, his neck muscles twitching with terror till he entered upon Khadija and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and then he said, "O Khadija, what is wrong with me?" Then he told her everything that had happened and said, 'I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija said, 'Never! But have the glad tidings, for by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you as you keep good reactions with your Kith and kin, speak the truth, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guest generously and assist the deserving, calamity-afflicted ones." Khadija then accompanied him to (her cousin) Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza bin Qusai. Waraqa was the son of her paternal uncle, i.e., her father's brother, who during the Pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the Arabic writing and used to write of the Gospels in Arabic as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to him, "O my cousin! Listen to the story of your nephew." Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" The Prophet described whatever he had seen.
Waraqa said, "This is the same Namus (i.e., Gabriel, the Angel who keeps the secrets) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they turn me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said: "Never did a man come with something similar to what you have brought but was treated with hostility. If I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's Apostle in truth" whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before. (Ibn 'Abbas said regarding the meaning of: 'He it is that Cleaves the daybreak (from the darkness)' (6.96) that Al-Asbah. means the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night). Al-Bukhari (Volume 9, Book 87, Number 111)
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "I saw myself (in a dream) near the Ka'ba last night, and I saw a man with whitish red complexion, the best you may see amongst men of that complexion having long hair reaching his earlobes which was the best hair of its sort, and he had combed his hair and water was dropping from it, and he was performing the Tawaf around the Ka'ba while he was leaning on two men or on the shoulders of two men. I asked, 'Who is this man?' Somebody replied, '(He is) Messiah, son of Mary.' Then I saw another man with very curly hair, blind in the right eye which looked like a protruding out grape. I asked, 'Who is this?' Somebody replied, '(He is) Messiah, Ad-Dajjal.'" Al-Bukhari (Volume 9, Book 87, Number 128)The Prophet (sas) was informed in a dream that there would be two great liars - false prophets - after him and the Companions later realized who they were:
We were informed that Musailima Al-Kadhdhab had arrived in Medina and stayed in the house of the daughter of Al-Harith. The daughter of Al-Harith bin Kuraiz was his wife and she was the mother of 'Abdullah bin 'Amir. There came to him Allah's Apostle accompanied by Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas who was called the orator of Allah's Apostle. Allah's Apostle had a stick in his hand then. The Prophet stopped before Musailima and spoke to him. Musailima said to him, "If you wish, we would not interfere between you and the rule, on condition that the rule will be ours after you... The Prophet said, "If you asked me for this stick, I would not give it to you. I think you are the same person who was shown to me in a dream. And this is Thabit bin Al-Qais who will answer you on my behalf." The Prophet then went away. I asked Ibn Abbas about the dream Allah's Apostle had mentioned. Ibn Abbas said, "Someone told me that the Prophet said, "When I was sleeping, I saw in a dream that two gold bangles were put in my hands, and that frightened me and made me dislike them. Then I was allowed to blow on them, and when I blew at them, both of them flew. Then I interpreted them as two liars who would appear.' One of them was Al-'Ansi who was killed by Fairuz in Yemen and the other was Musailima Al-Kadhdbab." Al-Bukhari (Volume 5, Book 59, Number 662)This is why the Prophet (sas) said the Ar-ru'yaa is one 46th of "prophethood" or of "revelation". Dreams are a part of the process of revelation since, as we have seen, some orders or information from Allah may be delivered to one of His messengers by this means. It is one "46th" part because the Prophet (sas) received revelation in this way for the first six months after he became Allah's Messenger. His whole time delivering the Communication from Allah was 23 years and so the portion which was via dreams was one 46th of that. The Prophet said:
"Ar-ru'yaa al-hasanatu min ar-rajali as-saalihi juz'un min sittati wa arba'eena juz'an min an-nabuwwa." Al-Bukhari
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Talha al-Ansari from Anas ibn Malik that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The good dream of a man who is salih is a forty-sixth part of prophecy." Al-Muwatta' (Book 52, Number 52.1.1)
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Talha from Zufar ibn Sasaca from his father from Abu Hurayra that when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left the morning prayer, he would say, "Has any of you had a dream last night? All that will remain of prophecy after me will be the true dream." Al-Muwatta' (Book 52, Number 52.1.2)
It is important not to go to extremes with regard to dreams for example believing that the dreams of anyone can make the lawful unlawful or the unlawful lawful or give certain knowledge of the future. All of this is from Shaitaan. It is also important not to ignore the good dreams with which Allah has blessed the righteous of this Ummah and the glad tidings which they bring. The Prophet (sas) said:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ata ibn Yasar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "All that will be left of prophecy after me are the mubashshirat." They said, "What are the mubashshirat, Messenger of Allah?" He said, "The true dream which a man who is salih sees - or which is shown to him - is a forty-sixth part of prophecy." Al-Muwatta' (Book 52, Number 52.1.3)In order to enjoy the gifts of the good dream if one is given, they should remember the adab of same and ONLY tell those whom one loves about it. As for a dream which misleads one about Islam or directs one to the neglect of the obligatory or the commission of the haram, these dreams are the confusion of shaitaan, even though they may seem to be "bringers of glad tidings". Since it is impossible to know for sure which dreams are a gift from Allah and which are the confusion of Shaitaan, no action or inaction may be based on them. Frightening dreams are definitely the mischief of shaitaan and should be counteracted with seeking refuge, following the sunnah of spitting and getting up to pray. The Prophet (sas) said:
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said: There came to him (the Prophet) a desert Arab and said: I saw in a dream that I had been beheaded and I had been following it (the severed head). Allah's Apostle (peace_be_upon_him) reprimanded him saying: Do not inform about the vain sporting of devil with you during the night. Muslim (Book 28, Number 5640)