Etiquette of the Dreamer and the Interpreter

For the dreamer, there are five points of etiquette: 1 . He should not tell his dream to anyone who may envy him. Don't you see that Ya'qoob said to Yoosuf ^: "Relate not your vision [dream] to your brothers"[Yoosuf 12:5]? 2. He should not tell it to one who is ignorant or sick, or to a child or a woman, as all of these are lacking in reason, lest they interpret it in a bad way when it is indicative of good and thus it will materialize in the way in which it is interpreted, because it says in the Hadeeth: " The dream is for the first interpreter." And in another Hadeeth it says: "The dream is not settled for a man, then when it is interpreted it will settle." A woman came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said: " [I saw in a dream that] I gave birth to a girl and the pillars of my house were broken." Her husband was absent and he [the Prophet (Peace be upon him) ] said to her: "You will give birth, if Allah wills, to a female and your husband will come." Her husband came a nd she gave birth to a female. Then he went away again, and she came to him [the Prophet (Peace be upon him) ] and said something similar, and he said to her the same as he had said the first time. Her husband came back, then he went away for a third time. She came to him [the Prophet (Peace be upon him) ] and did not find him, so she told Abu Bakr [about her dream] and he said to her: "You will give birth to a female and your husband will die." Then she told the Prophet (Peace be upon him) [about the dream] and he said to her: "Did anyone interpret it for you?" She told him about the interpretation of Abu Bakr (May Allah be please with him) and he said the same thing to her and said: "The dream is for the first interpreter." 3. He should tell it as he saw it , without adding or subtracting anything. It says in the Hadeeth: " Whoever tells a lie about his dream will be ordered on the Day of Resurrection to tie two grains of barley together." In some books of Fiqh it says: "... two grains of barley, and he will never be able to tie them together." 4. He should tell it in secret as he saw it in secret. 5. He should tell it at the beginning of the month. I have seen this in the books of some of the authors who write about this field of knowledge. Others say that h e should not tell it after 'Asr or at night. Our Shaykh, Shihaab - ud - Deen, used to interpret dreams after 'Asr, and I did not see him interpret dreams at the beginning of the month or at the end, but I do not know the reason for that. For the interpreter, t here are six points of etiquette: 1. He should say, "I think it is good." The Prophet (Peace be upon him) would say to the dreamer: " May good befall you and may you be protected from evil; may it be good for us and bad for our enemies; praise be to Allah t he Lord of the Worlds. Tell us your dream." 2. He should interpret it in the best way, because of what it says in the Hadeeth: "The dream will materialize as it is interpreted." 3. The interpreter should listen well and make sure he understands what the dreamer is saying, and give a good answer. 4. He should take his time giving an answer, because it is said: The one who takes his time will get it right or near enough, and the one who is hasty will get it wrong or near enough. 5 . He should not withhold his interpretation from the dreamer. 6. He should listen to the dream from the one who saw it, so that he may know him and interpret it for him in an appropriate manner, and because an intermediary may change the words, and the interpretation varies according to different wordings. Moreover, if the interpreter sees something in the dream that is indicative of good, he should give the dreamer glad tidings before interpreting it. If he sees something that indicates something bad, he should refrain from interpreting it or explain it according to the best possibility. If part of it indicates something good and part of it indicates something bad, he should mention what is most likely. For example: entering the bathhouse is indicative of misfortune and troubles, but the interpretation is that it is indicative of relief from calamity. So the rest of the dream should be examined to see what the conclusion is most likely to be. If he gets confused, he should ask the dreamer about his name and interpret it according to what he understands from this name.