2 Islamic articles on: Islam and dream interpretation

Table of contents for the topic Islam and dream interpretation
  1. What do jinns in dreams mean?
  2. Laughter in dreams and menstruation

IslamQA: What do jinns in dreams mean?

assalamu aleikum, does having nightmares with djinns have a particular meaning that we should take into consideration? or are they just like any other bad nightmares?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

My attitude toward dreams, good or bad, is that they are just natural phenomena caused by the way the brain works. I consider it a waste of time to try to read too much into our dreams or try to interpret them, unless we have the same dream many times.

I have seen no hadith that mentions jinns have a special significance in dreams.

IslamQA: Laughter in dreams and menstruation

In response to Did Abraham’s wife Sarah laugh at the destruction of Lot’s people?

Laughter in a dream can be interpreted as menstruation and I have certainly found this happening, especially when I think that I am not menstruating, but the dream appears as a vision to warn me that I am--laughter can thus be interpreted as menstruation because Lot's wife laughed because had suddenly begun menstruating, after menopause. This is one of the possible interpretations!!

That is possible. However, in the field of Quranic exegesis interpretations have to rely on either on textual evidence (verses of the Quran, hadith and athar) or on scientific evidence. Dream interpretation can only be admitted if there are Quranic verses or hadith narrations mentioning that seeing such a thing in a dream has such a meaning. If we ourselves relate menstruation and laughter through personal experience but this is not mentioned in Quranic verses or narrations, then it cannot be used to interpret the verse. If someone does a large-scale scientific study of women’s dreams and discovers a strong correlation between laughter in dreams and menstruation in the real world, then this too can be admitted as evidence to interpret the verse.

Also, note that the story related to Abraham’s wife not Lot’s wife.