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(1)Dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى: There are only two types of instructions. One are those for dreams that are meaningful (type 1) and those which are for dreams that are meaningless (type 2 and type 3). All the references are there in the bouquet of Ahadith quoted.
As a summary one is supposed to do the following on experiencing a dream of Type 1: (a) Praise Allah for the good dream
(b) Feel Happy about it
(c) Don't talk about it those whom you dislike
(d) Narrate it to someone whom you love or a wise person
(e) Try and Narrate it to your loved one on the morning following the night you saw the dream. or as soon as you see the dream.
(2)Dreams from Shaitan OR (3)Dreams from Nafs: These are useless dreams and on having these we are advised to :
(a) Seek refuge with Allah سبحانه و تعالى from the evil of the dream
(b) Seek refuge with Allah سبحانه و تعالى from the evil of Shaitan
(c) Spit to his left three times (without saliva) on waking up
(d) Say two voluntary rakah on waking up
(e) Ask Allah سبحانه و تعالى for a good dream
(f) Turn over the side on which you were lying previously
(g) Not mention it to anyone
(h) Have a firm belief that it was a meaningless dream and it will not harm you
C- Subcategories Within Different Types Of Dreams:
(1)Dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى: It is not possible to give a finite number of types of dreams within the categories.Scholars who have written about dreams have mentioned different sub-categories. In type 1 dreams, the diversity of dreams makes it impossible to give a finite list of subcategories which encompass all the dreams seen by the Sahaba, Tabi'een and the pious predecessors which were surely dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى. Nevertheless, Al Muhallab رحمه الله has given two broad sub-categories of dreams from Allahسبحانه و تعالى:
(a)Direct dream: something one would see in a dream and the exact scene repeats itself in day-time when you are awake and this dream does not need interpretation.
(b) A dream the comes in symbols and it needs to be interpreted.(Fath ul Baari) Different examples of dreams from Allah within type (a) are :
(i) True Dreams ( رؤيا صادق): Dreams that become a reality. These are the dreams which are the 46 part of prophethood, for the prophet Muhammad had these dreams continously for six months and the total period of his prophethood was 23 years, which makes it 46th part of the total. Different prophets has different periods of Prophethood, but as prophet Muhammad's prophethood was the most complete, hence it is referred to as the 46th part of prophethood, and Allah Knows best.
(ii) Meeting the Arwaah of the Dead in dreams
(iii) Meeting the Arwaah of the living in dreams : Is it possible for two living person's ruh to meet in dreams? This is a subject of difference amongst scholars and Ibn al Qayyim has quoted the various opinions in his book Kitab ur Ruh.
(iv) Glad tidings (مبشرات): A glad tiding for some victory or fulfillment of wish in near or distant future. (See Reference # 9)etc.
Dream from type (b) are actually: Tamseelat (تمثيلات); Dreams which don't convey a clear cut meaning. They are messages in a code superior to that which the brain can cope with. These have to be interpreted through the knowledge of Ta'beer. Within Tamseelat we can have dream which inform us of some near future happening. One can also have dreams that are for distant future (like the dream of Yusuf AS, See reference # 2). Also,these dreams might serve as an encouragement or some warning sometimes.
Note:The sleep of Prophets is unique. As we know the Prophet Muhammad informed us that his 'heart' remained awake even when he slept, so he didn't need to redo ablution on waking up from sleep. Also, he informed us that Allah سبحانه و تعالى fed him during the night, for that reason he kept 'Sawm Al Wisal', which is forbidden for others. So, though prophets are human beings like us but in some regards 'none of us is like them'. Also, Prophet Muhammad informed us that there is a shaitan (jinn) with everyone, but he made the jinn with him a Muslim, by the grace of Allah سبحانه و تعالى. So, the dreams the Prophet had always used to be from Allah. Also, the dreams of Prophets used to be an order from Allah, and were of a legal importance unlike the dream of anyone of us (See Reference # 5).
(2) Dreams from Shaitan: These can be further categorized as:
(a) Dreams which try to make one worried by evoking some fear
(b) Dreams which try to make one worried by evoking hopelessness
(c) Dreams which contain indecency etc.
(3)Dreams from Nafs: Dreams from Nafs also can be categorized as either those who are clear-cut or those who appear in the form of symbols and signs.
(a) As a result of some fear
(b) As a result of constant thinking on some subject
(c) As a result of some extreme pending wish
(d) As a result of some experience you had in near or distant past
(e) Some embedded thought or feeling in corner of mind taking some random shape during dream
(g) As a result of some extreme love or hatred towards someone
(1)Dreams from Allah سبحانه و تعالى: They are of an extra dimensional nature (See Reference # 10). The scholars who wrote on the subject of 'ruh' have discussed these dreams of type 1 in great detail.
Although it is not possible for us to comprehend fully the matters of the spirit, but one thing is certain that dreams of type one are initially received by the 'ruh' and then we are able to visualize them even in our dimension.
How this happens? Ibn e Khuldun writes in his Muqadmah:" The spirit of the heart is the vehicle of man's rational spirit. Through its essence, the rational spirit perceives everything that is in the divine world, since its reality and its essence are identical with perception. It is prevented from assimilating any supernatural perception by the veil of its preoccupation with the body and the corporeal powers and senses.
If it were without that veil or stripped of it, it would return to its reality, which is identical with perception. It would thus be able to assimilate any object of perception. If it were stripped of part of it, its preoccupation would be less. It is thus able to catch a glimpse of its own world, since external sense perception, its greatest preoccupation, now occupies it less.
Its (supernatural perception) corresponds (in intensity) to the degree to which the veil is withdrawn from it. Thus it becomes prepared to receive the available perceptions from its own world that are appropriate for it. When it has perceived these perceptions from its own worlds, it returns with them to its body, since, as long as it remains in its corporeal body, it cannot be active except through corporeal means of perception.The faculties through which the body perceives knowledge are all connected with the brain. The active part among them is the imagination.
It derives imaginary pictures from the pictures perceived by the senses and turns them over to the power of memory, which retains them until they are needed in connection with speculation and deduction. From the (imaginary pictures), the soul also abstracts other spiritual-intellectual pictures. In this way, abstraction ascends from the sensibilia to the intelligibilia.The imagination is the intermediary between them.
Also, when the soul has received a certain number of perceptions from its own world, it passes them on to the imagination, which forms them into appropriate pictures and turns those perceptions over to the common sense. As a result, the sleeper sees them as if they were perceived by the senses. Thus, the perceptions come down from the rational spirit to the level of sensual perception, with the imagination again being the intermediary. This is what dream visions actually are."
(Muqamda ibn e Khuldun ,Chapter: The Science of Dream Interpretation) (These paragraphs are hard to grasp, but without having understood these it is hard to move forward, anyone having difficulty should try and find me on Googletalk, and I will try to elaborate by the will of Allah)
(2)Dreams from Shaitan: Shaitan is basically a Jinn. Jinns are extra-dimensional beings for us, and they have been given the power (or some of them acquire the power) to interact with those in other dimension. Those Jinn which disturb humans living in other dimension are known as Shayateen. Everyone of us have a Shaitan with us which runs through our body like the blood and disturbs us through various ways. One of the way adopted by Satan is to disturb is through sleep. Nightmares are a result of Satanic intervention into our 'physical' domain of sleep ( See Reference # 36). How Jinns enter into our dimension and interact with our perceptions is a matter beyond our comprehension and very little thinking has been done on the topic because dreams from satan have no real importance and we've been told to ignore them. (3)Dreams from Nafs: Ibn e Khuldun writes in his muqadma: All of them are pictures in the imagination while an individual is asleep. However, if these pictures come down from the rational spirit that perceives (them), they are dream visions. But if they are derived from the pictures preserved in the power of memory, where the imagination deposits them when the individual is awake, they are "confused dreams." (Muqamda ibn e Khuldun , Chapter: The Science of Dream Interpretation)
These are the dreams which belong to this physical dimension of us alone. Psychologists can only comprehend these types of dreams. Any think which occupies our mind for a long time, any extreme wish, any captivating fear which might be preserved in some corner of our brain might turn up in strange shapes during the dream.These dreams deal with our near or distant past and have nothing do with future.
