Not every dream deserves your fear.
One of the things that can quietly weaken a person’s īmān is becoming so frightened by a dream that it begins to affect one’s tawakkul in Allah. A person sees something disturbing in their sleep and wakes up anxious, convinced that it must be a warning of an approaching calamity. They spend days worrying, anticipating disaster, and interpreting every little event through the lens of that dream.
But the believer must remember: a dream does not have power over your destiny. Allah does.
The Prophet ﷺ taught us that dreams are of different types. Some are good dreams from Allah, some are disturbing dreams from Shayṭān, and some are simply the result of what occupies a person’s mind. So when you see something frightening, do not allow Shayṭān to turn a dream into a source of fear and weakness.
The Prophet ﷺ instructed that when a person sees a dream they dislike, they should seek refuge in Allah from its evil and from Shayṭān, spit lightly to the left three times, and not tell people about it. It will not harm them, by Allah’s permission. [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim]
Look at the beauty of this guidance: the believer is taught what to do—not what to fear. Your dreams do not control your future. Your dreams do not control your provision. Your health, family, marriage, children, success, and lifespan are not controlled by what you saw while sleeping. They are all in the hands of Allah, the One who decrees with perfect knowledge and wisdom.
This is where tawakkul becomes real.
You may have a disturbing dream and still wake up saying, “Ḥasbiyallāhu wa niʿmal-wakīl.” You may not understand what you saw, but you trust the One who knows everything. You may feel afraid, but you do not surrender your heart to that fear.
Do not let a dream become stronger in your heart than your certainty in Allah. What Allah has written for you will reach you, and what He has not written for you will never reach you.
So treat your dreams with caution. Do not build your life around them. Do not make major decisions solely because of them. And do not allow a frightening dream to rob you of the peace that comes from knowing that your affairs belong to Allah. Sleep with tawakkul. Wake with tawakkul. Live with tawakkul.
Your destiny is not in your dreams.
It is with Allah. 🤍
Umm Sumayyah Mai
