Dream Interpretation
Question
Asalamualaykum I dreamt I was trying to fly or something with a rope from the sky. I'd pull it a couple times and it would lift me a bit. My elder sister (suffers from OCD) reminded me that she was going to have it after a while. Then I walking towards an ocean in a dark, stormy night, holding on to the rope that went into the sky. My sister was supposed to take it but I didn't want to give it. So I started wading through the water. It was deep and dirty and the waves were strong. My sister came after me, casually. Then I reached a demolished/abandoned site. It was very vivid. Please could you interpret this dream for me and give some advice. I'm very worried about the meaning.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh.
Sister in Islam,
There is no need to be worried. Dreams are of three kinds, a true dream from Allah, a dream from the self that reflects what occupies the mind, and a dream from the devil meant to frighten. Whatever the kind, no ruling and no decision may be based on a dream, and the interpretation of a dream is an opinion, not a certainty.
If this dream is of the kind that carries meaning, its elements are in fact reassuring. A rope descending from the sky, which a person holds and which lifts her, is understood by the interpreters as the rope of Allah, that is, faith and adherence to His religion, and Allah Himself uses this image in the Quran when He commands the believers to hold fast to His rope. Your holding it and being lifted by it points to your holding on to your faith and being raised by it. The dark stormy night and the deep, dirty water with strong waves are the trials and the confusions of this life, and your wading through them while keeping hold of the rope is a good sign, because it means that you pass through the trials without letting go. Your sister's wish to take the rope, and your reluctance to give it, may reflect a concern that her condition is taking from you, or a fear of losing what keeps you steady, and her following you casually suggests that she is not a threat to it. The demolished site at the end can be the end of a difficult phase, a thing that has passed and is finished.
Accordingly, if this dream means anything, it means that you should hold fast to your faith through the difficulty you are in, and that you will come through it. Take it as encouragement and no more. We advise you to say the supplications of the morning and evening, to recite the last three chapters of the Quran and the Verse of the Throne before sleeping, to give a small charity, and, if the dream frightened you, to seek refuge in Allah from its evil and to tell it to no one who might interpret it badly. As for your sister, be patient with her and help her to get proper treatment, and know that caring for her is a means of your own elevation.
Allah knows best
Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig
Canadian Centre for Islamic Research and Iftaa · This answer is provided for general guidance.