A treasure in a dream

In the best-known report of a treasure in the Prophet's sleep, what he received was keys, not gold. While he slept, the keys of the treasures of the earth were brought to him and put in his hand (Bukhari 7013). In that report he gives no reading of it. Abu Huraira, who passed it on, adds a line of his own after the Prophet's death: you people are now carrying those treasures from place to place (Bukhari 6998).

So the best-attested treasure dream in the Sunnah is already half history, and its meaning is a Companion's remark and not a gloss from the Prophet. We keep that distinction in view, because the dictionary readings further down are far less certain.

Keys, bangles and what he chose to explain

The treasures reach the Prophet in sleep in two forms, and in neither does he explain the treasure. In the first, the keys are put in his hand (Bukhari 7013). In the second he is given the treasures of the earth and two gold bangles are put in his hands. He disliked them, was inspired to blow on them, and they vanished. That he interpreted as the two liars between whom he stood, the ruler of Sana and the ruler of Yamama (Bukhari 4375, also Muslim 2274b).

What he chose to explain was the bangles. In that report the treasures are the setting and the bangles are the thing he reads. A waking saying fills out the picture. Allah drew the ends of the earth near him, and he saw them; the dominion of his community would reach as far, and he was granted the red and the white treasure (Muslim 2889a). The full account of the keys has its own page, the keys of the earth's treasures, and the 2 gold bracelets has the other.

One Arabic root, three moods

The Qur'an uses the same root, كنز, for three treasures that could hardly feel more different. The first is a mercy kept in the ground. In the story of Musa and his teacher, a wall that was repaired had a treasure beneath it belonging to two orphan boys, whose father had been righteous, and Allah intended that they reach maturity and extract it, "as a mercy from your Lord" (Qur'an 18:82). The verse closes by calling the explanation of the whole episode تأويل, the word Yusuf uses for the meaning of his boyhood vision (Qur'an 12:100), though here it explains events and not a dream.

The second is a temptation. Qarun was given treasures whose keys would burden a band of strong men, and when his people told him not to exult he said he had been given it by his own knowledge. The earth swallowed him, and those who had wished for his place the day before began to say that Allah expands provision for whom He wills and restricts it (Qur'an 28:76-82). The third is a hoard. Those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah's way are given tidings of a painful punishment (Qur'an 9:34), and on that Day it will be said to them: this is what you hoarded for yourselves (Qur'an 9:35).

The Sunnah carries the same split. On the Day of Resurrection, wealth whose zakat was withheld is made into a snake that says "I am your treasure" (Bukhari 1403). Yet the Prophet ﷺ also told a Companion that لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله is one of the treasures of Paradise (Bukhari 6384), so the best treasure he names is a sentence.

What the lists make of a find

Popular dictionary lists read a found or buried treasure as provision that was not looked for, or as knowledge, and add that a treasure which arrives with fear or deceit is a caution. That follows from how treasure appears in the texts, though no text takes the step into dreams. Reading the Sunnah's waking rulings alongside, we would add a point of our own: a find comes with a duty. A fifth is due on ركاز, which the jurists take to mean buried treasure (Bukhari 1499), and the Prophet ﷺ said that the Euphrates would one day uncover a treasure of gold, and that whoever finds it should take nothing from it (Muslim 2894c).

A treasure dream is easy to over-read, because money is a worry nobody lacks. Before reaching for the table, ask what kind of dream it was: a found fortune after a week of bills may simply be the mind at work, which is the Sunnah's third kind. For the near images, see gold and money.