Dreams in the Sunnah: every dream the Prophet ﷺ told or interpreted

After the dawn prayer, the Prophet ﷺ would often ask his Companions whether any of them had seen a dream, and he interpreted what they told him. He also told his own. A cup of milk became knowledge, a trailing shirt became religion, a sword that broke and was waved again became the losses at Uhud and the conquest that followed.

These reports matter for two reasons. They show the method at work, and in several the interpretation is given along with the dream, so nobody is guessing how an image maps to a meaning. And they are the firmest anchors the dictionary has: when an entry says milk stands for knowledge, it is because of one of the hadith below, and you can read that page and judge for yourself.

Each page gives the hadith reference, tells the dream, sets out the interpretation, and ends with what it teaches about how dreams are read. Every reference is checked against the text of the collection.

Bukhari 7006 The milk the Prophet ﷺ gave to Umar In a dream the Prophet ﷺ drank milk until it seemed to flow from his nails, then gave what was left to Umar. Asked how he interpreted it, he said: knowledge. It is the clearest reading of a symbol the Sunnah gives.
Bukhari 7008 Umar's trailing shirt: the dream of the people in shirts The Prophet ﷺ saw people shown to him in shirts, some reaching only the chest and some lower, and Umar in a shirt he dragged. Asked for the meaning, he said: the religion. The length of the cloth is the measure.
Bukhari 7019 The well, the bucket, Abu Bakr and Umar The Prophet ﷺ saw himself at a well giving people water, then Abu Bakr drawing a little with weakness, then the bucket becoming huge in Umar's hand until everyone was satisfied. The hadith gives no interpretation, so the usual reading is the commentators'.
Bukhari 7034 The two gold bracelets and the two liars In a dream two gold bracelets were put on the Prophet's arms. He disliked them, was told to blow, and they flew away. He read them as two liars who would arise, and one narration names them by the lands they ruled: Sana'a and Yamama.
Bukhari 7035 The broken sword, the cows and the land of palms The Prophet ﷺ dreamed of migrating to a land of date palms, of a sword that broke and then became better than before, and of cows. He read them as Madinah, the losses of Uhud and the victory after, and the believers who fell.
Abu Dawud 499 Abdullah ibn Zayd and the dream behind the adhan Abdullah ibn Zayd dreamed a man with a bell who taught him the words of the call to prayer. The Prophet ﷺ called it a true dream and told him to teach Bilal. It became law only because he confirmed it, and Bukhari tells the origin without it.
Bukhari 7014 Abdullah ibn Salam and the firm handhold Abdullah ibn Salam saw a garden, an iron pillar to the sky and a handhold at its top, reached with help. The Prophet ﷺ read the garden as Islam and the handhold as the firmest, held until death. He told it to stop people praising him.
Bukhari 7011 Aisha wrapped in silk: a dream the Prophet ﷺ waited on Before they married, the Prophet ﷺ saw an angel carrying Aisha wrapped in silk and saying she was his wife. He did not act on it. He said to himself: if this is from Allah, He will bring it about. It is a hadith about patience with a true dream.
Bukhari 7046 Abu Bakr, the cloud of butter and honey, and the part he got wrong A man told the Prophet ﷺ of a cloud dripping butter and honey and a rope to the sky. Abu Bakr read it as Islam, the Qur'an and the Truth. The Prophet ﷺ said he was right in part and wrong in part, and would not say which.
Bukhari 7047 The longest dream in the Sunnah, told by Samura ibn Jundub Samura ibn Jundub reports the Prophet's longest dream: scenes shown by two angels, each explained on the spot as a kind of conduct, ending in Paradise and a promise. It is a warning about conduct, not a verdict anyone can read into their own dream.
Bukhari 7038 The black woman with unkempt hair who left Madinah The Prophet saw a black woman with unkempt hair leave Madinah and stop at Mahaya'a, which is al-Juhfa, and he read it himself as the epidemic of Madinah being moved there. The narrations differ only in small wording.
Muslim 2270 The fresh dates of Ibn Tab and a reading built on names The Prophet dreamed of fresh dates of Ibn Tab in the house of 'Uqba ibn Rafi' and read elevation, a good outcome and a good religion. Each of those words shares its root with a name in the scene, but no narration says he reasoned from the names.
Bukhari 6998 The keys of the earth's treasures, put in the Prophet's hand The Prophet said that in sleep the keys of the treasures of the earth were brought and put in his hand. No interpretation from him is recorded with it. The only comment is Abu Huraira's remark, worded differently where it appears.
Bukhari 7029 Ibn Umar's dream of Hell and the night prayer A young Ibn Umar asked to see a dream and saw angels lead him toward a Hell built like a well, until another angel told him not to fear. Through Hafsa the Prophet called him a good man, and in most narrations added: if only he prayed at night.
Bukhari 7023 Umar's palace in Paradise, and the Prophet who turned back The Prophet ﷺ was shown a palace in Paradise and told it was Umar's. He remembered Umar's ghira and turned back, and Umar wept. The narrations differ on the palace, on the woman beside it, and on who answered.
Bukhari 7018 Umm al-'Ala, 'Uthman ibn Maz'un and a spring that kept flowing Umm al-'Ala said Allah had honoured the dead 'Uthman ibn Maz'un, and the Prophet ﷺ asked how she knew. Her later dream of a flowing spring he read as his deed. The narrations differ on his wording and on her grief.
Muslim 2268d The man whose head rolled away, and why he was told to keep quiet A man told the Prophet ﷺ that in sleep his head was struck off and rolled away. The Prophet gave no meaning: he called it Shaytan's play with the sleeper and said not to tell it. The narrations differ on the man, his words and the reaction.