Our sources and method

How classical interpreters worked

The scholars who wrote on ta'bir describe a rough order of evidence. First the Qur'an: if the Qur'an gives an image a meaning, as it does for the cows in the king's dream in Surah Yusuf, that settles it. Then the Sunnah: the Prophet ﷺ interpreted dreams, and his interpretations (milk as knowledge, the shirt as religion) are the fixed points. After that come Arabic usage, proverbs and wordplay, the opposite-reading of some images, and the experience of the interpreter with many dreamers. Throughout, the dreamer matters: the same image can mean different things for different people.

We follow that order, and we show which step a reading comes from.

The labels on every entry

Each dictionary entry carries two labels. The first says what the reading rests on:

• Rooted in the Qur'an. The reading is anchored in how the Qur'an itself uses the image.
• Rooted in the Sunnah. The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have interpreted this image, or the hadith gives its meaning.
• Classical dictionaries. The reading comes from the dictionary tradition (Ibn Sirin and later compilers) without a direct text behind it.
• Extended by analogy. The classical books never mention it; the reading extends their rules to a modern thing.

The second says which way the dictionaries lean, because a reader scanning twenty symbols wants to know quickly:

• Leans favourable. The dictionaries read it as good news, blessing or reward.
• Mixed reading. It points both ways, depending on the details.
• Leans cautionary. The dictionaries read it as a warning, a trial or something to guard against.
• Depends on the dreamer. The reading changes with who is dreaming and what they are living.

The lean is a summary, never a verdict. Almost every entry explains how the details move it.

How we check citations

Writing "the Qur'an says" or "it is reported in Bukhari" costs nothing, and many sites do it loosely. We do it like this. Every reference uses a fixed format (Qur'an 12:4, Bukhari 6989, Muslim 2263a) that our build tools read. Each one is looked up in a full copy of the Qur'an and of the hadith collections, and the build fails if the reference does not exist. For every reference we also register a short phrase that must appear in the source text, such as "forty six" for Bukhari 6989, so a wrong number cannot quietly stand for a right claim. The references on each page link to the text on quran.com or sunnah.com.

This catches wrong numbers and misattributions. It does not make an interpretation correct: it only proves that the verse or hadith says what we say it says.

Numbering: Bukhari numbers are the standard ones used by sunnah.com. Muslim numbers follow sunnah.com too, where related reports share a number and are told apart by a letter (Muslim 2263a). We paraphrase hadith in our own words and show the Arabic where it helps, rather than copying a published translation.

The works we draw on

We name the books and do not pretend to page-level citation of texts we cannot show you. We cite them as general references:

• Muhammad ibn Sirin (d. 110 AH). The early scholar of Basra to whom the dream-interpretation tradition is attributed. Bukhari records two of his sayings on dreams (Bukhari 6993, Bukhari 7017). The large printed dictionary bearing his name is a later compilation.
• Ibn Qutayba, Ta'bir al-Ru'ya (d. 276 AH). An early treatise on interpretation, showing the method the later dictionaries inherit.
• Abd al-Ghani an-Nabulsi, Ta'tir al-Anam (d. 1143 AH). The large alphabetical dictionary that gathers and orders the earlier material by symbol.
• Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari (d. 852 AH). The standard commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, with long discussions under the Book of Interpretation of Dreams.
• Ibn al-Qayyim, Kitab al-Ruh (d. 751 AH). A work on the soul that discusses sleep, dreams and the meeting of souls.

A caution about Ibn Sirin. The large dictionary sold under his name is widely regarded as a later compilation. What is firmly his, per Bukhari, are a few remarks on dreams (see who he was). When we write "the dictionaries in the Ibn Sirin tradition", we mean that body of material, not a text he wrote.

What we leave out

• Predictions, lucky numbers and anything presented as certain about the future.
• Rulings. We say what the tradition says; we do not tell you what to do about your life.
• Readings with no basis. If a symbol has no scripture behind it and weak support in the dictionaries, we either say so or leave the entry out.
• Sensational or fear-based readings. Where a symbol frightens people (death, Hell, the graveyard), the entry says what the tradition actually reads into it, which is usually far gentler than the internet.

Questions or corrections: contact us. How corrections are handled is in our editorial standards, and the history is in the corrections log. The complete list of what we cite is in the source index.