Sources & Method

Our sources, and how we use them

Every reading on this site is only as good as what it rests on. So here, in one place, is what we rest on and the rules we follow when we use it. If you ever doubt a page, this is the standard you can hold it to.

The sources we draw on

The core texts

Ibn Sirin, Ta’bir al-Ru’ya. The dream interpretations attributed to the early scholar Muhammad ibn Sirin (d. 110 AH), the tradition that most later dictionaries build on.
An-Nabulsi, Ta’tir al-Anam. The large dream dictionary of Abd al-Ghani an-Nabulsi (d. 1143 AH), which gathers and orders the earlier material by symbol.
The Qur’an. Where a symbol connects to a verse, especially the dreams in Surah Yusuf and the vision of Ibrahim.
The authentic Sunnah. Hadith on dreams recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim, including the three kinds of dreams and the manners after a good or bad dream.

The four rules we hold to

Cite the real source.When a reading comes from Ibn Sirin or an-Nabulsi, we say so. When it connects to a verse or an authentic hadith, we point to it. The footer of each article names what it leaned on.
Never invent a reference.We do not manufacture a hadith, a hadith number, a surah or a chapter to make a point look settled. If we are not certain of the precise citation, we attribute it generally, in the way the tradition itself was transmitted, rather than fake a number.
Present, do not rule.We show how the tradition read a symbol. We do not issue a religious ruling on your dream or your life. There are no fatwas here, by design.
Keep the humility the subject demands.Interpretation in this tradition is famously contingent. The same symbol can point in opposite directions depending on the dreamer, the timing and the person’s state. Where the sources disagree, we lay out the disagreement instead of flattening it into one tidy answer.

What we deliberately leave out

We do not assign guaranteed outcomes, lucky numbers, or predictions. We avoid the sensational readings that circulate online with no source behind them. And we do not reproduce content that treats a dream as a fixed prophecy, because the tradition we are drawing on does not work that way.

On translation and spelling

The classical material is in Arabic. We work from it in English, and we keep key terms in transliteration with the Arabic script alongside where it helps, for example ru’ya (رؤيا) for a true vision and ta’bir (تعبير) for the act of interpreting. Spellings of names vary across editions; we pick one and stay consistent.

Found a mistake?

We would genuinely like to know. If a citation looks wrong or a reading misrepresents a source, tell us on the contact page and we will check it against the text and correct it.