Dreams in the Sunnah · Bukhari 7019
The well, the bucket, Abu Bakr and Umar
The short answer
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'.
Traditional interpretations, not a fatwa and not a prediction. How we source.
In this article
A bucket that grows. It is the image in this dream that sticks: Abu Bakr hands the bucket on, and in Umar's hand it turns into a very large one.
In several of the Prophet's dreams, the Companions ask what he has interpreted and he answers in a word. In this one the narrations record no interpretation at all. That makes it a good test of how much weight a reading can carry when the Prophet's own words are silent, and of who is entitled to supply it.
Four narrations, one scene
The dream is told by Ibn Umar and Abu Huraira in different shapes, and it helps to set them next to each other, because the differences show how the story was handed down.
| Narration | Where the Prophet ﷺ is | What Abu Bakr does | What happens with Umar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bukhari 7019 | At a well, drawing water, when Abu Bakr and Umar arrive | Takes the bucket and draws one or two, with weakness | The bucket becomes huge; the people drink and water their camels |
| Bukhari 7020 | The people have gathered | Stands and pulls one or two full buckets | The bucket turns huge, no man seen working so hard |
| Bukhari 7021 | Standing at a well with a bucket, he draws as many as Allah wills | Takes it and draws one or two, with weakness | The bucket turns huge; the camels lie down beside the water |
| Bukhari 7022 | Standing over a trough giving the people drink | Takes the bucket to relieve him, draws one or two | Draws until the people leave and the trough is overflowing |
Everything in the center agrees: a source of water, usually the Prophet ﷺ working it first, Abu Bakr following with a small effort, and Umar with a very large one, until everyone has been satisfied. The fine details are free to vary, as they do when different narrators pass on a scene they all saw the same way.
What "weakness, may Allah forgive him" means
The phrase that troubles readers is the one about Abu Bakr: "there was weakness in his pulling, may Allah forgive him". It sounds like a reproach, and it is not one. Commentators go out of their way to say so. The wording is a courtesy, a prayer, and the weakness is understood as a matter of the few years Abu Bakr had and the troubles that filled them, not as a fault of character.
We would not push the line further than that, because the hadith does not. What it does is show a Prophet who is willing to speak of his closest companion, in a dream, with an affectionate phrase of forgiveness that no one asked him to add, and who sets down the facts as he saw them without polishing them.
Who gave the dream its meaning
Here this dream differs from the milk and the shirts. In those the Companions asked what he had interpreted, and he answered with a word (Bukhari 7006, Bukhari 7008). In the well dream, the narrations tell the dream and stop, even though the Companions heard it in the same circles as the others. No interpretation is recorded in the words of the Prophet ﷺ.
The reading that circulates is therefore the commentators', and it rests on what happened afterwards. Water is what the Prophet ﷺ gave out: guidance, knowledge, the means of life for a community. Abu Bakr took it up for a short reign, a little over 2 years, and Umar for a long and abundant one, about a decade. We offer those figures as history and not as part of the hadith. The dream's pattern fits them, and that is why it is read that way.
What can a reader take about water in dreams from this? Less than you might think. The Prophet ﷺ at a well, passing the bucket on, is a picture of guidance handed from one hand to the next, and that is the reading the commentators give. It does not turn every dreamed well into a caliph, which is why the entry on the well and the one on water use it carefully. The Qur'an gives another well to think about, the well of Madyan, where Musa watered the flocks of two women (Qur'an 28:23): provision and help rather than succession. The same image reads differently depending on who is drawing.
Common questions
What does the dream of the well and the bucket mean?
The narrations in Bukhari tell the dream but record no interpretation by the Prophet ﷺ. Commentators read it as the Prophet's own work of giving people guidance, continued by Abu Bakr briefly and by Umar at length. That reading is theirs, built on events after the Prophet's death.
What is the 'weakness' in Abu Bakr's drawing?
The hadith says there was weakness in his pulling, 'may Allah forgive him' (Bukhari 7021). Commentators insist this is not a criticism of Abu Bakr, and take it to refer to the short time he ruled and the hardships of those years. The words 'may Allah forgive him' are a courtesy, not a charge.
Is this the same as the dream of the milk and Umar?
No, they are different dreams. In the milk dream the Prophet ﷺ gives Umar the rest of a cup, and interprets it himself as knowledge (Bukhari 7006). In the well dream the narrations give no interpretation.
Reviewed 5 October 2026 by The Editorial Team. We cite our sources and fix mistakes openly: see our editorial standards, or report a correction.