and come back at daybreak.’
He answered, ‘No, by Allah, I will never help you betray the ruler.’ (1)
Maʿmar said: A man came to Ibn Sīrīn and said, ‘In my dream I saw a dove swallow a pearl, and when it emerged it was larger than before. I saw another dove swallow a pearl, and it came out smaller than when it went in. I saw a third swallow a pearl, and it came out exactly the same as it had entered.’
Ibn Sīrīn replied, ‘The first dove represents al-Ḥasan: he hears a hadith, beautifies it with his eloquence, and adds to it his exhortations. The one that came out smaller is myself: I hear a hadith and leave something out. The one that came out just as it went in is Qatādah; he is the most retentive of people.’ (2)
Ibn al-Mubārak reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim al-Marwazī: ‘I used to keep the company of Ibn Sīrīn, then I left him and sat with the Ibāḍīs. I dreamed that I was with people carrying the bier of the Prophet ﷺ. I went to Ibn Sīrīn and told him about it, and he said, “What made you sit with a people who want to bury what the Prophet ﷺ brought?”’ (3)
Hishām ibn Ḥassān narrated: A man told Ibn Sīrīn, ‘I dreamed that I was holding a glass cup full of water; the cup broke but the water remained.’ He said to him, ‘Fear Allah, for you have seen nothing.’ The man protested, ‘Glory be to Allah!’ Ibn Sīrīn said, ‘If he is lying, that is no concern of mine; your wife will give birth and then die, and her child will survive.’ After the man left he admitted, ‘By Allah, I saw nothing.’ Before long his wife gave birth and then died. (4)
He said: Another man entered and said, ‘I dreamed that I and a black slave-girl were eating from a large wooden bowl…’