in his sleep. Such a dream, too, carries no ruling and leaves no real effect. If a person is gladdened by what he sees—a righteous dream—he should interpret it in the best way that occurs to him, for once a dream is explained, by Allah’s permission it comes to pass.
It is therefore essential not to rely on what appears in certain books—such as Ibn Sīrīn’s Book of Dreams and similar works—for that is a mistake. Dreams vary according to the dreamer, the time, the place, and the surrounding circumstances. One person may see a dream and we explain it to him in a particular way, while another sees the very same dream and we explain it to him quite differently, because the first reading suits the first man’s situation and the second reading suits the other, or because the circumstances require that we interpret the dream in that fashion. The important point is that one must not fall back on the books that claim to interpret dreams, for dreams and visions differ.
It is related that a man once saw a dream and it was interpreted for him in one way; another man later saw exactly the same dream and it was interpreted for him in another way. When the interpreter was asked about this, he replied, “That interpretation suited the first man in view of what he saw, and this interpretation suited the second in view of what he saw; every person receives the explanation that befits him.”
For this reason, during the Battle of Uḥud—either before the fighting began or while it was under way—the Prophet ﷺ