Dreaming of Flowers in Islam

Flowers are read by their state, their scent, and whether they stayed. Fresh flowers in season are the settled good reading: joy, a good name, children, a pleasant turn in a person's circumstances. Flowers given to you shift the reading onto the giver and onto goodwill coming from that direction; giving them is the same goodwill offered. Wilted or dried flowers reverse it toward a happiness that is passing, or praise that has already gone cool — and the older readings treat this as a comment on how short-lived the pleasure was, not as a misfortune. Flowers with a strong sweet scent are read more favourably than flowers seen without scent, because in this field the fragrance carries the reputation and the sight only carries the appearance. Flowers out of their season were read as a joy arriving at an unlikely time, and by some as something pleasant that will not last. A garden in bloom widens the whole reading from a person to a household or a stretch of life.

The Arabic does part of the work: zahra is a flower and also brilliance or bloom, and the Qur'an uses it precisely for the glitter of this life — zahrat al-hayat al-dunya, the flower of the life of this world, given as something not to fix one's eyes on (Ta-Ha 20:131). That is why flowers in this tradition are read as genuine joy and as short-lived joy at once. A thing at its most beautiful on the day it begins to fade makes the point without needing a commentary.

A dream of flowers is not a promise of good news and a dream of wilted ones is not a warning of loss. Dreams do not schedule anyone's happiness. It is not a ruling and not a forecast. If what you saw unsettled you, seek refuge in Allah, turn onto your other side, and leave it unspoken.