Dreaming of Friend in Islam

A friend is read by his state in the dream and by what passes between you. Seeing a friend well and at ease is the plain good reading: support that is intact, and often a matter in the dreamer's own life that is steady. A friend arriving from far away, or one long unseen is read as news, a reunion, or a connection that is due to be taken up again — the older interpreters read this as an encouragement to restore the tie rather than as a forecast that it will restore itself. A friend who turns away or does not recognise you is read as a distance the dreamer already senses, not as a wrong done to him. Quarrelling with a friend was read mildly: something unsaid between you, and often nothing more than the dreamer's own worry about the friendship. Being given something by a friend is read as benefit arriving through people rather than through effort alone. A deceased friend is read as a memory calling for prayer and charity on his behalf, and the interpreters refused to read anything about the dead person's own state from it.

The basis is not linguistic invention. In Arabic ṣadīq comes from the root of truthfulness — the friend is, by the word itself, the one who is true with you. That is why the interpretations turn on sincerity and reliability rather than on affection, and why a friend seen in poor state is read as a support weakening rather than as a person harmed.

A dream of a friend is not news about that friend, and it is not a message from him or about him. If you dreamed of someone who has died, the dream tells you nothing of where they are; the tradition leaves that with Allah. The dream is not a ruling and it predicts no meeting. Thinking of someone before sleep is enough to produce it. If the dream left you unsettled, seek refuge in Allah, turn onto your other side, and keep it to yourself — and if it made you miss someone, call them.