Dreaming of Tiger in Islam

The reading follows the distance and the outcome. A tiger seen at a distance, not approaching is read as a rivalry the dreamer is aware of and not yet inside. A tiger stalking or circling turns the reading toward pressure applied quietly rather than openly, which is the form the older interpreters treated most seriously. Being attacked and defending yourself is read as a confrontation met, and it is the outcome, not the attack, that carries the meaning. Subduing or driving off a tiger is the favourable form throughout, read as an overbearing matter brought under control. A caged or chained tiger is read as a force that is real but currently held, and the interpreters warned against reading this as safety. Riding a tiger was read as authority exercised over something dangerous, and it was not treated as an unmixed good. A tiger among people who do not notice it is read as the dreamer seeing what others in the situation do not.

The association is fixed in the Arabic verb. From the word for this animal comes tanammara, to turn leopard-like, used of a person who suddenly shows hostility and bares his temper. So the animal in Arabic never stood for strength in general; it stood for a specific kind of strength, the kind that changes toward you without warning. The dream books read it as a rival or an overbearing authority for that reason, and the coat, spotted and hard to see against ground, does the rest of the work.

This dream does not identify an enemy, and it must not be used to grow suspicious of anybody. It is not a warning of attack, not a ruling, and not grounds for a decision about a colleague, a neighbour or a relative. Fear carried into sleep, a documentary, or a period of conflict at work all produce it. If it frightened you, the response taught is to seek Allah's refuge from its harm, turn onto your other side, and to leave it unspoken.