Three Kinds of Dreams, and Entering by Different Doors

A few prominent verses stand out. Several have been mentioned already; but one is verse 44, where the king asks for the interpretation of his dream, and his advisors, or whoever it was who was to interpret dreams, say: these are your scattered thoughts of the day, and we cannot interpret such things.

According to some hadith there are more categories, but there are at least three major categories of dream. The first is the kind that are nightmares, as the hadith says in al-Bukhārī and elsewhere. Then there are the good dreams, which bring some glad tiding and are pleasant; these are from Allah (swt) — an angel comes and plants them. And the third are the scattered thoughts of the day, the things one has been concerned with and the things one has witnessed. Some see more of this than others: some, mā shāʾ Allāh, always see a kind of summary of their day, or some alternative version of the day's events. Those are the three kinds of dream.

What else is here? There are many verses from which we may benefit. The nafs has been discussed already. And verse 67 is of great interest, and takes some time. It is at verse 67 that Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him), sending his children back, says: when you go there, do not enter Miṣr — do not enter the place — all by one door, but scatter yourselves and enter by different doors.

And this was something he had in his heart, a sentiment of his heart. And what the ʿulamāʾ say here is that it was because he did not want them to catch the evil eye — to be seen, all the brothers, all twelve of them, or eleven or twelve; eleven of them coming together, Yūsuf (peace be upon him) being plainly within. If a man sees so large a party as that, it is a position of envy. So he did not want the evil eye; he takes precaution against it. And we learn that we too should take precaution against the evil eye: that a man should not flaunt his riches or other such things, or his children — and should always make the duʿāʾ.

Another point of real interest, often quoted, is at verse 76:

Above every knowledgeable person there is yet another knowledgeable person. And one never knows: a man supposes himself the most knowledgeable, and will yet find someone more knowledgeable than himself in something. Such is the nature of Allah's (swt) planning for this world. So let no one be arrogant.