Discovering the Purpose Behind Dreams of Your Own Death

Dreaming of your own death can evoke profound fear and confusion, often leaving one questioning their significance. In many cultures, such dreams hold powerful meanings, serving as reflections of our deepest fears, insecurities, and desires for transformation. According to the esteemed interpretations of Ibni Sirin, a dream in which you see your own demise may not necessarily pertain to the end of your existence.

Rather, it can symbolize a crucial period of change, self-discovery, or rebirth in your life. These dreams can be triggered by significant life events, emotional turmoil, or even existential reflection about one’s mortality and the impermanence of life. Engaging with these dreams thoughtfully enables us to understand ourselves better and confront the deeper questions we may not consciously consider.

We embark on a journey to decipher these nighttime visions, understanding their potential to usher in personal enlightenment and transformation.

• Dreaming of your own death often signals a time of significant change or transition in your life.
• It can reflect personal fears, anxieties, or subconscious battles you're facing.
• Such dreams may serve as a call to reflect on your life choices and seek personal growth.
• In many cultures, dreams of death symbolize rebirth or a new path.
• Always approach these dreams thoughtfully, seeking deeper understanding through introspection or guidance.

Symbols

• seeing
  • Locality:
  • Transfixed:

    Eyes in a dream represent one’s religion or wealth. If one sees grass growing all over him but does not cover his ears or eyes in a dream, it means prosperity. One’s eyes in a dream also represent his faith and the road to victory in this life and in the next.

    One’s eyes in a dream also could represent his guidance or his heedlessness. Having many eyes throughout one’s body in a dream represents one’s piety, vigilance and excellence of character. If one sees the eyes of his heart in a dream, it means that he sees with the light of clarity.

    If one sees a man looking at him with a side glance in a dream, it means that he will suffer from an adversity, mistrust, disapproval, suspicion and disdain at the hand of such a man. If such a man opens his eyes and looks at him straight forward in the dream, it means that he will help him in his business or support his interests. If one’s eyes turn into iron in a dream, it means distress, a scandal or serious suffering from one’s community.

    If one sees himself looking at women in his dream, it means that he commits adultery with his eyes by looking and desiring what is unlawful. If one looks at someone’s eyes in a dream and likes them, it means that he will suffer from an adversity, religious corruption or jealousy. If one sees himself having an extra eye inside his body in a dream, it means that he is an atheist.

    If one sees himself having an extra eye over his shoulder in a dream, it means that he will be named to receive money in absentia. If one sees his eyes transfixed in a dream, it means that he looks suspiciously at a relative or someone else’s wife. Black eyes in a dream represent a religious person.

    A bluish-black eyes in a dream denote opposing one’s religion. Blue eyes in a dream mean religious innovations. Green eyes in a dream mean a religion which is different from all religions.

    Sharp sight in a dream means blessings, while weak sight means joblessness and living from the generosity of others. If a father sees weakness in his sight in a dream, it means that a sickness will inflict his children. If one loses his eyes in a dream, it means the death of his children.

    If a poor person or a prisoner sees that in a dream, it means that he will never become free again, or see any light for the rest of his life. If an oppressed person sees weakness in his eyes in a dream, it means that someone will help him overcome his adversities. If a traveller sees that dream, it means that he will DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 149 never return to his homeland.

    If one sees that his eyes belong to an unknown person in a dream, it means that he will become blind. If he recognizes that person in the dream, it means that he will be married to his daughter. If one’s eyes fall into his lap in a dream, it means the death of his brother or son.

    The eyes of a human being in a dream also represent his beloved, his son or his faith. Any defect in them in the dream may reflect in such people. Having one hundred eyes in a dream means money.

    The eyes of a ruler represent his spies. Eyes in a dream also represent a controller, a man or a spring. Treating one’s eyes with medicinal ointment in a dream means correcting one’s religious life or begetting a son who will become the jewel light of his father’s eyes or if one’s brother is exiled or deported from his homeland, it means that he will solicit him and entrust him with duties toward his family.

    If one sees his sight better than what people think in the dream, it means that his inner character is better than what people think, or if he sees his sight weakened though people do not know about it in the dream, it means that he keeps his faith to himself. If one’s eyes become white in a dream, they represent sorrow, or loss of a beloved. If one sees his eyes white, and if the white veil is lifted in the dream, it means that he will be reunited with his beloved and his distress will be dispelled.

    The right eye in a dream represents one’s son and the left eye represents one’s daughter. If a father sees one of his eyes being transposed to mix with the other eye in a dream, and if he has a son and a daughter, he should separate their bedrooms. Eating someone’s eye in a dream means steeling his money.

    Seeing one’s eyes without eyelashes in a dream means defying God’s laws. If one unplugs his eyelashes in a dream, it means that he will expose himself to his enemy. Seeing beautiful eyes in a dream could denote, sorcery, black magic, life or death.

    Eyes in a dream also represent one’s family, relatives, children or workers. Eyes in a dream also signify mourning someone or they could denote a sickness. Smearing one’s eyes in a dream means calamities, sufferings and punishment for one’s sins.

    To guard one’s eyes from looking at what is unlawful in a dream means heeding God’s commands.

  • Askance:

    Eyes in a dream represent one’s religion or wealth. If one sees grass growing all over him but does not cover his ears or eyes in a dream, it means prosperity. One’s eyes in a dream also represent his faith and the road to victory in this life and in the next.

    One’s eyes in a dream also could represent his guidance or his heedlessness. Having many eyes throughout one’s body in a dream represents one’s piety, vigilance and excellence of character. If one sees the eyes of his heart in a dream, it means that he sees with the light of clarity.

    If one sees a man looking at him with a side glance in a dream, it means that he will suffer from an adversity, mistrust, disapproval, suspicion and disdain at the hand of such a man. If such a man opens his eyes and looks at him straight forward in the dream, it means that he will help him in his business or support his interests. If one’s eyes turn into iron in a dream, it means distress, a scandal or serious suffering from one’s community.

    If one sees himself looking at women in his dream, it means that he commits adultery with his eyes by looking and desiring what is unlawful. If one looks at someone’s eyes in a dream and likes them, it means that he will suffer from an adversity, religious corruption or jealousy. If one sees himself having an extra eye inside his body in a dream, it means that he is an atheist.

    If one sees himself having an extra eye over his shoulder in a dream, it means that he will be named to receive money in absentia. If one sees his eyes transfixed in a dream, it means that he looks suspiciously at a relative or someone else’s wife. Black eyes in a dream represent a religious person.

    A bluish-black eyes in a dream denote opposing one’s religion. Blue eyes in a dream mean religious innovations. Green eyes in a dream mean a religion which is different from all religions.

    Sharp sight in a dream means blessings, while weak sight means joblessness and living from the generosity of others. If a father sees weakness in his sight in a dream, it means that a sickness will inflict his children. If one loses his eyes in a dream, it means the death of his children.

    If a poor person or a prisoner sees that in a dream, it means that he will never become free again, or see any light for the rest of his life. If an oppressed person sees weakness in his eyes in a dream, it means that someone will help him overcome his adversities. If a traveller sees that dream, it means that he will DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 149 never return to his homeland.

    If one sees that his eyes belong to an unknown person in a dream, it means that he will become blind. If he recognizes that person in the dream, it means that he will be married to his daughter. If one’s eyes fall into his lap in a dream, it means the death of his brother or son.

    The eyes of a human being in a dream also represent his beloved, his son or his faith. Any defect in them in the dream may reflect in such people. Having one hundred eyes in a dream means money.

    The eyes of a ruler represent his spies. Eyes in a dream also represent a controller, a man or a spring. Treating one’s eyes with medicinal ointment in a dream means correcting one’s religious life or begetting a son who will become the jewel light of his father’s eyes or if one’s brother is exiled or deported from his homeland, it means that he will solicit him and entrust him with duties toward his family.

    If one sees his sight better than what people think in the dream, it means that his inner character is better than what people think, or if he sees his sight weakened though people do not know about it in the dream, it means that he keeps his faith to himself. If one’s eyes become white in a dream, they represent sorrow, or loss of a beloved. If one sees his eyes white, and if the white veil is lifted in the dream, it means that he will be reunited with his beloved and his distress will be dispelled.

    The right eye in a dream represents one’s son and the left eye represents one’s daughter. If a father sees one of his eyes being transposed to mix with the other eye in a dream, and if he has a son and a daughter, he should separate their bedrooms. Eating someone’s eye in a dream means steeling his money.

    Seeing one’s eyes without eyelashes in a dream means defying God’s laws. If one unplugs his eyelashes in a dream, it means that he will expose himself to his enemy. Seeing beautiful eyes in a dream could denote, sorcery, black magic, life or death.

    Eyes in a dream also represent one’s family, relatives, children or workers. Eyes in a dream also signify mourning someone or they could denote a sickness. Smearing one’s eyes in a dream means calamities, sufferings and punishment for one’s sins.

    To guard one’s eyes from looking at what is unlawful in a dream means heeding God’s commands.

• death
  • Death sentence:
  • Breach of a contract:

    (Betrayal; Death; Emptiness)

  • Agony:
• own
  • Selling:

    If one sees himself as a prisoner being sold in a slave market in a dream, it means honor if the buyer is a woman, and difficulties if the buyer is a man. The higher the price he is auctioned for, the better or worse is his luck. In a dream, the more loss the buyer incurs, the better it is for the traded subject and vice- versa.

    There is also a difference between seeing oneself being auctioned and being sold. Being auctioned in a dream means evil. To sell means to part with.

    In a dream, the buyer is the seller and the seller is a buyer. Selling means giving preference and value to the merchandise. If what is being sold is worldly, the preference is then given to one’s benefits in the hereafter.

    Selling in a dream also means exchanging one condition with another. However, bartering in a dream means to exchange the benefit of things, or to share them. If for example one sees himself in a dream trading something of no value for something precious, and if he is a warrior, it means that he will die as a martyr.

    Selling a free man in a dream means rotation of power and reaching a praiseworthy end. As it happened in the story of Joseph son of Jacob, upon both of them be peace.

  • Cudgel:

    (Cudgel) In a dream, a club means scolding and rebuking someone. If used as a baton in a dream, then it means subjugating and humiliating someone, or it could mean having the upper hand or having the wealth and power to do good or evil.

  • Town:

    (City; Suburban area; Town) A village in a dream represents injustice that will be followed by destruction as a consequence of people’s sins. Entering a well fortified village in a dream means fighting with someone. Crossing a village into a city in a dream means changing a menial job into a more respectable one, or perhaps it could mean downgrading a good deed one has performed, thinking DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 461 of it as unimportant, or regretting it, or it could mean doing something good and thinking of it as evil, or perhaps it could mean showing indecisiveness and doubt.

    Entering a village in a dream also means governing it, or presiding over its people, or it could mean commencing a new job. Walking out of a village in a dream means escaping from evil. Seeing a destroyed village in a dream means heedlessness or a calamity caused by the sins of its dwellers.

    Seeing a well-built village in a dream shows the piety and righteousness of its people. Seeing ancient edifices or ruins inhabited again in a dream represents people’s repentance from sin. A village in a dream also could signify injustice, innovations, corruption, disregarding the divine laws, or discarding the moral standards set by the community.

    A village in a dream also could represent ants’ underground nest or colony, while an anthill in a dream represents a village. If a village is completely destroyed by fire, or floods, or freezing temperature, or by locusts, or plagues in one’s dream, it means suffering under the oppression of an unjust ruler or a tyrant, or it could mean destroying an anthill. Moving from a village into a city in a dream means leaving one’s toiling and hardships behind him.

    Moving from a city into a village means the opposite, and signifies leaving comfort and safety to meet with discomfort and fear.

• demise
  • Death sentence:
  • Despair:

    (Despondency; Disheartened; Discouraged; Resign) To experience des¬ peration or to loose hope in God Almighty in a dream signifies polytheism or attempting to commit suicide or committing a sin, though the consequence of such state in a dream may eventually turn positive in wakefulness. Despair in a dream also means escaping from a great danger, or engaging in the activities 118 IBN SEERIN’S of the dwellers of hell-fire.

  • Breach of a contract:

    (Betrayal; Death; Emptiness)

• have
  • Eternity:

    (Heaven)

  • Earthenware Jar:

    (Any broad-mouthed earthenware container.) In a dream, an earthenware jar represents a deceiving employee who is entrusted with the accounting department of one’s business. Drinking fresh water from an earthenware jar in a dream means earning lawful money and comfort in one’s life. Drinking half of the water contained in a jar in a dream means having consumed half one’s life span.

    Drinking from a tight mouthed earthenware container in a dream also means DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 231 tempting a female worker. If one’s wife is pregnant and he sees himself carrying an earthenware jar that falls and breaks, it means that his wife may die from complications during her delivery or after giving birth to the newborn. In a dream, an earthenware jar also can be interpreted as a hard-working woman, or a servant, though a copper jar represents a noble woman.

    Ajar of wine in a dream represents woman’s menstrual period. If one drinks from ajar of wine, it means that he will have sexual intercourse with his wife during that period, which act is forbidden in Islam. If the jar is filled with eating oil, honey, or milk, it represents a hidden treasure.

    The same interpretation applies for a small clay jug, a mug, a cooking earthenware, or a tin pot.

  • Transient:

    (Dwellings; House; Interim; Loan; Temporary)

• possess
  • Haunted by evil spirits:

    (Possessed) If one sees himself haunted or possessed by evil spirits in a dream, it means that he engages in usury, performs secrets arts, or that he may lose his wealth to become unhappy, or to suffer from stress or depression.

  • Gripping:

    (Holding; Seizing) Gripping to somethingby the hand in a dream means buying a new property, renewal of one’s control over something, getting married or begetting a son.

  • Conveying a secret:

    (Entrust. Also see Castration; Confiding)

• observing
  • Examine:

    (Touch) In a dream, examining means spying, eavesdropping or paying attention to a conversation one should not listen to.

  • Eyewitness:

    (Eyewitness; Legitimacy; Testify; Truth) An eyewitness in a dream means triumphing over one’s enemy, testifying to the truth and refuting falsehood. If one sees himself as a true signing witness to an agreement in a dream, it means that he will triumph over his enemies. If one sees himself witnessing a contract or putting his seal on a testimony in a dream, it means that he will loan money to the second party in the contract.

    If one sees himself bearing a true testimony before someone and against the other in a dream, it means that he will attend the pilgrimage in Mecca.

  • Concern:
• passing
  • Search:
  • Avenue:
  • Stumble:
• viewing
  • Inspection of troops:

    (Display; Hearing; Honor guards; Inspection of troops; Military re¬ view; Portrayal; Presentation; Review officer; Show) If one sees himself standing before a high-ranking officer during a ceremony of reviewing the guards of honor or in a military barrack in a dream, and if the officer is displeased with him in the dream, it means that he will commit a major sin. If one thinks that the officer is pleased with him in the dream, then it implies God’s blessings. The high- ranking officer or the review officer in such a dream also represents a com¬ passionate person who cares, and who frequently asks about his friends, helps them solve their problems, and assists them in every possible way.

  • Military review:

    (Display; Hearing; Honor guards; Inspection of troops; Military re¬ view; Portrayal; Presentation; Review officer; Show) If one sees himself standing before a high-ranking officer during a ceremony of reviewing the guards of honor or in a military barrack in a dream, and if the officer is displeased with him in the dream, it means that he will commit a major sin. If one thinks that the officer is pleased with him in the dream, then it implies God’s blessings. The high- ranking officer or the review officer in such a dream also represents a com¬ passionate person who cares, and who frequently asks about his friends, helps them solve their problems, and assists them in every possible way.

  • Officer:

    (Display; Hearing; Honor guards; Inspection of troops; Military re¬ view; Portrayal; Presentation; Review officer; Show) If one sees himself standing before a high-ranking officer during a ceremony of reviewing the guards of honor or in a military barrack in a dream, and if the officer is displeased with him in the dream, it means that he will commit a major sin. If one thinks that the officer is pleased with him in the dream, then it implies God’s blessings. The high- ranking officer or the review officer in such a dream also represents a com¬ passionate person who cares, and who frequently asks about his friends, helps them solve their problems, and assists them in every possible way.

Practical Guidance for Navigating Dreams of Your Own Death

• Reflect on Recent Life Changes

  Consider the recent changes or stresses in your life that might prompt such dreams. Are you facing new challenges at work, navigating family dynamics, or undergoing a personal transformation? Reflecting on these aspects may provide insights into what your subconscious is grappling with.

  It’s essential to recognize that dreams often highlight what needs attention in your waking life. By journaling your feelings and experiences after waking, you might see patterns that relate to your dream. This act of reflection can help you understand the symbolic meanings tied to death in dreams, and you can use this knowledge to approach your current life circumstances with clearer insight and renewed purpose.

• Seek Spiritual Guidance

  Many find comfort in seeking spiritual or religious counsel after experiencing dreams like this. Engaging in discussion with a learned elder or mentor can provide a deeper interpretation that resonates with your personal context. In the Islamic tradition, consulting someone with 'ilim'—knowledge—can illuminate the spiritual teachings behind your dream.

  Furthermore, incorporating spiritual practices such as prayer, mediation, or reading sacred texts may aid in providing peace and clarity for your ongoing life transitions. Embracing these practices allows you to align your external life with the internal changes signified by your dreams.

• Confront Your Fears

  Dreams of your death can symbolize fears that need addressing in your life. By acknowledging and confronting these fears, you may find that they lose their power over your waking life. Consider what death represents to you—fear of failure, loss, or even change.

  To diminish the hold of these fears, engage in exercises that foster acceptance and understanding, like discussing these fears with a trusted friend or therapist. This open conversation can shed light on the underlying issues, creating new pathways for self-acceptance. By boldly facing these internal battles, you allow yourself to grow and move forward.

• Incorporate Creativity

  Engaging in creative outlets can offer you a safe space to explore your emotions tied to dreams of death. Art, writing, or music can act as powerful tools for self-expression and healing, allowing you to externalize what you feel. Try sketching scenes from your dream or freewriting about your experiences following such a dream.

  The creative process often unearths hidden emotions and might even lead to new perspectives about your dream. This not only provides catharsis but also fosters a deeper understanding of your life’s narrative.

FAQs

• What does it mean when you dream of seeing your own death?

  Dreaming of your own death often indicates significant change on the horizon rather than a literal end. It symbolizes the potential for rebirth or transformation, prompting you to reflect on personal growth and the changes you may need to make.

• Is it normal to have dreams about death?

  Yes, experiencing dreams about death is quite common, especially during times of stress or transition. These dreams can be reflections of your subconscious exploring fears, anxieties, or desires for change, serving as signals for introspection.

• Can dreams of seeing my own death predict the future?

  While many believe that dreams can offer insights, they do not predict the future in a literal sense. Instead, they can reveal unresolved emotions or situations in your current life that require attention and change.

• How can I interpret my death-related dreams more effectively?

  To interpret these dreams effectively, keep a dream journal, noting feelings, symbols, and life circumstances when the dream occurs. Reflecting on how these elements relate to your waking life can help clarify their meanings.

• Should I be worried if I keep dreaming about my own death?

  Repeated dreams of your own death can be concerning but often indicate that your subconscious is urging you to address certain fears or life changes. Use them as catalysts for self-reflection and personal growth rather than sources of anxiety.

References