Dreams That Outlived Death

DAILYREFLECTION

Throughout the early generations, stories spread of believers whose dreams opened small windows into the unseen.

After the battle of Yamama, Thabit ibn Qais RA fell as a martyr. Days later, one of his companions saw him in a dream. Thabit said, “Go and find my shield. It was taken from me on the battlefield and hidden beneath a pile of armor.” He even gave the exact place.

The man awoke, found it exactly where Thabit said, and delivered the message to Abu Bakr RA, the Caliph at the time. Thabit had also asked that his debt be paid from the value of that shield. Abu Bakr did just that. It was as if death itself could not silence truth when it needed to be heard. And these stories did not stop there.

Many of the students of Imam Sufyan al-Thawri saw their teacher after his death, still giving counsel, still reminding them to stay close to Allah. Sufyan ibn Uyayna said, “I saw my teacher Sufyan al-Thawri in a dream and asked, ‘Give me advice.’ He said, ‘Keep the company of fewer people.’”

Others saw him in Jannah. One dreamer asked, “What did Allah do with you?”
Sufyan replied, “When I entered my grave, I was brought instantly before the Lord of the worlds. A voice said, ‘Do you remember a day when you preferred Allah over your desires?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And I was served plates of food from Paradise.”

Another man, Su’ayr ibn al-Khims, saw him flying from date palm to date palm, reciting, ‘All praise be to Allah who fulfilled His promise to us.’

There is a sweetness in these dreams, the sweetness of reunion, of reassurance, of seeing a loved one at peace. Sometimes a deceased parent smiles at you in a dream, or a teacher appears. At times, a friend long gone visits and they are happy to see you.

These are gifts, glimpses of mercy. But they are not the measure of who we are. Dreams are real, but they are signs, not destinations.

The Prophet ﷺ reminded us that good dreams come from Allah, and they are among the remaining traces of prophethood, but they are byproducts of truthfulness, not the goal of it.

You are not meant to chase dreams as proof of your closeness to Allah, nor to treat them as warnings that shape your fears. True dreams are a mercy, not a mirror of rank. Life unfolds in your choices while you are awake. In your prayer, your honesty, your patience, your repentance. Those moments write the story that determines what kind of soul you will carry into the next world.

So when a dream brings comfort, be grateful. When it brings a warning, turn back to Allah. But never measure your faith by what you see in sleep. Because faith is not found in the dream, it’s proven in the day you live after it.

REFLECT ON THIS:

When you awake from a powerful dream, do you let it shape your day or let your day prove your faith?

^{Share your reflections in the poll at the end of the email.}

WATERMELONWATCH

• [World Health Organization] Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that aid flows into the Gaza Strip remain “only a fraction of what’s needed” and estimated that rebuilding Gaza’s health system alone could cost at least US $7 billion.

• [International Court of Justice] (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion saying Israel must allow and facilitate humanitarian relief by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, amid a hold-up of thousands of trucks of aid waiting to enter.

• [World Food Programme] (WFP) reported that food supplies entering Gaza are still well below the scale needed to address the crisis, with hundreds of thousands still facing catastrophic food insecurity.

• Aid agencies noted that though a cease-fire is in place, practical challenges persist: key border crossings such as Rafah crossing remain closed or restricted, limiting critical medical evacuations and access for relief.

• Among signs of resilience, UNICEF reports that despite devastation, teams continue delivering clean water, emergency nutrition and vaccination to children across Gaza, showing local and international workers are still active in the hardest-hit zones.

QURANCORNER

Each day, you’ll be introduced to one of the 300 most common Qur’anic words. The Qur’an has about 77,430 words in total, all built on just 2,000 root words. By learning these frequently recurring ones, you’ll recognize 70–80% of the Qur’an’s vocabulary and begin connecting more deeply as you read.

In (إِنْ) - If

In opens the door of possibility. It introduces a condition, a choice, a test, a turning point. In taṭṭaqū Allāha… If you are mindful of Allah… With just two letters, in reminds us that so much of our path depends on our choices. It teaches us that “if” is not uncertainty, it’s opportunity, waiting for action.