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Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
What is the ruling on taking
payment for interpreting dreams?.
Praise be
to Allah.
It is not
permissible for the one to whom Allah has given the
gift of interpreting dreams to accept payment for
doing that. This is for a number of reasons:
Firstly:
Interpretation of dreams is something that may be
useful but there is no certainty about that and there
is no way to measure its benefit, and payment can only
be accepted in return for work that has a clear and
well known benefit. In this regard it is akin to
working as a judge.
Ibn
Qudaamah said concerning judges: As for seeking
payment for that, it is not permissible. ‘Umar (may
Allah be pleased with him) said: It is not appropriate
for the Muslim judge to receive payment for passing
judgement. This is the view of al-Shaafa'i and we do
not know of anyone who disagreed with him… and because
it is work that is not measurable. End quote.
Al-Mughni,
11/377
Secondly:
The closest
analogy to dream interpretation is issuing fatwas. The
majority of scholars are agreed that it is not
permissible for the mufti to accept payment for his
fatwa whether his giving the fatwa is an individual
obligation or a communal one.
It says in
al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah (32/42):
With regard
to payment, it is not permissible to accept it from
any of those who sought a fatwa, according to the more
correct view of the Shaafa'is. This is also the view
of the Hanafis and Hanbalis. The Hanbalis said that
because issuing fatwas should be done for the sake of
drawing closer to Allah and because it is conveying
something from Allah and His Messenger, so it is not
permissible to accept compensation for it. If he were
to say to him: I will not teach you about Islam or
wudoo' or prayer unless you pay me, they said: this is
definitively haraam and he has to give back the
payment and not take possession of it. They said: He
has to give an answer free of charge for the sake of
Allah, verbally or in writing if the enquirer asked
for an answer in writing, but he is not obliged to
provide the paper and ink. End quote.
Ibn al-Qayyim
said: if he accepted payment, that is not permissible
for him, because issuing fatwas is conveying from
Allah and His Messenger, so it is not permissible to
accept payment for it. End quote.
I'laam al-Muwaqqi'een,
4/231
Dream interpretation is a kind of
issuing fatwas.
Shaykh al-Sa'di
said:
Knowledge
of dream interpretation is one of the branches of
Islamic knowledge and a person will be rewarded for
learning it and teaching it. Interpreting dreams comes
under the heading of fatwas, because Yusuf used a verb
related to the word fatwa when he said to the two
young men in prison, "Thus is the case judged
concerning which you both did inquire (tastaftiyaan)"
[Yusuf 12:41], and the king said to Yusuf, using a
word from the same root, "Explain to me (aftooni) my
dream" [Yusuf 12:43], and the young man said to Yusuf
(interpretation of the meaning): "Explain to us [aftinaa]
(the dream) of seven fat cows" [Yusuf 12:46]. So it is
not permissible to interpret dreams without knowledge.
End quote.
Tafseer al-Sa'di,
1/407
Thirdly:
It is not
permissible to draw an analogy between accepting
payment for interpreting dreams and accepting payment
for ruqyah, because ruqyah comes under the heading of
remedies and treating disease, and it is permissible
to ask for payment for them according to scholarly
consensus.
Fourthly:
Although
some people say that it is permissible to seek payment
based on what is mentioned in Majma' al-Anhar (3/533),
where there is a discussion on accepting payment for
acts of worship, he says: … unlike building mosques,
paying zakaah, writing out Mushafs, fiqh, teaching
people how to write, astronomy [meaning learning
astronomy in order to work out directions and times
from the stars], medicine, dream interpretation and
literary arts, and it says that it is permissible to
accept payment for all of these according to consensus
–
this
conclusion is not quite right, because what is meant
by teaching dream interpretation is not interpreting
dreams per se, based on the fact that it is mentioned
in conjunction with teaching fiqh, writing, medicine
and literary arts.
This is
clarified by what it says in al-Fataawa al-Hindiyyah
(4/448), which is a Hanafi book, where it says: If he
asks for payment in return for teaching his child how
to write or about the stars or medicine or dream
interpretation, that is permissible according to
scholarly consensus.
The
difference between teaching knowledge of dream
interpretation and interpreting dreams is like the
difference between teaching Islamic knowledge and
issuing fatwas and shar'i rulings.
Shaykh Ibn
Jibreen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: What
is the ruling on accepting payment for dream
interpretation?
He said:
We think
that it is not permissible, because dream
interpretation relies on speculation; it is not
permissible for the interpreter to give a definitive
interpretation, because of the possibility that there
may be a different interpretation other than what this
interpreter thinks, so there is no reason to take
payment for that. End quote from the shaykh's website
[in Arabic]:
http://ibn-jebreen.com/ftawa.php?parent=786&subid=711&view=vmasal
And Allah
knows best. |
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