Church and Temple

Seeing a monastery, synagogue, church, or similar places of worship in a dream is interpreted as a deceitful man who misleads people by his deeds and whose end is without conclusion. To see oneself doing in a church an act contrary to Christian customs is auspicious. To see oneself sitting in one of these places of worship is auspicious if the dreamer is a good and religious person; otherwise, it is evil.

According to Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi: Seeing a church or a similar place of worship in a dream signifies, for Christians, supplication with tears. For us, however, it is interpreted as a place of misfortune, falsehood, slander, oppression, and drinking assemblies. Whoever sees in his dream that he enters a church will marry if he is unmarried. If he is married, he will have a child. If he prostrates before the pictures depicted upon its walls, kisses them, worships exactly like a Christian, or sees a girdle (zunnar) around his waist, he will fall from guidance into error. If he enters the church and remembers Allah the Exalted while denying the Christian customs there, and if he avoids the forbidden matters according to the measure of his own power, the gates of Paradise will be kept open for him.

According to Ibn Kathir: A church and the like are interpreted as a gathering place of devils. The newness, vastness, and construction of the church indicate weakness in religion and that the Muslims have been deceived. To see in a dream that the church or its like has been destroyed, or that lightning has struck it and laid it waste, indicates the exaltation of the people of faith and that the Christians have been left without helpers.

To see in a dream that the church or its like has been destroyed or built is interpreted in the same manner. Since the church sometimes signifies those who serve there and those occupied with its charitable endowments, its remaining standing signifies their livelihood, while its destruction signifies harm to them; thus, its destruction indicates the death of one of them.

To see oneself worshipping in a synagogue as they do signifies speaking and reaching an agreement with the Jews and approving of their manner of work. To see one’s house as a church signifies that the members of the household have made their house a gathering place for amusement, or that he will incur the wrath of his superior.

According to Ibn Fadalah: Churches and similar places are interpreted as places of fornication and obscenity, taverns, places of unbelief, places where instruments are played and songs are sung, Hell, and prisons. To see oneself remembering Allah (the Most Glorious) in a church, turning toward the Ka‘bah, praying, and worshipping indicates that one will go to a cemetery to visit a deceased person or will attend a funeral prayer.

To see a funeral in a church in a dream indicates that the deceased will burn in the Fire together with the rebellious. Whoever enters a church and worships there like the Christians will commit a grave sin such as unbelief, fornication, or drinking wine.

According to another narration: If one sees his own house transformed into a church, that man will march against a leader who is outside. Whoever sees himself in a Jewish place of worship (synagogue) will investigate something that is an innovation. The Jewish place of worship seen in a dream indicates wisdom and scholars and physicians whose authority has been abrogated.

To see oneself in a dream as the judge or ruler of a Jewish place of worship, or as doing what the people of that place do, indicates associating with the Jews, adopting their morals, inclining toward their religion, or breaking one’s covenant. Likewise, if a person does the things described above in a Christian church, it indicates associating with Christians, inclining toward their sect, or assisting them. A synagogue sometimes also indicates trade conducted in fear of Allah the Exalted and in obedience to Him.

Whoever sees in a dream that he enters a church will marry if he is unmarried, or he will have a child, or he will fall into error after guidance. Sometimes seeing a church indicates the abodes of devils, such as rubbish heaps and bathhouses. The newness and height of the church indicate weakness in religion and the wretched condition of the Muslims. If a person sees in a dream that the church has been destroyed or burned, and that a calamity has befallen it, this indicates the exaltation of the profession of Divine Unity and the ruin of the people of polytheism and hypocrisy.

If a person sees in a dream that his own house is a church, the speech of that person resembles Christian speech. His house will become a meeting place for those who follow their passions and commit innovations and sins. Sometimes this dream also indicates that the dreamer’s superior will become angry with him. A church indicates a cemetery, a brothel, a tavern, houses of innovation and unbelief, houses of music and play, houses of mourning, Hell—the house of those who disobey Allah—and a prison. To see a dead person in a church in a dream indicates that the deceased has been imprisoned in Hell together with sinful people.

Whoever sees in a dream that he enters a church and performs the Christians’ rite there—if the dreamer is a man, it indicates that he will associate with people who commit innovation, fornication, drinking, or some other grave sin; if the dreamer is a woman, it indicates that the woman will meet with Christians.

It can be read as a sign of easing, receiving support, gaining morale, or a fruitful development.

Underestimating opportunities, succumbing to comfort, or being late may reduce the positive effect.

In the interpretation, the themes of work and responsibility, spiritual signs, home and environment, success and reputation, the emotional tone in the dream, and how the symbol concludes in the dream should be evaluated together.