Fire belongs on this site for the same reason rain did: the classical books are clause machines, and the fire entries are the cleanest side-by-side test in either book — a two-page Arabic run and a three-page English entry that mirror each other nearly line for line, with a handful of collisions the mirrors leave unsmoothed. Plain answers first — no Arabic or Chinese on this screen — every quote checked to its printed page.
The nine-word ledger both books open with
The compilation's headword: fire signifies "glad tidings, a warning, war, chastisement, power, imprisonment, losses, sins, or blessings". Al-Nabulsi's Arabic, five centuries on, runs the same nine slots in the same order, the ninth word again blessing (quoted in full below). Then both books price the loud fire: sparks shooting every way, burning the wood, roaring with tumult — in the compilation, insubordination, civic disorder, an adversity through which many die; in Al-Nabulsi, a sedition through which people perish, "on the measure of what it burned" (printed p. 158; shamela 348, printed p. 351). The scale word — proportion — is in both.
Day fire, night fire — the first switch
The books agree in both directions. Seen by daylight, fire means war and adversities; seen at night, peace and guidance (printed p. 159 — in the scan the sentence prints with its words run together, kept as printed below). Al-Nabulsi's mirror clause closes the two-armies paragraph the same way: "it is said that fire seen in the day is a proof of war and sedition, and seen at night, a proof of comfort" (shamela 349, printed p. 352). Same switch, same two poles. Kindling has its own version: light a fire in the dark night so people can find the road, and you will acquire knowledge and guide people with it; light one on the bright road with no darkness needing it, and you are on the road of innovation, misleading others. Al-Nabulsi's Arabic again runs line-for-line with the English.
Two fires facing each other — and the water switch
Both books stage the same image: two burning thicket-loads trying to consume each other, two armies on the field. Whichever fire has more fuel is more numerous and harder-pressed; whichever the wind is with wins; whichever is blacker and darker has the worse intent; equal in color and harming nothing — two seditions sitting in that quarter. Then the switch that ties this page to the rain page: the army whose fire stands nearer the water is the one likelier to submit — and if the water overflows and quenches the fire, the water itself is debilitated and consumed, "and likewise if the rain comes down on it". Al-Nabulsi's mirror finishes the sentence the compilation started, page break and all (printed pp. 159-160; shamela 348-349, printed pp. 351-352). Fire quenched by rain is the rarest of the book's switches: in the compilation it means poverty or loss of your job; in Al-Nabulsi, your livelihood stops.
The harm switch — touched, unburned, eating
Fire that reaches you and does no harm means someone will fulfill a promise they made to you; Al-Nabulsi's same-page mirror: "whoever the fire touches and it does not burn him — his appointment will be honored" (printed p. 159; shamela 349, printed p. 352). Standing in the fire feeling cool and comfortable is the victory clause — truthfulness, sincerity, triumph over enemies in the compilation; in the Arabic, whoever sits in the fire and finds no heat attains truth, certainty, kingship. The burn switch flips: fire burning your garment or your skin means a calamity falling on you, or on the family member that limb represents. And eating fire? Swindling orphans' property or earning suspicious, unlawful money — both books, in the same words, quoting the same Qur'anic idiom; Al-Nabulsi adds the table setting: eating from gold or silver plates, and then poverty and begging.
Fire and the house — five verdicts
The books read five different house-fires. Fire falling into your house: in Al-Nabulsi, fertility and plenty; in the compilation, war and destruction if it rages, a new-disease spread if it makes no noise. Fire going out of your house: appointment, business, strength, trade-skill — governorship, trade, or craft-power in the Arabic, mirror for mirror. The house-light being extinguished: the death of the father, husband or child, and an extinguished fire in the town means the death of its governor, its great scholar, its renowned shaikh; in Al-Nabulsi, the manager of the house dies, the head of the town dies. A fire kindled on the mountaintop: devotion, needs met, safe return home — and in both books' next breath, a fire blazing in your own house ruins it. The two-armies clause and the torch clause (a burning torch with no smoke at your door: pilgrimage, house-renovation or marriage) sit between the extremes.
Smoke, and what smoke hides
Smoke is a gauge and a divider. The more black smoke a fire makes, the greater the danger and consequent sufferings (printed p. 159); Al-Nabulsi: the higher the smoke, the greater the terror. But fire with no smoke is its own species: it represents spirits or jinns — "for they are created from a smokeless fire" — and also drought, locusts, calamity. The Arabic entry keeps the same clause with the same theology and the same two plagues (printed p. 160; shamela 349, printed p. 352). A clean-flamed blaze is never simply cleaner: it changes what the fire is made of.
Fire in the mouth, the fingers, the palm — the teeth page's neighbors
Three short body clauses sit together in both books, and they are the ones a teeth-dream reader should notice. Fire in the fingers: an unjust person — or changing the contents of a book, or perjury. Fire lit in the palm: cutting corners in your trade, violating your own trade's code. Fire inside the mouth: distress — says the compilation, and so says Al-Nabulsi in one word of grief (quoted verbatim below), extending the ledger: fire in the fingers is the scribes' injustice, fire in the palm the artisan's. The mouth clause is this site's own entry point: the same books that read a falling tooth as a family ledger read a flame inside the mouth as grief with no omen in it (printed p. 160; shamela 349, printed p. 352).
Prices, sickness, possession
Fire burns goods, and the books read the market. A fire inside a granary means hiking prices; whatever product burns is in high demand and rising — and Al-Nabulsi's mirror: fire burning grain sends its price up, fire falling on any commodity makes it dear with many buyers. Fire in winter is the warm exception: warming yourself from a nearby fire on a cold day means becoming rich; in the Arabic, fire in winter means fruit — "they say, fire is winter's fruit". A fire talking to you out of a jar or pitcher means an evil spirit has possessed your son or daughter — the Arabic names it as jinn-speaking-on-the-tongue possession. And fire seen without flame and without roar? The compilation: the spread of a new disease; the Arabic: illnesses and events falling there.
The finding: one flame, four switches
Set the two entries side by side — Al-Nabulsi's (نار) run at shamela 348-350 (printed pp. 351-353) and the compilation's Fire entry at printed pp. 158-160 — and the clause order is a mirror almost head to head: the nine-word ledger, then the loud-sparks civic sedition with its proportion clause, then heart-fire as love, then the two fires as two armies with fuel, wind, blackness, water-nearness and the quenching water's own ruin, then the smoke gauge, then the night-kindled guide of knowledge and the daylight innovation, then the day/night war-versus-comfort switch, then fire-worship, then winter-warming wealth, then eating fire and orphans' property, then the condemned and the entered-and-exited hell, then the lighted fire ringed by a blessing group, then touch-without-burn as promise kept, then grain prices, then the empty pot, then the governor's smothering fire, then torch-at-door without smoke, then fingers, palm and mouth, then the plague list, then roasted meat and backbiting, then garment and limb, then borrowed fire as unlawful money, then the glare of tongues, then the sultan's door, then fire going out of the house, then east-to-west beams, then the falling-in fertility line, then the mountaintop, then the oven pregnancy, then sitting in the fire, then the sky-fire, then the extinguished fire and its deaths, then the vessel-fire and the jinns. Where the two books meet, they meet in order. On top of the mirror, this fire page shows four switches the teeth and rain pages also found working in these books: time (day war, night guidance; winter fire the one warmly positive case), smoke (a danger gauge upward, and a species marker at zero: no smoke means jinns, not safety), place (house, town, desert, sultan's door, mountaintop, granary, oven — five different house-fires alone), and harm (touched and unburned = a kept promise; burned = the calamity on what the thing represents; eaten = unlawful money).
And four collisions no summary repeats. Between the books: sky-fire that burns and does not affect you. The compilation reads the harm-free sky-fire as verbal abuse with no lasting consequences; Al-Nabulsi, in the same words about the same fire, reads it as soldiers descending on your house — same image, private insult versus public garrison. The extinguished house-light runs the other way: the compilation hangs death clauses on it (father, husband, child, town's scholar); Al-Nabulsi adds a burglary clause the English never keeps — a fire that goes out in your house and a wind comes in and lights it again: thieves enter. Inside the Arabic book: a citron — نارنج, the sour orange — means an evil or a sedition, and a house full of citrons means fire blazing in it; the book says the reading is taken "from its name, its color and its sourness" — the word contains نار, fire (shamela 360, printed p. 363). A whole verdict built on a pun the English can only report. Inside the alphabetic book: the fireplace entry ends by filing fire under the body and the table — the hearth represents your stomach, and its firewood a late heavy meal "that will cause indigestion or confused dreams" (printed p. 161): a 1992 compilation that tells you where confused dreams come from, printed on the page with the word run together. Across the languages: the Chinese book's fire verdicts sort neither by smoke nor harm but by direction and rank — fire burning the sun, moon, rivers, hills or heaven brings patrons, long life and national peace; standing in fire a noble helper; flame blazing wealth — while fire rising from the ground, black smoke, carrying fire down the road and putting fire to a well bring illness and blocked roads. Fifteen verdict lines, no ledger, no switch: the shapes do the work.
The entries, briefly
The Arabic side comes from two books: the compiled English dictionary attributed to Ibn Sirin (Pearl Publishing House, 1992 — "Fire" printed p. 158 per the book's own end-of-volume index, the entry running onto pp. 159-160; the same index locates Fire iron and Fire worshiper also at 158, Fireboat at 160, Firewood at 161, Torch at 443, Worshipping fire at 481) and the Arabic original of Al-Nabulsi's Ta'tir al-Anam, whose (نار) headword sits at shamela.ws/book/1217/348 (printed p. 351, باب النون), whose (ومن رأى) clauses run across shamela 349 (printed p. 352) and shamela 350 (printed p. 353) with one sentence breaking at each page edge, and whose citron (نارنج) clause sits at shamela 360 (printed p. 363). The Chinese side is fifteen verdict lines from the received Zhou Gong text — thirteen in chapter 23, one in chapter 12, one in chapter 8. One sample of each book, translated, then the full checked passages in the sources section at the bottom.
"Fire: The element offire in a dream represents might. Fire in a dream also means love. A product that is touched by fire in the process of its manufacturing or cooking in a dream means arguments and disputes. In a dream, fire also signifies glad tidings, a warning, war, chastisement, power, imprisonment, losses, sins, or blessings. Ifone sees a blazing fire with sparks shooting in every direction and burning in the forest and raging with tumultuous noise and uproar in a dream, it means insubordination, civic disorder or an adversity through which many people will die. ... If a fire is extinguished by rain in a dream, it means poverty or loss of one'sjob. ... It also means poverty and need. (Also see Body'; Firewood; Hell-fire)" (elided; full entry in Sources)
- (نار) هي في المنام بشارة وإنذار وحرب وعذاب وسلطان وحبس وخسارة وذنوب وبركة فمن رأى ناراً ولها شرر ولهب يحرق الأشجار ولها صوت وجلبة فإنها فتنة يهلك منها عالم من الناس على قدر ما أحرقت.
- (ومن رأى) نارين وكل منهما تهب إلى الأخرى وتهم بمداخلتها فإنهما عسكران قد برز كل منهما إلى صاحبه وأيهما كان حطبها أكثر كانت أكثر عدداً وأقوى بأساً وأيهما كانت الريح معها كانت الغلبة لها وأيهما كانت أسود وأظلم كان أهلها أردأ عقداً وأفسد مقصداً وإن تساويا بلونهما ولم يحرقا شيئاً فإنهما فتنتان في محلة وأيتهما كان الماء قريباً منها كانت أذعن بأساً وإن فاض الماء عليها فأطفأها هلك المضاف إليها الماء بنصر الله تعالى وكذا إذا أنزل عليها المطر وقد يكون ذلك الماء كميناً يخرج إلى المضاف إلى
النار التي فاض الماء عليها فتخمد ناره ويهلك جنده وكلما كانت النار بدخان عال فهو أعظم هولاً وعذاباً ومن أوقد ناراً في ليلة مظلمة ليهدي الناس إلى الطريق نال علماً يهدي به الناس ومن أوقدها على الطريق من غير ظلام فإنه في بدعة وغواية وقيل إن النار إذا رؤيت نهاراً فهي دليل حرب وفتنة وإذا رؤيت ليلاً فهي دليل أنس.
Zhou Gong, stated plainly: the received Chinese dream book this site quotes chapter by chapter carries fire in exactly fifteen verdict lines — thirteen in chapter 23 (水火 盗贼 灯烛), one in the boats-and-carts chapter (执火入船主大吉 — carrying fire onto a boat: very auspicious) and one in the gates chapter (天火烧门主凶事 — heaven's fire burning the gate: misfortune). The verdicts sort by what the fire touches and where it comes from: burning sun, moon, river, hill or heaven prescribes patrons, long life, prominence, thriving and national peace; blazing flame prescribes wealth; being in the fire prescribes a noble helper; carrying or riding with fire prescribes office — while fire rising from the ground, black smoke, carrying fire down the road and putting fire to a well all prescribe illness, disease or a blocked road. The character 火 appears exactly sixteen times in the received text: fifteen verdict lines and the chapter title itself. All quoted at location in Sources; nothing else is claimed for the Chinese side.
What modern research adds — and what it doesn't
Modern dream research treats fire as a countable theme, not a sign. The numbers below were pulled and re-read today from the study itself. Johannes Mathes and Michael Schredl coded 1,612 dreams written down in diaries by 425 psychology students over two weeks, and scored each report against the 56-item Typical Dream Questionnaire: fire content (item 34) appeared in 1.74% of the diary reports; 6.60% of dreamers recorded at least one fire dream inside the fortnight; and 25.94% reported having dreamed of fire at least once in their lifetime. Fire ranked 17.5 among themes in the diaries and 30.5 on the lifetime questionnaire, with a small diary-questionnaire correlation (r = 0.094) — and the paper's own review sentence puts fire in the list of "archaic" themes (with earthquake, snakes, spiders and insects) that "occur relatively rarely" in adults (Mathes & Schredl, Somnologie 18:106–111, 2014, DOI 10.1007/s11818-013-0653-6; PDF re-pulled and table re-read today; student sample, stated as such). The same table is useful for this site's main subject too: teeth falling out (item 18) ran at 0.56% of diary reports — rarer in two weeks of actual diary life than fire, though 35.08% endorse it lifetime, a gap the authors themselves flag as unexplained. Questionnaire work adds only stability: across 444 participants the rank order of the 55 typical themes was stable, men reporting physical-aggression dreams more than women (Schredl, Ciric, Götz & Wittmann, The Journal of Psychology 138(6):485–494, 2004, PubMed 15612605, record re-pulled today). The 2018 teeth-dream paper this site leans on elsewhere (PubMed 30319507) has no fire item anywhere — its full text, re-checked today, contains no form of the word. Against the classical layer the direction is the story again: the Arabic books read fire as a civic sign — war, sedition, prices, governors, thieves, armies — while the modern instrument counts how many students wrote "fire" down in fourteen days, and finds the flame is rare. The gap is reported, not papered over.
Sources (all passages checked against the cited pages)
Ibn Sirin compilation — "Fire," printed p. 158, running onto pp. 159-160 (Ibn Seerin's Dictionary of Dreams, compiled by Muhammad M. Al-Akili, Pearl Publishing House 1992, ISBN 1879405032; a later compilation attributed to the 8th-century scholar, not his autograph text; the book's own page index lists Fire at 158, Fireboat at 160, Firewood at 161, Torch at 443, Worshipping fire at 481). Full entry, scan verbatim including its joined words and its two print glitches kept as printed (the daylight sentence runs "adversities.lfit"; the plague word breaks as "pIa es and mass loU"): "Fire: The element offire in a dream represents might. Fire in a dream also means love. A product that is touched by fire in the process of its manufacturing or cooking in a dream means arguments and disputes. In a dream, fire also signifies glad tidings, a warning, war, chastisement, power, imprisonment, losses, sins, or blessings. Ifone sees a blazing fire with sparks shooting in every direction and burning in the forest and raging with tumultuous noise and uproar in a dream, it means insubordination, civic disorder or an adversity through which many people will die. If one sees fire burning inside his own heart in a dream, it means love or depression caused by separation from one's beloved. Seeing two burning bushes trying to consume one another in a dream represents two armies fighting one another. If the two burning bushes remain intact and yield no loss in the dream, then they represent trials and adversities in the place where they are seen. Whichever of the two fires is closer to a water source in the dream means that such an army is more liable to a voluntary retreat or submission. If the water flows and extinguishes that fire in the dream, it also means that the water will be debilitated and consequently consumed. The more black smoke a fire produces in one's dream, the greater is the danger and consequent sufferings. If one kindles a fire in the night for people to see their way through in a dream, it means that he will acquire a knowledge and with it, he will help people through their life, admonish and guide them. If one sees himself kindling a fire on the road during the daylight in a dream, it means that he will embark on the road of innovation and misleading others. If one sees a fire during a daylight time in a dream, it means war and adversities.lfit is seen during the night hours, then it means peace and guidance. If one sees himself worshiping the fire in a dream, it means that he loves wars, or follows Satanic allurements. Warming oneself up from a nearby fire during a cold day in a dream means becoming rich. Eating fire in a dream means swindling orphans' property or earning suspicious and unlawful money. If one is condemned to die in the fire in a dream, it means imprisonment. If one enters hell-fire then comes out of it in a dream, it means that he will ultimately enter paradise. If one sells hell and buys paradise in a dream, it means that he will sell a business involving the use of fire such as a bathhouse, a bakery or a forgery and invest his money in a farm or vice-versa. This also may represent his deeds in the world and his reward in the hereafter. Entering hell-fire to pay for one's sins in a dream means financial losses or committing abominable actions that warrant such sufferings. If one sees hell-fire with his own eyes in a dream, it means that he should be weary about his legal standing or that he should be careful regarding the ruler or governor of that town. Entering hell-fire and tasting its punishment in a dream also means suffering from adversities. Seeing a group of people standing around a fire in a dream means blessings. Discovering a burning bush in a wilderness and finding solace in taking refuge near it in a dream means dispelling one's fears and reaching safety. If one is touched by a fire, and if it does him no harm or burn him in the dream, it means that someone will fulfill a promise he made to him. If a fire burns inside a granary in a dream, it means hiking prices. Whatever product a fire burns in a dream means high demand for it and rising prices. Ifone sees a stove burning with no food in the pot in the dream, it means that the head of the household is engaged in some futile activities and he could suffer because of them. If one sees a governor kindling a fire, and if it keeps smothering, then if it dies off in the dream, it means that he will be dismissed from his office and that his fire will be extinguished. Seeing a burning torch with no smoke hanging in front of one's door in a dream means attending the pilgrimage season during that year, or remodeling one's house, or it could mean getting married. Burning one's fingers in a dream represents an unjust person, or it could mean changing the contents of a book or committing perjury. Seeing fire lit in the palm of one's hand in a dream means cutting ends in one's trade to save money or voluntary violation of the code of a trade. Seeing fire inside lone's mouth in a dream means distress. Willingly entering hell-fire in a dream irepresents one's love and attachment to the world and its pleasures. A raging ifire in one's house or town in a dream means war and destruction. If it is a 'roaring and a blazing fire in the dream, then it means pIa es and mass loU destruction. If it has no noise in the dream, then it means the spread of a new disease. If one sees a fire falling from the skies in a dream, it means greater calamities. If it causes no harm in the dream, then it means a verbal abuse with no lasting consequences. If one sees a fire rising into the skies in a dream, it means that the people of that locality are challenging God Almighty's decrees with arrogance and indulging themselves in abominable sins and insubordination. Kindling a fire to bring warmth to a group of people in a dream means starting a community project that will benefit several people including oneself. Kindling a fire to broil some meat in a dream means starting a conversation to backbite and slander someone. Eating from such broiled meat in the dream means earnings, distress and feeling heavy hearted. If a fire burns one's garment or causes burns to his skin in a dream, it means a calamity that will befall him or a member of one's family who is represented by that particular limb. To bring live coal into one's house in a dream means stealing money or acquiring unla wful profits. If one is struck by the heat of a blaze and feels its glare over his face in a dream, it means becoming subject to people's slander ,jealousy and backbiting. To stand by the light of a fire in a dream means becoming close to someone in authority. If a fire comes out of one's house in a dream, it means a political appointment, a business, strength, or knowledge of one's trade. If one sees a radiant light brightening the skies from the East to the West in a dream, it means fame, recognition and knowledge, or a discovery one will become famous because of it. Ifone's wife is pregnant, and ifhe sees a fire coming out of his head to brighten the entire house in a dream, it means that his wife will beget a son who will grow to be a renowned man of knowledge and piety. A fire lighting one's house in a dream also means that one's wife will get pregnant. Kindling a fire on top of a mountain in a dream means seeking nearness to God Almighty by making offerings, giving charities and increasing one's devotion. Consequently all of one's needs will surely be satisfied. If one who sees this dream is on a journey, it represents his safe return to his home. Sitting inside a fire and suffering no harm in a dream means working for, or associating with the ruler of the city or country. It also means becoming the ruler's confidant or intimate friend. Fire in the desert in a dream means war. Setting people on fire in a dream means creating division and enmity between them. To stand in the fire, feeling cool and comfortable in a dream represents one's truthfulness, sincerity, faith and certitude, and it means victory over his enemies. A dying fire in a dream means suppressing a commotion, or containing a troublesome matter that could endanger one's community or life. If a fire that is lighting one's house is extinguished in a dream, it means the death of the father, the husband or a child. An extinguished fire in a dream also signifies the death of the governor, or a great scholar, or a renowned shaikh in that city. Fire in a dream also means a robbery. Fire with no smoke in a dream represents spirits or jinns, for they are created from a smokeless fire. It also represents drought, locusts or a calamity. If a fire is extinguished by rain in a dream, it means poverty or loss of one'sjob. If one sees a fire talking to him from inside an earthenware jar or from inside a pitcher or any container in a dream, it means that an evil spirit has possessed one's son or daughter. A destructive fire in a dream represents an unjust ruler. If people can benefit from such a fire, it means that he is ajust and a righteous ruler or governor. Fire in the wintertime in a dream means fruits. Eating fire in a dream means eating from a golden or a silver plate, or drinking from a golden or a silver cup. It also means poverty and need. (Also see Body'; Firewood; Hell-fire)" — "Gold," printed p. 189, the house-fire clause: "Seeing one's house turning gold in a dream means that a fire will consume his house." — "Torch," printed p. 443, the whole entry: "Torch: (Beacon) Carrying a torch in a dream means knowledge, wisdom, guiding and leading the people on the straight path, or it could represent someone people depend on to learn about the truth. However, such a person will enjoy no luck, and he will receive little appreciation for his work." — "Firewood," printed p. 161, the whole entry: "Firewood: Firewood in a dream means slander and backbiting. Ifone puts two or three logs to burn in the fire in a dream, it means that an argument will take place or that an exchange of rough words will grow beyond one's control. If a religious person sees timber in his dream, it means that he will commits a major sin such as theft, murder, or adultery, he will then be caught and put tojustice. If anyone kindles a fire in a dream, it means that he will report someone to the authorities. Carrying firewood in a dream means exchanging harsh words, slander, rebuke or calumniation. Seeing timber in one's house also means profits, fulfilling needs, inheritance or endowments. Ifthe timber needs cutting in the dream, it means earnings that involve great efforts, or earnings that bring about evil. If the timber is already cut for the fireplace in the dream, it represents a person who is favored by someone in authority, or it could mean business success. Firewood in a dream also means adversities or stinginess. Wrapped firewood in a bundle means mixed profits. If an unemployed person sees himself carrying a bundle of firewood in a dream, it means that he will work for a generous person. Gathering firewood in a dream means bringing medicine for a sick person. Attributing the firewood to its mother tree or distinguishing its fruit in the dream means money of a doubtful source. Offering timber to burn in a religious ceremony in a dream means nearness to one's Lord, or it could mean offering a gift to one's teacher, bringing a culpable before a judge, or bringing a sick person to the doctor. In this case, if the timber burns before putting it in the fire, it means that the gift was accepted, or that a guilty person will receive a just verdict. Eating timber in a dream means earning unlawful money. A tree stump or a log in a dream means a chronic illness or paralysis. A prepared log for the fire in a dream means profits for those who use it to earn their livelihood. (Also see Fire; Log)" — the hearth's body clause, from "Fireplace," printed p. 160, running onto p. 161: "A fireplace in a dream also represents one's stomach and the firewood in a dream represents alate heavy meal that will cause indigestion or confused dreams." — "Worshipping fire," printed p. 481, head to tail: "Worshipping fire: (Fire worshipper; Magi; Magus; Mazdaism; Sorcerer) Seeing an old man worshipping fire in a dream means facing a person who cares little about obliterating his enemy. Seeing oneself worshiping fire in a dream means apostasy, committing adultery, theft, murder, making a false oath, polytheism, or being an unjust person. Turning away from worshipping fire to embrace Judaism or Christianity in a dream means experiencing major changes in one's life. Worshipping fire in a dream means desiring worldly pleasures. Worship ping the fire in a dream also means desiring to work for the ruler or a king, or it could mean going astray. If the fire one is worshipping is not lit in the dream, it means that he is seeking unlawful earnings."
Al-Nabulsi — (نار), shamela.ws/book/1217/348, printed p. 351, continuing at /349 (printed p. 352) and /350 (printed p. 353) (Ta'tir al-Anam fi Ta'bir al-Manam, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi d. 1731 CE, Dar al-Fikr edition; باب النون; translation ours). Headword and spark clause: "- (نار) هي في المنام بشارة وإنذار وحرب وعذاب وسلطان وحبس وخسارة وذنوب وبركة فمن رأى ناراً ولها شرر ولهب يحرق الأشجار ولها صوت وجلبة فإنها فتنة يهلك منها عالم من الناس على قدر ما أحرقت." (fire is glad tidings, warning, war, chastisement, a ruler, imprisonment, loss, sins, blessing; fire with sparks and flame burning trees, with noise and tumult, is sedition — people perish from it on the measure of what it burned). Heart line: "- (ومن رأى) ناراً في قلبه ذلك حب غالب وقهر من هجر محبوبه أو غيره." (fire in the heart: overwhelming love, the defeat of being parted from the beloved). The two-armies paragraph, breaking at the page edge after "يخرج إلى المضاف إلى" and resuming at the next page head: "- (ومن رأى) نارين وكل منهما تهب إلى الأخرى وتهم بمداخلتها فإنهما عسكران قد برز كل منهما إلى صاحبه وأيهما كان حطبها أكثر كانت أكثر عدداً وأقوى بأساً وأيهما كانت الريح معها كانت الغلبة لها وأيهما كانت أسود وأظلم كان أهلها أردأ عقداً وأفسد مقصداً وإن تساويا بلونهما ولم يحرقا شيئاً فإنهما فتنتان في محلة وأيتهما كان الماء قريباً منها كانت أذعن بأساً وإن فاض الماء عليها فأطفأها هلك المضاف إليها الماء بنصر الله تعالى وكذا إذا أنزل عليها المطر وقد يكون ذلك الماء كميناً يخرج إلى المضاف إلى" / "النار التي فاض الماء عليها فتخمد ناره ويهلك جنده وكلما كانت النار بدخان عال فهو أعظم هولاً وعذاباً ومن أوقد ناراً في ليلة مظلمة ليهدي الناس إلى الطريق نال علماً يهدي به الناس ومن أوقدها على الطريق من غير ظلام فإنه في بدعة وغواية وقيل إن النار إذا رؤيت نهاراً فهي دليل حرب وفتنة وإذا رؤيت ليلاً فهي دليل أنس." (two armies; fuel, wind, blackness; equal and unburning, two seditions in the quarter; nearer water submits; water overflowing quenches and its host perishes with God's help, likewise rain; the water may be an ambush; high smoke, greater terror; night-kindled guidance earns knowledge, daylight road-kindling is innovation; by day war and sedition, by night comfort). — The scenario clauses on printed p. 352: "- (ومن رأى) أنه يعبد النار فإنه يحب الحرب وربما كان يطيع الشيطان في معصيته." (fire-worship: love of war, obeying Satan); "- (ومن رأى) أنه يصطلي بالنار في الشتاء فإنه ينال غنى." (warming by fire in winter: wealth); "- (ومن رأى) أنه يأكل النار فإنه يأكل أموال اليتامى ظلماً أو يأكل مالاً حراماً." (eating fire: devouring orphans' property unjustly, or unlawful money); "- (ومن رأى) أنه أمر به إلى النار فإنه يحبس ومن دخل النار وخرج منها فإنه يدخل الجنة." (condemned to the fire: prison; entering and coming out: paradise); "- (ومن رأى) جهنم عياناً فليحذر من السلطان ومن دخل النار ذاق عذابها فإنه يقع في فتنة." (hell seen plainly: beware the ruler; tasting its punishment: falling into sedition); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً مضيئة وحولها جماعة فإنهم ينالون بركة." (a lit fire ringed by a group: they attain blessing); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً في بر وأنس إليها أنس من وحشة ومن أصابته النار ولم تحرقه وفى له بموعده." (fire in the open desert and feeling calm by it: calm after dread; touched and unburned: your appointment is honored); "- (ومن رأى) النار قد أحرقت شيئاً من الحبوب فإنه يغلو سعره وكذا إذا وقعت في سلعة غلت وكثر طلابها." (grain burned: its price rises; fire falling on a commodity: it grows dear, buyers crowd); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً تحت قدر بلا طعام فإنه تهيج قيم بيت في شيء لا ينفعه بل يضره والنار المحرقة نكبة من سلطان." (fire under an empty pot: the householder stirred up over what harms him; the burning fire is a calamity from the ruler); "- (ومن رأى) من الولاة أنه يوقد ناراً وهي تطفأ فإنه يعزل وتخمد ناره." (a governor kindling a fire that keeps going out: dismissed, his fire quenched); "- (ومن رأى) شعلة نار على بابه من غير دخان فإنها تدل على الحج والشغل في الدار زواج والنار في الأصابع تدل على ظلم الكتبة والنار في الكف ظلم في المصنعة والنار في الفم غم" (a torch at your door with no smoke: pilgrimage; work in the house: marriage; fire in the fingers: the scribes' injustice; in the palm: the artisan's; in the mouth: grief); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً وقعت في بلدة أو في محلة أو في دار ولها لهب ولسان وهي تأكل كل ما أتت عليه ولها صوت هائل فإنها حرب أو طاعون أو برسام أو جدري أو موت يقع هناك وإن لم يكن لها لهب ولا صوت ولا لسان فهي أمراض وأحداث تقع هناك" (fire in a town with flame, tongue, devouring and dread sound: war, plague, fever-rash, smallpox or death there; no flame, no voice: illnesses and events there); "- (ومن رأى) أنه أجج ناراً ليصلى عليها هو أو غيره فإنه يهيج أمراً ينتفع به ويسد به فقره" (stoking a fire to warm by: a profit-making affair; roasting meat over it: stirring what people keep private, tongue-harm; eating it: provision and a heavy grief); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً أحرقت بعض ثيابه أو بعض أعضائه فإنه يصيبه مصيبة فيما ينسب إليه ذلك الثوب أو العضو." (fire burning garment or limb: calamity in whatever that garment or limb stands for); "- (ومن رأى) أنه اقتبس ناراً فإنه يصيب مالاً حراماً من سلطان." (borrowing a flame: unlawful money from a ruler); "- (ومن رأى) أنه أصابه وهج نار فإنه يقع في ألسنة الناس ويغتابونه والنار النافعة المضيئة أمن للخائف وقرب من السلطان." (a fire's heat on your face: falling into people's tongues and gossip; useful lighted fire: safety for the fearful, closeness to the ruler); "- (ومن رأى) أنه أوقد ناراً على باب السلطان فإنه ينال ملكاً عظيماً وقوة." (kindling at the sultan's gate: great office and strength); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً خرجت من داره نال ولاية أو تجارة أو قوة في حرفة." (fire going out of your house: governorship, trade, or power in a craft); "- (ومن رأى) أن شعاع ناره أضاء من المشرق إلى المغرب فإنه علم يذكر به في المشرق والمغرب." (your fire's beam lighting east to west: knowledge spoken of east and west); "- (ومن رأى) أن النار وقعت في بيته أصاب خصباً وإن رأى ناراً سطعت من رأسه أو خرجت من بيته ولها نور وشعاع وكانت امرأته حبلى ولدت غلاماً يسود به ويكون له نبأ عظيم أو يرى من امرأته سروراً." (fire falling in your house: fertility; flame rising from your head or out of your house with light and beam, your wife pregnant: a son through whom you lead, great news, joy from her); "- (ومن رأى) أنه يشعل ناراً في رأس جبل فإنه يقرب إلى الله تعالى أو تقضى جميع حوائجه وإن كان غائباً رجع إلى وطنه سالماً ومن اشتعلت في داره أو بيته نار خرب بيته." (kindling on a mountaintop: nearness to God, needs fulfilled, the absent traveler home safe — and a fire blazing in your house ruins it); "- (ومن رأى) في تنوره ناراً موقدة وكان مزوجاً حملت امرأته." (fire lit in your oven, married: your wife conceives); "- (ومن رأى) أنه جالس في النار وهي تحرقه يقربه الملك ويكلمه ويضع سره عنده ويظفر بأعدائه وإن أشكل عليه أمر اهتدى إليه والنار في الصحراء حرب لا يتم وإن أخذ جمراً من وسط نار فإنه يصيب مالاً حراماً من قبل السلطان." (sitting in the fire while it burns you: the king draws you near, speaks with you, keeps his secret with you, you prevail over enemies, the unclear matter clears; fire in the desert: unfinished war; taking a coal from the fire: unlawful money from the ruler); "- (ومن رأى) أن ناراً نزلت من السماء فأحرقته ولم يؤثر فيه الحرق ينزل داره الجند ومن أشعل النار في الناس أوقع بينهم العداوة والشحناء ومن سطعت من رأسه نار أصابه مرض شديد من حرارة وبرسام." (sky-fire burning you and the burn not affecting you: soldiers descend on your house; kindling fire among people: enmity and rancor between them; flame darting from your head: severe illness of heat and fever-rash); "- (ومن رأى) أنه في وسط النار ولا يجد لها حراً فإنه ينال صدقاً ويقيناً وملكاً وظفراً على أعدائه." (in the fire's middle, finding no heat: truth, certainty, kingship, victory over enemies); "- (ومن رأى) ناراً طفئت فإنه تسكن الفتنة والشر في الموضع الذي طفئت فيه وإن رأى ناراً توقد في داره ويستضيء بها أهله فطفئت فإن قيم تلك الدار يموت وإن كانت النار في بلد فهو موت رئيس البلد والعالم فيها وإن طفئت في بستانه فهو موته أو موت عياله وإن انطفأت في بيته فدخلت ريح فأضاءتها فإنه يدخل في بيته اللصوص." (a fire quenched: sedition and evil settle in that place; the household's lighted fire quenched: the manager of that house dies; in a town: its head and its scholar die; in your orchard: you or your children; quenched and a wind entering to light it again: thieves enter your house); "- (ومن رأى) أنه جعل ناراً في وعاء أو أحرزها لنفسه فإنه ينال مالاً حراماً والنار ربما دلت على الجن لأنهم خلقوا من نار السموم وربما دلت على القحط والجراد والمغرم الذي" + "يرميه السلطان على الناس." (storing fire in a vessel: unlawful money; fire may mean jinn, created from smokeless fire, and drought, locusts and a fine the ruler throws on people — the sentence breaks at the page edge and completes at printed p. 353). — On printed p. 353: "- (ومن رأى) أن عنده ناراً في تنور أو فرن أو كانون ونحو ذلك من الأماكن التي توقد فيها فإنها غنى ومنفعة يناله سيما إن كانت معيشته من أجل النار سيما إن كان ذلك في الشتاء وإن رأى ناره خمدت أو طفئت أو صارت رماداً أو أطفأها ماء أو مطر فإنه يفتقر أو يتعطل عن عمله أو صناعته." (fire in oven, furnace or stove where you live: wealth and use, most of all if your trade is fire and in winter; your fire smothered, quenched, turned to ash, quenched by water or rain: poverty, or your work and craft stalled); "- (ومن رأى) النار تتكلم في جرة أو قربة أو وعاء من سائر الأوعية الدالة على الذكور والإناث أصاب المنسوب إلى ذلك الوعاء صرع من الجن ومداخلة حتى ينطق على لسانه والنار إذا كانت مؤذية دلت على السلطان الجائر وإن انتفع الناس بها دلت على السلطان العادل ومن حمل جمراً فتبدد منه فإنه لا ينهض بمصلحة غيره وتدل النار في الشتاء على الفاكهة لقولهم النار فاكهة الشتاء وأكل النار يدل على الأكل والشرب في الأواني المحرمة كالذهب والفضة وربما دل ذلك على الفقر والسؤال وربما دل وهج النار على وهجه في اليقظة في الفؤاد لفوت أو موت وربما دل ذلك على الأمراض بالحمى وربما دلت النار على عابدها وكذلك النور والظلمة." (fire speaking from a jar, waterskin or vessel of men or women: the one that vessel stands for is touched by jinn-speaking possession; harmful fire: the unjust ruler; fire people benefit from: the just ruler; carrying coals that scatter from you: unable to carry another's affair; fire in winter: fruit — "they say fire is winter's fruit"; eating fire: eating and drinking from forbidden vessels, gold and silver, and perhaps poverty and begging; a fire's glare: the heart's glare in waking over a loss or a death; and fever-illnesses; and fire may mean its worshipper — so do light and darkness). — The citron clause, shamela /360 printed p. 363: "- (نارنج) هو في المنام شر كله أو فتنة." (citron is evil entire, or sedition); "- (ومن رأى) جماعة يتراجمون بالنارنج فإنهم يقتتلون وإنما أخذ ذلك من اسمه ولونه وحموضته والنارنج تدل رؤيته على حلول ما يوجب الهرب وطلب النجاة لأن منه نارنج وربما دلت رؤيته على المحبة والهيام وكثرة النارنج في البيت تدل على اشتعال النار فيه ويدل النارنج للأعزب على الزوجة العذراء الجميلة ذات المال والأمتعة." (people pelting each other with citrons: fighting — the reading taken from the word's name, its color and its sourness; citron prescribes fleeing and seeking safety, for نارنج carries نار in it; perhaps love and madness; many citrons in the house: fire blazing in it; for the bachelor: a beautiful virgin wife with money and goods).
Zhou Gong Jie Meng — received 27-chapter text (corpus checked line by line; the character 火 occurs exactly sixteen times: fifteen verdict lines and one chapter title). ch. 23 (水火 盗贼 灯烛): "水上火出主大吉" — fire rising out of water on the river: very auspicious; "火烧日月大人助" — fire burning the sun and moon: great persons aid; "火烧河水长命吉" — fire burning river water: long life, fortune; "火烧山野大显达" — fire burning hill and field: high advancement; "火烧自是主兴旺" — fire burning yourself: rising and thriving; "火焰炎炎主发财" — flame blazing high: wealth; "火从地生疾病至" — fire rising from the ground: illness arrives; "执火乘行官位至" — carrying fire, riding out: office arrives; "大火烧天主国安" — great fire burning the sky: the state at peace; "身在火中贵人扶" — your body in the fire: a noble person supports; "火烟黑色主疾病" — smoke black: illness; "把火行路不通达" — carrying fire along the road: passage blocked; "把火烧井主病至" — putting fire to a well: illness arrives. ch. 12 (船车 游行 物价): "执火入船主大吉" — carrying fire aboard a boat: very auspicious. ch. 8 (门户 井灶 厨厕): "天火烧门主凶事" — heaven's fire burning the gate: misfortune. The chapter title itself (水火 盗贼 灯烛) is the sixteenth occurrence. No other chapter carries a fire line.
Modern research. Mathes J, Schredl M. "Analysis of a large sample of diary dreams — how typical are these typical dreams?" Somnologie — Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin 18:106–111, 2014. DOI 10.1007/s11818-013-0653-6 (publisher PDF re-pulled and Table 2 re-read today: 425 participants, mean age 23 — the methods section counts 64 men and 361 women, the German abstract says 321 women, a discrepancy inside the paper itself, reported as found; 1,612 diary reports over a 14-day window; Fire item 34: 1.74% of reports, 6.60% of dreamers in-period, rank 17.5 in diaries, 25.94% lifetime TDQ prevalence, rank 30.5, diary-TDQ r = 0.094; Teeth falling out item 18: 0.56% of reports, 2.12% of dreamers, 35.08% lifetime, r = 0.151; the review sentence lists Earthquake, Fire, Snakes, Spiders and insects among archaic themes that occur relatively rarely). Schredl M, Ciric P, Götz S, Wittmann L. "Typical dreams: stability and gender differences." The Journal of Psychology 138(6):485–494, 2004. PubMed 15612605 (record re-pulled today: 444 participants; rank order of the 55 TDQ themes stable; most themes endorsed at least once lifetime by most participants; men reported more physical-aggression dreams). Rozen N, Soffer-Dudek N. Frontiers in Psychology 9:1812, 2018. PubMed 30319507 (full text re-checked today: no fire item in the theme list; no form of the word fire appears in the paper).
This page reports what two classical Arabic texts, the received Chinese dream book (whose fifteen fire lines sort by direction and target, not by omen), and a two-week student diary can see about dreams of fire. It is not a prediction, a medical or religious ruling, and no dream book — classical or modern — settles what a dream means for the person who had it. If this dream unsettled you, note the move every source on this page makes in its own form: the books do not ask whether fire is good or bad; they ask when it burned, how much smoke it made, where it stood, and what it touched. For the same flame read from the other side of two switches — the rain that quenches it into poverty, the gold house it consumes — see rain dreams and gold dreams, and for the body door this page's mouth clause opens onto, teeth falling out.
Related questions
- Rain dreams — the rain that quenches a fire, the books' own poverty clause
- Gold dreams — the gold house the fire consumes, clause for clause
- Water dreams — the same books' fitna-versus-fortune clauses on the army's side of the water switch
- Teeth falling out dream — the classic page that started this site, next door to the mouth-fire clause