When the Narcissist Shows Up in Your Dreams: It’s Not Love, It’s the Qareen

You’ve done the work. You’ve walked away from the pain. You’ve cried your tears, made your du‘ās, reclaimed your strength, and started to feel like yourself again. And just when you think you’re finally over it, they show up.

Not in real life, but in your dreams.

You wake up unsettled. Confused. Wondering, “Why did I dream of them again?”

Sometimes the dream feels warm, even romantic. You’re back with them, laughing like the old days. Other times it’s dark and disturbing. You dream of the abuse, the emotional neglect, the way they made you feel invisible. And sometimes, it’s even more uncomfortable—dreams of intimacy with the very person who once shattered your soul.

You wake up feeling vulnerable. Questioning. Emotional. Maybe even tempted to reach out. Maybe even wondering if it was really that bad.

But this is not your heart missing them. This is not a sign from Allah.

This is your Qareen messing with your mind.

The Qareen is a devil assigned to every human being, whose mission is to whisper evil, stir confusion, and lead you away from clarity and peace. It knows your weaknesses. It knows your soft spots. And after you leave a narcissist, especially one who used religion or emotional manipulation, the Qareen tries its best to bring you back into what Allah already rescued you from.

Dreams become one of its easiest tools. Because dreams blur the line between reality and imagination. The Qareen uses them to plant seeds of regret, longing, doubt. It replays the highlights and mutes the harm. Or it overwhelms you with images that make you feel ashamed or guilty. And before you know it, you begin your day emotionally disoriented.

You begin to question if walking away was right.

You begin to soften your boundaries.

You begin to forget why it ended.

But you must wake up and return to the truth.

You need to consciously shift your mental state.

Do not sit in the fog. Do not let the dream control your day.

Do not give it more power than it deserves.

Remind yourself of what really happened.

Reflect on the harm. The gaslighting. The manipulation. The spiritual distance that relationship created between you and Allah.

Say:

A‘ūdhu billāhi min ash-shaytānir-rajīm

Get up. Make wudhu. Say your adhkār. Stand in strength.

You did not survive what you survived just to be shaken by a dream.

You are not missing them. You are being tested.

You are being targeted in your most vulnerable moments. And if you let the dream take over your mind, if you allow it to cloud your peace or bring back confusion, your Qareen has succeeded.

Do not let it win.

Ask Allah:

“Ya Allah, protect me from the whispers and tricks of my Qareen. Guard my heart. Purify my dreams. Strengthen my will. Do not let me go back to what You have saved me from. Help me remember truth when I feel lost.”

This is part of the healing. These are the last attempts of something dark trying to reclaim you. But you are not the same version of you that once accepted that pain.

You know better now.

You believe in better now.

And you trust that Allah would never bring you out of something just to confuse you into going back.

You are not weak for dreaming of them. You are human.

But you are powerful when you choose not to act on those feelings.

Powerful when you wake up and anchor yourself in dhikr.

Powerful when you say no to the whispers.

Keep rising. Keep walking forward. And keep choosing your peace.

Because peace was never found in them. It was found the moment you chose to let go for the sake of Allah.

And no dream can take that away from you.