Chapter 46. Believing Fortune Tellers And Astrologers

Allah, Most High says,

And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge, for surely the hearing, the sight, the learnt all of those shall be questioned of. (Al-Isra': 36)

Elaborating on the above verse Al-Wahidi reported Al-Kalbi's commentary that idle curiosity and undocumented reports are condemned. Al-Wahidi said, we should be called to accounted for the exercise of every faculty that has been given to us.

He (alone) knows the Unseen, nor does He make anyone acquainted with his secrets. Except a Messenger whom he has chosen. (Al-Jin: 26)

Thus, whoever believes that we can disclose the unseen guided by stars is an unbeliever.

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Whoever goes to a psychic (Arraf) or a fortuneteller and believes what he says disbelieves in what has been revealed to Muhammad." [Ahmad and Hakim]

The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah, Most High says,

"One of my servants reaches daybreak a believer, another an unbeliever. He who says, "we have received rain by Allah's grace" is a believer in me and a disbeliever in planets. But he who says, "we have received rain by the effects of such and such a mansion of the moon" is an unbeliever in me and a believer in planets." [Bukhari and Muslim]

Scholars said, if someone thinks planets have an influence independent of the will of Allah, he is an unbeliever. But there is no harm to think that some is a sign of rain.

"Whoever goes to a psychic, asks him about something, and believes him, will not have his prayer accepted for forty days." [Muslim and Ahmad]

Aishah related that some people solicited from the holy Prophet (pbuh) information about soothsayers.

He said, 'They are a humbug and nonsense.' The companions asked, "O Messenger of Allah! Sometimes they foretell something which comes true." The Prophet (pbuh) explained,

"This is something which Satan hears, by chance from the angels, and conveys to his colleagues. They mix a hundred falsehoods with it and tell it to people." [Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad]

Aishah said that she heard the holy Prophet (pbuh) say,

"The angels descend into the atmosphere with heavenly orders, talking about something that has been decreed in heaven, and Satan over-hears this and thereafter communicates it to the soothsayers, who add a hundred falsehoods with it themselves (to convey to their clients)." [Bukhari]

Qubaisa Ibn Al-Mukhariq said that he heard the Holy Prophet (pbuh) saying,

"Fortune telling, drawing lots or lives and flying birds to find good or bad omens from the direction of their flight, are all devilish practices." [Abu Dawud]

Ibn Abbas relates that the holy Prophet (pbuh) said,

"A person who learns about astrology, it is as if he learns magic, and the more he learns this, the more he learns about magic." [Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and Ahmad]

May Allah save us from this in this world and the next.

• Breaking Promises or Pledges
• Wife Rebelling Against Her Husband

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