Aqeedah at Tawheed – Fortune Knowing And Islaam – Part 6

Astrology, horoscopes, superstition and fortune-telling are all actions of jaahiliyyah (ignorance) which Islam came to show as false and to explain that they are shirk, because they involve depending on something other than Allaah and believing that benefit and harm come from something other than Him, and believing the words of fortune-tellers and soothsayers who falsely claim to have knowledge of the unseen in order to cheat people of their beliefs and also their money.

The evidence (daleel) for that is the hadeeth narrated by Abu Dawood in his Sunan with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever learns anything of astrology has learned a branch of witchcraft (al-sihr)"

And al-Bazzaar narrated with a jayyid isnaad from 'Imraan ibn Husayn that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "He is not one of us who practises augury or has it done for him, who tells fortunes or has his fortune told, or who practises witchcraft or has that done for him."

Whoever claims to know some matter of the unseen either is a fortune-teller or is acting like a fortune-teller in some sense, because Allaah is the only One Who has knowledge of the unseen.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning); 'Say: "None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghayb (Unseen) except Allaah"' [al-Naml 27:65]

Whatever the case, it is not permissible to go to these people and to ask them or believe them, no matter how righteous they may appear to be, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayers will not accepted for forty days."  Narrated by Muslim (2230).

And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever has intercourse with a menstruating woman or with a woman in her back passage, or goes to a fortune-teller and believes what he says, has disbelieved in that which Allaah revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)."  [Narrated by Ahmad (9779), Abu Dawood (3904), al-Tirmidhi (135) and Ibn Maajah (936); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.]

 There is no contradiction between the above two hadeeth. What is meant by the hadeeth: "Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad"  is that the one who asks a soothsayer a question, believing that he tells the truth and that he knows the unseen, has committed an act of kufr, because he has gone against the Qur'aan in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "Say: "None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib (Unseen) except Allaah" [al-Naml 27:65]. As for the second hadeeth, "Whoever goes to a fortune teller and asks him about something his prayers will not be accepted for forty days", which was narrated by Muslim, it does not contain the words "and believes him".

Thus we learn that if a person goes to a fortune teller and asks him anything, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days, and if he believes him, then he has committed an act of kufr.

Thus make these two things very clear

1.  The one who goes to any source of fortuneteller for the purpose of knowing ghaib (unseen) be it through horoscope, tarot card, soothsayers, psychic saints, witchcrafts, wiccan practisers, palm readers, geomancers, etc, etc.. and asks him things without believing in what he says. This is haraam, and the punishment of the one who does that is that his prayers are not accepted for forty days, as it is narrated in Saheeh Muslim (2230), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a fortuneteller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days."

2.  When a person goes to a fortuneteller and asks him about something and believes what he says. This is disbelief in Allaah (kufr), because he is believing the fortuneteller's claim to have knowledge of the unseen, and believing a human's being claim to have knowledge of the unseen constitutes disbelief in the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghayb (Unseen) except Allaah" [al-Naml 27:65].

Hence it says in the saheeh hadeeth: "Whoever goes to a fortuneteller and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)."

A sincere advice to all brothers and sisters to hasten to repent to Allaah if you thought well of these charlatans at any time or if you joined them in their falsehood, even if that was on the basis that it was a game. Part of making your repentance complete is that you should advise those of your brothers who you know are engaging in this matter of the Islamic ruling on it and the danger it poses to their religious commitment and faith. We ask Allaah to make us and you steadfast in faith and to protect us from the evil of fitnah, both apparent and hidden.

This is taken from the book "Aqeedah at Tawheed" by Shaikh Saaleh Al Fawzaan