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Prohibitions in Islam - Page 7

“ Sulaymaan did not disbelieve, but the shayaateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things as came down at Babylon to the two angels, Haaroot and Maaroot, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) things till they had said, ‘We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).’” [Al-Baqarah 2:102]

The prescribed punishment for the one who practices magic is death, and his income is haram and impure. But people who are ignorant wrong doers and weak in faith go to magicians to help them harm someone or take revenge on someone. Some people commit the sin of going to a magician to ask his help in undoing the magic of someone else, when they should turn to Allah to help them and heal them, by reciting His words, such as the surahs that offer protection (Al-Falaq and Al-Naas), and so on.

Fortune-tellers and their ilk are kafirs who disbelieve in Allah, because they claim knowledge of the Unseen, but no one has knowledge of the Unseen except Allah. Many of these fortune-tellers take advantage of simple-minded people and take their money. They use many methods such as drawing lines in the sand, throwing sea-shells, reading palms, teacups (or coffee cups), crystal balls and mirrors, and so on. If they get it right one time, they get it wrong ninety-nine times, but ignorant people remember only the one time when these liars get something right. They go to them to find out about the future, whether they will be successful in marriage or business, or to help them find something they have lost, and so on. The ruling concerning the person who visits a fortune-teller is: if he believes what he says, he is a kaafir who has left Islam, on the basis of the hadith in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller or a soothsayer and believes in what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” (Reported by Imam Ahmad, 2/429; see also Sahih Al-Jami’, 5939). If a person does not believe that they have knowledge of the Unseen, but he goes out of curiosity or whatever, he is not a kaafir, but his prayers will not be accepted for forty days, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayers will not be accepted for forty nights” (Sahih Muslim, 4/1751) - even though it is still obligatory to pray and to repent for this sin.

Astrology or believing that the stars and planets have an influence on people’s lives and events

Zaid Ibn Khalid Al-Juhani reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led us in the morning prayer at Al-Hudaybiyah after rain had fallen during the night. When he had finished, he turned around to face the people and said: ‘Do you know what your Lord says?’ They said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said: ‘[Allah says]: This morning one of My slaves became a believer in Me and one became a disbeliever. As for the one who said, “We have been given rain by the grace and mercy of Allah,” he is a believer in Me and a disbeliever in the stars; as for the one who said, “We have been given rain by such-and-such a star,” he is a disbeliever in Me and a believer in the stars.’” (Reported by Al-Bukhari; see Fath Al-Bari, 2/333).

Similarly, the one who reads the horoscopes in newspapers and magazines and believes what they say