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Last Update: 04:49 GMT, Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009

Living Shari`ah > Fatwa Bank

 

Question and Answer Details

Name of Questioner

Fatima

Title

Reading Horoscopes

Question

Are we, Muslims, allowed to read our daily, monthly or yearly horoscopes? Thanks in advance for your clarification.

Date

24/Jul/2003

Name of Counsellor

Group of Muftis

Topic

The Unseen

Answer

Wa`Alaykumu As-Salamu wa Rahmatu Allah wa Barakatuh

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


Dear questioner, we commend your pursuit of knowledge and your keenness to seek what is lawful and avoid what is not. We earnestly implore Allah to bless your efforts in this honorable way.

Answering your question, Sheikh Sayyed M. Ad-Darsh, the former Chairman of the UK Shri`ah Council, states the following:


Let us make this absolutely clear that there is no room in Islam for anyone predicting the future. True, if anyone reads horoscopes thinking that the stars will accurately chart his or her life, his Prayers will not be accepted by Allah, according to a prophetic Hadith in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The prayer of one who goes to a soothsayer, asks him something and believes in what he says, will not be accepted for forty days.". This applies equally to those consulting soothsayers and clairvoyants who cannot exercise any influence on their future.

Of course, one could argue that there is nothing wrong in a harmless glance at the horoscopes once in a while as long as you as one does not believe in them. But if you have a few glances at the horoscopes, you might find yourself unable to plan your day without looking at them.



Here, it is noteworthy to mention what the prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi states in his well-known book, the Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam:


Believing in those who foretell the future constitutes Kufr (disbelief). Islam's campaign was not confined to the soothsayers and diviners but included all those who go to them, ask their help, and believe in their superstitions and errors. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The prayer of one who goes to a soothsayer, asks him something and believes in what he says, will not be accepted for forty days." (Reported by Muslim)

He is also reported to have said, "Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes in what he says, has denied what was revealed to Muhammad."

The above ruling is based on the fact that what was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asserts that the knowledge of the Unseen belongs to Allah alone and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has no knowledge of it, much less anyone else: "Say: I do not tell you that the treasures of Allah are with me or that I know the Unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel; I follow only what is revealed to me." (Al-An`aam: 50)

If, after being aware of this clear and explicit statement of the Qur'an, a Muslim believes that some people can foretell future events and know the secrets of the Unseen, he has indeed denied what was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)

Allah Almighty knows best.

 

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