Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Hello Brother Burhan,

What i am about to write is very funny and you may think it is a bit irrelevant on this forum but an incident which is very thought provoking, and would like to put it to the scholars, and ask for a solution and how to treat the problem in general. Please bear with me if the first few lines of this mail may seem utterly confusing to you, but in the end you will understand.

Some time back i was confronted with very bad and rainy weahter in Sharjah and had to call for the services of one of the trucks which normally clear all the excess water from the roads.  It was Sharjah Municiplaity truck, operated by a Pakistani Man, with a long beard and who was quite helpful and did his job. 

After the job was completed, i asked him if he would come tomorrow at the same time, as i anticipated the same problem next day as the weather forecast for the next 48 hours was similar.  This gentleman told me if required he would come but why should i book his services in advance, and I told him the weather forecast was bad.  He was very upset and told me how me as mortal would know what is going to happen tomorrow, when that right only belongs to Allah Subhanha, and who was I to talk of the future.  I was pretty taken aback, and asked him where Allah came into the picture.  He started giving a long lecture that all these weather reports or any scientific predictions are not correct since only God knows what is in the future and I should not beleive all these guys, and change my ways.  I did not want to argue, at the time and just told him end of the discussions.

My whole point is are we as muslims so fundamnetalist or fanatic (whatever you call it) that a simple weather prediciton could turn into misnterpretation of Allahs will.  How do you confront such siutations, and now reading in whatever press, whether pro western, or the more islamic press we are looking for a idenetity.  There are schools of thought which teach that the Koran is absolutely involuble and no change is accetable, however irrelevant or useful in the case of weather forecasts could be. 

Hope you have the gist of my queiry and where do we dran the line.  In all your translations you and abid have given me nowhere have i seen that some truths are how you see them

please comment at your own time.

bye and thank you and regards

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Astrology

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His  forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Beloved brother, you are mixing two different things! Those who claim to have or give knowledge of the ‘unseen’ by looking at the position of the stars in the sky, etc. are confirmed liars! They have absolutely no knowledge of the ‘unseen’, for the knowledge of the ‘unseen’ is with Allah Subhanah Alone. Anyone who believes that someone, other than Allah Subhanah, knows the knowledge of the ‘unseen’ has shared an exclusive right of Allah Subhanah with the astrologer, and is thus involved in the heinous crime of ‘shirk’!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 31 Surah Luqman verse 34:

Verily, the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah Alone. He it is Who sends down the rain, and He Alone knows what is taking shape in the wombs of the mothers. No living being knows what he will earn the next day, nor does any know in what land he is to die! Verily Allah is the All Knowing, Wise.

Sahih Muslim Hadith 133 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Don't you know what your Lord said? Your Lord observed: ‘I (Allah) have never endowed My bondsmen with a favor, but a section amongst them disbelieved it, and said: stars, it was due to the stars.’”

When the meteorologists forecast the weather, they study the atmospheric phenomena through tools of their science, and predict to the best of their available knowledge the weather for the coming days! No meteorologist can claim that he knows the weather 10 years in advance of the day! He does not claim knowledge of the ‘unseen’, but he uses tools of his science and studies the current atmosphere to derive the weather for the coming days.

Similarly, the doctors, using their medical knowledge, or through the use of their medical tools, can predict the outcome of a disease, or the sex or physical state of the baby in the mother’s womb. Here again, they are not declaring the knowledge of the ‘unseen’, but rather through their experience, knowledge, and tools, they derive a most probable conclusion regarding the physical or medical state of the person.

But if one is not a doctor, and declares by looking at the position of the stars that so and so will have a baby boy 3 years down the road…..he will be giving information of the ‘unseen’ for which he has absolutely no knowledge! To believe in such a person and his knowledge of the ‘unseen’, would be to share an exclusive right of Allah Subhanah with him; and that would be a manifestation of the heinous crime of ‘shirk’!

It is absolutely prohibited for a believer to seek his fortune, or find out about his future, through the movement of the stars, star signs, etc. The Messenger of Allah (saws) called the people who read stars, liars; and invoked the curse of Allah on the ones who tried to read the stars, and the ones who went to them to seek their fortune or future.

The so-called knowledge of astrology, or the deciphering of the happenings of the future by studying the position of the stars or any heavenly objects, and the so-called star-signs are nothing more than absolute lies, whims, conjecture, and guess-works of ignorant people. There is absolutely no reality and relation between the movement of the stars and the events that take place in a person’s life!

Everything that happens in the heavens and the earth, is in the Absolute Control and Sole Domain of the All Powerful, All Knowing Lord of the Worlds. No star, no sun, no moon, and absolutely nothing and no one in the universe has the power to bring about any good or evil on anyone. All Power and All Strength is vested in the Hands of Allah Subhanah Alone.

To believe in astrology, and to believe in the prediction of the star-signs, palm-reading, etc. is a form and manifestation of the heinous sin of ‘shirk’; and all the believers must abstain from this evil deed.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan