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:

If predictions are haram in Islam, what about Weather reports ? Predictions through astrology is a mathematical conclusion of the planetary position which was/is created by God. All we do is read what God has placed before our eyes and use our brains, which too is the creation of God. Doctors also predict outcome of diseases, including what is in the womb of a mother, using God given intelligence. Is this , then, all haram ? 

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Answer:

If Astrology is haraam, what about predicting weather forecast?

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