Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The

scholars have divided knowledge of the stars into two categories:

1.Astronomy

this

refers to knowledge of the names of stars, when and where they rise and set,

and how they may be used for the purposes of measuring time and for

navigation, and other visible things which observation and experience have

proven what each star could be used for (working out directions, measuring

the passage of time and so on).

There

is nothing wrong with learning and teaching this type of knowledge, and

there is no evidence to suggest that it is forbidden or makrooh to study it.

In fact, in the Holy Qur’an there is evidence to suggest that it is

permissible and this knowledge is a blessing that Allah, may He be glorified

and exalted, has bestowed upon people, as Allah, may He be glorified and

exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“It is He Who has set the stars

for you, so that you may guide your course with their help through the

darkness of the land and the sea. We have (indeed) explained in detail Our

Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, Revelations, etc.) for

people who know”

[al-An‘aam 6:97]

“It is He Who made the sun a

shining thing and the moon as a light and measured out its (their) stages,

that you might know the number of years and the reckoning. Allah did not

create this but in truth. He explains the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses,

lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) in detail for people who have knowledge”

[Yoonus 10:5].

2.Astrology

this

refers to interpreting the locations and movements of the stars and the

(supposed) influence they have on worldly developments and events such as

death, birth, epidemics, disasters, attaining happiness and other matters

for which there is no rational, empirical basis for connecting these

developments to the movements of heavenly bodies. Rather this is mere

conjecture and speculation for which there is no proof or evidence.

This

is what the shar‘i evidence definitively forbids; it is haraam to learn it,

teach it or study it.

Shaykh

al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The

craft of astrology which seeks to establish the influence and impact of

heavenly bodies, and to find out about future earthly events or developments

on the basis of celestial events, and to make a connection between celestial

movements and earthly influence, is a prohibited craft according to the

Qur’an and Sunnah, and the consensus of the ummah. In fact it is forbidden

by all the Messengers to their communities.

Allah,

may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“and the magician will never be

successful, no matter whatever amount (of skill) he may attain”

[Ta-Ha 20:69]

“Have

you not seen those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They believe

in Jibt [sorcery] and Taghoot [evil]”

[an-Nisa’ 4:51].

‘Umar

and others said that Jibt (sorcery) refers to magic or witchcraft.

Abu

Dawood narrated in his Sunan with a hasan isnaad from Qubaysah ibn

Mukhaariq that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:

“Augury (observing omens in birds etc.), superstition and geomancy come

under the heading of jibt (magic).”

If

geomancy, which is akin to astrology, comes under the heading of jibt

(magic), then how about astrology itself? That is because in geomancy they

refer to shapes on earth, because astrology is based on shapes in the

heavens.

Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah and others narrated with a saheeh isnaad from

Ibn ‘Abbaas that he said: “Whoever learns astrology learns a branch of

magic; the more he learns (of the former) the more he learns (of the

latter).” The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)

clearly stated that astrology comes under the same heading as magic. Allah,

may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“and the magician will never be

successful, no matter whatever amount (of skill) he may attain”

[Ta-Ha 20:69].

And

this is how it really is. From studying the situation of astrologers, we see

that they never prosper either in this world or in the hereafter.

Ahmad,

and Muslim in his Saheeh, narrated from Safiyyah bint ‘Ubayd, from

one of the wives of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him),

from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he said:

“Whoever goes to a fortune teller and asks him about something, no prayer

will be accepted from him for forty days.” The astrologer is the same as the

fortune teller according to some of the scholars; according to others he

comes under the same category. If this is the case with regard to the one

who asks, then how about the one who is asked?

He

also narrated in his Saheeh that Mu‘aawiyah ibn al-Hakam as-Sulami

said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, there are some men among us who go to

soothsayers. He said: “Do not go to them.”

The

Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade going to

soothsayers, and astrologers are the same as soothsayers according to

al-Khattaabi and other scholars, and this was also narrated from the Arabs.

According to others, they come under the same category as soothsayers and

are worse than them.

More

than one of the scholars has narrated that there is consensus on the

prohibition of astrology, such as al-Baghawi, al-Qaadi ‘Iyaad and others.

In

as-Saheehayn it is narrated from Zayd ibn Khaalid al-Juhani that he

said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) led

us in praying Fajr at al-Hudaybiyah, after it had rained at night. When he

finished, he turned to the people and said: “Do you know what your Lord

said?” They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: “He said:

‘This morning some of My slaves believe in Me and some disbelieve. As for

the one who said, we got rain by the bounty and mercy of Allah, he is a

believer in Me and a disbeliever in the stars. But as for the one who said,

We got rain by virtue of such and such a star, he is a disbeliever in Me and

a believer in the stars.’”

Leading astrologers of the earlier and later generations have admitted that

in the case of the believers who worship Allah and turn to Him in

supplication, Allah removed from them – by virtue of the blessing of their

worship, supplication and trust in Allah – that which the astrologers said

on the basis of their astrological calculations would inevitably befall

them. They have also admitted that those who worship Allah, call upon Him

and put their trust in Him will be given reward in this world and in the

hereafter that no astrological power could ever bring them.

Who has made the best of this world and the Hereafter in

following the Messengers, and has made the best nation those who enjoin what

is good and forbid what is evil.

End

quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 35/192-196

Secondly:

However, we do not deny that some of what the astrologer says about future

events may sometimes be correct and may sometimes happen as he foretold; but

that does not mean that the path he is following is valid. Rather what he

happens to get right is baseless and comes about by pure coincidence. What

he gets right is very little in comparison to the lies that accompany it.

Do you

not see that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) has told

us that the jinn who eavesdrop (on the angels) may hear something of what

the angels talk about of future events, and the jinni may send down what he

has heard to the soothsayer on earth, or the jinni may be burned before he

can do that? Yet despite that, soothsaying is a major sin, because it deals

with matters of the unseen without any shar‘i basis.

It was

narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the

Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that she heard the

Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say:

“The

angels come down in the clouds and discuss matters that have been decreed in

heaven, and the devils may eavesdrop and hear it, then they convey it to the

soothsayers, and they tell along with it one hundred lies that they have

fabricated by themselves.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 3210

Hence

al-Qaadi ‘Iyaad (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Allah

may create in this type – meaning the astrologers – some kind of power, but

their lies are what predominates. End quote.

Quoted

from Sharh an-Nawawi ‘ala Muslim, 14/223

Shaykh

Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

It may

so happen that the divine decree is in accordance with a person’s need, so

the poor man thinks that it is because of this astrologer, or because of

this soothsayer, that this thing happened. Or it may be that a person

prescribes a regular remedy other than what the astrologer claims, and that

the person who prescribes it knows that it is good for this sickness, but

the sick person thinks that healing comes about only because of the

astrologers looking at the stars, and so on. The point is that if healing

occurs sometimes after going to soothsayers or astrologers or geomancers and

their ilk, that does not prove that their way is sound. The mushrikeen

themselves – who worship idols – may come to an idol and ask of it, then

what they wanted happens by Allah’s leave, as a coincidence and for reasons

known to Allah in His wisdom, or it may come about by means of the devils,

and thus becomes a trial and test. But it does not come from the idol,

because the idol did not do anything, and the jinni who is with him did not

do anything. Rather the divine decree may dictate that this sickness should

go away or this calamity should be alleviated after this poor man went to

the idol and asked of it or offered a sacrifice to it. Thus that comes about

as a test and trial in itself, without that being the result of any action

on the part of the magician, the idol, the jinn and so on. This made the

mushrikeen even more attached to their idols, and thus they worshipped them

instead of Allah.

The

wise person should never be deceived by what happens at the hands of these

astrologers, soothsayers, fortune tellers or magicians; rather he must keep

away from them and not believe in them.

End

quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 8/89-90

Thirdly:

Once

the above is clearly understood, there will be no confusion from a

scientific or shar‘i point of view about the story of the astrologers at the

time of Nimrood and Ibraaheem (peace be upon him), if the story is even

sound in the first place. It is not unlikely that the words of the

astrologers may have turned out to be correct, although lies are more

prevalent in their case and the type of knowledge they have is corrupt.

Yet we

should point out that the story is not proven with any saheeh isnaad; rather

it was narrated by some of the historians as just a story with no real

proof.

See:

al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah by Ibn Katheer, 1/200

And

Allah knows best.