Undoubtedly, the complete and correct knowledge of the unseen and the future is only known by Allah Ta'la but Allah Ta'la through His wisdom has kept open certain ways and methods for man to determine the unseen and future which sometimes turn out to be true but often untrue. Although Allah Ta'la has kept open these certain avenues for man, He has also made it haraam for man to utilise these methods and ways to determine the future and unseen and to beleive in it, therefore, establishing this knowledge as a test for the hearts of man.

It is recorded in the books of Tafseer and Hadith that before the birth of Nabi alaihis salaam the jinnaat and shayateen were granted free-flow access to the skies so that whenever any command of Allah Ta'la was to be transmitted via the Angels from the seventh heaven to the first heaven, the Jinnaat would listen to the command of what was to occur on the earth and spontaneously they would pass this knowledge on to their fortuneteller, astrologer or palmistry friends on the earth who would then foretell the different occurrences to take place.

After the blessed birth of Nabi alaihis salaam, Allah had destined that the Jinnaat and shayateen would not be granted access to the skies and now whenever they would try to listen to any order being passed-on by the Angels they would be repelled instantly. Now, the jinnaat would climb on the backs of each other and make a queue till the sky and the one at the top would hide behind a star and listen like a thief to the order being transmitted and almost instantly the Angel after noticing the jinnaat would kick the star thereby burning the jinn. As soon as the first jinn would hear anything, he would immediately whisper it to his companion below him and so on till the fortuneteller at the end would be informed of the future occurrences. Before this information could reach the last person, many lies would have been mixed to the original message therefore the last person would only receive one percent of truth and ninety nine of lies. This is only one of the methods which was and is still adopted to foresee the future.

Allamah Ibn Hajar Asqalaani in his book, Fathul Bari, has mentioned four ways of how the unseen and future is interpreted. The above method is the first one and the other three are as follows: 2) Some people come to know of the unseen via a jinn who befriends them and informs them of different occurrences and happenings regarding which man is unaware of OR 3) Through conjecture, estimation and guess some people tell of the unseen. This is a type of power which Allah Ta'ala grants an individual but many a times it turns out to be false OR 4) By means of experience and understanding the habits and system of different things some people deduce of what is to occur in the future . This last type is similiar to magic.

All the above methods adopted to foresee the future and to tell of the unseen are reproachable and reprehensible. (Fathul Bari vol. 10 pg. 266, Kitaab on Tibb, Chapter on Fortunetelling, Qadeemi Kutub Khana).

In no circumstance is it permissible to go to a fortuneteller or astrologer. There are numerous Ahadith sounding prohibition from visiting a fortuneteller. Nabi alaihis salaam said: He who visits a fortuneteller, his salaat will not be accepted for 40 days.

Corncerning the person who recites Quraanic verses and foresees the future, we cannot be specific and pass any verdict as to the methodology he adopts but the above 4 methods are the common ones used.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Mufti Ebrahim Desai, www.ask-imam.com
FATWA DEPT.