Magic, Fortune-Telling and Divination

Magic (sihr) is an act of kufr, and one of the seven sins which doom a person to Hell. It causes harm but no benefit. Allah says of the one who learns it (interpretation of the meaning):

“. . . And they learn that which harms them and profits them not . . .” [Surah al-Baqarah 2:102]

“. . . and the magician will never be successful, no matter what amount (of skill) he may attain).” [Surah Ta-Ha 20:69]]

 “. . . Sulayman did not disbelieve, but the shayaateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things as came down at Babylon to the two angels, Haaroot and Maaroot, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) things till they had said, ‘We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).’ . . .” [Surah al-Baqarah 2:102]

The prescribed punishment for the one who practices magic is death, and his income is haraam and impure. But people who are ignorant wrongdoers and weak in faith go to magicians to help them harm someone or take revenge on someone. Some people commit the sin of going to a magician to ask his help in undoing the magic of someone else, when they should turn to Allah to help them and heal them, by reciting His words, such as the surahs that offer protection (Surah al-Falaq and Surah al-Naas), and so on.

Fortune-tellers and their ilk are kafirs, who disbelieve in Allah, because they claim knowledge of the Unseen, but no one has knowledge of the Unseen except Allah.

Many of these fortune-tellers take advantage of simple-minded people and take their money.

They use many methods such as drawing lines in the sand, throwing sea-shells, reading palms, teacups (or coffee cups), crystal balls and mirrors, and so on.

If they get it right one time, they get it wrong ninety-nine times, but ignorant people remember only the one time when these liars get something right.

They go to them to find out about the future, whether they will be successful in marriage or business, or to help them find something they have lost, and so on. The ruling concerning the person who visits a fortune-teller is: if he believes what he says, he is a kafir who has left Islam, on the basis of the hadeeth in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“Whoever goes to a fortune-teller or a soothsayer and believes in what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 2/429; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 5939). If a person does not believe that they have knowledge of the Unseen, but he goes out of curiosity or whatever, he is not a kafir, but his prayers will not be accepted for forty days, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayers will not be accepted for forty nights” (Reported by Saheeh Muslim, 4/1751) - even though it is still obligatory to pray and to repent for this sin.