Does weather forecasting come under the heading of astrologyor claiming to know the unseen?

- :roll: Published by, M NajimudeeN Bsc :roll:
:-> There are some weather sites on the internet which forecast
the weather that is expectedin the next 5-10 days. Is it permissible
for me to visit them? I am asking this question because I am afraid
that they may be claiming to have knowledge of the unseen or it may be
a kind of astrology, in which case it is haraam for me to visit them.
Praise be to Allaah.
Forecasting the weather does not come under theheading of astrology or
claiming to have knowledge of the unseen, rather it is based on
physical evidence and experience, and study ofthe natural laws
established by Allaah. The same applies to knowing the times of solar
and lunar eclipses, or when there are likely to be strong winds and
rainfall.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah: The time of solar and lunar
eclipses may be known from calculating the movements of heavenly
bodies, from which it may also be known whether the eclipse will be
total or partial. There is nothing strange about that, because this is
not a matter of the unseen for everyone, rather it is only "unseen"
for those who have no knowledgeof astronomy and it is not "unseen" for
those who have knowledge of this science. That does not mean that
solar and lunar eclipses are not among the signs of Allaah with which
He instils fear in His slaves so as to bring them back to their Lord
and to obedience to Him.
It also says:
Forecasting the weather and predicting strong winds and storms or
saying where clouds are expected to form or where rain is likely to
fall is based on knowledge of the natural laws of Allaah. One who has
experience of these laws may say what he expects to happen, without
certain knowledge, on the basis of scientific theories or common
experience, so he expects that and predicts it on the basis of
likelihood, not certainknowledge, and he gets it right sometimes and
gets it wrong sometimes. End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The one who
speaks of that which may be worked out by calculations is nota
fortune-teller at all, because there is no element of fortune-telling
in that which maybe worked out by calculations. If a person predicts a
solar or lunar eclipse, this is not fortune-telling because it is
worked out by calculations. If he says that the sun will set at a
20-degree angle at such and such a time, this is not knowledge of the
unseen, because it is something that may be worked out by
calculations, and predicting something that can be worked out by
calculation, even if it is in the future, is not regarded as being
knowledge of the unseen, or fortune-telling.
Is twenty-four hour weather reporting such as we have now fortune-telling?
The answer is no, because it is also based on scientific data which is
describing climatic conditions, because climatic conditions have to do
with precise measurements that are known to them. Thus they may
predict that certain conditions are likely to produce rain or not.
That is like the primitive predication that we make when we see clouds
forming, and thunder and lightning and thick clouds, and wesay: "It is
going to rain soon."
What matters is that what points to physical phenomena is not
knowledge of the unseen, even if some of the common folk think that
these things are matters of the unseen and say that believing inthem
is like believing in fortune-telling.
End quote from al-Qawl al-Mufeed Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed.
See al-Fataawa al-Kubra by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (4/424) with
regard to the knowledge of astronomers about the times of solar and
lunar eclipses, the beginning of spring and winter, and other matters
that may be known by meansof calculations and are not matters of the
unseen.
And Allaah knows best.