does not turn upit will cause me a great deal of trouble. I sent one
of my relatives to a religious man to ask himhow I could find this
book. He told me to bring a child of 11 or 12 years of age and give
him an egg on which was written something in blue, and he covered the
child with a head-cloth and recited some Qur'aan, then he askd the
child whether he could see the one who had taken the book. The child
told us of the description and name of a person we know very well but
whom the child does notknow. What is the rulingon that?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The saheeh ahaadeeth indicate that it is haraamto go to
fortune-tellers and soothsayers, and to ask them questions and believe
them. For example, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "Whoever goes to afortune-teller and asks him about
something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days." Narrated
by Muslim (2230).
And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever has
intercourse with a menstruating woman or with a woman in her back
passage, or goes to a fortune-teller and believes him, has disbelieved
in what Allaah revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him)." Narrated by Ahmad (9779), Abu Dawood (3904), al-Tirmidhi
(135) and IbnMaajah (939). Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh
Ibn Maajah.
Al-Baghawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:The fortune-teller is
the one who claims to have knowledge of things by means of certain
practices which will leadhim to know where stolen and lost items
are,etc. Quoted in al-Zawaajir 'an Iqtiraafal-Kabaa'ir (2/178).
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The
fortune-teller (al-'arraaf): it was said that this refers to the
soothsayer (al-kaahin), who is the one who foretells the future.
And it was said that this is a general term which includes
soothsayers, astrologers, geomancers and the like, who claim to have
knowledge of the unseen by means of certain practices that they use.
This is a more general meaning and is indicated by the derivation of
the word, which is derived from ma'rifah (knowledge), so it applies to
all those who deal with these things and claim to have knowledge of
them. End quote from al-Qawl al-Mufeed 'ala Kitabal-Tawheed (2/48).
Trying to find out the identity of the thief in the manner described
is a kind of soothsaying and fortune-telling which is haraam, as it
relies on using the services of the jinn and trusting them. You should
not be deceived by the fact that the fortune-teller recites Qur'aan,
because this is just a trick that these followers of falsehood use.
See question no. 21124 for information on the signs of witches
(practitioners of witchcraft), fortune-tellers and soothsayers.
Secondly:
Some scholars are of the view that the one who claims to have
knowledge of stolen things, or who claims that the jinn will tell
himabout them is a kaafir. Ibn Nujaym (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said in Bayaan al-Mukaffiraat: Going to a soothsayer and believing him
when he says, I know where stolen things are, and what I say is based
on what the jinn tell me. End quote from al-Bahr al-Raa'iq (5/130).
And he is guilty of kufr by saying, what I say is based on what the
jinn tell me, because the jinn,like humans, do not have knowledge of
the unseen, as Allaah says of them (interpretation of the meaning):
"So when he fell down, the jinn saw clearly that if they had known the
Unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment"
[Saba' 34:14]
This was stated in his footnote to al-Bahr al-Raa'iq.
With regard to going to a fortune-teller and asking him something,
this is subject to further discussion.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Asking
fortune-tellers and the like falls into different categories:
1 – Merely asking him a question. This is haraam because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to
afortune-teller and asks him something, his prayer will not be
accepted for forty days." The fact that he will be punished for asking
him indicates that it is haraam, because there isno punishment except
for doing something haraam.
2 – Asking him and believing him and accepting what he says. This is
kufr, because believing him with regard to knowledge of the unseen
represents disbelief in the Qur'aan, where Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):
"Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib (Unseen) except Allaah"
[al-Naml 27:65]
3 – Asking him in order to test him and find out whether he is telling
the truth or lying, not in order to accept what he says. There is
nothing wrong with this. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) asked Ibn Sayyaad: "What am I hiding from you?" He said:
al-Dukh. He said: "Be quiet! You can nevergo beyond your station."
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked him
about something that hewas thinking of in order to test him, and he
told him of it.
4 – Asking him in order to demonstrate his inability and lies, so he
tests him about some things. This may be obligatory or required. End
quote from al-Qawl al-Mufeed (2/49).
The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas were asked:
Sometimes we lose some money or goldin the house, and we think that it
has been stolen. So we got to one of the people (a "mukhbir") and we
tell him the story and explain that to him, and he promises to help
us. Sometimes we get the lost item back and sometimes we do not. What
is the ruling on ourgoing to these people?
They replied: It is not permissible to go to him because he is a
soothsayer, and it is narrated in saheeh reports that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade going to
soothsayers and the like and asking them questions and believing them.
End quote.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah (1/410)
They were also asked(1/411): You said inthe previous question that
going to a "mukhbir" is not permissible because he is a soothsayer. I
would like to point out here that the people to whomwe go are known
for their adherence to the teachings of Islam. They do not recite
anything except Qur'aan and hadeeth with regard to matters such as
those that I have mentioned inmy question. What is theruling on our
going to them?
They replied: Simply reciting Qur'aan and hadeeth will not show them
where the lost item is or bring it back. Whoever goes to someone who
claims to know where lost items are just by reading Qur'aan and
ahaadeeth is going to a soothsayer and charlatan, even if heclaims to
be righteous and religious. He may make an outward show of reciting
Qur'aan and hadeeth in order to mislead and deceive, butinwardly they
are soothsayers and fortune-tellers. End quote.
Thirdly:
The who one goes to thefortune-teller and asks him something has to
repent to Allaah and regret what he has done, and resolve not to do it
again. He should not accuse anyone of stealing on the basis of what
the fortune-teller and his helpers among the jinn say, because thejinn
tell lies. They may accuse an innocent person in order to spread
corruption among the Muslims. Repentance in this case is required from
the one who went to the fortune-teller and asked him, and it is also
required from the one who told him to do that, because they have all
fallen into sin. See question no. 32863 with regard to repentance from
asking fortune-tellers and believing them.
The Muslim should beseech Allaah and turn to Him when problems and
calamities befall him, because all things are in His hand, as he says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Is not He (better than your gods) Who responds to the distressed one,
when he calls on Him, and Who removes the evil, and makes you
inheritors of the earth, generations after generations? Is there any
ilaah (god) with Allaah? Little is that you remember!"
[al-Naml 27:62]
It is not appropriate at all for a Muslim to put hisreligious
commitment at risk for the sake of finding something that he has lost,
because the most precious thing that the Muslim should guardis his
religious commitment, and he should do whatever he can to protect it
as it is more precious than money or anything else. And it should
never be the other way round, under any circumstanceswhatsoever.
And Allaah knows best.
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