Fortune telling
Summary of Answer
It is forbidden to engage in fortune telling and witchcraft. One who visits a fortuneteller and believes whatever s/he says of the unseen has committed major disbelief and is no more a Muslim. It is either you are a Muslim with total reliance on Allah or you are a non-Muslim! You can’t do both!
Hadith 1
It was narrated in a saheeh (authentic) report that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.” [Muslim].
Hadith 2
And it was narrated by the authors of al-Sunan and by al-Hakim, who classed it as saheeh, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad.”
But not everyone who goes to a fortuneteller or a soothsayer is a mushrik in the sense of major shirk that puts one beyond the pale of Islam. Rather going to a fortuneteller or soothsayer falls into different categories. It may be major shirk, or it may be a sin, or it may be permissible.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:
Those who go to fortunetellers fall into three categories:
1 – The one who goes to a fortuneteller and asks him things without believing in what he says. This is haraam, and the punishment of the one who does that is that his prayers are not accepted for forty days, as it is narrated in Saheeh Muslim (2230), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortuneteller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.”
2 – When a person goes to a fortuneteller and asks him about something and believes what he says. This is disbelief in Allaah (kufr), because he is believing the fortuneteller’s claim to have knowledge of the unseen, and believing a human’s being claim to have knowledge of the unseen constitutes disbelief in the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghayb (Unseen) except Allaah”
[al-Naml 27:65].
Hence it says in the saheeh hadeeth: “Whoever goes to a fortuneteller and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).”
3 – When he goes to a fortuneteller and asks him questions so that he can explain to the people what he is really doing, which is deceiving people and leading them astray. There is nothing wrong with this. The evidence for that is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) went to Ibn Sayyaad. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) though of something to himself. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked him what he was thinking of and he said, “Al-dukh” meaning al-dukhaan (smoke). End quote.
Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 2/184
Based on this, whoever goes to a fortuneteller or soothsayer and believes what he says and believes that he has knowledge of the unseen has committed major kufr which puts him beyond the pale of Islam. But if he does not believe what he says then he has not committed kufr.
Originally posted @https://www.nairaland.com/4336526/fortune-telling-islam-how-repent
Witchcraft or Magic
Witchcraft or magic is knowledge that comes from the shayateen and is something that they do. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“They followed what the Shayaateen (devils) gave out (falsely of the magic) in the lifetime of Sulaymaan. Sulaymaan did not disbelieve, but the Shayaateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic [al-Baqarah 2:102]
“And they learn that which harms them and profits them not. And indeed they knew that the buyers of it (magic) would have no share in the Hereafter” [al-Baqarah 2:102]
“and the magician will never be successful, to whatever amount (of skill) he may attain” [Ta-Ha 20:69]
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Avoid the seven sins which doom a person to Hell.” They asked, “What are they?” He said, “Associating anything in worship with Allaah (shirk); witchcraft;…”
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “He is not one of us who practices witchcraft or has it done for him.”
On this basis, it is not permissible to use witchcraft for any purpose whatsoever. Witchcraft or magic is falsehood, and all kinds of falsehood are kufr and evildoing. Sin cannot be a means of achieving something good. Beneficial things have to be sought through the prescribed means which involve no sin and whose consequences are safe. Allaah has given His slaves sufficient means in the things that He has permitted them, so they have no need for the things that He has forbidden. To Him be praise and thanks for His blessings.
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/10173/is-it-permissible-to-use-witchcraft-to-achieve-a-good-purpose
So when next you see an acclaimed “Muslim cleric” doing the deeds of ritualists/dibia/babalawo like fortune telling, witchcraft, etc, do address them by what they are! It doesn’t matter whether they pray five times daily like Muslims do or fast during the month of Ramadan!