“We were given rain by the rising of such-and-such a star,” he is a disbeliever in Me and a believer in the star.” (1)

This is an explicit text establishing that whoever says, “We were given rain by the rising of such-and-such a star,” is a disbeliever. This is why al-Mubdiʿ related the consensus of the scholars on this matter. (2)

Thus, for a person to say, “We were given rain by the rising of such-and-such a star,” is forbidden; rather, it is among the major sins. But does it constitute major disbelief that takes one outside the fold of Islam?

The answer is that this depends on the speaker’s belief. If he believes that the star itself created this rain, then he is guilty of disbelief that takes one outside the fold of Islam, because he has claimed that there is a creator alongside Allah. But if he believes that the star is a cause, then he is guilty of lesser disbelief.

He is deemed a disbeliever when he believes it to be a cause because he has affirmed a cause that Allah has not affirmed. The stars have no effect; they merely mark periods of time.

Question: What if he says, “We were given rain during the rising of such-and-such a star”?

Answer: This is permissible, because the preposition fī means “during” or “in,” denoting time. An example of this is the local colloquial use of the preposition bi- in this context, when what is intended is a time expression. They say, for example: “We were given rain in al-Murabbaʿāniyyah,” “We were given rain in al-Shabṭ,” and “We were given rain in al-ʿAqārib.” Al-ʿAqārib are the three suʿūd: Saʿd al-Dhābiḥ, Bulaʿ, and al-Suʿūd.

So, if he says, “We were given rain in Saʿd al-Suʿūd,” intending “during Saʿd al-Suʿūd,” as is customary in our local dialect, then he is not a disbeliever. The preposition bi- may also mean “in,” as in Allah’s saying: “And indeed, you pass by them in the morning, and at night” [al-Ṣāffāt: 137–138]—that is, at night.