—“Whoever goes to a soothsayer, none of his prayers will be accepted for forty days.” (1) This ḥadīth is recorded by Muslim.

The Sunan collections add: “Whoever goes to a soothsayer or a diviner and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” (2) When the Prophet was asked about the soothsayers he replied, “They are nothing,” and he also said, “Do not visit them.”

A soothsayer is the one who claims knowledge of the unseen by collaborating with the devil. A diviner likewise claims knowledge of the unseen, but not through devils; instead he relies on hunches and guesswork, saying, “Such-and-such may occur,” on the basis of false predictions.

Some scholars held that the diviner is in fact the same as the soothsayer—both speak about what is hidden, only by different means. A Muslim must repudiate soothsaying and divination alike and must not believe their practitioners, for they are not allies of Allah but allies of Satan. Anyone who wishes to explore the subject further should consult Ibn Taymiyyah’s work al-Furqān.