As for astrology, an astrologer is someone who foretells future events by watching the stars: “When such-and-such a star rises, this will occur; when that star sets, that will happen; this constellation is an omen of misfortune, that one of good fortune.” Their entire craft rests on such fabrications.

Astrology, as Ibn Taymiyyah defines it, is “attributing earthly happenings to celestial conditions.” It is one of the remnants of pre-Islamic ignorance. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Four things from the practices of the Age of Ignorance will remain in my community: attacking people’s lineage, boasting about one’s ancestry, wailing over the dead, and seeking rain from the stars.” (1) —meaning attributing rainfall to them.

Allah, Exalted is He, likewise says: “So I swear by the setting of the stars—and indeed, that is a mighty oath, if you only knew—that this is truly a noble Qur’an, in a well-guarded Book, which none touch except the purified, a revelation from the Lord of all worlds. Is it this discourse that you treat as delusion, and do you make your provision that you deny?” (al-Wāqiʿah 75–82). In other words, you ascribe the sustenance granted to you to the stars and cosmic events. Such beliefs belong to the time of ignorance, for the stars are merely a created entity subjugated by Allah, and He created them for three purposes: