to seek Allah’s guidance in all matters, just as he taught us a surah of the Quran. He would say:
‘When any of you intends to undertake something, let him pray two units of prayer apart from the obligatory prayer, then say: “O Allah, I seek Your guidance through Your knowledge, and I seek strength through Your power, and I ask You of Your immense bounty. O Allah, if You know that this matter—naming it specifically—is good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the ultimate outcome of my affairs, then decree it for me, make it easy, and bless it for me. But if You know that this matter is bad for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the ultimate outcome of my affairs, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it. Decree what is good for me wherever it may be, then make me content with it.”’”
Astrologers, however, have their own choices of auspicious times. When one of them wishes to undertake an action, he selects an auspicious time according to the rising stars and performs that action then, so that it will succeed—or so they claim. Scholars have written books refuting them, describing how frequently their predictions and prescriptions produce results contrary to what they intend. How many of their predictions prove false, and how many of the times they recommend turn out badly!
Al-Rāzī composed his Astrological Choices for this king, including in it the selection of auspicious times for drinking wine and other activities. Likewise, in al-Sirr al-maktūm (The Hidden Secret), he discussed worshipping and invoking the celestial bodies, prostrating to them, associating them with Allah in worship, and calling upon them as those who worship Allah alone call upon their Lord—indeed, with even greater fervour. He also discussed seeking nearness to them through acts of disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience thought to accord with their nature. Thus, he stated that nearness to Venus is sought through committing indecencies, drinking wine, singing, and similar things that Allah and His Messenger have forbidden.