and it is also a form of sorcery, as the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever acquires a branch of knowledge about the stars has acquired a branch of sorcery; the more he increases in it, the more he increases in sorcery.” This was related by Abu Dawud with an authentic chain, and it was declared sound by al-Nawawi and al-Dhahabi; Ibn Majah, Ahmad, and others likewise transmitted it. Sorcery is forbidden by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the unanimous consensus of the Muslims. Predicting future events by deducing them from the stars is therefore a claim to knowledge of the unseen, knowledge that Allah alone possesses. Such a claim either presumes a share in the divine knowledge—exalted is He—or endorses someone who makes that claim, and both invalidate pure monotheism because of the falsehood they entail.
Al-Khattabi said: “The branch of star-lore that is prohibited is what the astrologers allege of their ability to know future happenings—such as the times when the winds will blow, the coming of rain, or fluctuations in prices—and whatever resembles that. They claim these matters can be ascertained by observing the movement of the planets, their conjunctions, and their separations, and they maintain that the heavenly bodies exert an influence on what occurs on earth. This is nothing but presumption concerning the unseen and an attempt to acquire knowledge Allah has reserved for Himself; none knows the unseen but He.”
Al-Bukhari recorded in his Ṣaḥīḥ: “Qatadah said, ‘Allah created these stars for three purposes: as adornment for the sky, as missiles against the devils, and as markers by which people are guided. Whoever interprets them in any other way has erred, wasted his share, and undertaken what he has no knowledge of.’ ”
Al-Khatib also transmitted from him: “Some ignorant people have fashioned from these stars a type of soothsaying, saying, ‘Whoever marries under such-and-such a star will experience such-and-such, and whoever travels under such-and-such a star will experience such-and-such.’ By my life, under every star there are born the red-skinned and the black-skinned, the tall and the short, the handsome and the ugly. These stars, this beast, and this bird know nothing whatsoever of the unseen. If anyone had possessed knowledge of the unseen, Adam—whom Allah created with His own hand, before whom He caused the angels to prostrate, and to whom He taught the names of all things—would have known it.” End of quote.