I say: Among the groundless superstitions is what the charlatans promote in certain newspapers and magazines when they speak of al-bakht, al-nuhus, and al-suʿūd (lucky and unlucky influences). They attach all of this to their calculations of the zodiac and the stars, and some naïve people swallow it whole.
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥasan, may Allah have mercy on him, says in Fath al-Majīd: “If someone objects, ‘But the astrologer sometimes tells the truth,’ the answer is: his truthfulness is like that of the soothsayer—he hits one word right and lies in a hundred. Whatever truth he utters is not based on real knowledge; at times it merely happens to coincide with what Allah has decreed, and so it becomes a temptation for those who trust him.”
He continues: “The Prophet ﷺ has explicitly invalidated astrology, as in his statement: ‘Whoever acquires a branch of knowledge from the stars has acquired a branch of sorcery; the more he increases in it, the more he increases in sorcery,’ related by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah. ʿAn Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Among the things I fear most for my community are: believing in the stars, denying destiny, and the tyranny of rulers,’ narrated by Ibn Ḥumayd.”
As for using the stars to determine direction while traveling on land or sea, there is nothing wrong with that; indeed it is one of Allah’s favors. The Exalted says, “And it is He who has made the stars for you so that you may be guided by them amid the darknesses of land and sea” ⦗1⦘—meaning: so that you may know the direction of your destination, not so that you may seek from them knowledge of the unseen, as the astrologers claim.
Al-Khattābī said: “With regard to inferring the direction of the qiblah from certain stars, these are celestial bodies whose locations were observed by expert Imams whose concern for religion, mastery of the subject, and truthfulness we do not doubt. One of them would observe the stars while standing before the Kaʿbah and then observe them when away from it. Thus they attained knowledge of their indicative value through direct sight, whereas we grasp it by accepting their report, for we hold them to be trustworthy in their religion and in no way negligent in…"