and people flock to them, asking, “How are we faring? What awaits us in the future?” They pose questions about forthcoming events—whether public or private—and the soothsayers reply with whatever scraps of news they have heard from the devils. For that reason the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in one decisive phrase, “Do not go to the soothsayers—do not go to them at all.”

Can anyone imagine that Muʿāwiyah, or any other Companion, would do something after the Messenger of Allah had told him, “Do not do it”? Certainly not. They were unlike many people today: you may repeat a prohibition to someone yet he still refuses to desist, or he finds an excuse and says, “The ruling only indicates dislike,” or, “It is merely a matter of courtesy,” or, “It is preferable but not obligatory,” and so forth.

Understand, then, that a soothsayer is one who claims knowledge of unseen events yet to occur. When a person approaches such a man, his situation falls into one of three categories:

1. He visits the soothsayer and asks him but does not believe him. According to an authentic report in Sahih Muslim, anyone who does this will have none of his prayers accepted for forty days.

2. He visits the soothsayer, questions him, and believes what he says. Such a person is a disbeliever, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, stated: “Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” The basis for this ruling is that believing the soothsayer necessarily entails denying the Almighty’s words: “Say, ‘None in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah.’” (Quran 27:65). For the soothsayer