Whoever goes to a soothsayer and asks him about something and believes him, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights
Narrator in the source: Some of the Prophet's wives reported that the Prophet
Some of the Prophet's wives reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a soothsayer and asks him about something and believes him, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights."- Grade in the source
- Authentic
- Reported by
- Narrated by Muslim
- Source entry
- HadeethEnc · 5986 ↗
Original Arabic wording
عن بعض أزواج النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: «مَنْ أَتَى عَرَّافًا فَسَأَلَهُ عَنْ شَيْءٍ لَمْ تُقْبَلْ لَهُ صَلَاةٌ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً».Understand this hadith
The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) warns us against going to soothsayers - a general term also applying to fortune tellers, astrologers, geomancers, and others who use certain things as means for knowing the unseen - and says that if a person merely asks a soothsayer about anything of the unseen, Allah will deny him the reward for his prayers for forty days, as a punishment for this great sin and misdeed.
Lessons from the hadith
- It is prohibited to go to fortune tellers and ask them about matters related to the unseen.
- One may be deprived of the reward for an act of piety as a punishment for the commission of a sin.
- This Hadīth also applies to horoscopes, palmistry, and coffee reading, even if only for merely getting information, for all this falls under divination and the claim of knowing the unseen.
- If this is the punishment for one who goes to a soothsayer, then what about the punishment for the soothsayer himself?
- The prayers of the forty days are valid and should not be offered again, but there is no reward for those prayers.
References (original Arabic)
صحيح مسلم (4/ 1751) (2230). مسند أحمد (27/ 197) (16638). الجديد في شرح كتاب التوحيد، للقرعاوي (ص238). الملخص في شرح كتاب التوحيد، للفوزان (ص213).