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." Authentic hadith - Narrated by Muslim
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Explanation

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.

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Benefits 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.