Chapter: The Prohibition Of Soothsaying And Going To Soothsayers

I said: Messenger of Allah, there were things we used to do in the pre-Islamic days. We used to visit Kahins, whereupon he said: Don't visit Kahins. I said: We used to take omens. He said: That is a sort of personal whim of yours, so let it not prevent you (from doing a thing).

This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Zuhri with a slight variation of wording.

I said: Among us there are men who draw lines and thus make divination. What about this? Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: There was a Prophet who drew lines, so whose lines agree with his line for him it is allowable.

I said: Allah's Messenger, the kahins used to tell us about things (unseen) and we found them to be true. Thereupon he said: That is a word pertaining to truth which a jinn snatches and throws into the ear of his friend, and makes an addition of one hundred lies to it.

It is nothing (i. e. it is a mere superstition). They said: Allah's Messenger, they at times narrate to us things which we find true. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: That is a word pertaining to truth which a jinn snatches away and then cackles into the ear of his friend as the hen does. And then they mix in it more than one hundred lies.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Zuhri with the same chain of transmitters.

A person from the Ansar who was amongst the Companions of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) reported to me: As we were sitting during the night with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), a meteor shot gave a dazzling light. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: What did you say in the pre-Islamic days when there was such a shot (of meteor)? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best (the actual position), but we, however, used to say that that very night a great man had been born and a great man had died, whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: (These meteors) are shot neither at the death of anyone nor on the birth of anyone. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, issues Command when He decides to do a thing. Then (the Angels) supporting the Throne sing His glory, then sing the dwellers of heaven who are near to them until this glory of God reaches them who are in the heaven of this world. Then those who are near the supporters of the Throne ask these supporters of the Throne: What your Lord has said? And they accordingly inform them what He says. Then the dwellers of heaven seek information from them until this information reaches the heaven of the world. In this process of transmission (the jinn snatches) what he manages to overhear and he carries it to his friends. And when the Angels see the jinn they attack them with meteors. If they narrate only which they manage to snatch that is correct but they alloy it with lies and make additions to it.

The hadith has been narrated on the authority of Zuhri through the same chain of transmitters but with a slight variation of wording.

He who visits a diviner ('Arraf) and asks him about anything, his prayers extending to forty nights will not be accepted.