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Fatwa CenterFortunetelling in movies and computer games about the future
Question
I know that if someone goes to a fortune teller their prayer and dua will not be answered for 40 days so my question is regarding what is the ruling on movies or games that are set in the future because most likely the people who made it had to predict stuff about the future for example if they create a game or movie set in the year 2018 will watching these movies or games come under the same heading as fortune tellers?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
First of all, please note that the Hadeeth reported regarding the one who goes to a fortune-teller states that his prayer (Salah) will not be accepted as the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.” [Muslim] As for his Du‘aa' (supplication), we do not know any evidence indicating that it is not answered and thus we cannot say that as long as we do not have any legitimate evidence.
If movies and games contain soothsaying and fortune-telling such as claiming the possibility of knowing through them some unseen matters in the future or telling that such and such matter will occur, then they are included in the prohibited soothsaying and it is not permissible to play nor watch them because the same reason that going to fortune-tellers and soothsayers is forbidden can be found in such games and movies, namely the claim of knowing the unseen.
As for the mere fact that the time of the game is set in a certain year that has not come yet and without claiming that the events in the game will actually happen, we view that they are permissible and are not included in forbidden fortune-telling as long as they do not include other forbidden matters such as music and the like.
For more benefit, kindly refer to the Fatwa 86146 about the ruling on computer games in general and Fatwa 89099 about the ruling on watching movies in general.
Allaah Knows best.
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