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Fatwa CenterWatching movies whose plots involve foretelling future
Question
Can you give a more detailed explanation on fatwa no. 225778 about fortune telling in movies from this website. I am confused with the explanation, what if the fortune teller in the movies only says something about the future in that movie only (as part of the plot) and not the future in the real world that we are living in right now? I am asking this because I have this anxiety feeling after I watched a movie that has a slight fortune-telling element in it as part of the plot and not to tell the future in the real world. Now I am afraid that my prayer will not be accepted because of this.
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
As stated in the fatwa in reference, this action belongs to claiming to know the unseen, which is prohibited in Islam. The fact that this action is not real and is part of a movie does not entail deeming it lawful to watch such movie because prohibited actions are not deemed lawful if they were done by way of joking and jesting. This is evidenced by the fact stated in the Quran that proclaiming disbelief even in jest takes the doer out of the fold of Islam. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allaah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.} [Quran 9:65-66] Such movies are mostly watched by children; this gives rise to another violation of the sharee'ah, namely allowing these ideas to be imprinted within their minds and hearts, which would negatively impact them.
However, the forbiddance to watch such movies, as stated above, does not mean that the person who watches them is subject to the punishment of the one who visits a fortune teller mentioned in the following hadeeth: Safiyyah 
narrated that the Prophet said, "He who visits a diviner (claiming to known matters of the Unseen) and asks him about anything, his prayers will not be accepted for forty days." [Muslim]
Allaah knows best.
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