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Fatwa CenterWeather forecasting Vs palm reading
Question
My question is regarding weather forecasting. Is this like palmists who read hand lines? Is this right or wrong to forecast weather on previous weather experiences, like palmist watch the hands on previous experience?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions. Palm reading (fortune telling) and claiming the knowledge of the future (the Unseen) without depending on tangible things are viewed as divination, which is prohibited. As regards weather forecast, it is not considered a kind of divination as it depends on tangible things. In his explanation of the 'Book of Tawheed (Monotheism), Ibn Uthaimeen , a prominent Muslim scholar (may Allah have mercy on him), said: Is informing about the weather conditions (weather forecast) during twenty four hours considered divination? The answer is no, for this depends on tangible matters such as weather changes and adaptations that certain conditions known for the meteorologists as the "accurate scales". By studying these conditions and "scales" they may guess whether there will be rain or not. This is the same as in the primitive science (of meteorology) where when we see the accumulation of clouds and lightning, and hear thunder, we expect rain. To put it in simple words, every knowledge that depends on tangible things (facts) is not regarded as divination . To say that palm reading depends on the accumulation of experiences is by no means true. It has nothing to do with experience, for the palm reader (fortune teller) looks in one's hand and then he claims telling what will happen. So where is the experience? If anything, he depends on the jinn or he tells lies and fabrications. Allah knows best.
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