Is It Sinful to Study Astrology or Fortune-Telling Out of Curiosity?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
Is it sinful to study astrology or fortune-telling out of curiosity without believing in it, just to understand what others believe?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Summary
Yes, engaging with astrology or fortune-telling, even out of curiosity, is sinful if there is no genuine scholarly or da‘wa necessity. The potential harm to one’s faith outweighs any perceived intellectual benefit. Our tradition urges us to seek knowledge that draws us closer to certainty, not confusion.
Details
Allah Most High warns us in the Quran:
“Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god, and Allah leaves him astray despite knowledge, seals his hearing and his heart, and places a veil over his sight? So, who can guide him after Allah? Will you not then be mindful?” [Quran 45:23]
Islam places immense value on seeking knowledge, but it also warns against forms of knowledge that may harm one’s faith or lead to confusion and misguidance. When it comes to astrology and fortune-telling, the guidance of our tradition is unequivocal, even if one studies such subjects merely out of curiosity or academic interest.
Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him), one of the foremost scholars of the Shafi‘i school, listed astrology and similar fields among the forbidden types of knowledge. He said:
“Unlawful knowledge includes:
- learning sorcery, since according to the most reliable position, it is unlawful, as the vast majority of scholars have decisively stated;
- philosophy;
- magic (sha‘badha, meaning sleight of hand, etc.);
- astrology;
- the sciences of the materialists; and
- anything that is a means to create doubts (in eternal truths). Such things vary in their degree of unlawfulness.” [Nawawi, al-Majmu‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab]
Even when approached without belief, delving into astrology or fortune-telling for curiosity or academic purposes remains spiritually hazardous. Such fields are not neutral; they are rooted in worldviews and assumptions that often contradict Islam’s core tenets. Engaging with them, even “just to understand,” can slowly plant seeds of confusion, normalize superstition, or dull one’s sensitivity to dogma and heresy incompatible with Islam.
Moreover, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
“Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights.” [Muslim]
Even approaching such individuals or their knowledge systems without belief can desensitize one to the seriousness of these practices, and many scholars have warned against it as a door to fitna (trial) in belief.
That said, if one is in a field like comparative religion or anthropology and must understand such systems purely for necessary academic or da‘wa purposes, this should only be done with sound intention, spiritual safeguards, and ideally, guidance from qualified scholars. One should never approach such knowledge for mere entertainment or idle curiosity.
May Allah grant us all beneficial knowledge and protect us from that which leads astray. Ameen.
And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town. He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.
