عن عائشة رضي الله عنها ، قالت: سَأَل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أُنَاسٌ عن الكُهَّان، فقال: «ليْسُوا بشيء» فقالوا: يا رسول الله إنهم يُحَدِّثُونَا أحْيَانَا بشيء، فيكون حَقَّا؟ فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : «تلك الكلمة من الحَقِّ يخْطفُها الجِنِّي فَيَقُرُّهَا في أُذُنِ وليِّه، فَيَخْلِطُونَ معها مائة كَذِبَة». وفي رواية للبخاري عن عائشة رضي الله عنها : أنها سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: «إن الملائكة تَنْزِل في العَنَانِ -وهو السَّحَاب- فَتَذْكُرُ الأمر قُضِيَ في السماء، فَيَسْتَرِقُ الشيطان السَّمْعَ، فيسمعه، فيُوحِيَه إلى الكُهَّان، فيكذبون معها مائة كَذْبَة من عند أَنْفُسِهم».
[صحيح] - [الرواية الأولى: متفق عليها. الرواية الثانية: رواها البخاري]
المزيــد ...

‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: Some people asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) about diviners, and he said: "They are of no account." Upon this, they said: "O Messenger of Allah, but they sometimes make true predictions." Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That is a word pertaining to the truth which a Jinni snatches (from the angels) and whispers into the ears of his friend (the diviners) who will then mix more than a hundred lies with it." According to a narration by Al-Bukhāri, ‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that she heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The angels descend to the clouds and mention matters which have been decreed in the heaven. The devil then listens to it stealthily and communicates it to the diviners who tell along with it a hundred lies."
Sahih/Authentic. - [Al-Bukhari]

Explanation

‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) tells us that some people asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) about those who foretell the unseen and predict the future. He said: Pay no attention to them and do not believe them. The people said: Their statements conform with reality; they tell that something will occur in such-and-such month on such-and-such day, it actually happens as they stated. he said: The Jinn snatch what they hear from information in the heavens, and then descend upon their allies from among the diviners and inform them of what they heard. Then, the diviner adds hundreds of lies to this information that he heard. The meaning of the narration in Al-Bukhāri: That in the heavens, the angels hear what Allah, the Exalted, decrees every day of what will happen to the inhabitants of the earth. Then they descend to the clouds and speak with one another about that. The devil then steals that information and takes it to his allies from among the diviners and informs them of what he heard, and they, then, add hundreds of lies to it.

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Benefits from the Hadith

  1. It is prohibited to believe soothsayers. What they say is lies and fabrications, even if it happens to be true sometimes.
  2. The true things said by soothsayers come through the secret listening by jinns, who, before the Prophet’s mission, used to sit close to the lowest heaven and listen to what happens within the highest company. But when the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) came, this came to a stop and they were prevented from doing so. As a consequence, they began to eavesdrop and would be thrown by shooting stars, as revealed in the noble Qur’an.
  3. Jinns take allies from among human beings.
  4. Eavesdropping by the devils continues, but at a very low rate to the extent that it has almost vanished compared to what they used to do in the Jāhiliyyah (Pre-Islamic period).
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