How do we reconcile the hadith: "Whoever goes to a diviner and asks him about something and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad"? Does the belief persist, and does this contradict...

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. How do we reconcile the two hadiths: , and also the hadith: ? The question is whether the belief continues with the person or is cut off, such that he believed him at that moment, but the continuity of the belief, meaning he asked a person and he guided him, and so on?

The Shaykh : As for the wording of the first hadith, it does not contain "and he believed him," and it is not about belief. As for the second, it contains belief, and the aspect of his disbelief in what was revealed to Muhammad is that if it settles in his heart that this person is truthful, and it is a matter of the unseen future, then that entails disbelief in the statement of the Exalted: . Belief is sufficient if he believes him at the outset; it does not mean that he waits until reality confirms or denies him. Because if he waits and says, "I will see if what he said happens or not," then he has not actually believed him. However, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days. Belief means he is reassured by his statement and sees it as truth and as something that will happen. As for the one who says, "I will try it out," he has not believed.
Likewise, if one goes to a fortune-teller or a diviner and asks him in order to expose his lie, then there is nothing wrong with that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Ibn Sayyad, who claimed that someone came to him, about something he had kept in his mind. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept the smoke in his mind and asked him. He said what was in his heart was "the smoke," but he could not manage to utter it fully. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: . The time ended here.