Explanation of the author's statement: And his saying (… a branch of the stars, so he has taken a branch of sorcery, and he has increased what he has increased) narrated by Abu Dawud, and its chain of narration is authentic.

The Shaykh :"Whoever" is this a relative pronoun or a conditional? It is conditional, and the verb of the condition in it is "took," and its answer is his saying: Yes.
And his saying: means "learned," meaning "learned," because learning means the student taking something of the scholar's knowledge, like a man taking a spark from the owner of a fire. Is that clear? So it means "learned."
And his saying: "branch" means "group," and from this is the saying of Allah the Exalted: groups .
And his saying: the intended meaning is… the stars themselves, because the stars cannot be taken from or learned from; rather, the intended meaning is the knowledge of the stars.
And his saying: this is also not in its absolute sense, for the knowledge of the stars may be as in the hadith, or it may not be so. The intended meaning is the knowledge of the stars by which one infers earthly events, by which one infers earthly events, by which one infers earthly events, for example, inferring from the conjunction of such a star with such a star that such and such will happen… that he will be happy, and from this other star that he will be unhappy, and so on. This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended in this hadith: they infer from the changing conditions of the stars the changing earthly events, the changing earthly events, and this has no relation to them. So earthly events are from Allah (Mighty and Majestic); the stars have no influence on them. For this reason, in the hadith of Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani regarding the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, he said: by a star, meaning by a star, and the "ba" indicates causality, meaning this rain is from the star… So the stars do not answer for rain, nor do they bring winds… such a star, yes, this is a mistake, because the stars have no influence on winds. It is true that in some times and seasons there is wind… but they are not the cause of it; they are a circumstance, not a cause.
So then, we say: the one who takes a branch of the stars, what does that mean? He learns a group of the knowledge of the stars by which one infers earthly events. This is the intended meaning.
As for learning the stars to be guided by them and to infer times and seasons… rather, it may be obligatory at times. It may be obligatory, as the jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) said: when the time for prayer enters, it is obligatory for a person to learn the signs of the qiblah from the stars, the sun, the moon, and others. You have understood, so the knowledge of the stars… is intended to be used to infer earthly events, so this is forbidden and not permissible, because there is no relation between them and earthly events. And another knowledge is used to infer directions, times, and the like, so this is permissible, and it may be, and it may be obligatory, and it may be obligatory. And with this, Allah the Exalted said: When He mentioned the mountains, He said: … And when He mentioned being guided by the lower signs or the earthly signs, He moved to being guided by the upper celestial signs, and for this He said: here meaning the upper signs. The important thing is that inferring by this the directions and the times, when such a star rises, the time of summer has entered, the time of spring has entered, the time of autumn has entered, this is not a problem. Yes.
And his saying: "branch" means a group of sorcery. The intended meaning of sorcery here is… because this is from inferring by hidden matters that have no reality, just as sorcery also has no reality. So the knowledge… and the second one, the one after that, the last one… So then - not with this second one, this… - Yes, of sorcery… of specific sorcery, because inferring by the stars the events is from the hidden matters that have no reality, exactly like sorcery. So sorcery does not turn things, but it deludes, and so on…
And his saying: : What is the meaning of "he has increased what he has increased"? It means if he increases in learning the stars, he increases in the branches of sorcery. The more he increases a branch… of sorcery. And the aspect of this is that if a thing is from a thing, it increases, yes? By its increase it increases, by its increase… to infer by it the earthly events, then he increases in the branches of sorcery. So this, or this hadith, the aspect of its suitability for the chapter heading has become clear, because the author says: "Chapter on explaining something of the types of sorcery" So one of the types of sorcery is learning the stars, learning the stars to infer by them the earthly events, so it is a type of sorcery. Yes.
The student: The stars have no influence…

The Shaykh : Absolutely, they have no influence on earthly events, without doubt.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Sorcery, because the cause of that is sorcery. In what you learn, it deludes; for example, it sorces a man until he sees a thing moving. Does the thing actually move? No, it does not move. It is true that the effect is on the sorced person. But not on the reality of what he sees; it has not changed from its state. This is also for people: if he says such and such will happen, or such and such will happen, and then it happens to occur, people think it is true, but it is not true, because it has no relation to it and no influence on it.
The student: Diversion and aversion…

The Shaykh : Yes. Diversion and aversion are from delusion, there is no doubt, but this is not all sorcery. Not all sorcery has an effect.
And al-Nasa'i has a hadith from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): .
All of these are conditional.
Spitting is blowing, but with light saliva; there is light saliva with it. This is spitting. And the knot, I think you know it; everyone knows it.
He spits into it for the sake of sorcery. He spits into it for the sake of sorcery. He spits sorcery. But if he ties a knot and then spits into it for the sake of it becoming moist, because the knot, when it becomes moist, tightens, does that fall into the hadith or not? It does not fall into it. But the intended meaning is spitting into it for sorcery, and they do this, and I seek refuge in Allah, sometimes for diversion; they divert the man from his wife, especially as is said at the time of the marriage contract. Some people do this, so they delay the man from his wife; he no longer has the strength for intercourse with her. The one who ties this knot, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: sorcery, meaning he has fallen into sorcery, meaning this is from sorcery, as Allah the Exalted said: .
His saying: "Whoever" from these is conditional, and the verb of the condition is "practiced sorcery," and its answer is "he has associated partners with Allah." And this also does not cover all sorcery. If one practices sorcery by the ways of the jinn, he has associated partners with Allah. But if one practices sorcery with medicines and compounds and the like, it has been mentioned before that he does not become one who associates partners with Allah. But the one who sorces by means of obeying the jinn and using them, using them in what he wants, this is undoubtedly one who associates partners with Allah. For this reason he said: . Yes.