Explanation of (The fortune-tellers are liars, even if they happen to be right).

Question:
A questioner asks about the authenticity of "The fortune-tellers are liars, even if they happen to be right." Is this a hadith? And what is its meaning?

Answer:
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. This is an athar (report) that is narrated, and its meaning is correct: that the fortune-tellers are liars. These are the ones who use the stars to infer earthly events and use celestial movements to infer earthly events. These are the fortune-tellers who believe in the stars, thinking that they are the ones who control this universe, and that they bring about good and evil, and bring rain and other harms and benefits. They believe in them. These are liars; they lied about Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), as Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: (So I swear by the positions of the stars, and it is indeed a great oath, if you but knew. It is indeed a noble Qur'an, in a Preserved Tablet. No one touches it except the purified. A revelation from the Lord of the worlds. Do you then treat this Qur'an as a lie? And you make your provision that you are liars?) meaning the Qur'an, (Do you then treat this Qur'an as a lie? And you make your provision that you are liars?) meaning that you attribute your provision to the stars, thinking that they are the ones who managed your provision for you. This is a lie about Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So the stars have no control in this universe. Therefore, those who believe in them and use them to infer earthly events are liars. So the meaning of the phrase is correct: "The fortune-tellers are liars, even if they happen to be right." It was mentioned in a hadith that the Shayatins (Satan) steal the hearing, so the blazing fire is sent upon them. Some of them are struck by the blazing fire and burn, and some of them reach the earth before the blazing fire strikes them, having heard one word from the sky from the speech of the angels. They then throw it to the soothsayer on earth, and the soothsayer lies with it a hundred lies, as in the hadith, so the soothsayer is believed because of one word from the sky, along with a hundred lies. (And you make your provision that you are liars). And in a hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were struck by rain at night while they were at al-Hudaybiyyah, which is near Makkah, on the western boundary of the Haram. A cloud or rain struck them. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) led them in the Fajr prayer, he said: "Do you know what your Lord said?" They said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said: "This morning, among My servants, there is a believer and a disbeliever. As for the one who said: 'We have been given rain by the grace of Allah and His mercy,' that is a believer in Me and a disbeliever in the stars. And as for the one who said: 'We have been given rain by the constellation of so-and-so,' that is a disbeliever in Me and a believer in the stars."