Astrology and Divination

Question:
May Allah reward you, O honorable scholar. This questioner asks: Do astrology and divination fall under the category of sorcery?

Answer:
It has been mentioned to you in the book of Tawhid that one of the types of sorcery is when a person takes a branch from the stars. Astrology is thus a type of sorcery. Whoever takes a branch from the stars has taken a branch from sorcery, and whatever he adds is an addition. Yes, astrology is a type that falls under the types of sorcery. As for divination: the diviner may be a sorcerer, yes, or he may be merely a diviner. The diviner is the one who reports about absent things through guesses, false expectations, and presumptions. He may happen to hit the mark, he may happen to be correct, not because he has knowledge of the unseen, but because his guess happened to coincide with the divine decree and destiny. This is the diviner who reports about things based on premises he guesses by and uses to predict matters. He is a liar, but he may happen to coincide with the divine decree and destiny, so the thing occurs not because of his report, but by the decree and destiny of Allah.