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What is the ruling on following the so-called "Paul the psychic octopus" and believing its prophecies, which are promoted by enemies of the religion, knowing that none knows the unseen except Allah?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Allah Almighty has reserved knowledge of the unseen exclusively for Himself. Therefore, claiming knowledge of what will happen in the future is an act of disbelief (kufr), and whoever believes someone who makes such a claim is like them. What these charlatans do falls under the forbidden practices of tīrah (superstitious omens) and ‘iyāfah (augury by birds), which are prohibited by Islamic law. This is similar to what the Arabs used to do in the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah). The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, clarified that "superstitious omens (tīrah) are polytheism (shirk)." ‘Iyāfah is the practice of startling birds to derive bad or good omens from their flight, and it is a form of jibt (magic/idolatry) and sorcery because it relies on something that has no basis in reality.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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