Finding Lost and Stolen Items Through Soothsayers and Fortune-tellers
Question

                I lost an important invoice book that belongs to the company, and if it does not turn up it will cause me a great deal of trouble. I sent one of my relatives to a religious man to ask him how I could find this book. He told me to bring a child of 11 or 12 years of age and give him an egg on which was written something in blue, and he covered the child with a head-cloth and recited some Quran, then he asked the child whether he could see the one who had taken the book. The child told us of the description and name of a person we know very well but whom the child does not know. What is the ruling on that?
Praise be to Allah.
    Firstly: 

    The saheeh ahadeeth (authentic narrations) indicate that it 
    is haram (impermissible) to go to fortune-tellers and soothsayers, and to 
    ask them questions and believe them. For example, the Prophet (peace and 
    blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and 
    asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.” 
    [Muslim].

    And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 
    “Whoever has intercourse with a menstruating woman or with a woman in her 
    back passage, or goes to a fortune-teller and believes him, has disbelieved 
    in what Allah revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon 
    him).” [Ahmad, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Maajah]. 

    Al-Baghawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The 
    fortune-teller is the one who claims to have knowledge of things by means of 
    certain practices which will lead him to know where stolen and lost items 
    are, etc. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The 
    fortune-teller (al-‘arraf): it was said that this refers to the soothsayer 
    (al-kahin), who is the one who foretells the future. 

    And it was said that this is a general term which includes 
    soothsayers, astrologers, geomancers and the like, who claim to have 
    knowledge of the unseen by means of certain practices that they use. This is 
    a more general meaning and is indicated by the derivation of the word, which 
    is derived from m’arifah (knowledge), so it applies to all those who deal 
    with these things and claim to have knowledge of them. Trying to find out 
    the identity of the thief in the manner described is a kind of soothsaying 
    and fortune-telling which is haram, as it relies on using the services of 
    the jinn and trusting them. You should not be deceived by the fact that the 
    fortune-teller recites the Quran, because this is just a trick that these 
    followers of falsehood use. 

    See question no. 
    
    21124 for information on the signs of witches (practitioners of 
    witchcraft), fortune-tellers and soothsayers. 

    Secondly: 

    Some scholars are of the view that the one who claims to have 
    knowledge of stolen things, or who claims that the jinn will tell him about 
    them is a kafir (disbeliever). Ibn Nujaym (may Allah have mercy on him) said 
    in Bayan al-Mukaffirat: Going to a soothsayer and believing him when he 
    says, I know where stolen things are, and what I say is based on what the 
    jinn tell me. And he is guilty of kufr (disbelief) by saying, what I say is 
    based on what the jinn tell me, because the jinn, like humans, do not have 
    knowledge of the unseen, as Allah says of them (interpretation of the 
    meaning): 

    “So when he fell down, the jinn saw clearly that if they had 
    known the unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment.” 
    [34:14] 

    With regard to going to a fortune-teller and asking him 
    something, this is subject to further discussion. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
    Asking fortune-tellers and the like falls into different categories:  

    1 – Merely asking him a question. This is haram because the 
    Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a 
    fortune-teller and asks him something, his prayer will not be accepted for 
    forty days.” The fact that he will be punished for asking him indicates that 
    it is haram, because there is no punishment except for doing something 
    haram. 

    2 – Asking him and believing him and accepting what he says. 
    This is kufr, because believing him with regard to knowledge of the unseen 
    represents disbelief in the Quran, where Allah says (interpretation of the 
    meaning): 

    “Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib 
    (unseen) except Allah.” [27:65] 

    3 – Asking him in order to test him and find out whether he 
    is telling the truth or lying, not in order to accept what he says.  There 
    is nothing wrong with this. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be 
    upon him) asked Ibn Sayyad: “What am I hiding from you?” He said: al-Dukh. 
    He said: “Be quiet! You can never go beyond your station.” 

    The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked 
    him about something that he was thinking of in order to test him, and he 
    told him of it. 

    4 – Asking him in order to demonstrate his inability and 
    lies, so he tests him about some things. This may be obligatory or required.
    

    The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas 
    were asked: Sometimes we lose some money or gold in the house, and we think 
    that it has been stolen. So we got to one of the people (a “mukhbir”) and we 
    tell him the story and explain that to him, and he promises to help us. 
    Sometimes we get the lost item back and sometimes we do not. What is the 
    ruling on our going to these people? 

    They replied: It is not permissible to go to him because he 
    is a soothsayer, and it is narrated in saheeh (authentic) reports that the 
    Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade going to 
    soothsayers and the like and asking them questions and believing them. End 
    quote. 

    They were also asked: You said in the previous question that 
    going to a “mukhbir” is not permissible because he is a soothsayer. I would 
    like to point out here that the people to whom we go are known for their 
    adherence to the teachings of Islam. They do not recite anything except the 
    Quran and hadeeth (prophetic narrations) with regard to matters such as 
    those that I have mentioned in my question. What is the ruling on our going 
    to them? 

    They replied: Simply reciting the Quran and hadeeth will not 
    show them where the lost item is or bring it back. Whoever goes to someone 
    who claims to know where lost items are just by reading the Quran and 
    ahadeeth is going to a soothsayer and charlatan, even if he claims to be 
    righteous and religious. He may make an outward show of reciting the Quran 
    and hadeeth in order to mislead and deceive, but inwardly they are 
    soothsayers and fortune-tellers. End quote. 

    Thirdly: 

    The one who goes to the fortune-teller and asks him something 
    has to repent to Allah and regret what he has done, and resolve not to do it 
    again. He should not accuse anyone of stealing on the basis of what the 
    fortune-teller and his helpers among the jinn say, because the jinn tell 
    lies. They may accuse an innocent person in order to spread corruption among 
    the Muslims. Repentance in this case is required from the one who went to 
    the fortune-teller and asked him, and it is also required from the one who 
    told him to do so, because they have all fallen into sin. See question no.
    
    
    32863 with regard to repentance from asking fortune-tellers and 
    believing them. 

    The Muslim should beseech Allah and turn to Him when problems 
    and calamities befall him, because all things are in His hand, as he says 
    (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “Is not He (better than your gods) Who responds to the 
    distressed one, when he calls on Him, and Who removes the evil, and makes 
    you inheritors of the earth, generations after generations? Is there any 
    ilah (god) with Allah? Little is that you remember!” [27:62] 

    It is not appropriate at all for a Muslim to put his 
    religious commitment at risk for the sake of finding something that he has 
    lost, because the most precious thing that the Muslim should guard is his 
    religious commitment, and he should do whatever he can to protect it as it 
    is more precious than money or anything else. And it should never be the 
    other way round, under any circumstances whatsoever. 
And Allah 
    knows best.