Consulting the so-called religious leaders about a house construction

25-12-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

I am very much impressed on your services, may Almighty will give you the highest reward to you all for this services.
My question is, in India peoples will approach some religious leaders before to start the House Construction activities just to know the suitability of the place for House construction, is there any such custom available in Islam, also this people will try to say the size of the rooms especially the size of Kitchen and people believe that make changes in the size of the room will lead for making easy entry for devil things, what is the Islamic view on this issue, is it required any special care for selecting the plot for house construction?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

There is no harm in asking the advice of the experts in a given matter, if this is based on experience. However, if the people one asks have no knowledge about these matters, but they just fortune-tell and pretend to have the knowledge of the unseen, then it is forbidden to consult them or to go to ask them, as it is prohibited to go to magicians and fortune-tellers. The Prophet said:  "Whoever goes to a soothsayer or magician and asks him (about something) [and believes his sayings], his prayer will not be accepted for forty days." [Muslim] In another narration the Prophet said: "Whoever goes to a fortune-teller or magician and asks him (about something) and believes his sayings, he has indeed disbelieved in what has been revealed to Muhammad ()." [Ahmad]

It appears from the question that these people are fortune-tellers and magicians, so it is not permissible to go to them or seek their advice.

Allaah Knows best.