'A’isha told that when God’s messenger was asked by some people about kahins he replied, “They are of no account.”
They said, “Messenger of God, they sometimes tell a thing which is true.”
He replied, “That is a word pertaining to truth which a jinni snatches and cackles into the ear of his friend as a hen does; then they mix more than a hundred lies with it.”
Mu'awiya b. al-Hakam told that he said, “Messenger of God, there were things we used to do in the pre-Islamic period. We used to visit kahins.” He replied, “Do not visit kdhins”
He said, “We used to take omens.” He replied, “That is an idea a man has, but it must not turn you aside from your purposes.”
He said, “Among us there were men who practised divination by drawing lines on the ground.” He replied, “There was a prophet who drew lines, so if anyone does it in the same way as he did, that is allowable.”
Narrated She told that she heard God’s messenger say:
“The angels descend in al-’anan, i e. the clouds, and mention a matter which has been decreed in heaven, then the devils listening by stealth and hearing it communicate it to the kahins who tell along with it a hundred lies of their own making.”
‘Urwa b. ‘Amir told that when taking omens was mentioned in the presence of God’s messenger he replied that the best type was the good omen, adding that a Muslim is not turned back from anything because of an omen.
He told them that when any of them saw anything he disliked he should say, “O God, Thou alone bringest good things, Thou alone avertest evil things, and there is no might or power but in God.”
