Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his Companions. To proceed:
The fundamental principle that must be known and firmly established is that no one knows the unseen except Allah, Glorified and Exalted, as Allah says:
“Say, ‘None in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah.’”
Therefore, claiming certain knowledge of the future and predicting with certainty what will happen is among the practices of soothsayers and fortune-tellers, and is not the way of truthful people of religion.
Whoever appears before people and says: “Such-and-such will happen next year,” or “A particular war will occur,” or “A certain person will appear,” or connects political and geographical events to definite predictions, has entered a dangerous area of speaking about Allah without knowledge.
The Ruling on Listening to Them
It is not permissible to listen to those who claim to know the future or predict the unseen when this involves accepting their claims or becoming attached to what they say, even if a person says: “I know that Allah alone knows the unseen.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights.”
Narrated by Muslim.
This is because such practices open the door to temptation, confusion, and attachment to illusions. A person making predictions may happen to be correct about certain things by coincidence or guesswork, causing people to become deceived by him.
The Ruling on Believing Them and Trusting Their Claims
If a person goes so far as to believe their claim to knowledge of the unseen, or believes that they know with certainty what will happen in the future, this is a grave sin and may amount to disbelief, due to the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:
“Whoever goes to a soothsayer or fortune-teller and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad ﷺ.”
This is because such a belief contradicts the Quran, which states that knowledge of the unseen belongs to Allah alone.
What About Hadiths and the Signs of the Hour?
If what is meant is that they mention authentic hadiths reported from the Prophet ﷺ concerning trials and the signs of the Hour, then this is permissible in principle, because the Prophet ﷺ informed us, through revelation from Allah, about matters that would occur in the future.
However, problems arise when people:
Apply hadiths to specific events without knowledge.
Assert with certainty that a particular political event or war is what the religious texts refer to.
Constantly preoccupy people with battles, tribulations, and predictions.
Base fear and important decisions on unreliable or undisciplined interpretations.
For this reason, scholars have warned against going to extremes in this area, because many narrations concerning future battles and tribulations are weak or unauthenticated, while many contemporary attempts to apply such narrations to current events are merely assumptions and speculation.
Conclusion
Knowledge of the unseen belongs to Allah alone.
Predicting the future with certainty is among the practices of soothsayers and fortune-tellers.
It is not permissible to become attached to those who claim to know the future.
Believing their claims to knowledge of the unseen is a grave sin and may amount to disbelief.
Authentic hadiths concerning trials and the signs of the Hour are true, but understanding them and applying them to events requires sound and firmly grounded knowledge and is not a matter for everyone to undertake.
And Allah knows best.