All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
It is established that jinn used to eavesdrop on the heavens, listening to the news of the angels and then transmitting what they heard to fortune-tellers. However, when the Prophet ﷺ was sent, they were prevented from accessing their former listening posts, and the heavens were guarded with flaming meteors.
Allah, the Most High, says:
﴿And we have sought to reach the heaven but found it filled with stern guards and flaming fires. And we used to sit in positions therein to hear, but whoever listens now will find a flaming fire lying in wait for him.﴾ [Al-Jinn: 8–9].
Scholars have differed regarding whether eavesdropping continued after the Prophet's mission, holding three opinions:
1. It stopped completely and never resumed after the Prophet ﷺ was sent.
2. It continued, but devils could only succeed in doing so on rare occasions.
3. It stopped at the time of the Prophet's mission, then resumed to a limited extent, while meteors continued to guard the heavens against those attempting to listen.
The strongest opinion for the purposes of this fatwa is that eavesdropping is still possible after the Prophet's mission, but only in a limited and secretive manner. Some devils may manage to snatch a word, while meteors may strike them before they can transmit it.
The evidence for this is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), in which the Prophet ﷺ explained that a eavesdropping devil hears a word from the heavens and passes it down to those beneath him until it reaches a sorcerer or fortune-teller. A meteor may strike him before he transmits it, or he may manage to transmit it first. The fortune-teller then adds a hundred lies to that word. Narrated by Al-Bukhari (4522).
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him), commenting on Allah's statement ﴿Except one who snatches a fragment﴾, explained that some devils may snatch a word from the heavens and transmit it to those beneath them, but a meteor may strike them before or after they transmit it.
Conclusion: According to the stronger opinion, eavesdropping did not cease entirely after the Prophet ﷺ was sent. However, it became limited and heavily guarded by meteors. A word may reach a fortune-teller, who then mixes it with numerous lies. Therefore, it is forbidden to believe fortune-tellers or rely on their claims.
And Allah knows best.