All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
First: The ruling on horoscopes and fortune-telling
What is known as horoscopes, fortune-telling, reading zodiac signs, and predicting the future are forbidden practices from the customs of pre-Islamic ignorance, because they involve claiming knowledge of the unseen, which belongs exclusively to Allah Almighty.
Allah says:
"Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah." [An-Naml: 65]
Second: The ruling on reading messages containing predictions about the future
The ruling differs according to a person's intention and the manner in which they encounter such content:
- Whoever visits fortune-tellers and soothsayers, or accesses their channels to watch their predictions, has engaged in something forbidden and is subject to the warning concerning prayers not being accepted for forty days.
- As for someone who receives a message containing horoscope readings without requesting it or visiting fortune-tellers' websites, there is no sin merely because the message arrives or is read.
- Whoever rereads the message simply to verify its contents or determine whether it contains fortune-telling or soothsaying does not fall under this warning, Allah willing.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the permissibility of questioning a person whose matter is uncertain for the purpose of testing their condition and distinguishing truthfulness from falsehood.
Conclusion: Whoever reads a message that they received without intending to believe its contents, but merely to verify what it contains, is not subject to the warning concerning prayers not being accepted for forty days. There is no harm regarding their prayers. However, they should delete such messages and avoid viewing them again without a genuine need.
And Allah knows best.