Does enjoying fictional fortune telling and divination invalidate the reward of prayer?

What is the ruling on buying/using works, such as reading novels, watching movies, or playing video games, that include characters in fictional plots who claim to know the future, the unseen, to prophesy, or to engage in divination and magic? In this case, the individual knows that it is entirely fiction and not real.
Is the reward for prayers of such a person invalidated, according to the following warning of the Prophet ﷺ:
“If a person goes to a soothsayer and asks him something, his prayers will not be accepted for forty nights”?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Believing in fortune telling and knowledge of ghayb (the unseen/unknown)

In Islam, it is not permissible to believe in the claim of knowing ghayb. Only Allah knows ghayb, and no one can know it unless Allah reveals it to them.

“Say: None in the heavens or on earth, except Allah, knows what is hidden.” (an-Naml, 65)

Therefore, believing in fortune telling, divination, or similar claims is haram.

Hadith about going to a soothsayer.

Our Prophet said:

مَنْ أَتَى عَرَّافًا فَسَأَلَهُ عَنْ شَيْءٍ لَمْ تُقْبَلْ لَهُ صَلَاةٌ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً

“If a person goes to a soothsayer and asks him something, his prayers will not be accepted for forty nights.” (Muslim, Salam, 125)

Imam Nawawi, one of the great scholars of hadith, explains this hadith as follows:

“The prayer is not invalidated; the person is relieved of the obligation of prayer.” However, he is deprived of its reward for forty days. (Nawawi, Sharhu Muslim, Salam)

Fortune telling and divination in works of fiction.

Essentially, believing that a soothsayer knows ghayb is haram and problematic from a religious perspective. However, if one believes that jinn convey information to a soothsayer, he does not cease to be a Muslim.

Nevertheless, the presence of fortune telling or prophecy in fictional works such as novels, films, or games is evaluated differently:

If a person knows that it is entirely fictional and does not believe that it is true, it generally does not fall under the category of “going to a soothsayer” as mentioned in the hadith.

However, it is necessary not to make a habit of being interested in such things and to avoid tending to superstition.

Conclusion

It is haram to believe in fortune telling and divination. Going to a real soothsayer and asking questions is a major sin; it carries a religious risk and causes a decrease in reward for forty days.

Unless divination or prophecy found in fictional works is accepted as fact, it does not fall within the scope of this hadith.

Questions on Islam