Astrology and Islam don’t get along (now)
…according to this article in the Saudi Gazette (thanks Elsa):
Belief in astrology and the casting of horoscopes are in clear opposition to the letter and spirit of Islam. It is really the empty soul, which has not tasted real Iman (belief) that seeks out these paths. Essentially these paths, represent a vain attempt to escape Qadr (predistination). The ignorant believe that if they know what is in store for them tomorrow, they can prepare for them today. In that way, they may avoid the bad and ensure the good. Yet, Allah’s messenger was told by Allah to say: ” I possess no power over benefit or hurt to myself except as Allah wills.”
Now I have no desire to bash someone else’s religion, and all scriptures are subject to interpretation. We know that in the 8th and 9th centuries when sacred knowledge was stifled in the West by the Catholic Church it was the Arabic astrologers who rescued the sacred arts, translating the ancient Greek works into Arabic, and their wisdom,such as the Arabic Parts (including the widely used Part of Fortune), is taught to this very day ..
Astrology is banned by the major religions that seek to put power over individuals into the hands of a priestly class. As we know, astrology has the potential to help us to recognize personality traits and inner conflicts which limit us and keep us from serving the Divinity of our choice in a fully conscious and present way, not to mention living a life of joy and fulfillment.
This article was originally posted in February 2009.
While there is relatively little planetary action in the sky I thought I would take a moment to share some thoughts on this topic which is of great interest to me. For several thousand years, astrologers of all nations and cultures used only the visible planets and luminaries to cast horoscopes and predict the future. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – these were the basic elements of the horoscope (remember, a horoscope is the actual map of the sky at a given moment, not the daily forecasts you read in the newspaper). The ancient Greeks and Romans used a series of “lots” to add more detail to the charts, and after the fall of the Roman Empire when knowledge moved eastward, Arab astrologers continued their use and these chart factors became known as the “Arabic parts.” There are close to 100 of these “parts,” or “lots” and the most commonly one used today is the “Part of Fortune.” These points are derived from a mathematical calculation between three chart points, often including the ascendant. They are predictive in nature and reinforces the idea that the birthchart describes the fate of the individual. Astrology, of course, was used primarily to determine one’s fate and predict the future. The belief that the human experience was an evolving process and that the individual held the key to his or her own transformation would have been a completely foreign concept. In modern astrology, the traditional planets described above represent aspects of the personality. I will discuss my views on the Sun and Moon and the relationship to the soul in another article, but for now let’s think of the Sun as being the conscious mind and the Moon