Finding out the thief from a Hindu priest

Question

Property was stolen from Bakr’s house, and it is not known who took it. Bakr then goes to the house of a Hindu priest, asks him and comes back, catches the thief and punishes him. Now Bakr is fully convinced that the priest spoke the truth, and the common people have also become convinced. Is it permissible for Muslims to do this?

Answer

Asking a Hindu priest or anyone like him about matters of the unseen (ghayb) and believing in it is a grave sin; Muslims must repent of it. They should by no means go to him or ask him anything: in doing so it is difficult for one’s iman to remain intact.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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