The Prohibition against a Man Attributing Rain to a Star

823. Zayd ibn Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, led us in the Morning Prayer at Hudaybiya after a rainy night. When he finished, he faced the people and said, ‘Do you know what your Lord has said?’ They said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘This morning My servants have become divided up into believers and unbelievers. Those who said, “We had rain by the favor and mercy of Allah,” believe in Me and reject the stars. Those who said that it was because of a certain star, disbelieve in Me and believe in the star.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Istisqa, 28; Sahih Muslim, Iman, 125).
Annotation: From time to time, the Prophet made such warnings to shatter the habit of ascribing things not to Divine commands but to causality. Allah is one and needs no assistants whatsoever to make things happen. He is the actual doer who brings rain, independently from stars. Things are perceived in a cause and effect pattern, for Allah mostly makes them happen successively, so that people can be prepared for rain. But He is not obliged to follow any patterns. The Prophet brought people to their senses and made them see that everything absolutely depends on the Almighty Power.

 

Nawawi, Imam. Riyad As-Salihin; The Gardens of the Righteous: A collection of authentic hadiths. Tughra Books Press, Inc. 2014