What does Islam say about fortune tellers and predictions such as those of Nostradamus?

God alone knows the future, and He reveals some of it only to His chosen messengers, as much as He wills. Fortune tellers are neither prophets nor scientists. Their predictions do not stand up to honest testing.

There are only two ways in which a prediction can be taken seriously. Either it rests on a sound scientific basis, the way one reasons from known causes to their effects. Or it comes from God, who alone knows the future. The verses above say that He reveals some of it only to His chosen messengers, and only as much as He wills.

A fortune teller meets neither condition. He is not a messenger of God, and he does not work with knowledge that can be checked. So what he says has no solid foundation.

This also applies to Nostradamus, whom many books call a prophet. Anyone can test this. Ask one of his followers to show the exact passage where a specific event was clearly predicted before it happened. Usually the obscure verses are only interpreted afterwards, once people already know what took place. Then ask him to use the same verses to make a clear prediction for the coming years. It cannot be done.

Why do so many still believe in it? Such things are exciting and satisfy a craving for the mysterious. Above all, they demand nothing. A prediction by Nostradamus asks no one to change their life.

True religion is different. It too speaks of signs and prophecies, but with a purpose. A person is meant to believe in a power above him and to shape his life according to God's will. That is more demanding, but it leads further.