One keeps hearing of people who are able to predict the future accurately. Has Allah given such powers to human beings (who are not necessarily religious)? Is it allowed in Islam? Is one supposed to believe them and follow their advice?

Predicting the future with accuracy has not become a science and it is quite unlikely that it will since it seems to be against the Almighty’s scheme of running the affairs of this world. This world would no longer remain a place of trial and test for a person who knows what exactly is going to happen to him in the future.

Most people who are blessed with this ‘skill’ base their predictions on conjectures, which, of course, sometimes come true. One should try to avoid such ‘fortune tellers’ and should always base decisions on reason and concrete premises, other wise one enters the realm of superstition – and superstition makes a person lose his relationship with Allah.