Astrology in Twelver Shi'i Hadith

Abstract: The Twelver Shi'i hadith corpus features wide-ranging discussions of astrology, including theology, permissibility, and technique, paralleling the scientific, theological, and cultural evolution of Islamicate astrology and cosmology. While many Twelver Shi'i hadith treat astrology as a valid science of divine origin, the corpus nevertheless contains conflicting viewpoints on the acceptability of astrology. This article argues that individual hadith themselves reflect evolving notions of astrology, ranging from ancient Arabian astrolatry to Islamicate mathematical astrology. Ultimately, astrology became theologically acceptable through its conceptual separation from pre-Islamic Arabian practices ( jāhiliyya ); while concerns about it being a "foreign science" due to its association with the Hellenic, Persian, and Indian heritages were allayed through absorbing it into the intellectual inheritance of the Prophet Muḥammad's household to support Twelver Shi'i theological concerns.