The narration you’re referring to is as follows:

It was narrated that Zaid binKhalid Al-Juhani said:

“It rained during the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said: ‘Have you nt heard what your Lord said this night? He said: I have never sent down any blessing upon My slaves but some of them become disbelievers thereby, saying: ‘We have been given rain by such and such a star.’ As for the one who believes in Me and praises Me for giving rain, that is the one who believes in Me and disbelieves in the stars. But the one who says: ‘We have been given rain by such and such a star’ he has disbelieved in Me and believed in the stars.”

أَخْبَرَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ صَالِحِ بْنِ كَيْسَانَ، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ الْجُهَنِيِّ، قَالَ مُطِرَ النَّاسُ عَلَى عَهْدِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ ‏ “‏ أَلَمْ تَسْمَعُوا مَاذَا قَالَ رَبُّكُمُ اللَّيْلَةَ قَالَ مَا أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَى عِبَادِي مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ إِلاَّ أَصْبَحَ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ بِهَا كَافِرِينَ يَقُولُونَ مُطِرْنَا بِنَوْءِ كَذَا وَكَذَا فَأَمَّا مَنْ آمَنَ بِي وَحَمِدَنِي عَلَى سُقْيَاىَ فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي آمَنَ بِي وَكَفَرَ بِالْكَوْكَبِ وَمَنْ قَالَ مُطِرْنَا بِنَوْءِ كَذَا وَكَذَا فَذَاكَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ بِي وَآمَنَ بِالْكَوْكَبِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

https://sunnah.com/nasai:1525

As it is evident from the narration that attributing the cause of the rain to be a star or anything other than God is disbelief, and one should strictly refrain from it.

Astrology and other such fields generally only predict certain events without attributing their causes to anything. They simply read the signs and make predictions. However, these fields are not scientific yet i.e. there are no agreed upon tested principles for these predictions. Until such time that they become science, it’s only guesswork that we should stay away from.

I have explained the answer to your very question in my previous response. All such narrations should be understood in the context of polytheism i.e. attributing the cause of events to be anything other than God.

Hadith narrations are not like the Quran that has been transmitted word for word. Also the word عَرَّافًا used in the narration you referred to above can also be used to refer to diviners, people performing witchcraft, etc.

As I stated above all such narrations have to be understood in the context of polytheism. Since most hadith narrations are neither transmitted in their original words nor with the required context, it’s not correct to judge their meaning only with what’s apparent. Translations of narrations add yet another level of subjectivity. Instead, all narrations must be holistically understood in the context of the framework of religion provided by the Quran and the Sunnah.

Quran verse 7:33 clearly lists 5 categories that have been made haram by God (in addition to dietary restrictions laid out earlier in the same chapter). If anything in religion is prohibited by Prophet Muhammad SAW in a hadith narration, it has to fall within one of these categories. By the nature of what’s being forbidden by the Prophet in the narrations under discussion it’s clear that it’s due to polytheism.

قُلْ إِنَّـمَا حَرَّمَ رَبِّيَ الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ وَالإِثْمَ وَالْبَغْيَ بِغَيْرِ الْـحَقِّ وَأَن تُشْرِكُوْا بِاللّهِ مَا لَـمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَانًا وَأَن تَقُولُوْا عَلَى اللّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُوْنَ

Tell [them]: “My Lord has only forbidden all lewd acts, whether overt or hidden and usurping the rights of others and wrongful oppression and that you worship with Him what He did not sanction and that you fabricate something about God what you know not.”

For details about determining halal and haram please refer to videos in the following thread:

Discussion 42832

To understand Ghamidi Sahab’s take on how to approach hadith corpus from an epistemological stand-point, you’re requested to please go through all the resources provided in the following response or at the very least, go through the text and videos provided under the heading “placement of Hadith in the overall framework of religion“:

Discussion 66135 • Reply 66162

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Associating other gods with God Almighty is termed as polytheism (shirk) in the terminology of the Quran. It means:

a) to regard someone to have the same genre as that of God or to regard God to have the same genre as someone; or

b) to regard someone to have a role in creation or in running the affairs of the creatures and in this manner make someone God’s peer to some extent or another.

Examples of the first type of polytheism are the beliefs of Christians and the Polytheists of Arabia about Jesus (sws) and Mary (sws) and about the angels respectively. The belief of wahdat al-wujud is another example of this.

Examples of the second type are the beliefs regarding Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in Hinduism and the beliefs regarding Ghaws, Qutub, Abdal, Data and Gharib Nawaz among Muslims. Belief in evil spirits and stars and in the powers of Satan, also belong to this category of polytheism.

Superstitions that human beings become target of are of this genre too. Thus the Prophet (sws) has warned people about them. He has also preventively stopped people from certain things which though do not fall in the ambit of polytheism are liable to lead to it.

In addition to this, “following of speculations” is also prohibited in Quran 17:22-39 (“And do not go after what you know not because eyes, ears, and heart – all of them shall be questioned“. Therefore, all such activities, in addition to being resulting in polytheism, at the very least result in “following of speculations“; that’s why Prophet Muhammad (sws) has warned more intensively about such things because of both these dimensions i.e. risk of sinning right from the start (following of speculations) to its conclusion (polytheism). Therefore, Ghamidi Sahab has always considered it a slippery slope and has warned people that as long as they can stay away from both these dimensions surrounding this and other similar knowledge, they can pursue such studies but they should never be considered a form of knowledge as opposed to established science, unless newly acquired evidence indicates otherwise. Experience suggests that more likely than not, one is ought to fall in one of the two domains mentioned above. So as long as one can separate these two from mere pursuit of knowledge, then it can be considered acceptable. Cause and effect, in the absence of established science, will always be attributed to Allah.

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For work on these Ahadith in Hadith Project, please see:

توہم پرستی | Hadith Project

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Please also refer to the link below from 2:08 to 10:08 and from 46:14 to 51:18

ilm-o-Hikmat 13-05-2018

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Please refer to the following complete lecture for details (specifically from 15:25 to 26:21)

Please also refer to the video below from 36:32 to 45:17 (specifically from 41:08 onward)