Believing in magic, horoscopes, and missing prayers

Question: I used to visit “witch” sites and request spells, and I believed in them and believed in horoscopes even past puberty. In 10th grade, I started praying and followed Islam better. It didn’t register that I was coming out of kufr, so I did not think to restate my shahada. One day, I made up my Isha prayer as I prayed past midnight and then read on a website that I did kufr. I restated my shahada and did ghusl. Was my Islam valid since 10th grade even though I did not restate my shahada to enter belief? Was this new shahada valid for me? Should I make new shahada to repent for all the acts of apostasy? If I remember an act of kufr I’ve done when I was younger, do I have to renew my shahadah for it? Do I have to repeat all my prayers since I started practicing? Also, a few weeks ago, I said the shahadah for the shirk and prayed salat ul tawbah but recently thought maybe it was minor shirk as I did not contact any jinn. The website said that I still apostatized, did this doubting invalidate my shahadah?

Answer:

Assalamu alaykum,

Thank you for your question. Here are your answers one by one.

Witch sites and spells

Visiting a witch site and requesting spells is not disbelief but rather sinful because all forms of magic are unlawful. This requires tawba and not re-entering Islam:
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/shafii-fiqh/video-games-and-magic/

Horoscopes

Believing in horoscopes is only disbelief if he deems the action to be lawful or believes that the fortuneteller actually conveys from the unseen realm (ghayb). Otherwise, it is an enormity. Please see these links for details:
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/hanafi-fiqh/does-going-to-a-fortuneteller-entail-disbelief/
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/general-counsel/is-it-permissible-to-believe-in-astrology-and-horoscopes/

Missing a prayer

The time of `Isha prayer ends at dawn, so you had not missed your prayer, and it was a current performance. In addition to this, missing a prayer definitely does not constitute kufr but rather requires tawba for the sin.
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/hanafi-fiqh/does-neglecting-the-prayer-entail-disbelief/

Gain knowledge

According to the above, you have not once committed kufr, but you need only to make sincere repentance. Please avoid going to unreliable websites for your religious information and strive to attain correct knowledge. Take some free classes at Seekers and make sure your only source is from the four madhhabs rooted in traditional Sunni Islam.

I commend you on becoming religious in tenth grade, you are still young, and Allah has blessed you tremendously. Please follow through with gaining knowledge, applying it correctly, and being a source of spreading light to others around you.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, Tafseer, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Master’s in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.