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Fatwa CenterRepenting from helping person consult soothsayer
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I planned to consult a soothsayer with the help of my friend for some reasons, but after telling my friend, I cancelled my plan and do not want to do it anymore because I am afraid of the punishment of Allah. She said, "Yes," but she still went on with it without my knowledge. She just told me after she had done it. Will I be punished because of that? If yes, what I can do as expiation? I am totally afraid, and I have been asking forgiveness ever since I learned what she has done. May Allah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If you helped your friend consult this soothsayer, you bear a sin for helping her commit a sin and must repent to Allah for doing that. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "Whoever calls to guidance, his reward will be equal to that of those who follow him without their reward being diminished in any respect, and if anyone calls to falsehood, his sin will be equal to those who follow him without their sin being diminished in any respect." [Muslim]
You should know that when a sinner repents to Allah of his sin, Allah accepts his repentance and forgives him; He says (what means): {O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord will remove from you your misdeeds and admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow...} [Quran 66:8]
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "The one who repents from sin is like one who did not sin."
As long as you had repented to Allah, you bear no sin for your friend's actions afterwards. Scholars stated that when a sinner repents to Allah of his sin, his repentance is accepted and he bears no sin for the lasting effects of his sin. They brought forth an example of someone who promotes a religious innovation and then repents of it.
Al-Qaari 
wrote:
"Ibn Hajar said, 'If the person who calls others to commit a sin repents but people continued to commit the sin to which he called them, then will his sin of misguiding others cease by his repentance because repentance erases all past sins, or will it not be erased because the validity of repentance is conditioned to the settlement of injustices and giving up the sin? Since the sin is still being committed by people because of him, does he bear a sin for that, and is it as if he has not given up the sin and repented?’... Al-Qaari commented: The first view is the preponderant one in this regard. Otherwise, it would have entailed declaring his repentance invalid and unacceptable; no scholar held such an opinion. Moreover, the settlement of injustice and giving the wronged person his due rights are based on what is possible to do. Giving up a sin is determined based on the nature of the sin.
Moreover, the sin for being followed in doing a sin is based on the continuous consent of the followed person to the actions of his followers. This means that if the followed person repents and gives up the sin, he shall no longer bear the sins of those who follow him. This is similar to the case in which the person who calls to goodness falls into the abyss of misguidance - may Allah safeguard us - he would no longer earn the rewards that he had been earning because of the people who followed him in goodness.
Many of the disbelievers used to call people to disbelief and misguidance, and then their conversion to Islam was accepted because Islam wipes out all past sins. Repentance is as strong as such, and even more; the repentant from a sin is like the one who has never committed the sin." [Al-Mirqaah]
Allah knows best.
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