Bayhaqi 6453 — It is disliked to attribute rain to the stars

Concerning the hadith of Zayd bin Khalid al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him), Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: My view of the meaning of his (peace and blessings be upon him) words, and Allah knows best, is that whoever said, "We have been given rain by the mercy and grace of Allah", that is faith in Allah Almighty, (since he knows) that none besides Him can give rain or anything else. Whoever said, "We have been given rain because of such-and-such naw' (star)", in the sense the people of shirk held, namely that such-and-such star sent down the rain and the rain came because of it, that is disbelief, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said; because the naw' is a time, and time is a created thing that has no power over anything for itself or for anyone else, it cannot send down rain, nor do anything else. As for whoever said, "We have been given rain by such-and-such naw'", meaning, "We have been given rain in the time of such-and-such naw'", that is just like someone saying, "We have been given rain in such-and-such month"; that is not disbelief, but other wording is dearer to me than it. I prefer that it be said: "We have been given rain at such-and-such time."
Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It has reached me that when some of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) entered the morning after the people had been given rain, they would say: "We have been given rain by the naw' of al-Fath (the opening)", and would then recite this verse: "Whatever Allah opens for people of mercy, none can withhold it" [Surah Fatir: 2].
Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is narrated from Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that on a Friday, on the pulpit, he said: How much of the naw' of al-Thurayya (the Pleiades) remains? So Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: Nothing remains except al-'Awwa'. Then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) supplicated and the other people supplicated too, and by the time he came down from the pulpit, rain began to fall, and the people were given life by it.
Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The words of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) make clear what I have stated, because what he meant was: how much of the time of al-Thurayya remains? He said this on the basis of the knowledge they had that Allah Almighty has decreed rain in these times, just as it is known by experience that Allah Almighty has decreed such-and-such a time for cold and heat. He also said: It has reached me that Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) became angry with an old man of Banu Tamim when he was sitting reclining in the market of Ukaz while the people had been given rain. He said: "This morning the seventy-five (stars) have given us water", but Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) rejected his words; he said this because of attributing the rain to the seventy-five.