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Diantara nama-nama ahli astrologi dalam kebudayaan Arab, salah satu yang paling terkenal adalah Abu Maʿshar, dengan karyanya yang berjudul ''Kitāb al‐mudkhal al‐kabīr'' yang kemudian menjadi salah satu risalah astronomi terkenal di Eropa. Selain itu, nama Al-Khwarizmi tidak hanya dikenal sebagai ahli matematika, ia juga dikenal sebagai ahli astronomi, astrologi, dan geografi.
Selama perkembangan sains dalam peradaban Islam klasik, beberapa praktik-praktik astrologi mendapat banyak pertentangan dari pandangan teologis Islam, seperti oleh Al-Farabi, Ibn Haytham, dan Avicenna. Kritik-kritik mereka berpendapat bahwa metode yang digunakan oleh ahli astrologi hanya melalui konjektur dan tidak berdasarkan fakta-fakta empiris, serta dari kalangan cendikiawan Islam ortodoks yang mengkritik bahwasanya hanya Tuhan yang mengetahui dan dapat memprediksi masa depan secara pasti. Namun, kritik-kritik ini lebih cenderung diarahkan kepada cabang astrologi dengan metodenya yang berusaha untuk memprediksi nasib atau masa depan berdasarkan suatu horoskop. Cabang astrologi lainnya seperti astrolgi medis dan astrologi cuaca masih dipandang sebagai ilmu yang sah pada masa itu.
Kemajuan sains
Sebagai contoh pandangan Ibnu Sina dalam bukunya ''Resāla fī ebṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm "''Sanggahan terhadap astrologi''"'', Ibnu Sina menentang praktik-praktik astrologi yang mengklaim dapat memprediksi nasib atau masa depan manusia berdasarkan posisi planet dan bintang-bintang. Namun, Ibnu Sina tetap mempercayai bahwa posisi bintang-bintang dan planet dapat memberikan pengaruh ke bumi termasuk kepada manusia, tetapi hal ini terjadi secara deterministik atau dapat dijelaskan dengan ilmu alam ketimbang ramalan-ramalan yang bersifat magis.
Astrology was taken up enthusiastically by Islamic scholars following the collapse of Alexandria to the Arabs in the 7th century, and the founding of the Abbasid empire in the 8th century. The second Abbasid caliph, Al Mansur (754-775) founded the city of Baghdad to act as a centre of learning, and included in its design a library-translation centre known as ''Bayt al-Hikma'' ‘Storehouse of Wisdom’, which continued to receive development from his heirs and was to provide a major impetus for Arabic translations of Hellenistic astrological texts. The early translators included Mashallah, who helped to elect the time for the foundation of Baghdad, and Sahl ibn Bishr(a.k.a. ''Zael''), whose texts were directly influential upon later European astrologers such as Guido Bonatti in the 13th century, and William Lilly in the 17th century. Knowledge of Arabic texts started to become imported into Europe during the Latin translations of the 12th century.
Amongst the important names of Arabic astrologers, one of the most influential was Albumasur, whose work ''Introductorium in Astronomiam'' later became a popular treatise in medieval Europe. Another was the Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and geographer Al Khwarizmi. The Arabs greatly increased the knowledge of astronomy, and many of the star names that are commonly known today, such as Aldebaran, Altair, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Vega retain the legacy of their language. They also developed the list of Hellenistic lots to the extent that they became historically known as Arabic parts, for which reason it is often wrongly claimed that the Arabic astrologers invented their use, whereas they are clearly known to have been an important feature of Hellenistic astrology.
During the advance of Islamic science some of the practices of astrology were refuted on theological grounds by astronomers such as Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) and Avicenna. Their criticisms argued that the methods of astrologers were conjectural rather than empirical, and conflicted with orthodox religious views of Islamic scholars through the suggestion that the Will of God can be precisely known and predicted in advance. Such refutations mainly concerned 'judicial branches' (such as horary astrology), rather than the more 'natural branches' such as medical and meteorological astrology, these being seen as part of the natural sciences of the time.
For example, Avicenna’s 'Refutation against astrology' ''Resāla fī ebṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm'', argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle of planets acting as the agents of divine causation which express God's absolute power over creation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influenced life on earth in a deterministic way, but argued against the capability of determining the exact influence of the stars. In essence, Avicenna did not refute the essential dogma of astrology, but denied our ability to understand it to the extent that precise and fatalistic predictions could be made from it.
=== Eropa abad pertengahan-renaisans ===
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