Qiyafa (likeness-reading)

Qiyafa (physiognomic tracking), according to al-Masudi, is a pre-Islamic craft of attaching forms to their likenesses and tracing traces. It is among the attributes of the Arabs, practised by a sharp and trained tracker (qa'if). ²

People disputed it. One group affirmed it, because resemblances draw children toward them, and in their view a child cannot fail to resemble his father in some respect. Others denied it, because resemblance within the bounds of humanity does not require attributing a child to a man. ²

Jurists also disagreed over ruling by it. One group affirmed it on the ground that the Prophet ﷺ confirmed the judgement of Muhriz al-Mudlaji, and others denied it, citing the hadith "perhaps a vein drew him" and the story of Shurayk ibn Sahma'. ³

Tracking belonged to the Banu Mudlij and some clans of Mudar ibn Nizar, because of the act of the four sons of Nizar when they described the stray camel. In the desert of al-Jifar between Egypt and Syria there were trackers who followed footprints on the sand and recognised their owners. Al-Masudi saw this land and its people, who informed the governors of the stations about who had passed through it. ²

He reports that the trackers stood with Quraysh at the mouth of the Cave of Thawr at the time of the Hijra, and the tracker said: "Here the footprints ended." ²