Is it appropriate to label someone as good or bad by looking at his/her face?

- According to the Quran, is it appropriate to look at a person’s face and tell whether he/she is good or bad?
- For example, I know some people who can look at people’s faces and describe their personality. They can tell whether they are good or bad, whether they are religious or not.

Dear Brother / Sister,

First of all, we should state that it is never appropriate, even if it is accurate, to say that a person is good or bad by looking at his/her face.

This issue can be viewed from two perspectives:

1. Reading Allah’s writings and marks on people’s hands, faces and certain organs. It does not mean knowing the unseen (ghayb), but reading what Allah has written.

For example, it is possible to perceive the diseases in the body with these marks and traces. In this way, many diseases can be diagnosed or treatment can be started before the disease becomes manifest fully.

It is also possible to read the characteristics of a person. For example, it is also possible to understand the existence of traits such as stubbornness, ambition and altruism. However, it does not mean knowing the future either. It means knowing that trait in that person. One cannot know where and how to use it. A person can use it for good or evil. A person who has a stubborn characteristic can use it by being stubborn in good deeds or by being stubborn in bad deeds. No one can know it - unless Allah reveals it.

Knowing the existence of a fire in a person’s pocket does not mean knowing whether that person will use that fire to cook food on the stove or to set the house on fire. One only knows what exists.

So, it is possible to know a disease or a characteristic, but it never means knowing the unseen; it means only reading what is written by those who know how to read.

2. It is possible to read some spiritual aspects of people in terms of physiognomy.

However, using it as a source of knowledge is not appropriate because even though hundreds of people have black faces and do not leave a good mark in terms of physiognomy, their inner world is as bright as the sun, like Bilal al-Habashi (ra). On the contrary, some people’s face display very beautiful images but they are very bad inside. Thousands of murderers, adulterers, criminals and thieves of this type are among us.

Even if a person identifies this issue with spiritual binoculars such as discovery, karamah and foresight, it is not suitable to show it clearly scientifically. This is because it is an accepted principle in Islamic sources that spiritual binoculars such as discovery, miracle, and foresight are not considered to be precise ways of knowledge.

Questions on Islam