The Art of Tracking Footprints and Following Traces: Is It a Form of Divination?

Question:
The Shaykh’s issue: We heard about the tracker of the Bedouin people, that we heard about the tracker of the Bedouin people, that if he looks at the tracks of the camels’ journey, he does not visit them or [they are not] for him, he said that bucket, is this from divination or from superstition? And that the matter reaches, regarding the study, to this writer.

Answer:
Yes, there is qiyafah (the art of tracking footprints). They call the qiyafah those who know the traces, whom they now call the "muriyyah" (trackers), presenting them to identify traces when a theft occurs or when something happens. They know the traces and apply them to the thief, using them to identify him. They also know resemblance, that so-and-so is the son of so-and-so through resemblance. There is no harm in this. This is called qiyafah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved some of this in the hadith of Usamah ibn Zayd with his father (may Allah be pleased with them both). But exaggerating to the point where he says his age is such-and-such, or his color is such-and-such, the camel’s color is white, this is not correct. These are exaggerations. But saying that this camel’s age is such-and-such, young or old, this may happen; he knows it from the trace.
And he knows the trace of the pregnant woman, the pregnant woman from the non-pregnant woman. This is correct, meaning he scrutinizes the trace, he sees the gait of the pregnant woman, it is not like the gait of the non-pregnant woman. They have precision in these matters, so they know these things from the perspective of intuition (firasah) or from the perspective of qiyafah, not from the perspective of knowing the unseen. No, it does not fall under this.