Firāsa and Intelligence: The Silly and the Intelligent in Arab Physiognomy

Contacts with the cultural heritage of the classical world created a great interest in physiognomy in the Arab one and the science of physiognomy (firāsa) was a subject of study for Arab writers of various disciplines. The article gives a brief review of the physical indices of intelligence (and of its opposite) as seen by the physiognomical tradition in the Arab world, with an indication of traces in adab works of the classical and post classical periods.