A Dictionary of Islam / Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

by Thomas Patrick Hughes

K.

KAʿBAH (كعبة‎). Lit. “A cube.” The cube-like building in the centre of the mosque at Makkah, which contains the Ḥajaru ʾl-Aswad, or black stone.

THE KAʿBAH. (From a Photograph.)

I. A Description of the Kaʿbah.—It is, according to Burckhardt and Burton, an oblong massive structure, 18 paces in length, 14 in breadth, and about 35 feet in height. It is constructed of grey Makkan stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, with cement. (Burton says it is excellent mortar, like Roman cement.) The Kaʿbah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has, at a distance, the appearance of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year (Burton says it can be entered by pilgrims, by paying the guardian a liberal fee), is on the east side, and about seven feet above the ground. At the south-east corner of the Kaʿbah, near the door, is the famous black stone [[HAJARU ʾL-ASWAD]], which forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet above the ground. The black stone is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different shapes and sizes. It is surrounded on all sides by a border of reddish brown cement, both the stone and the border being encircled by a band of a massive arch of gold or silver gilt, the aperture of the stone being one span and three fingers broad. In the corner facing the south, there is another stone about five feet from the ground. It is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright, and of common Makkan stone. According to the rites of the pilgrimage, this stone, which is called ar-Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī, or Yaman pillar, should only be touched with the right hand as the pilgrim passes it, but Captain Burton says he frequently saw it kissed by the pilgrims. Just by the door of the Kaʿbah, and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting, which is called al-Miʿjan, and supposed to be the place where Abraham and his son Ishmael kneaded the chalk and mud which they used to build the Kaʿbah. Here it is thought meritorious to pray. On the basis of the Kaʿbah, just above the Miʿjan, is an ancient Kufic inscription, which neither Burckhardt nor Burton were able to decipher or to copy. On the north-west side of the Kaʿbah, about two feet below its summit, is the water-spout, which is called the Miʾzābu ʾr-Raḥmah, or the water-spout of mercy. This spout is of gold, and was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981. It carries rain from the roof, and discharges it upon Ishmael’s grave. There are two large green marble slabs, which are said to have been presents from Cairo, A.H. 241, which are supposed to mark the graves of Hagar and Ishmael. The pavement round the Kaʿbah consists of a very handsome mosaic of various coloured stones, and is said to have been laid down A.H. 826. On one side of the Kaʿbah is a semicircular wall, the extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaʿbah, and distant about six feet, leaving an opening which leads to the grave of Ishmael. The wall is called al-Ḥat̤īm, “the broken,” and the enclosed area al-Ḥijr, “the enclosure.” The Kaʿbah is covered with a coarse tissue of mixed silk and cotton, being of a brilliant black colour, and with a gold band round it, upon which is inscribed the ninetieth verse of the third chapter of the Qurʾān: “Verily the first home founded for mankind was surely that at Bakkah, for a blessing and a guidance to mankind.” The inscription being in large Kufic characters. For a further account of this cover, see [KISWAH].

THE KAʿBAH. (Burton.)

II. The History of the Kaʿbah, is embraced in the history of the Baitu ʾllāh or [MASJIDU ʾL-HARAM].

According to the Traditions and the inventive genius of Muslim writers, the Kaʿbah was first constructed in heaven (where a model of it still remains, called the Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr) two thousand years before the creation of the world. Adam erected the Kaʿbah on earth exactly below the spot its perfect model occupies in heaven, and selected the stones from the five sacred mountains, Sinai, al-Jūdī, Ḥirāʾ, Olivet, and Lebanon. Ten thousand angels were appointed to guard the structure, but, as Burckhardt remarks, they appear to have been often most remiss in their duty! At the Deluge the Sacred House was destroyed. But the Almighty is said to have instructed Abraham to rebuild it. In its reconstruction Abraham was assisted by his son Ishmael, who with his mother Hagar were at the time residents of Makkah, Abraham having journeyed from Syria in order to obey the commands of God.

Upon digging they found the original foundations of the building. But wanting a stone to mark the corner of the building, Ishmael started in search of one, and as he was going in the direction of Jabal Qubais, the angel Gabriel met him, and gave him the famous black stone. Ibn ʿAbbās relates that the Prophet said, the black stone when it came down from Paradise was whiter than milk, but that it has become black from the sins of those who have touched it. (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. iv. pt. 2.)

Upon the death of Ishmael, the Kaʿbah fell into the possession of the Banū Jurhum, and remained in their hands for a thousand years. It then became the property of the Banū K͟huzāʿah, who held it for three hundred years. But being constantly exposed to torrents, it was destroyed, and was rebuilt by Quṣaiy ibn Kilāb, who put a top to it. Up to this time it is said to have been open at the roof.

It is said, by Muḥammadan historians, that ʿAmr ibn Luḥaiy was the first who introduced idolatry into Arabia, and that he brought the great idol Hubal from Hait in Mesopotamia and placed it in the sacred house. It then became a Pantheon common to all the tribes. [[IDOLS].] The tribe of Quṣaiy were the first who built dwelling-houses round the Kaʿbah. The successors of the Banū Quṣaiy were the Quraish. Soon after they came into possession, the Kaʿbah was destroyed by fire, and they rebuilt it of wood and of a smaller size, than it had been in the time of the Banū Quṣaiy. The roof was supported within by six pillars, and the statue of Hubal was placed over a wall then existing within the Kaʿbah. This took place during the youth of Muḥammad. Al-Azraqī, quoted by Burckhardt, says that the figure of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus was sculptured as a deity upon one of the six pillars nearest the gate.

The grandfather of Muḥammad, ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, the son of Hāshim, became the custodian of the Sacred House; and during his time, the Kaʿbah being considered too low in its structure, the Quraish wished to raise it; so they demolished it and then they rebuilt till the work reached the place of the black stone. Each tribe wishing to have the honour of raising the black stone into its place, they quarrelled amongst themselves. But they at last agreed that the first man who should enter the gate of the enclosure should be umpire. Muḥammad was the first to enter, and he was appointed umpire. He thereupon ordered them to place the stone upon a cloth and each tribe by its representative to take hold of the cloth and lift it into its place. The dispute was thus ended, and when the stone had reached its proper place, Muḥammad fixed it in its situation with his own hand.

At the commencement of Muḥammad’s mission, it is remarkable that there is scarcely an allusion to the Kaʿbah, and this fact, taken with the circumstance that the earliest Qiblah or direction for prayer, was Jerusalem, and not the Kaʿbah, seems to imply that Muḥammad’s strong iconoclastic tendencies did not incline his sympathies to this ancient idol temple with its superstitious ceremonies. Had the Jews favourably received the new prophet as one who taught the religion of Abraham, to the abrogation of that of Moses and Jesus, Jerusalem and not Makkah would have been the sacred city, and the ancient Rock [[SAKHRAH]] and not the Kaʿbah would have been the object of superstitious reverence.

Taking the Sūrahs chronologically, the earliest reference in the Qurʾān to the Kaʿbah occurs in [Sūrah lii. 4], where the Prophet swears by the frequented house (al-Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr), but commentators are not agreed whether it refers to the Kaʿbah in Makkah, or its heavenly model above, which is said to be frequented by the angels. We then come to [Sūrah xvii. 1], where Muḥammad refers to his celebrated night dream of his journey from the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām) at Makkah to the Remote Mosque (al-Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā) at Jerusalem. And in this verse we find the Rock at Jerusalem spoken of as “the precinct of which We (God) have blessed, to show him (Muḥammad) of our signs,” proving that even then the Prophet of Arabia had his heart fixed on Mount Zion, and not on the Kaʿbah.

When Muḥammad found himself established in al-Madīnah, with a very good prospect of his obtaining possession of Makkah, and its historic associations, he seems to have withdrawn his thoughts from Jerusalem, and its Sacred Rock and to fix them on the house at Bakkah as the home founded for mankind,—Blessed, and a guidance to all creatures. ([Sūrah iii. 90]). The Jews proving obdurate, and there being little chance of his succeeding in establishing his claim as their prophet spoken of by Moses, he changes the Qiblah, or direction for prayer, from Jerusalem to Makkah. The house at Makkah is made “a place of resort unto men and a sanctuary” ([Sūrah ii. 119]).

The Qiblah is changed by an express command of the Almighty, and the whole passage is remarkable as exhibiting a decided concession on the part of Muḥammad to the claims of the Kaʿbah as a central object of adoration. ([Sūrah iii. 138–145].)

“We appointed the Qiblah which thou formerly hadst, only that we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him who turneth on his heels: The change is a difficulty, but not to those whom God hath guided. But God will not let your faith be fruitless; for unto man is God Merciful, Gracious. We have seen thee turning thy face towards every part of Heaven; but we will have thee turn to a Qiblah which shall please thee. Turn then thy face towards the sacred Mosque, and wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that part. They, verily, to whom ‘the Book’ hath been given, know this to be the truth from their Lord: and God is not regardless of what ye do. Even though thou shouldest bring every kind of sign to those who have received the Scriptures, yet thy Qiblah they will not adopt; nor shalt thou adopt their Qiblah; nor will one part of them adopt the Qiblah of the other. And if, after the knowledge which hath come to thee, thou follow their wishes, verily then wilt thou become of the unrighteous. They to whom we have given the Scriptures know him—the apostle—even as they know their own children: but truly a part of them do conceal the truth, though acquainted with it. The truth is from thy Lord. Be not then of those who doubt. All have a quarter of the Heavens to which they turn them; but wherever ye be, hasten emulously after good: God will one day bring you all together; verily, God is all-powerful. And from whatever place thou comest forth, turn thy face toward the sacred Mosque; for this is the truth from thy Lord; and God is not inattentive to your doings. And from whatever place thou comest forth, turn thy face toward the sacred Mosque; and wherever ye be, to that part turn your faces, lest men have cause of dispute against you: but as for the impious among them, fear them not; but fear me, that I may perfect my favours on you, and that ye may be guided aright.”

The verses of the second Sūrah of the Qurʾān are, according to Jalālu ʾd-dīn and other commentators, not in their chronological order. It is therefore difficult to fix the precise date of the following verse:—

[Sūrah ii. 108]: “Who is more unjust than he who prohibits God’s mosques, that His name should not be worshipped there, and who strives to ruin them.”

According to al-Baiẓāwī, the verse either refers to the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus, or to the Quraish who, at al-Ḥudaibiyah, had prevented the Prophet from entering Makkah until the following year.

In the seventh year of the Hijrah, Muḥammad was, according to the treaty with the Quraish at al-Ḥudaibiyah in the previous year, allowed to enter Makkah, and perform the circuit of the Kaʿbah. Hubal and the other idols of the Arabian pantheon were still within the sacred building, but, as Muḥammad’s visit was limited to three days, he confined himself to the ordinary rites of the ʿUmrah, or visitation, without interfering with the idolatrous arrangement of the Kaʿbah itself. Before he left, at the hour of midday prayer, Bilāl ascended the holy house, and from its summit gave the first call to Muslim prayers, which were afterwards led by the Prophet in the usual form.

The following year Muḥammad occupied Makkah by force of arms. The idols in the Kaʿbah were destroyed, and the rites of the pilgrimage were established as by divine enactment. From this time the history of the Kaʿbah becomes part of the history of Islām.

The K͟halīfah ʿUmar first built a mosque round the Kaʿbah, A.H. 17.

For a history of the sacred mosque at Makkah, see [MASJIDU ʾL-HARAM].

KAʿB IBN MĀLIK (كعب بن مالك‎). A companion of the Prophet and one of the Anṣārs of the tribe of K͟hazraj. He was celebrated as a poet, and embraced Islām after the second pledge of ʿAkabah. He was one of the three companions who refused to accompany Muḥammad on the expedition to Tabūk (Hilāl and Marārah being the other two), and who are referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ix. 118, 119]: “Verily He is kind to them, unto the three who were left behind.” For a time Muḥammad was displeased with them, but he afterwards became reconciled. Kaʿb became a companion of some note, and died during the reign of ʿAlī.

AL-KABĪR (الكبير‎). “The Great One.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God, [Sūrah xxxiv. 22]: “He is the High (al-ʿAlī) and the Great (al-Kabīr).”

KABĪRAH (كبيرة‎). The fem. of kabīr, “great.” A term used in theological books for Gunāh-i-Kabīrah, “a great sin”; namely, that sin which is clearly forbidden in the law, and for which punishment has been ordained of God. [[SIN].]

KAʿBĪYAH (كعبية‎). A sect of Muslims founded by Abū Qāsim Muḥammad ibn al-Kaʿbī, who was a Muʿtazilī of Bag͟hdād, who said the acts of God were without purpose, will, or desire.

KACHKŪL (كچكول‎). Persian (vulg. kachkol). The begging bowl of a religious mendicant. [[FAQIR].]

KAFĀLAH (كفالة‎). [[BAIL].]

KAFAN (كفن‎). The shroud for the dead. It usually consists of three pieces of cloth for a man and five for a woman. Those for a man: 1, An izār, or piece of cloth, reaching from the navel to the knees or ankle joints; 2, A qamīṣ, or shirt, from the neck to the knees; 3, A sheet to cover the whole corpse. For a woman there are also a breast band and head band. The whole being of white. [[BURIAL].]

KAFFĀRAH (كفارة‎), from kafr, “to hide.” Heb. ‏כִּפֻּרִים‎. Lit. “Coverings; atonements; expiation.”

The word occurs four times in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah v. 49]: “Whoso remitteth it as alms shall have expiation for his sins.”

[Sūrah v. 91]: “Its expiation shall be to feed ten persons.” “This is the expiation for your oaths.”

[Sūrah v. 96]: “In expiation thereof shall ye feed the poor.”

The other word used is fidyah [[FIDYAH]]. The expression kaffāratu ʾẕ-ẕunūb, “atonement for sins,” is used for expiation by prayer, alms, fasting, and pilgrimage. [[EXPIATION].]

AL-KĀFĪ (الكافى‎). “The Sufficient One.” An attribute of God mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxix. 37]: “Is not God sufficient for His servant.”

AL-KĀFĪ (الكافى‎). The title of a collection of traditions by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulīnī (A.H. 328) received by the Shīʿahs.

KĀFIR (كافر‎), pl. kāfirūn. Lit. “The coverer.” One who hides or covers up the truth.

The word is generally used by Muḥammadans to define one who is an unbeliever in the ministry of Muḥammad and his Qurʾān, and in this sense it seems to have been used by Muḥammad himself. [Sūrah ii. 37]: “Those who misbelieve (waʾllaẕīna kafarū), and call our signs lies, they are fellows of the Fire, they shall dwell within for ever.”

It is also used for those who believe in the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Trinity. [Sūrah v. 76]: “They indeed are infidels (la-qad kafara ʾllaẕīna), who say God is al-Masīḥu ibn Maryam.… Verily him who associates anything with God, hath God forbidden Paradise, and his resort is the Fire.”

[Sūrah v. 77]: “They are infidels who say Verily God is the third of three.”

[On this passage the Kamālān say it refers to the Nestorians and to the Malakāʾīyah, who believe that God is one of three, the other two being the mother and son.]

According to the Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār (vol. iii. p. 442), there are five classes of kāfirs or infidels: (1) Those who do not believe in the Great First Cause; (2) Those who do not believe in the Unity of God, as the S̤anawīyah who believe in the two eternal principles of light and darkness; (3) Those who believe in the Unity of God, but do not believe in a revelation; (4) Those who are idolaters; (5) Those who believe in God and in a revelation, but do not believe in the general mission of Muḥammad to the whole of mankind, as the Christians, a sect of the Jews (sic).

Saiyid Sharīf Jurjānī says: “Mankind are divided into two parties, namely, those who acknowledge the mission of Muḥammad, or those who do not believe in it. Those who do not believe in his mission are either those who reject it and yet believe in the inspiration and divine mission of other prophets, as the Jews or Christians, and also the Majūsī (Fire Worshippers); or those who do not believe in any revelation of God’s will. Those who do not believe in any revelation from God, are either those who acknowledge the existence of God, as the Brāhmā (Buddhists?), or those who deny the existence of a Supreme Ruler, as the Dahrī, or Atheists.”

“Those who do not acknowledge Muḥammad as an inspired prophet are either those who do it wilfully and from mere enmity, or those who do not acknowledge it from reflection and due study of the subject. For the former is eternal punishment, and for the latter that punishment which is not eternal. There are also those who, whilst they are Muslims, are not orthodox in their belief; these are heretics, but they are not kāfirs. Those who are orthodox are an-Nājī or the salvationists.” (Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, p. 597.)

KAFŪR (كفور‎). The unthankful, or ungrateful. Condemned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxii. 39]: “God loveth not the false, the unthankful.”

KĀFŪR (كافور‎). Lit. “Camphor.” A fountain in Paradise mentioned in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah lxxvi. 5]) as the fountain whereof the servants of the Lord shall drink. But al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, takes it for an appellative, and believes that the wine of Paradise will be mixed with camphor because of its agreeable coolness and smell.

AL-KAHF (الكهف‎). “The Cave.” The title of the XVIIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, in which is related the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, known as the Aṣḥābu ʾl-Kahf.

KĀHIN (كاهن‎), pl. kahanah and kuhhān. A soothsayer, or augur. The word occurs only twice in the Qurʾān; and in both instances it is used for “a soothsayer.”

[Sūrah lii. 29]: “For thou (Muḥammad), by the favour of thy Lord, art neither a soothsayer (kāhin), nor one possessed (majnūn).”

[Sūrah lxix. 42]: “Neither is it (the Qurʾān) the word of a soothsayer (kāhin).”

The word is used in the Traditions in the same sense only:—

Mishkāt, book iv. chap. i.: “The Prophet said, believe in Islām, and put not your trust in soothsayers (kahanah).”

Mishkāt, book xxi. ch. ii.: “ʿĀyishah relates that the Prophet was asked about kahanah, fortune-tellers, and he said, ‘You must not believe anything they say.’ It was then said, ‘O Prophet, why do they then sometimes tell lies?’ And the Prophet said: ‘Because one of the jinn steals away the truth and carries it to the magician’s ear, and the magicians (kuhhān) mix a hundred lies with it.’ ”

The Hebrew ‏כֹחֵן‎ Kohain, ἱερεὺς, is applied in the Old Testament not only to the Jewish priests, but also to Melchizedek ([Gen. xiv. 18]), Potipher ([Gen. xli. 45]; see marginal reading in our English version), and to Jethro ([Ex. ii. 16]).

KAHRUBĀ (كهربا‎). Lit. “Attracting Straws.” Electricity, or the power of attraction. A Ṣūfī term.

KAIFĪYAH (كيفية‎). “Detailed circumstances.” A term used in Muḥammadan books for a statement or account of anything, e.g. kaifīyat-i-task͟hīr, “the manner of attack”; kaifīyat-i-rāsik͟hah, “a fixed or permanent quality”; kaifīyat-i-ʿāriẓah, “a moveable or accidental quality.”

KAʾLAH (كالة‎). A kind of sale which is prohibited. Mishkāt, book xii. ch. v. pt. 2: “The Prophet has forbidden selling on credit for credit.”

ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq explains it thus: “If ʿAmr owe Zaid a piece of cloth, and Bakr ten dirhams, and Zaid say to Bakr, I have sold you the piece of cloth, which is with ʿAmr for ten dirhams”—this sale is forbidden.

KALĀM (كلام‎). “A word; speech.” ʿIlmu ʾl-kalām, “scholastic theology”; fasīḥu ʾl-kalām, “eloquent”; muḥaṣṣalu ʾl-kalām, “the substance of a discourse.”

KALĀMU ʾLLĀH (كلام الله‎). “The Word of God.” A title given to the Qurʾān. [Sūrah ii. 70]: “Already a sect of them have heard the Word of God.”

KALIMAH (كلمة‎). Lit. “The Word.” The Creed of the Muslim.

لا اله الا الاه محمد رسول الله‎

Lā Īlāha illā ʾllāhu: Muḥammadun Rasūlu ʾllāh.

“There is no deity but God: Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”

The whole sentence as it stands does not occur in the Qurʾān; but the first part of the creed, “There is no deity but God,” is in the Sūratu Muḥammad, or XLVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, verse 21; and the second part, “Muḥammad is the Apostle of God,” is in the Sūratu ʾl-Fatḥ, or XLVIIIth chapter, verse 29. The first sentence is known as the Nafy and the Iṣbāt, or the rejection (there is no deity) and the affirmation (but God), and is recited often as a religious office by the Ṣūfī faqīrs.

The whole creed frequently occurs in the Traditions, and is an oft-recurring clause in the daily prayer.

This Kalimah occupies a similar place in the Muslim religion to the “Shemaʿ Israīl” of the Hebrew Bible in the Jews’ religion. The Shemaʿ (“Hear”) is the fourth verse of [Deut. vi].: “Hear, O Israīl, Jehovah our Elohīm is one Jehovah”; which is frequently used in daily morning and evening service of the Jews. From the Traditions (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. 2, pt. 1) it appears that a something similar to this well known symbol of the Muslim creed, was in use amongst the ancient Arabians, and is still recited by Muslims, amongst whom it is known as the Talbiyah: “I stand up for Thy service, O God! There is no partner with Thee.” [[TALBIYAH].]

The recital of the kalimah is the first of the five foundations or pillars of practice, and, according to the Fawāʾidu ʾsh-Sharīʿah, every Muslim should recite it aloud at least once in his lifetime, and he should understand its meaning. [[RECITAL OF THE CREED].]

KALIMATU ʾL-ḤAẒRAH (كلمة الحضرة‎). The fiat of God when He said “Be,” and it was created. The word كن‎, kun, is therefore called the Kalimatu ʾl-Ḥaẓrah. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxvi. 82]: “His bidding is only when He desires anything to say to it ‘BE,’ and it is.” And in about eleven other places.

KALIMATU ʾSH-SHAHĀDAT (كلمة الشهادة‎). “The word of testimony.” The following expression of belief: “I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and that Muḥammad is His Apostle.” [[PRAYER].]

KALĪMU ʾLLĀH (كليم الله‎). “The Converser with God.” A title given to the Prophet Moses (vide Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xii.). It is also referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 162]: “Moses did God speak to—conversing.”

KALĪSAH, KILĪSAH (كليسة‎). A Christian Church. Ἐκκλησία. The word is used in books of Muḥammadan law for both Christian and Jewish places of worship. The word kanīsah is also used. [[KANISAH].]

KĀMIL (كامل‎). “Perfect; complete.” Al-Insānu ʾl-Kāmil, “the perfect man.” A mystic term. [[INSANU ʾL-KAMIL].]

KĀMILĪYAH (كاملية‎). A sect of Shīʿah Muslims founded by Abū ʾl-Kāmil, who said the Aṣāḥīb, or Companions of the Prophet, were infidels, because they rejected the house of ʿAlī in forming the K͟halīfate, and he even called the K͟halīfah ʿAlī an infidel because he did not claim his rights when Muḥammad died. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

KANʿĀN (كنعان‎). “Canaan.” Not mentioned by name in the Qurʾān. The Commentators al-Baiẓāwī and Jalālu ʾd-dīn, say he was the son of Noah; but the author of the Qāmūs dictionary says he was the son of Shem. (According to the Old Testament, he was the son of Ham, [Gen. x. 6]; [1 Chron. i. 8].)

He is said to be that son of Noah who was drowned, through unbelief, in the deluge. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah xi. 44]. [[NOAH].]

KANĪSAH (كنيسة‎). A Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a pagan temple. It is used in the Hidāyah (vol. ii. p. 219) for a synagogue. [[CHURCHES].]

AL-KANZU ʾL-MAK͟HFĪ (الكنز المخفى‎). Lit. “The Secret Treasure.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for the essence and personality of God.

KĀRAWĀN (كاروان‎). Persian. “A caravan.” The Arabic term is Qāfilah. A party of merchants proceeding on a journey under the direction of a leader who is called a Qāfilah Bāshī.

KARBALĀʾ (كربلاء‎), or MASHHADU ʾL-ḤUSAIN. A city in al-ʿIrāq, celebrated as the scene of the martyrdom of al-Ḥusain [[AL-HUSAIN]] and the place of his sepulchre. It is fifty miles south-west of Bag͟hdād, and about six miles west of the Euphrates.

AL-KARĪM (الكريم‎). “The Generous One.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God.

KARŪBĪN (كروبين‎). [[CHERUBIM].]

KASHF (كشف‎). The uncovering of anything covered; manifestation. A mystic term used for a revelation of any secret truth to the mind of man, by the grace and power of God.

KĀTIB (كاتب‎). An Amanuensis; a clerk; a secretary. In the latter sense it is used for Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Manīʿ az-Zuhrī, the secretary to al-Wāqidī. [[KATIBU ʾL-WAQIDI].]

KĀTIBU ʾL-WĀQIDĪ (كاتب الواقدى‎). The secretary of al-Wāqidī. A Muslim historian, largely quoted by Sir William Muir in his Life of Mahomet, and also by Sprenger, and often given as an authority in the present work.

Mr. Ameer Ali in his Life of Muḥammad (London, 1873), couples the name of Kātibu ʾl-Wāqidī with that of al-Wāqidī himself, as regarded by “the Muḥammadan as the least trustworthy and most careless biographers of Muḥammad,” and quotes Ibn K͟hallikān in support of his opinion. It is quite true that Ibn K͟hallikān does speak of the traditions received by al-Wāqidī as “of feeble authority,” but he bears testimony to the trustworthiness of al-Wāqidī’s secretary in the strongest terms, as will be seen in the following quotation, and it is manifestly unfair of Mr. Ameer Ali to couple the two names together in his preface:—

“Abû Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Saad Ibn Manî az-Zuhri, was a man of the highest talents, merit, and eminence. He lived for some time with al-Wakidi [[WAQIDI]] in the character of a secretary, and for this reason he became known by the appellation of Katibu-l-Wakidi. Amongst the masters under whom he studied was Sofyân Ibn Oyaina. Traditional information was delivered on his own authority by Abû Bakr Ibn Abid-Dunyâ and Abû Muhammad al-Hârith Ibn Abi Osâma at-Tamimi. He composed an excellent work, in fifteen volumes, on the different classes (tabakât) of Muhammad’s companions and of the Tâbîs. It contains also a history of the khalifs brought down to his own time. He left also a smaller Tabakât. His character as a veracious and trustworthy historian is universally admitted. It is said that the complete collection of al-Wakidi’s works remained in the possession of four persons, the first of whom was his secretary, Muhammad ibn Saad. This distinguished writer displayed great acquirements in the sciences, the traditions, and traditional literature; most of his books treat of the traditions and law. The Khatîb Abû Bakr, author of the history of Baghdad, speaks of him in these terms: ‘We consider Muhammad ibn Saad as a man of unimpeached integrity, and the Traditions which he delivered are a proof of his veracity, for in the greater part of the information handed down by him, we find him discussing it, passage by passage.’ He was a mawla (slave) to al-Husain Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Obaid Allah Ibn al-Abbâs Ibn Abd al-Muttalib. He died at Baghdad on Sunday the 4th of the latter Jumâda, A.H. 203 (December, A.D. 818), at the age of sixty-two years, and was interred in the cemetery outside the Damascus gate (Bâb as-Shâm.)”—(Ibn K͟hallikān, Biog. Dict., in loco.)

AL-KAUS̤AR (الكوثر‎). Lit. “Abundance.” A pond in Muḥammad’s paradise known as the Ḥauẓu ʾl-Kaus̤ar, or “The Pond of Abundance.”

The word occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah cviii. 1–3]:—

“Truly we have given thee an abundance (i.e. al-Kaus̤ar);

“Pray therefore to the Lord, and slay the victims.

“Verily whoso hateth thee shall be childless.”

But it is not clear whether the pond is intended in this verse. Al-Baiẓāwī thinks it refers to abundance of blessings and not to the pond.

Anas relates that the Prophet said the prophet saw the pond al-Kaus̤ar in the night of his Miʿrāj or heavenly journey [[MIʿRAJ]] and that it “was a river of water on each side of which there were domes, each formed of a hollow pearl.”

ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿAmr relates that the Prophet said “the circumference of al-Kaus̤ar is a month’s journey, and it is a square, its water whiter than milk, its smell sweeter than musk, and its cups for drinking sparkle like the stars of heaven. He who drinks of its waters shall never thirst.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. xii.)

K͟HABAR-I-WĀḤID (خبر واحد‎). A term used in the Traditions for a tradition related by one person and handed down by one chain of narrators. [[TRADITION].]

K͟HABAR MUTAWĀTIR (خبر متواتر‎). A term used for a tradition which is handed down by very many distinct chains of narrators, and which has been always accepted as authentic and genuine, no doubt ever having been raised against it.

Syud Ahmad Khan says all learned Muslims of every period have declared the Qurʾān is the only Ḥadīs̤ Mutawātir, but some have declared certain Aḥādīs̤ also to be Mutawātir, the number of such not exceeding five. (Essay on the Traditions, p. 15.) [[TRADITIONS].]

K͟HABĪS̤ (خبيث‎). “Impure; base; wicked.”

Qurʾān viii. 38: “That God may distinguish the vile from the good, and may put the vile one on the top of the other, and heap all up together, and put them into hell.”

K͟HADĪJAH (خديجة‎). Known as K͟hadījatu ʾl-Kubrā, “K͟hadījah the Great.” The first wife of Muḥammad, and the first convert to a belief in his mission.

She was a Quraish lady of good fortune, the daughter of K͟huwailid, who was the great grandson of Quṣaiy. Before she married Muḥammad, she was a widow who had been twice married, and had borne two sons and a daughter. Upon her marriage with Muḥammad, she had attained her fortieth year, whilst he was only twenty-five years of age. She continued to be his only wife until the day of her death. She died December, A.D. 619, aged 65; having been his counsellor and support for five-and-twenty years. She had borne Muḥammad two sons and four daughters: al-Qāṣim, and ʿAbdu ʾllāh, also called at̤-T̤aiyib and at̤-T̤āhir, Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Fāt̤imah, and Umm Kuls̤ūm. Of those, only Fāt̤imah survived the Prophet, and from her and her husband ʿAlī are descended that posterity of Saiyids who are the subjects of such frequent petitions in the k͟hut̤bahs and the liturgical prayers in all parts of the Muḥammadan world.

Muḥammad ever retained his affection for K͟hadījah. ʿĀyishah said: “I was never so jealous of any one of the Prophet’s wives as I was of K͟hadījah, although I never saw her. The Prophet was always talking of her, and he would very often slay goats and cut them up, and send pieces of them as presents to K͟hadījah’s female friends. I often said to him, ‘One might suppose there had not been such another woman as K͟hadījah in the world!’ And the Prophet would then praise her and say she was so and so, and I had children by her.” (Mishkāt, book xxix. ch. xxii.)

According to a traditional saying of Muḥammad, K͟hadījah, Fāt̤imah, the Virgin Mary, and Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh, were the four perfect women. (Mishkāt, book xxiv. ch. xxix. pt. 2.) [[MUHAMMAD].]

K͟HAFĪ (خفى‎). “Hidden.” A term used in works on exegesis for that which is hidden in its meaning, as compared with that which is obvious. [[QURʾAN].]

K͟HAIBAR (خيبر‎). A rich and populous valley, eight stages from al-Madīnah, inhabited by Jews. It is celebrated in the history of Islām as the scene of one of Muḥammad’s expeditions, A.H. 7, when the chief Kinānah was slain and the whole valley conquered. (See Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed., p. 388 seqq.)

Here the Prophet instituted mutʿah, or temporary marriage [[MUTʿAH].] Here were the special orders regarding clean and unclean animals promulgated. Here Muḥammad married Ṣafīyah, the widow of the chief of K͟haibar. Here Zainab, the sister of the warrior Marhab, who had lost her husband, her father, and her brother in battle, tried to poison the Prophet with a poisoned kid. The campaign of K͟haibar, therefore, marks an epoch in the Prophet’s history. [[MUHAMMAD].]

K͟HAIRĀT (خيرات‎). The Plural of K͟hair. “Charity; good deeds.” The word occurs in the Qurʾān in its singular form (k͟hair), but in modern theological works it is more frequently used in its plural form.

K͟HAIRU ʾL-QURŪN (خير القرون‎). The best generations. A term used for the first three generations of Muslims from the time of the Prophet. Muḥammad is related to have said there would be three virtuous generations, the one in which he lived and the two following it.

K͟HALFĪYAH (خلفية‎). A sect of Muslims founded by K͟halfu ʾl-K͟hārijī, who maintained, contrary to the general belief, that the children of idolators will be eternally damned.

K͟HĀLID (خالد‎). Son of al-Walīd. The famous Muḥammadan general. He fought against Muḥammad at Uḥud and defeated the Muslim army. The Prophet married Maimūnah, who was an aunt to K͟hālid, a lady fifty-one years of age, and soon afterwards K͟hālid himself embraced Islām and became one of its most powerful champions. He led the Bedouin converts in the advance on Makkah, and was present as one of the chief leaders of the Muslim army at the battle of Ḥunain, and subsequent expeditions. In the reign of Abū Bakr, he murdered Mālik Ibn Nuwairah, an eminent Arab chief, and married his widow. The murder greatly displeased the K͟halīfah Abū Bakr, and he would have ordered K͟hālid to be put to death, but ʿUmar interceded for him. He afterwards took the lead in various expeditions. He invaded al-ʿIrāq and Syria, took Bustrah, defeated the Christians at Ajnadin, commanded the Muslim army at Yarmūk, and subdued the country as far as the Euphrates. After the taking of Damascus, he was recalled by ʿUmar, and sent to Ḥimṣ and Baʿlabakk. He died at Ḥimṣ A.H. 18, A.D. 639.

K͟HĀLIDŪN (خالدون‎), pl. of k͟hālid, “Everlasting.” A term used to express the everlasting character of the joys of heaven and the torments of hell. It is used fifty times in the Qurʾān in this sense. [[ETERNAL PUNISHMENT].]

K͟HALĪFAH (خليفة‎), pl. K͟hulafāʾ, from k͟half, “to leave behind.” Anglice, “Caliph.” A successor; a lieutenant; a vicegerent, or deputy. The word is used in the Qurʾān for Adam, as the vicegerent of the Almighty on earth.

[Sūrah ii. 28]: “And when thy Lord said to the angels, ‘I am about to place a vicegerent (k͟halīfah) on the earth,’ they said, ‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will do evil therein and shed blood?’ ”

And also for David:—

[Sūrah xxxviii. 25]: “O David! verily We have made thee a vicegerent (k͟halīfah); judge then between men with truth.”

In Muḥammadanism it is the title given to the successor of Muḥammad, who is vested with absolute authority in all matters of state, both civil and religious, as long as he rules in conformity with the law of the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤. The word more frequently used for the office in Muḥammadan works of jurisprudence, is Imām (leader), or al-Imāmu ʾl-Aʿz̤am (the great leader). It is held to be an essential principle in the establishment of the office, that there shall be only one K͟halīfah at the same time; for the Prophet said: “When two K͟halīfahs have been set up, put the last to death and preserve the other, for the last is a rebel.” (Mishkāt, book xvi. ch. i.)

According to all Sunnī Muḥammadan books, it is absolutely necessary that the K͟halīfah be “a man, an adult, a sane person, a free man, a learned divine, a powerful ruler, a just person, and one of the Quraish (i.e. of the tribe to which the Prophet himself belonged).

The Shīʿahs hold that he should be one of the descendants of the Prophet’s own family; but this is rejected by the Sunnīs and Wahhābīs.

The condition that the K͟halīfah should be of the Quraish is very important, for thereby the present Ottoman Sultāns fail to establish their claims to the K͟halīfate (Arabic K͟hilāfah). The four immediate successors of Muḥammad are entitled the K͟hulafāʾu ʾr-Rāshidūn, or “the well-directed K͟halīfahs.” According to the Bag͟hyatu ʾr-Raid, only the first five K͟halīfahs, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUs̤mān, ʿAlī, and al-Ḥasan, are entitled to the distinction of K͟halīfah, the others being merely Amīrs, or Governors. After the deaths of the first five K͟halīfahs, the K͟halīfate, which is allowed by all parties to be elective and not hereditary, passed successively to the Umayades (Banū Umayah). The first K͟halīfah of this dynasty was Muʿāwiyah, the grandson of Umaiyah of the Quraish tribe, who received the K͟halīfate from al-Ḥasan. Of the Umayades, there were fourteen K͟halīfahs who reigned at Damascus, extending over a period from A.H. 41 to A.H. 132 (A.D. 661 to A.D. 750). The title then passed to Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās, the fourth in descent from al-ʿAbbās, the uncle of Muḥammad, and the Abbaside K͟halīfahs, thirty-seven in number, who reigned at Bag͟hdād from A.H. 132 to A.H. 656 (A.D. 750 to A.D. 1258).

The temporal power of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs was overthrown by Halāk K͟hān, grandson of the celebrated Chenjiz K͟hān, A.D. 1258; but for three centuries, certain descendants of the Abbaside, or Bag͟hdād K͟halīfahs, resided in Egypt, and asserted their claim to the spiritual power. The founder of the present dynasty of Turkish Sult̤āns was ʿUs̤mān (Othmān), a chieftain descended from the Orghuz Turks (born at Sakut, A.D. 1259), who was at first the ruler of a small territory in Bithynia, but who in 1299 invaded the whole country of Makkah, and subsequently extended his conquests to the Black Sea, and whose successor, Salīm (ninth in descent), obtained the title of K͟halīfah from one of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs in Egypt. About the year A.D. 1515 (A.H. 921), Salīm I., ruler of the Ottoman Turks and Emperor of Constantinople, finding himself the most powerful prince of his day in Islām, and wishing still further to consolidate his rule, conceived the idea of reviving in his own person the extinct glories of the K͟halīfate. He had more than one claim to be considered their champion by orthodox Muḥammadans, for he was the grandson of that Muḥammad II. who had finally extinguished the Roman Empire of the East; and he had himself just ended a successful campaign against the heretical Shah of Persia. His only rivals among Sunnī princes were the Muslim Emperors in India, the Emperor of Morocco, and the Mameluke ruler of Egypt, then known to the world as par excellence, “the Sultan.” With the two former, as rulers of what were remote lands of Islām, Salīm seems to have troubled himself little, but he made war on Egypt. In A.D. 1516 he invaded Syria, its outlying province, and in A.D. 1517 he entered Cairo. There he made prisoner the reigning Mameluke, Qansau ʾl-G͟haurī, and had him publicly beheaded.

He then, in virtue of a very doubtful cession made to him of his rights by one Mutawakkil Ibn ʿAmri ʾl-Ḥākim, a descendant of the house of al-ʿAbbās, whom he found living as titular K͟halīfah in Cairo, took to himself the following style and title: Sult̤ānu ʾs-Salāt̤īn wa Ḥākimu ʾl-Ḥākimīn, Māliku ʾl-Baḥrain wa Ḥāmīyu ʾl-Barrain, K͟halīfatu ʾr-Rasūli ʾllāh, Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn, wa Sult̤ān, wa K͟hān; that is: “King of kings and Ruler of rulers, Monarch of the two seas (the Mediterranean and the Red Sea) and Protector of the two lands (al-Ḥijāz and Syria, the holy lands of Islām), Successor (K͟halīfah) of the Apostle of God, Ruler of the Faithful, King and Chief.” It is said that he first had the satisfaction of hearing his name mentioned in the public prayers as K͟halīfah when he visited the Great Mosque of Zacharias at Aleppo, on his return northwards in 1519.

Such are the titles still claimed by the Ottoman Sult̤āns, who arrogate to themselves the position of K͟halīfahs and Successors to the Prophet. It is, however, a mere assertion; for the title and office being elective and not hereditary, it was not in the power of any K͟halīfah to transfer it to another. Force of circumstances alone has compelled the ruler of the Ottoman Empire to assume the position, and has induced his subjects to acquiesce in the usurpation. We have not seen a single work of authority, nor met with a single man of learning, attempting to prove that the Sult̤āns of Turkey are rightful K͟halīfahs; for the assumption of the title by anyone who is not of the Quraish tribe is undoubtedly illegal and heretical, as will be seen from the following authorities:—

Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, book xxiv. ch. xii.: “Ibn ʿAmr relates that the Prophet of God said: ‘The K͟halīfah shall be in the Quraish tribe as long as there are two persons in it, one to rule and another to serve.’ ”

Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, p. 606, Arabic edition, Egypt: “It is a condition that the K͟halīfah (Imām) be of the Quraish tribe. All admit this except the K͟hawārij and certain Muʿtazilahs. We all say with the Prophet: ‘Let the K͟halīfah be of the Quraish’; and it is certain that the Companions acted upon this injunction, for Abū Bakr urged it as an authority upon the Anṣārs, on the day of Sakhifah, when the Companions were present and agreed. It is, therefore, for a certainty established that the K͟halīfah must be of the Quraish.”

The Ḥujjatu ʾllāhi ʾl-Balāg͟hah, p. 335, Arabic edition, Delhi: “It is a necessary condition that the K͟halīfah (Imām) be of the Quraish tribe.”

The Kashʾhāfu ʾl-Iṣt̤ilāḥāt; A Dictionary of Technical Terms. Edited by Colonel N. Lees, in loco: “The K͟halīfah (Imām) must be a Quraish.”

It is a matter of history that the Wahhābīs regarded the Turkish Sult̤ān as a usurper, when Saʿūd took Makkah and al-Madīnah in 1804; and to the present day, in countries not under Turkish rule, the k͟hut̤bah is recited in behalf of the Amīr, or ruler of the Muslim state, instead of the Ottoman Sult̤ān, which would not be the case if he were acknowledged as a lawful K͟halīfah. In a collection of k͟hut̤bahs, entitled the Majmaʿu K͟hut̤ab, the name of the Sult̤ān of Turkey does not once occur, although this collection is much used in Muḥammadan states. We have seen it stated that the Sult̤ān is prayed for in Hyderabad and Bengal; but we believe it will be found, upon careful inquiry, that he was not mentioned by name, until very recently, in any of the mosques of India. K͟hut̤bahs, in which there are prayers for the Ottoman Sult̤ān by name, have been imported from Constantinople.

According to Mr. W. S. Blunt, the chief arguments of the Hanifite ʿUlamāʾ in support of the claims of the present Ottoman dynasty are:—

(1) The right of the Sword.—The K͟halīfate being a necessity (and this all Muslims admit), it was also a necessity that the de facto holder of the title should be recognised until a claimant with a better title should appear. Now, the first qualification of a claimant was, that he should make the claim, and the second, that he should be supported by a party; and Salīm had both claimed the K͟halīfate and supported his pretensions at the head of an army. He challenged the world to produce a rival, and no rival had been found.

(2) Election, that is, the sanction of a legal body of elders. It was argued that, as the ahlu ʿaqd (or council), had been removed from al-Madīnah to Damascus, and from Damascus to Bag͟hdād, and from Bag͟hdād to Cairo, so it had been once more legally removed from Cairo to Constantinople. Salīm had brought with him to St. Sophia’s some of the ʿUlamāʾ (learned men) of the Azhar mosque in Cairo, and these in conjunction with the Turkish ʿUlamāʾ had elected him or ratified his election. A form of election is to the present day observed at Constantinople in token of this right, and each new Sult̤ān of the house of ʿUs̤mān, as he succeeds to the temporal sovereignty of Turkey, must wait before being recognised as K͟halīfah till he has received the sword of office at the hands of the ʿUlamāʾ. This ceremony it is customary to perform in the mosque of Aiyūb.

(3) Nomination.—Sult̤ān Salīm, as has been already said, obtained from Mutawakkil, a descendant of the Abbasides, and himself titularly K͟halīfah, a full cession of all the K͟halīfah rights of that family. The fact, as far as it goes, is historical, and the only flaw in the argument would seem to be that Mutawakkil had no right thus to dispose of a title to an alien, which was his own only in virtue of his birth. As a precedent for nomination, they cite the act of Abū Bakr, who on his death-bed recommended ʿUmar as his successor in the K͟halīfate.

(4) The Guardianship of the Two Shrines (Ḥaramān), that is to say, of Makkah and Jerusalem, but especially of Makkah. It has been asserted by some of the ʿUlamāʾ, and it is certainly a common opinion at the present day, that the sovereignty of al-Ḥijāz is in itself sufficient title to the K͟halīfate. It seems certainly to have been so considered in the first age of Islām, and many a bloody war was then fought for the right of protecting the Baitu ʾllāh, but the connection of al-Ḥijāz with the empire of the K͟halīfahs has been too often broken to make this a very tenable argument. In the tenth century, Makkah was held by the Karmathian heretics, in the thirteenth by the Imāms of Ṣanʿāʾ, and for seven years in the present century by the Wahhābīs. Still the de facto sovereignty of the Ḥaramān, or two shrines, was one of Salīm’s pleas; and it is one which has reappeared in modern arguments respecting the K͟halīfal rights of his descendants.

(5) Possession of the Amānāt, or sacred relics. This last is a plea addressed to the vulgar rather than to the learned; but it is one which cannot be passed by unnoticed here, for it exercises a powerful influence at the present day over the ignorant mass of Muslims. It was asserted, and is still a pious belief, that from the sack of Bag͟hdād in A.D. 1258, certain relicts of the Prophet and his Companions were saved and brought to Cairo, and thence transferred by Salīm to Constantinople. These were represented as constituting the imperial insignia of office, and their possession as giving a title to the succession. They consisted of the cloak of the Prophet, borne by his soldiers as a standard, of some hairs of the Prophet’s beard, and of the sword of ʿUmar. The vulgar still believe them to be preserved in the mosque of Aiyūb at Constantinople. (See The Future of Islām, by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, London, 1882, p. 66.)

On the general question as to whether or not an Imām, or K͟halīfah, is necessary for Islām, the author of the Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif says, “The appointment of an Imām (i.e. K͟halīfah) is incumbent upon the united body of Muslims, according to the orthodox law of the Sunnīs, although the Muʿtazilahs and Zaidīyahs say it is merely expedient, but not ordered by the law, whilst the Ishmailīyahs and the Imāmīyahs say God will Himself appoint an Imām for the establishment of sound doctrine. Some say the appointment of an Imām is only necessary when Muslims are at peace amongst themselves and united, and not when they are in a state of rebellion.

The arguments in favour of the absolute necessity of an Imām, or K͟halīfah, being appointed, are that in the time of Abū Bakr, the first K͟halīfah, it was established by general consent; and Abū Bakr, in his first k͟hut̤bah after the death of Muḥammad, said: “Beware! Muḥammad is certainly dead, and it is necessary for this religion that some one should be appointed for its protection.” And all the Muslims at that time consented to this saying of Abū Bakr, and consequently in all ages Muslims have had an Imām. And it is well known that without such an officer Islām cannot be protected from evil, for without him it is impossible to maintain the orders of the Muslim law, such as marriage, Jihād, punishment, and the various ordinances of Islām. (Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, p. 603.)

The following are some of the injunctions of Muḥammad regarding the Imām or K͟halīfah:—

“When two K͟halīfahs have been set up, put the last of them to death and preserve the other, for the second is a rebel.”

“He who acknowledges an Imām must obey him as far as he can, and if a pretender comes, kill him.”

“Whomever God appoints as Imām, and he does not protect his people, shall never smell the smells of paradise.”

“It is indispensable for every Muslim to listen to, and approve the orders of the Imām, whether he likes or dislikes, so long as he is not ordered to sin and act contrary to law; then when he is ordered to sin, he must neither attend to it nor obey it.”

“Whoever quits obedience to the Imām and divides a body of Muslims, dies like the people in ignorance; and whoever takes a part in an affray, without knowing the true from the false, does not fight to show his religion, but to aid oppression; and if he is slain, then he dies as the people of ignorance; and that person who shall draw his sword upon my people, and kill the virtuous and the vicious, and not fear the killing of Muslims or those protected by them, is not of me nor am I of him.”

“The Companions said, ‘O Prophet! when they are our enemies and we theirs, may we not fight with them?’ He said, ‘No, so long as they keep on foot the prayers amongst you’; this he repeated, ‘Beware! he who shall be constituted your prince, see if he does anything in disobedience to God; and if he does, hold it in displeasure, but do not withdraw yourselves from his obedience.’”

“He who forsakes obedience to the Imām, will come before God on the Day of Resurrection without a proof of his faith; and he who dies without having professed to the Imām, dies as the people of ignorance.”

“Prophets were the governors of the children of Israel; when one died, another supplied his place; and verily there is no prophet after me, and the time is near when there will be after me a great many K͟halīfahs. The Companions said, ‘Then what do you order us?’ The Prophet said, ‘Obey the K͟halīfah, and give him his due; for verily God will ask about the duty of the subject.’ ”

“Beware! you are all guardians, and you will all be asked about your subjects; then the Imām is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting the subject; and a man is as a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and his conduct to them; and a wife is a guardian to her husband’s house and children, and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it whether he took good care of it or not.”

“God never sent any prophet, nor ever made any K͟halīfah, but had two counsellors with him; one of them directing lawful deeds, and that is an angel, and the other, in sin, and that is the devil; and he is guarded from sin whom God has guarded.” (Mishkāt, book xvi. ch. i.)

I.—The K͟halīfahs of the Sunnīs, from the death of Muḥammad to the present time.

(1) The four rightly directed K͟halīfahs, and al-Ḥasan (at Makkah):—

1. Abū Bakr, A.H. 11 (A.D. 632).

(Collected the Qurʾān into one volume.)

2. ʿUmar, A.H. 13 (A.D. 634).

(Conquered Egypt, Syria, and Persia.)

3. ʿUs̤man, A.H. 23 (A.D. 643).

(Invades Cyprus; revolt at al-Kūfah.)

4. ʿAlī, A.H. 35 (A.D. 655).

(Revolt of Muʿāwiyah: ʿAlī assassinated.)

5. Al-Ḥasan, A.H. 40 (A.D. 660).

(Resigns; poisoned.)

(2) Umaiyade dynasty. The Banū Umaiyah (at Damascus):—

1. Muʿāwiyah I., A.H. 41 (A.D. 661).

(Siege of Constantinople; makes Damascus the capital.)

2. Yazīd I., A.H. 60 (A.D. 679).

(Destruction of al-Ḥusain’s party and his death.)

3. Muʿāwiyah II., A.H. 64. (A.D. 683).

(Deposed.)

4. Marwān I., A.H. 64 (A.D. 683).

(Poisoned.)

5. ʿAbdu ʾl-Malik, A.H. 65 (A.D. 684).

(Arabian money first coined.)

6. Al-Walīd I., A.H. 86 (A.D. 705).

(Conquest of Africa, Spain, Buk͟hārah.)

7. Sulaimān, A.H. 96 (A.D. 715).

(Defeated before Constantinople; dies of grief.)

8. ʿUmar (Omer), A.H. 99 (A.D. 717).

(Poisoned.)

9. Yazīd II., A.H. 101 (A.D. 720).

(His generals successful in war.)

10. Hishām, A.H. 105 (A.D. 724).

(Charles Martel checks the conquest of the Arabs in the West; rise of the Abbasides.)

11. Al-Walīd II., A.H. 125 (A.D. 743).

(Slain by conspirators.)

12. Yazīd III., A.H. 126 (A.D. 744).

(Died of the plague.)

13. Ibrahīm, A.H. 126 (A.D. 744).

(Deposed.)

14. Marwān, A.H. 127 (A.D. 744).

(Defeated by the Abbasides, pursued to Egypt, and slain on the banks of the Nile.)

The end of the Umayah dynasty, A.H. 132 (A.D. 749).

(3) The Abbaside dynasty. Ad-Daulatu ʾl-ʿAbbāsīyah (at Bag͟hdād and Saumara).

1. Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ, A.H. 132 (A.D. 750).

(Resides at al-Kūfah.)

2. Al-Manṣūr, A.H. 136 (A.D. 754).

(ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān, the Umaiyah K͟halīfah seizes Spain; Bag͟hdād founded).

3. Al-Mahdī, A.H. 158 (A.D. 775).

(Conquers Nicomedia on Sea of Marmora, making the Empress Irene pay tribute.)

4. Al-Hādī, A.H. 169 (A.D. 785).

5. Harūnu ʾr-Rashīd, A.H. 170 (A.D. 786).

(The hero of Arabian Nights; a flourishing period of Arabian literature.)

6. Al-Amīn, A.H. 193 (A.D. 809).

7. Al-Maʾmūn, A.H. 198 (A.D. 813).

(The Augustan period of Arabian letters.)

8. Al-Muʿtaṣim, A.H. 218 (A.D. 833).

(Makes the city of Saumara his capital; decline of the K͟halīfate.)

9. Al-Wās̤iq, A.H. 227 (A.D. 841).

10. Al-Mutawakkil, A.H. 232 (A.D. 847).

(A persecutor of the Jews and Christians; murdered.)

11. Al-Muntaṣir, A.H. 247 (A.D. 861).

12. Al-Mustaʿīn, A.H. 248 (A.D. 862).

13. Al-Muʿtazz, A.H. 252 (A.D. 866).

14. Al-Muhtadī, A.H. 255 (A.D. 869).

15. Al-Muʿtamid, A.H. 256 (A.D. 870).

(Re-establishes the capital at Bag͟hdād.)

16. Muʿtaẓid, A.H. 279 (A.D. 892).

(Conquers Persia; Ismail Samain seizes Turkistan from the K͟halīfah.)

17. Al-Muktafī I., A.H. 289 (A.D. 902).

(Ismail Samain seizes Persia from the K͟halīfah.)

18. Al-Muqtadir, A.H. 295 (A.D. 908).

(The Fāt̤imites in Egypt.)

19. Al-Qāhir, A.H. 320 (A.D. 932).

(Blinded and deposed.)

20. Ar-Rāẓi, A.H. 322 (A.D. 934).

(The last of the K͟halīfahs who ever recited the k͟hut̤bah.)

21. Al-Mūttaqī, A.H. 329 (A.D. 940).

(Decline of the Abbasides.)

22. Al-Mustakfī, A.H. 333 (A.D. 944).

23. Al-Mut̤īʿ, A.H. 334 (A.D. 945).

(The Fāt̤imate K͟halīfahs seize all North Africa and Egypt.)

24. At̤-T̤āiʿ, A.H. 363 (A.D. 974).

(Deposed.)

25. Al-Qādir, A.H. 381 (A.D. 991).

(Maḥmūd of G͟hazni conquers India.)

26. Al-Qāʾim, A.H. 422 (A.D. 1031).

(Rise of the Seljukian Turks.)

27. Al-Muqtadī, A.H. 467 (A.D. 1075).

(The first crusade; rise of Ḥasan Jubah, and his followers the Assassins.)

28. Al-Mustaʿẕir, A.H. 487 (A.D. 1094).

(Jerusalem taken by the Fāt̤imites.)

29. Al-Mustarshid, A.H. 512 (A.D. 1118).

(Murdered by the Assassins.)

30. Ar-Rāshid, A.H. 529 (A.D. 1135).

(Murdered by the Assassins.)

31. Al-Muktafī II., A.H. 530 (A.D. 1136).

(Defeated by the Turks; second crusade, A.D. 1146.)

32. Al-Mustanjid, A.H. 555 (A.D. 1160).

(Disorders in Persia.)

33. Al-Mustahdī, A.H. 566 (A.D. 1170).

(Saladin, the Sult̤ān of Egypt, conquers Syria.)

34. An-Nāṣir, A.H. 575 (A.D. 1180).

(Conquests of Jengiz K͟hān; third crusade, A.D. 1189.)

35. Az̤-Z̤āhir, A.H. 622 (A.D. 1225).

36. Al-Mustanṣir, A.H. 623 (A.D. 1226).

(Persia subject to the Moghuls.)

37. Al-Mustaʿṣim, A.H.. 640 (A.D. 1240).

(Halaku, the Turk, a grandson of Jengiz K͟hān, takes Bag͟hdād and puts the K͟halīfah to death, A.H. 656 (A.D. 1258). The uncle of the last K͟halīfah goes to Egypt, while the K͟halīfate continues only as a spiritual power.)

(4) The ʿUs̤mān, or Turk Dynasty (at Constantinople).

1. ʿUs̤mān I. (Othmān), A.D. 1299.

2. Ūrk͟hān, A.D. 1326.

3. Murād (Amurath), A.D. 1360.

4. Bayāzīd I., A.D. 1389.

5. Sulaimān I., A.D. 1402.

6. Mūsā, A.D. 1410.

7. Muḥammad I., A.D. 1413.

8. Murād II., A.D. 1421.

9. Muḥammad II., A.D. 1451.

10. Bayāzīd II., A.D. 1481.

11. Salīm I. (Selim), A.D. 1512.

(Assumes the title of K͟halīfah.)

12. Sulaimān II., A.D. 1520.

13. Salīm II., A.D. 1566.

14. Murād III., A.D. 1574.

15. Muḥammad III., A.D. 1595.

16. Aḥmad I., A.D. 1603.

17. Muṣt̤afa I., A.D. 1617.

(Deposed in favour of his nephew.)

18. ʿUs̤mān II., A.D. 1618.

19. Muṣt̤afa I., A.D. 1622.

(Restored and again deposed.)

20. Murād IV., A.D. 1623.

21. Ibrahīm, A.D. 1640.

22. Muḥammad IV., A.D. 1649.

23. Sulaimān III., A.D. 1687.

24. Aḥmad II., A.D. 1691.

25. Muṣt̤afa II., A.D. 1695.

26. Aḥmad III., A.D. 1703.

27. Maḥmūd I., A.D. 1730.

28. ʿUs̤mān III., A.D. 1754.

29. Muṣt̤afa III., A.D. 1757.

30. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥamīd I., A.D. 1774.

31. Salīm III., A.D. 1788.

32. Muṣt̤afa IV., A.D. 1807.

33. Maḥmūd II., A.D. 1808.

34. ʿAbdu ʾl-Majīd, A.D. 1839.

35. ʿAbdu ʾl-ʿAzīz, A.D. 1861.

36. Murād V., A.D. 1876.

37. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥamīd, A.D. 1876.

II.—The Shīʿahs only regard those as rightful Imāms (they do not use the word K͟halīfah) who are descended from ʿAlī (the son-in-law of the Prophet) and his wife Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter. According to their traditions, Muḥammad distinctly nominated ʿAlī as his successor when he was returning from his farewell pilgrimage. They say, that on his way to al-Madīnah, the Prophet, with ʿAlī and certain other of the Companions stayed at a place called G͟hadiri-i-K͟hūm. And that it was here revealed by Gabriel that he should nominate ʿAlī as his successor. He is related to have said, “O ye people, I am your Prophet and ʿAlī is my successor. From us (i.e. ʿAlī and my daughter) shall descend al-Mahdī, the seal of the Imāms.” (See Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb, p. 334.)

According to the Shīʿahs, there have only been twelve lawful Imāms:—

1. ʿAlī, son-in-law of Muḥammad.

2. Al-Ḥasan, eldest son of ʿAlī and Fāt̤imah.

3. Al-Ḥusain, the second son of ʿAlī and Fāt̤imah.

4. Zainu ʾl-ʿĀbidīn, son of al-Ḥusain.

5. Muḥammad al-Bāqir, son of Zainu ʾl-ʿĀbidīn.

6. Jaʿfaru ʾṣ-Ṣādiq, son of Muḥammad al-Bāqir.

7. Mūsā ʾl-Kāz̤im, son of Jaʿfar.

8. ʿAlī ar-Raẓā, son of Mūsā.

9. Muḥammad at-Taqī, son of ʿAlī ar-Raẓā.

10. ʿAlī an-Naqī, son of at-Taqī.

11. Al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, son of ʿAlī.

12. Muḥammad, son of al-ʿAskarī, or the Imām Mahdī, who is supposed to be still alive, although he has withdrawn himself from the world, and that he will appear again as al-Mahdī, the Director, in the last days. [[AL-MAHDI].]

The Kings of Persia have never claimed to be in any sense the successors of the Prophet.

Sult̤ān Maḥmūd ʿAbdu ʾllāh (A.H. 706, A.D. 1306), was the first monarch of Persia who proclaimed himself a Shīʿah.

III.—The Fāt̤imide K͟halīfahs were a dynasty who claimed the K͟halīfate in the reign of the Abbaside K͟halīfah Muqtadir, their founder, ʿUbaidu ʾllāh, pretending to be al-Mahdī, “The Director,” and a descendant of Fāt̤imah, the daughter of the Prophet. They reigned over Egypt and North Africa from A.D. 910 to A.D. 1171, and were in all fourteen K͟halīfahs.

1. ʿUbaidu ʾllāh, A.D. 910.

(Ravaged the coasts of Italy and invaded Egypt several times.)

2. Al-Qāʾim, A.D. 933.

3. Al-Manṣūr, A.D. 946.

4. Al-Muʿizz, A.D. 955.

(Established the K͟halīfate of the Fāt̤imides in Egypt; defeated in Spain; took Sicily; founded Cairo; conquered Syria and Palestine.)

5. Al-ʿAzīz, A.D. 978.

(Married a Christian woman, whose brothers he made Patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem.)

6. Al-Ḥākim, A.D. 996.

(Persecuted Jews and Christians.)

7. Az̤-Z̤āhir, A.D. 1021.

(The power of the Fāt̤imides declines.)

8. Al-Mustanṣir, A.D. 1037.

(The rise of the Turks.)

9. Al-Mustaʿlī, A.D. 1094.

(Defeated by the Crusaders.)

10. Al-Amīr, A.D. 1101.

11. Al-Ḥāfiz̤, A.D. 1129.

12. Az̤-Z̤afīr, A.D. 1149.

13. Al-Fāʾiz, A.D. 1154.

14. Al-ʿĀẓid, A.D. 1160.

(The last of the Fāt̤imide K͟halīfahs. His Wazīr, Nūru ʾd-dīn, on the death of his master, submits to the Abbaside K͟halīfah Mustahdī, A.D. 1171.)

[[FATIMIYAH].]

IV.—The K͟halīfate of Cordova in Spain was founded by a descendant of the deposed Umaiyah dynasty, ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān ibn Muʿāwiyah. Muslim Amīrs had ruled at Cordova from A.D. 711, when T̤ārik and Mūsā came over from Africa and invaded Spain. But ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān was the first to assume the title of K͟halīfah.

The following is a list of the K͟halīfahs of Cordova and Granada from A.D. 755 to the fall of Granada, A.D. 1492:—

1. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān I., A.D. 755.

(Cordova embellished and the Mazquita erected.)

2. Hishām I., A.D. 786.

3. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān II., A.D. 786.

4. Al-Ḥakam I., A.D. 796.

(Surnamed “The Cruel.”)

5. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān III., A.D. 821.

(Christians persecuted.)

6. Muḥammad I., A.D. 852.

(Alfonso the Great obtains victories.)

7. Al-Munayyir, A.D. 886.

8. ʿAbdu ʾllāh, A.D. 888.

(Flourishing period of literature and science at Cordova.)

9. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān IV., A.D. 912.

(The heroic age of Spain.)

10. Al-Ḥakam II., A.D. 961.

11. Hishām II., A.D. 976.

12. Sulaimān, A.D. 1012.

(Defeated and executed by ʿAlī.)

13. ʿAlī, A.D. 1015.

14. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān V., A.D. 1017.

15. Al-Qāsim, A.D. 1018.

16. ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān VI., A.D. 1023.

17. Muḥammad II., A.D. 1023.

18. Hishām III., A.D. 1026.

(Esteemed for his equitable and humane government.)

19. Jawāhir, A.D. 1031.

20. Muḥammad III., A.D. 1044.

21. Muḥammad IV., A.D. 1060.

22. Muḥammad V., A.D. 1069.

(Siege of Toledo, A.D. 1082.)

23. Yūsuf I., A.D. 1094.

24. ʿAlī, A.D. 1107.

25. Tāshifīn, A.D. 1144.

26. ʿAbdu ʾl-Munʿim, A.D. 1147.

27. Yūsuf II., A.D. 1163.

28. Yaʿqūb I., A.D. 1178.

29. Muḥammad VI., A.D. 1199.

30. Yaʿqūb II., A.D. 1213.

31. Abū Yaʿqūb, A.D. 1213.

32. Abū Mālik, A.D. 1223.

33. Al-Maʾnūn, A.D. 1225.

(Died in Morocco.)

34. Abū ʿAlī, A.D. 1225.

(Cordova surprised by Ferdinand of Leon and Castile, and taken. The fall of the K͟halīfate of Cordova, A.D. 1236. A K͟halīfate established by the Moors at Granada.)

The K͟halīfahs or Sult̤āns of Granada.

35. Muḥammad I., A.D. 1238.

(Encourages literature.)

36. Muḥammad II., A.D. 1273.

37. Muḥammad III., A.D. 1302.

38. An-Nāṣir, A.D. 1309.

39. Ismāʿīl I., A.D. 1313.

40. Muḥammad IV., A.D. 1325.

41. Yūsuf I., A.D. 1333.

42. Muḥammad V., A.D. 1354.

43. Ismāʿīl II., A.D. 1359.

44. Abū Saʿīd, A.D. 1360.

45. Yūsuf II., A.D. 1391.

46. Muḥammad VI., A.D. 1396.

47. Yūsuf III., A.D. 1408.

48. Muḥammad VII., A.D. 1423.

49. Muḥammad VIII., A.D. 1427.

50. Muḥammad VII. (restored), A.D. 1429.

51. Yūsuf IV., A.D. 1432.

52. Muḥammad VII. (again restored), A.D. 1432.

53. Muḥammad IX., A.D. 1445.

54. Muḥammad X., A.D. 1454.

55. ʿAlī, A.D. 1463.

56. Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh, A.D. 1483.

57. ʿAbdu ʾllāh Zaggāl, A.D. 1484.

(The fall of Granada, and the consolidation of the Spanish Monarchy, A.D. 1492.)

Thus, amidst the acclamations of Christendom, Ferdinand and Isabella planted the symbol of Christian faith on the walls of Granada, and proclaimed the destruction of Muḥammadan rule in Spain.

K͟HALĪLU ʾLLĀH (خليل الله‎). “The friend of God.” A title given to Abraham in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 124]: “For God took Abraham as his friend.”

With regard to this verse, al-Baiẓāwī says: “Abraham in a time of dearth sent to a friend of his in Egypt for a supply of corn: but the friend denied him, saying, in his excuse, that though there was a famine in their country also, yet, had it been for Abraham’s own family, he would have sent what he desired, but he knew he wanted it only to entertain his guests, and give away to the poor, according to his usual hospitality. The servants whom Abraham had sent on this message, being ashamed to return empty, to conceal the matter from their neighbours, filled their sacks with fine white sand, which in the East pretty much resembles meal. Abraham being informed by his servants on their return of their ill success, the concern he was under threw him into a sleep, and in the meantime Sarah, knowing nothing of what had happened, opening one of the sacks, found good flour in it, and immediately set to making bread. Abraham awaking, and smelling the new bread, asked her whence she had the flour. ‘Why,’ says she, ‘from your friend in Egypt.’ ‘Nay,’ replied the patriarch, ‘it must have come from no other than my friend, God Almighty.’ ” [[ABRAHAM].]

K͟HAMR (خمر‎). The word used in the Qurʾān for wine or anything that intoxicates.

[Sūrah ii. 216]: “They will ask thee about wine (k͟hamr), and games of chance: say in both is sin and profit to men, but the sin of both is greater than the profit of the same.”

By the orthodox, the term k͟hamr is generally held to include not only alcoholic drinks, but opium and other narcotics. Some understand it to include tobacco; hence the destruction of tobacco pipes in the streets of Makkah by the Wahhābīs. [[WAHHABI].]

K͟HĀN (خان‎). Persian. “A ruler; a chief.” A term used for the supreme ruler of small countries or provinces. The K͟hān of the Tartars. It is also one of the titles of the Sult̤ān of Turkey. It is also used for a caravansary or inn, being a corruption of the Persian k͟hanah, “a home.”

AL-K͟HANNĀS (الخناس‎). A demon mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah cxiv]. (the last chapter):—

“Say: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of men,

“The King of men,

“The God of men,

“Against the mischief of the stealthily withdrawing whisperer (al-k͟hannās),

“Who whispereth in man’s breast—

“Against genii and men.”

K͟HANZAB (خنزب‎). A demon who casts doubt at the time of prayer. ʿUs̤mān ibn Abī ʾl-ʿĀṣī relates that he came to the Prophet and complained that he was disturbed by the devil during prayers. The Prophet said, “This is a demon called K͟hanzab who disturbs prayer. When you are aware of any such disturbance, seek protection of God and spit over your left shoulder three times.” ʿUs̤mān did so, and all doubt and perplexity was dispelled.

K͟HARĀBĀT (خرابات‎). “A wine-shop or tavern.” A mystic term for the society of the Murshid, or inspired teacher. See Dīwān-i-Ḥāfiz̤ (Bicknell’s edition, p. 212):—

“Within the Magian’s house of wine our Maker’s light I see.”

“Behold this marvel, what a light and where that sight I see.”

K͟HARĀJ (خراج‎). A tax, or tribute on land. This was originally applied to a land tribute from non-Muslim tribes (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 204), but it is now used for a tax, or land-rent due to the State. Lā-k͟harāj is a term used for lands exempt from any such payment.

K͟HARQU ʾL-ʿĀDAH (خرق العادة‎). Lit. “The splitting of Nature.” That which is contrary to the usual course of nature. A term used for miracles. Either (1) Muʿjizah, miracles worked by Prophets; or (2) Karāmah, wonders performed by walīs or saints; or (3) Istidrāj, wonders worked by the power of Satan. [[MIRACLES].]

K͟HASHYAH (خـشـيـة‎). “Fear.” K͟hashyatu ʾllāh, “The fear of God,” is an expression which occurs in the Qurʾān.

[Sūrah ii. 69]: “There are some that fall down for fear of God.”

[Sūrah iv. 79]: “A portion of them fear men as with the fear of God, or with a yet greater fear.”

K͟HAṢR (خصر‎). Lit. “The middle or waist.” An act forbidden in prayer, as related by Abū Hurairah, who said: “The Prophet forbade K͟haṣr in prayer.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xx.) It is generally held to be the act of holding the waist with the hands to relieve the sensation of fatigue experienced in the position of standing. Some divines believe it to be a prohibition to lean on a mik͟hṣarah, or staff, in prayer, whilst others give to it the sense of cutting short the verbal forms of prayer, or remaining too short a time in the prescribed attitude. (Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq.)

K͟HĀṢṢ (خاص‎). “Special” as distinguished from ʿĀmm, “general.” A term frequently used by Muḥammadan writers and in treatises on exegesis.

K͟HĀTIMU ʾN-NABĪYĪN (خـاتـم النبيين‎). “The seal of the Prophets.” A title assumed by Muḥammad in the Qurʾān. [Sūrah xxxiii. 40]: “He is the Apostle of God and the seal of the Prophets.” By which is meant, that he is the last of the Prophets.

K͟HĀTIMU ʾN-NABŪWAH (خاتم النبوة‎). “The seal of prophecy.” A term used for the large mole or fleshy protuberance on Muḥammad’s back, which is said to have been a divine sign of his prophetic office.

ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Sarjis describes it as being as large as his closed fist, with moles round about it. Abū Rams̤ah wanted to remove it, but Muḥammad refused saying, “The Physician thereof is He who placed it there.”

K͟HĀT̤IR (خـاطـر‎). “Mind; conscience.” A term used by mystic teachers. K͟hāt̤ir is said to be of four kinds: Al-K͟hāt̤iru ʾr-Rabbānī, “conscience inspired of God”; al-K͟hāt̤iru ʾl-Malakī, “conscience inspired by angels”; al-K͟hāt̤iru ʾn-Nafsānī, “a conscience inspired by the flesh”; al-K͟hāt̤iru ʾsh-Shait̤ānī, “a conscience inspired by the devil.” (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

K͟HATMAH (ختمة‎). An epilogue, but more generally a recitation of the whole of the Qurʾān. (K͟hatm, “concluding.”)

Mr. Lane in his Arabian Nights (vol. i. p. 382), says the most approved and common mode of entertaining guests at modern private festivities, is by a k͟hatmah, which is the recitation of the whole of the Qurʾān. Their mode of recitation is a peculiar chanting.

K͟HATN (ختن‎). A legal term for the husbands of female relations within the prohibited degrees. It likewise includes all the relations of these husbands. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 518.)

K͟HATNAH (ختنة‎). [[CIRCUMCISION].]

K͟HAT̤T̤ (خط‎). A line; a letter of the alphabet; an epistle. (1) A figure drawn by exorcists making an incantation. (2) K͟hat̤t̤-i-Sharīf, “royal letters; a diploma.” (3) ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿAbbās says a k͟hat̤t̤, or “letter,” is the language of the hand, and its divine origin is stated in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xcvi. 4]: “Who hath taught us the use of the pen.” It is said Adam first wrote with his finger in the dust, but others say it was Idrīs. The same traditionist says the first who invented the Arabic character, were three persons of the tribe of Bulān of the race of Banū T̤aiy.

Ibn Isḥāq says there are four classes of Arabic writing: the Makkī, the Madanī, the Baṣrī, and the Kūfī; and the first who wrote the Qurʾān in a clear and elegant writing, was K͟hālid ibn Abī ʾl-Haiyāj, and that he was set to the work by Saʿd, who employed him as a calligraphist for the K͟halīfah Walīd ibn ʿAbdi ʾl-Malik, A.H. 86, and that K͟hālid wrote it in what is now called the Kufic character. (K͟hashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, Flügel’s ed., vol. iii. p. 149.)

K͟HAUF (خوف‎). “Fear.” Generally used for the fear of God. ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Masʿūd relates that Muḥammad said: “There is no Muslim whose eyes shed tears, although they be as small as the head of a fly, from fear of God, but shall escape hell fire.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xxix. pt. 3.)

K͟HAWĀRIJ (خوارج‎). Lit. “The Revolters.” A sect of Muslims who affirm that any man may be promoted to the dignity of K͟halīfah, even though he be not of the Quraish tribe, provided he be elected by the Muḥammadan nation. The first who were so-called were the 12,000 men who revolted from ʿAlī after they had fought under him at the battle of Ṣiffīn, and took offence at his submitting the decision of his right to the K͟halīfate to the arbitration of men when, in their opinion, it ought to have been submitted to the judgment of God. They affirmed that a man might be appointed K͟halīfah, no matter of what tribe or nation, provided he were a just and pious person, and that if the K͟halīfah turned away from the truth, he might be put to death or deposed. They also held that there was no absolute necessity for a K͟halīfah at all. In A.H. 38, large numbers of this sect were killed, but a few escaped, and propagated their schism in different parts of the world. [[KHALIFAH].]

K͟HAZRAJ (خـزرج‎). An Arabic tribe who, at an early period of Muḥammad’s mission, submitted to his authority. They are supposed to have settled in al-Madīnah early in the fourth century.

K͟HIBRAH (خبرة‎). A proof; an experiment. Practical knowledge. Ahlu ʾl-K͟hibrah, persons practically acquainted with any subject.

K͟HILĀFAH (خلافة‎). The office of K͟halīfah. [[KHALIFAH].]

K͟HILʿAH or K͟HILʿAT (خـلـعـة‎). A dress of honour presented by a ruler to an inferior, as a mark of distinction. A complete k͟hilʿah may include arms, or a horse, or an elephant.

K͟HILWAH (خلوة‎). “Privacy; retirement.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for retirement from the world for the purposes of worship and meditation.

K͟HIRQAH (خرقة‎). The robe of the faqīr or ascetic. A religious habit made of shreds and patches, worn by darveshes.

K͟HIT̤BAH (خطبة‎). “Betrothal.” Called in Hindūstānī mangnī. No religious ceremony is enjoined by Muḥammadan law, but it is usual for the Maulawī or Qāẓī to be invited to be present to offer up a prayer for a blessing on the proceeding.

The ceremony is usually accompanied with great rejoicings. The following is Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali’s account of a betrothal in the neighbourhood of Lucknow:—

“A very intimate friend of mine was seeking for a suitable match for her son, and, being much in her confidence, I was initiated in all the mysteries and arrangements (according to Musalman rule) of the affair, pending the marriage of her son.

“The young lady to be sought (wooed we have it), had been described as amiable and pretty—advantages as much esteemed as her rank; fortune she had none worth mentioning, but it was what is termed in Indian society a good and equal match. The overture was, therefore, to be made from the youth’s family in the following manner:—

“On a silver tray covered with gold brocade, and fringed with silver, was laid the youth’s pedigree, traced by a neat writer in the Persian character, on richly embossed paper, ornamented and emblazoned with gold figures. The youth being a Saiyid, his pedigree was traced up to Muhammad, in both paternal and maternal lines, and many a hero and begum of their noble blood filled up the space from the Prophet down to the youthful Mir Muhammad, my friend’s son.

“On the tray, with the pedigree, was laid a nazr, or offering of five gold mohurs, and twenty-one (the lucky number) rupees; a brocaded cover, fringed with silver, was spread over the whole, and this was conveyed by the male agent to the young begum’s father. The tray and its contents are retained for ever, if the proposal is accepted; if rejected, the parties return the whole without delay, which is received as a tacit proof that the suitor is rejected: no further explanation is ever given or required.

“In the present instance the tray was detained, and in a few days after a female from their family was sent to my friend’s house, to make a general scrutiny of the zanánah and its inmates. This female was pressed to stay a day or two, and in that time many important subjects underwent discussion. The youth was introduced, and, everything according with the views entertained by both parties, the fathers met, and the marriage, it was decided, should take place within a twelve-month, when the young lady would have accomplished her thirteenth year.

“ ‘Do you decide on having mangnī performed?’ is the question proposed by the father of the youth to the father of the young maiden. In the present case it was chosen, and great were the preparations of my friend to do all possible honour to the future bride of her son.

“Mangnī is the first contract, by which the parties are bound to fulfil their engagement at an appointed time.

“The dress for a bride differs in one material point from the general style of Hindustani costume: a sort of gown is worn, made of silver tissue, or some equally expensive article, about the walking length of an English dress; the skirt is open in front, and contains about twenty breadths of the material, a tight body, and long sleeves. The whole dress is trimmed very richly with embroidered trimming and silver riband; the deputtah (drapery) is made to correspond. This style of dress is the original Hindoo fashion, and was worn at the Court of Delhi for many centuries; but of late years it has been used only on marriage festivals amongst the better sort of people in Hindustán, except kings or náwábs sending khillauts to females, when this dress, called a jhammah, is invariably one of the articles.

“The costly dresses for the present mangnī my friend prepared at great expense, and with much good taste; to which were added a ruby ring of great value, large gold ear-rings, offerings of money, the flower-garlands for the head, neck, wrists, and ankles, formed of the sweet-scented jessamine; choice confectionery set out in trays with the pawns and fruits; the whole conveyed under an escort of soldiers and servants, with a band of music, from the residence of Mir Muhammad to that of his bride elect, accompanied by many friends of the family. These offerings from the youth bind the contract with the young lady, who wears his ring from that day to the end of her life.

“The poorer sort of people perform mangnī by the youth simply sending a rupee in a silk band, to be tied on the girl’s arm.

“Being curious to know the whole business of a wedding ceremony amongst the Musalmán people, I was allowed to perform the part of ‘officiating friend’ on this occasion of celebrating the mangnī. The parents of the young lady having been consulted, my visit was a source of solicitude to the whole family, who made every possible preparation to receive me with becoming respect. I went just in time to reach the gate at the moment the parade arrived. I was handed to the door of the zanánah by the girl’s father, and was soon surrounded by the young members of the family, together with many lady-visitors, slaves, and women-servants of the establishment. They had never before seen an English woman, and the novelty, I fancy, surprised the whole group; they examined my dress, my complexion, hair, hands, &c., and looked the wonder they could not express in words. The young begum was not amongst the gazing throng; some preliminary customs detained her behind the purdah, where it may be supposed she endured all the agony of suspense and curiosity by her compliance with the prescribed forms.

“The lady of the mansion waited my approach to the great hall, with all due etiquette, standing to receive and embrace me on my advancing towards her. This ceremony performed, I was invited to take a seat on the carpet with her on the ground; a chair had been provided for me, but I chose to respect the lady’s preference, and the seat on the floor suited me for the time without much inconvenience.

“After some time had been passed in conversation on such subjects as suited the tastes of the lady of the house, I was surprised at the servants entering with trays, which they placed immediately before me, containing a full-dress suit in the costume of Hindustán. The hostess told me she had prepared this dress for me, and I must condescend to wear it. I would have declined the gaudy array, but one of her friends whispered me, ‘The custom is of long standing; when the face of a stranger is first seen, a dress is always presented; I should displease Sumdun Begum by my refusal; besides, it would be deemed an ill omen at the mangnī of the young Bohur Begum if I did not put on the native dress before I saw the face of the bride elect.’ These I found to be weighty arguments, and felt constrained to quiet their apprehensions of ill-luck by compliance; I therefore forced the gold dress and the glittering drapery over my other clothes, at the expense of some suffering from the heat, for it was at the very hottest season of the year, and the hall was crowded with visitors.

“This important point conceded to them, I was led to a side hall, where the little girl was seated on her carpet of rich embroidery, her face resting on her knees in apparent bashfulness. I could not directly ascertain whether she was plain, or pretty, as the female agent had represented. I was allowed the privilege of decorating the young lady with the sweet jessamine guinahs, and placing the ring on the fore-finger of the right hand; after which, the ear-rings, the gold-tissue dress, the deputtah, were all in their turn put on, the offering of money presented, and then I had the first embrace before her mother. She looked very pretty, just turned twelve. If I could have prevailed on her to be cheerful, I should have been much gratified to have extended my visit in her apartment, but the poor child seemed ready to sink with timidity; and out of compassion to the dear girl, I hurried away from the hall, to relieve her from the burden my presence seemed to inflict, the moment I had accomplished my last duty, which was to feed her with my own hands, giving her seven pieces of sugar-candy; seven, on this occasion, is the lucky number, I presume, as I was particularly cautioned to feed her with exactly that number of pieces.

“Returning to the assembly in the dalhána; I would have gladly taken leave, but there was yet one other custom to be observed to secure a happy omen to the young people’s union. Once again seated on the musnud with Sumdun Begum, the female slaves entered with sherbert in silver basins. Each person taking sherbert is expected to deposit gold or silver coins in the tray; the sherbert-money at this house is collected for the bride; and when, during the three days’ performance of the marriage ceremony at the bridegroom’s house, sherbert is presented to the guests, the money collected there is reserved for him. The produce of the two houses is afterwards compared, and conclusions drawn as to the greatest portion of respect paid by the friends on either side. The poor people find the sherbert-money a useful fund to help them to keep house; but with the rich it is a mere matter to boast of, that so much money was collected in consequence of the number of visitors who attended the nuptials.” (Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali’s Indian Musalmáns, vol. i. p. 362.)

K͟HIYĀNAH (خيانة‎). Breach of trust. Amputation is not incurred by a breach of trust, as in the case of ordinary theft, according to a saying of the Prophet recorded in the Hidāyah (vol. ii. p. 93).

K͟HIYĀR (خيار‎). “Option.” A term used to express a certain period after the conclusion of a bargain, during which either of the parties may cancel it. According to ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, it is of five kinds: (1) K͟hiyāru ʾsh-Shart̤, optional condition; where one of the parties stipulates for a period of three days or less. (2) K͟hiyāruʾl-ʿAib, option from defect; the option of dissolving the contract on discovery of defect. (3) K͟hiyāru ʾr-Ruʾyah, option of inspection; the option of rejecting the thing purchased after sight. (4) K͟hiyāru ʾt-Taʿyīn, option of determination; where a person, having purchased two or three things of the same kind, stipulates a period to make his selection. (5) K͟hiyāru ʾl-Majlis, the option of withdrawing from the contract as long as the meeting of the parties continues. The Ḥanafīyah doctors do not accept the last, but it is allowed by the other sects.

K͟HIẔLĀN (خذلان‎). “Abandonment.” The abandonment of a Muslim by God. The word occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 154]: “If then God help you, none shall overcome you, but if He abandon you, who is he that shall help you.”

Used by a Christian, it would imply the state of a person fallen from grace.

AL-K͟HIẒR (الخضر‎). Lit. “The green one.” The Maulawī Muḥammad T̤āhir says the learned are not agreed as to whether he is a prophet or not. His real name is, according to al-Baiẓāwī, Balyā ibn Malkān. Some say he lived in the time of Abraham, and that he is still alive in the flesh, and most of the religious and Ṣūfī mystics are agreed upon this point, and some have declared that they have seen him; and they say he is still to be seen in sacred places, such as Makkah or Jerusalem. Some few traditionists deny his existence. Others say he is of the family of Noah, and the son of a king. (Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 250.)

His name does not occur in the Qurʾān, but Ḥusain, Jalālu ʾd-dīn, al-Baiẓāwī, and nearly all the commentators, believe that al-K͟hiẓr is the mysterious individual referred to in the following narrative in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah xviii. 59–81]: “Remember when Moses said to his servant, ‘I will not stop till I reach the confluence of the two seas (i.e. the sea of Greece and the sea of Persia), or for years will I journey on.’ But when they reached their confluence, they forgot their fish, and it took its way in the sea at will. And when they had passed on, said Moses to his servant, ‘Bring us our morning meal; for now have we incurred weariness from this journey.’ He said, ‘What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock for rest I forgot the fish; and none but Satan made me forget it, so as not to mention it; and it hath taken its way in the sea in a wondrous sort.’ He said, ‘It is this we were in quest of.’ And they both went back retracing their footsteps. Then found they one of our servants to whom we had vouchsafed our mercy, and whom we had instructed with our knowledge. And Moses said to him, ‘Shall I follow thee that thou teach me, for guidance, of that which thou too hast been taught?’ He said, ‘Verily, thou canst not have patience with me; how canst thou be patient in matters whose meaning thou comprehendest not?’ He said, ‘Thou shalt find me patient if God please, nor will I disobey thy bidding.’ He said, ‘Then, if thou follow me, ask me not of aught until I have given thee an account thereof.’ So they both went on till they embarked in a ship, and he (the unknown) staved it in. ‘What!’ said Moses, ‘hast thou staved it in that thou mayest drown its crew? a strange thing now hast thou done!’ He said, ‘Did I not tell thee that thou couldst not have patience with me?’ He said, ‘Chide me not that I forgat, nor lay on me a hard command.’ Then went they on till they met a youth, and he slew him. Said Moses, ‘Hast thou slain him who is free from guilt of blood? Now hast thou wrought a grievous thing!’ He said, ‘Did I not tell thee that thou couldst not have patience with me?’ Moses said, ‘If after this I ask thee aught, then let me be thy comrade no longer; but now hast thou my excuse.’ They went on till they came to the people of a city. Of this people they asked food, but they refused them for guests. And they found in it a wall that was about to fall, and he set it upright. Said Moses, ‘If thou hadst wished, for this thou mightest have obtained pay.’ He said, ‘This is the parting point between me and thee. But I will first tell thee the meaning of that which thou couldst not await with patience. As to the vessel, it belonged to poor men who toiled upon the sea, and I was minded to damage it, for in their rear was a king who seized every ship by force. As to the youth, his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should trouble them by error and infidelity. And we desired that their Lord might give them in his place a child, better than he in virtue, and nearer to filial piety. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was their treasure: and their father was a righteous man: and thy Lord desired that they should reach the age of strength, and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And not of mine own will have I done this. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.”

In some Muslim books he seems to be confounded with Elias, and in others with St. George, the patron saint of England. In the above quotation he is represented as the companion of Moses, and the commentator Ḥusain says he was a general in the army of Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain (Alexander the Great). But as al-K͟hiẓr is supposed to have discovered and drunk of the fountain of life, he may be contemporary with any age!

K͟HUBĀB or K͟HABBĀB (خباب‎). The son of al-Aras̤s̤, the blacksmith. A slave converted in the early history of Islām, and one who suffered much persecution from the Quraish on account of his religious opinions.

When ʿUmar was K͟halīfah, K͟hubāb ibn al-Aras̤s̤ showed him the scars of the stripes he had received from the unbelieving Makkans twenty or thirty years before, ʿUmar seated him upon his masnad, saying that there was but one man who was more worthy of this favour than K͟hubāb, namely, Bilāl, who had also been sorely persecuted by the unbelievers. But K͟hubāb replied: “Why is he more worthy than I am? He had his friends among the idolators, whom the Lord raised up to help him. But I had none to help me. And I well remember one day they took me and kindled a fire for me, and threw me therein upon my back, and a man stamped with his foot upon my chest, my back being towards the ground. And when they uncovered my back, lo! it was blistered and white.” (Kātibu ʾl-Wāqidī, quoted by Sir W. Muir.)

K͟HUBAIB (خبيب‎). Son of ʿAda. One of the early martyrs of Islām. Being perfidiously sold to the Quraish, he was by them put to death in a most cruel manner, being mutilated and impaled. When at the stake and in the midst of his tortures, he was asked whether he did not wish Muḥammad was in his place, and he answered, “I would not wish to be with my family, my substance, and my children, on condition that Muḥammad was only pricked with a thorn.” When bound to the stake, his enemies said, “Now abjure Islām, and we will let you go.” He replied, “Not for the whole world.”

Sir William Muir says: “I see no reason to doubt the main facts of the story.” (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 286.)

K͟HUDĀI (خداى‎), also K͟HUDĀ (خدا‎). From the Persian خود‎ k͟hūd, “self,” and آى‎ āi, “coming.” The Supreme Being; the Self-Existing God. [[GOD].] K͟hudā-parast, “a God worshipper”; K͟hudā-tars, “a God fearer”; K͟hudā-shinās, “a God knower”; K͟hudā-faroshān, “God sellers,” i.e. hypocrites.

K͟HUDĀWAND (خداوند‎). A Persian word, signifying, “lord,” “prince,” “master.” A possessor: a man of authority. It is used as a title of the Deity, and by Christian missionaries in India it is generally employed as a translation of the Greek Κύριος, “Lord.” In the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, it is derived from K͟hudā, “God”; and wand, “like”; i.e. one like unto God.

K͟HULʿ (خلع‎). An agreement entered into for the purpose of dissolving marriage. The release from the marriage tie obtained by a wife upon payment of a compensation or consideration. In the Hidāyah it is said: “Whenever enmity takes place between husband and wife, and they both see reason to apprehend the ends of marriage are not likely to be answered by a continuance of their union, the woman need not scruple to release herself from the power of her husband, by offering such a compensation as may induce him to liberate her.” In the event of a woman desiring this form of divorce, she is not entitled to the repayment of her dower. This law is laid down in the Qurʾān: “If ye fear that they cannot observe the ordinances of God, then no blame shall attach to either of you for what the wife shall herself give for her redemption.” ([Sūrah ii. 229].)

AL-K͟HULAFĀʾU ʾR-RĀSHIDŪN (الخلفاء الراشدون‎). “The well-directed K͟halīfahs.” A title given to the first four successors of Muḥammad—Abū Bakr, ʿUmar (Omar), ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī. It is generally held by the Sunnīs that after these four reigns, Islām became corrupted, and the succession in the office of K͟halīfah uncertain. [[KHALIFAH].]

K͟HULQ (خلق‎). “Disposition; temper; nature.” Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxviii. 4]: “Verily thou art of a noble nature.”

K͟HULT̤ĪN (خلطين‎). An infusion of dates and raisins, boiled together until they ferment and become spirituous, but of which a Muslim can drink without impropriety or sin. This is grounded on a circumstance relative to Ibn Ziyād, which is thus related by himself: “ʿAbdu ʾllāh, the son of ʿUmar, having given me some sherbet to drink, I became intoxicated to such a degree that I knew not my own house. I went to him next morning, and, having informed him of the circumstance, he acquainted me that he had given me nothing but a drink composed of dates and raisins. Now this was certainly k͟hult̤īn, which had undergone the operation of boiling; because it is elsewhere related by ʿUmar that it is unlawful in its crude state.” (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 161.)

K͟HULŪD (خلود‎). “Eternity.” [[ETERNAL PUNISHMENT].]

K͟HUMS (خمس‎). “A fifth.” The fifth of property which is given to the Baitu ʾl-Māl, or public treasury.

K͟HUNS̤Ā (خنثى‎). [[HERMAPHRODITE].]

K͟HUSŪF (خسوف‎). [[ECLIPSE OF THE MOON].]

K͟HUT̤BAH (خطبة‎). The sermon or oration delivered on Fridays at the time of z̤uhr, or meridian prayer. It is also recited on the two great festivals in the morning after sunrise. [[ʿIDU ʾL-FITR], [ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].] The Friday prayer and sermon are established by an injunction in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxii. 9]: “O ye who believe! when the call to prayer is made upon the congregation day (yaumu ʾl-jumʿah), then hasten to the remembrance of God, and leave off traffic.” By the words “remembrance of God,” most commentators understand the k͟hut̤bah or sermon.

From the Traditions, it appears that Muḥammad used frequently to deliver a k͟hut̤bah, and that it was not the studied and formal oration which it has become in more recent times.

Jābir says: “When the Prophet delivered the k͟hut̤bah, his eyes used to be red, and his voice high, and his anger raged so that you would say he was warning a tribe of the approach of a hostile army, and frightening them with apprehensions of its arrival thus: It is at hand! In the evening or morning it will come down upon you and plunder you! And the Prophet would say, I have been sent, and the Resurrection is like these two fingers, and he used to join his fore-finger with the next to it, as an explanation of the semblance that the Resurrection was not farther off than the difference of length in the two fingers.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xlvi.)

On Fridays, after the usual ablutions, the four Sunnah prayers are recited, and the preacher, or k͟hat̤īb, then seats himself on the pulpit, or mimbar, whilst the Muʾaẕẕin proclaims aẕān; after which he stands up on the second step and delivers the k͟hut̤bah. It must be in Arabic, and must include prayers for Muḥammad, the Companions, and the king, but its composition and general structure is left to the discretion of the preacher. In some countries, Egypt for example (Lane’s Egyptians, vol. i. p. 107), the k͟hat̤īb holds a wooden sword in his hand, whilst he delivers the exhortation. The k͟hut̤bah is divided into two sections, the k͟hut̤batu ʾl-waʿz̤, and the k͟hut̤batu ʾn-naʿt, supplications being made between the two sections. The following is a translation of a k͟hut̤bah, as delivered in India in the present day, from which the name and titles of the reigning monarch are omitted. It is the third of a series of sermons published at Lucknow in a volume entitled Majmaʿu K͟hut̤ab:—

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Praised be God. Praised be that God who hath shown us the way in this religion. If He had not guided us into the path we should not have found it.

“I bear witness that there is no deity but God. He is one. He has no associate. I bear witness that Muḥammad is, of a truth, His servant and His Apostle. May God have mercy upon him, and upon his descendants, and upon his companions, and give them peace.

“Fear God, O ye people, and fear that day, the Day of Judgment, when a father will not be able to answer for his son, nor the son for the father. Of a truth God’s promises are true. Let not this present life make you proud. Let not the deceiver (Satan) lead you astray.

“O ye people who have believed, turn ye to God, as Naṣūh[114] did turn to God. Verily God doth forgive all sin, verily He is the merciful, the forgiver of sins. Verily He is the most munificent, and bountiful, the King, the Holy One, the Clement, the Most Merciful.”

(The preacher then descends from the pulpit, and sitting on the floor of the mosque, offers up a silent prayer. He then again ascends the mimbar, as before, and proceeds.)

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Praised be God. We praise Him. We seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness of sins. We trust in Him. We seek refuge in Him from evil desires and from former sinful actions. He who has God for His guide is never lost; and whomsoever He leadeth aside none can guide into the right path.

“We bear witness that there is no deity but God. He is one. He hath no partner.

“Verily we bear witness that Muḥammad is the servant and apostle of God, and may God have mercy upon him, who is more exalted than any being. May God have mercy upon his descendants, and upon his companions! May God give them peace! Especially upon Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq (may God be pleased with him). And upon him who was the most temperate of the ‘friends,’ Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn ʿUmar Ibn al-K͟hat̤t̤āb (may God be pleased with him). And upon him whose modesty and faith were perfect, Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn ʿUs̤mān (may God be pleased with him). And upon the Lion of the powerful God, Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn ʿAlī ibn Abī-T̤ālib (may God be pleased with him). And upon the two Imāms, the holy ones, the two martyrs, Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan and Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh al-Ḥusain (may God be pleased with both of them). And upon the mother of these two persons, the chief of women, Fāt̤imatu ʾz-Zuhrāʾ (may God be pleased with her). And upon his (Muḥammad’s) two uncles, Ḥamzah and al-ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them). And upon the rest of the ‘companions,’ and upon the ‘followers’ (may God be pleased with all of them). Of Thy mercy, O most merciful of all merciful ones, O God, forgive all Muslim men and Muslim women, all male believers and all female believers. Of a truth Thou art He who wilt receive our prayers.

“O God, help those who help the religion of Muḥammad. May we also exert ourselves to help those who help Islām. Make those weak, who weaken the religion of Muḥammad.

“O God, bless the ruler of the age, and make him kind and favourable to the people.

“O servants of God, may God have mercy upon you. Verily, God enjoineth justice and the doing of good, and gifts to kindred; and He forbiddeth wickedness, and wrong, and oppression. He warneth you that haply ye may be mindful. ([Sūrah cxvi. 92].)

“O ye people, remember the great and exalted God. He will also remember you. He will answer your prayers. The remembrance of God is great, and good, and honourable, and noble, and meritorious, and worthy, and sublime.”

A more eloquent and strikingly characteristic k͟hut̤bah has been translated by Mr. Lane in his Modern Egyptians (vol. i. p. 107). It is a New Year’s Day sermon, delivered in the great mosque at Cairo, on the first Friday in the year, on the occasion of Mr. Lane’s first visit, and is as follows:—

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Praise be to God, the Renewer of Years, and the Multiplier of favours, and the Creator of months and days, according to the most perfect wisdom and most admirable regulation; who hath dignified the months of the Arabs above all other months, and hath pronounced that among the more excellent of them is al-Muḥarram the Sacred, and hath commenced with it the year, as He hath closed it with Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah. How propitious is the beginning, and how good is the end! I extol His perfection, exempting Him from the association of any other deity with Him. He hath well considered what He hath formed and established what He hath contrived, and He alone hath the power to create and to annihilate. I praise Him, extolling His perfection, and exalting His name, for the knowledge and inspiration which He hath graciously vouchsafed; and I testify that there is no deity but God alone; He hath no companion; He is the Most Holy King; the God of Peace; and I testify that our lord and our Prophet and our friend Muḥammad is His servant and His Apostle, and His elect, and His friend, the Guide of the Way, and the lamp of the dark. O God, bless and save and beautify this noble Prophet, and chief and excellent apostle, the merciful-hearted, our Lord Muḥammad, and his family and his companions, and his wives, and his posterity, and the people of his house, the noble persons, and grant them ample salvation.

“O servants of God, your lives have been gradually curtailed, and year after year hath passed away, and ye are sleeping on the bed of indolence, and on the pillow of iniquity. Ye pass by the tombs of your predecessors, and fear not the assault of destiny and destruction, as if others departed from the world and ye must of necessity remain in it. Ye rejoice at the arrival of new years, as if they brought an increase to the term of life, and swim in the seas of desires, and enlarge your hopes, and in every way exceed other people in presumption; and ye are sluggish in doing good. O how great a calamity is this! God teacheth by an allegory. Know ye not that in the curtailment of time by indolence and sleep there is very great trouble? Know ye not that in the cutting short of lives by the termination of years is a very great warning? Know ye not that the night and day divide the lives of numerous souls? Know ye not that health and capacity are two blessings coveted by many men? But the truth hath become manifest to him who hath eyes. Ye are now between two years: one year hath passed away, and come to an end, with its evils; and ye have entered upon another year, in which, if it please God, mankind shall be relieved. Is any of you determining upon diligence in doing good in the year to come? or repenting of his failings in the times that are passed? The happy one is he who maketh amends for the time past in the time to come; and the miserable one is he whose days pass away and he is careless of his time. This new year hath arrived, and the sacred month of God hath come with blessings to you, the first of the months of the year, and of the four sacred months, as hath been said, and the most worthy of preference and honour and reverence. Its fast is the most excellent of fasts after that which is obligatory, and the doing of good in it is among the most excellent of the objects of desire. Whosoever desireth to reap advantage from it, let him fast the ninth and tenth days, looking for aid. Abstain not from the fast through indolence, and esteeming it a hardship; but comply with it, in the best manner, and honour it with the best of honours, and improve your time by the worship of God morning and evening. Turn unto God with repentance, before the assault of death: He is the God who accepteth repentance of His servants, and pardoneth sins. The Apostle of God (God bless and save him) hath said, ‘The most excellent prayer, after the prescribed, is the prayer that is said in the last third of the night; and the most excellent fast, after Ramaẓān, is that of the month of God, al-Muḥarram.’

(The k͟hat̤īb, having concluded his exhortation, says to the congregation, “Supplicate God.” He then sits down and prays privately; and each member of the congregation at the same time offers up some private petition, as after the ordinary prayers, holding his hands before him (looking at the palms), and then drawing them down his face. The k͟hat̤īb then rises again, and recites the following):—

“Praise be to God, abundant praise, as He hath commanded. I testify that there is no deity but God alone: He hath no companion: affirming His supremacy, and condemning him who denieth and disbelieveth: and I testify that our Lord and our Prophet Muḥammad is His servant and His apostle, the lord of mankind, the intercessor, the accepted intercessor, on the Day of Assembling: God bless him and his family as long as the eye seeth and the ear heareth. O people, reverence God by doing what He hath commanded, and abstain from that which He hath forbidden and prohibited. The happy one is he who obeyeth, and the miserable one is he who opposeth and sinneth. Know that the present world is a transitory abode, and that the world to come is a lasting abode. Make provision, therefore, in your transitory state for your lasting state, and prepare for your reckoning and standing before your Lord: for know that ye shall to-morrow be placed before God, and reckoned with according to your deeds; and before the Lord of Might ye shall be present, ‘and those who acted unjustly shall know with what an overthrowal they shall be overthrown.’ Know that God, whose perfection I extol, and whose name be exalted, hath said and ceaseth not to say wisely, and to command judiciously, warning you, and teaching, and honouring the dignity of your Prophet, extolling and magnifying him. Verily, God and His angels bless the Prophet: ‘O ye who believe, bless him, and greet him with a salutation.’ O God bless Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad, as Thou blessedst Ibrahīm and the family of Ibrahīm among all creatures, for Thou art praiseworthy and glorious. O God, do Thou also be well pleased with the four K͟halīfahs, the orthodox lords, of high dignity and illustrious honour, Abū Bakr, aṣ-Ṣiddīq, and ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī; and be Thou well pleased, O God, with the six who remained of the ten noble and just persons who swore allegiance to Thy Prophet Muḥammad (God bless him and save him) under the tree (for Thou art the Lord of piety and the Lord of pardon); those persons of excellence and clemency, and rectitude and prosperity, T̤alḥah, and Zubair, and Ṣaʿd, and Saʿīd, and ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān ibn ʿAuf, and Abū ʿUbaidah Āmir ibn al-Jarrāh; and with all the Companions of the Apostle of God (God bless and save him); and be Thou well pleased, O God, with the two martyred descendants, the two bright moons, the ‘two lords of the youths of the people of Paradise in Paradise,’ the two sweet-smelling flowers of the Prophet of this nation, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan and Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh al-Ḥusain; and be Thou well pleased, O God, with their mother, the daughter of the Apostle of God (God bless and save him), Fāt̤imatu ʾz-Zahrāʾ, and with their grandmother K͟hadījah al-Kubra, and with ʿĀyishah, the mother of the faithful, and with the rest of the pure wives, and with the generation which succeeded the Companions, and with the generation which succeeded that, with beneficence to the Day of Judgment. O God, pardon the believing men and the believing women, and the Muslim men and the Muslim women, those who are living, and the dead; for Thou art a hearer near, an answerer of prayers, O Lord, of the beings of the whole world. O God, aid Islām, and strengthen its pillars, and make infidelity to tremble, and destroy its might, by the preservation of Thy servant, and the son of Thy servant, the submissive to the Might of Thy Majesty and Glory, whom God hath aided, by the care of the Adored King, our master the Sult̤ān, son of the Sult̤ān, the Sult̤ān Maḥmūd K͟hān; may God assist him, and prolong [his reign]. O God, assist him, and assist his armies, O Thou Lord of the religion, and the world present, and the world to come, O Lord of the beings of the whole world.

“O God, assist the forces of the Muslims, and the armies of the Unitarians. O God, frustrate the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion. O God, invert their banners, and ruin their habitations, and give them and their wealth as booty to the Muslims. O God, unloose the captivity of the captives, and annul the debts of the debtors; and make this town to be safe and secure, and blessed with wealth and plenty, and all the towns of the Muslims, O Lord of the beings of the whole world. And decree safety and health to us and to all travellers, and pilgrims, and warriors, and wanderers, upon Thy earth, and upon Thy sea, such as are Muslims, O Lord of the beings of the whole world.

“ ‘O Lord, we have acted unjustly towards our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive us and be merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who perish.’ I beg of God, the Great, that He may forgive me and you, and all the people of Muḥammad, the servants of God. ‘Verily God commandeth justice, and the doing of good, and giving what is due to kindred; and forbiddeth wickedness, and iniquity, and oppression: He admonisheth you that ye may reflect. Remember God; He will remember you: and thank Him; He will increase to you your blessings. Praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole world!’”

The k͟hut̤bah being ended, the k͟hat̤īb then descends from the pulpit, and, if he officiate as Imām, takes his position and leads the people in a two-rakʿah prayer. The k͟hat̤īb, however, does not always officiate as Imām. The Prophet is related to have said that the length of a man’s prayers and the shortness of his sermon, are signs of a man’s common sense.

According to the best authorities, the name of the reigning K͟halīfah ought to be recited in the k͟hut̤bah, and the fact that it is not so recited in independent Muḥammadan kingdoms, but the name of the Sult̤ān or Amīr is substituted for the K͟halīfah, has its significance, for it is a question whether the Sult̤ān of Turkey, has any real claim to the spiritual headship of Islām. [[KHALIFAH].] In India the name of the king is omitted and the expression “Ruler of the Age” is used.

In India, the recital of the k͟hut̤bah serves to remind every Muḥammadan priest, at least once a week, that he is in a Dāru ʾl-Ḥarb, “a land of enmity.” Still the fact that he can recite his k͟hut̤bah at all in a country not under Muslim rule, must also assure him that he is in a Dāru ʾl-Amān, or “land of protection.”

K͟HUT̤BATU ʾL-WAQFAH (خطبة الوقفة‎). The “sermon of standing.” The sermon or oration recited on Mount ʿArafāt at the mid-day prayer on the ninth day of the pilgrimage. (Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 219.) [[KHUTBAH].]

K͟HUZĀʿAH (خزاعة‎). Lit. “A remnant.” A part of the Banū ʾl-Azd who were left behind when the tribe migrated, and who settled down permanently near Makkah. They were from the first friendly to Muḥammad, and made a treaty with him soon after that of al-Ḥudaibiyah. They were an important portion of the army which marched to Makkah with the Prophet.

K͟HUZAIMAH (خزيمة‎). An Arabian tribe were expelled by the Yaman tribes and afterwards settled in the Ḥijāz, where they bore a prominent part in opposing the army of Muḥammad.

K͟HUZAIMAH IBN S̤ĀBIT (خزيمة بن ثابت‎). A Companion of some renown. He was present at the battle of Badr. He was killed at the same time as the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, A.H. 37.

K͟HWĀJAH (خواجه‎). Persian. A rich or respectable man; a gentleman. An opulent merchant.

KIBR (كبر‎). “Pride; haughtiness.” With regard to mortal man, it is considered a vice, but with regard to the Infinite God, it is held to be one of His attributes. Al-Kabīr, “the Great One.”

AL-KĪMIYĀʾ (الكيمياء‎). “Alchemy.” The word is supposed to be derived from the Greek χυμὸς, which signifies “juice,” and to be properly confined to the study of extracts and essences of plants. It is now, however, applied more especially to a pretended science, which had for its object the transmutation of the baser materials into gold or silver, or the discovery of a panacea or universal remedy for diseases. Although this so-called science has now fallen into deserved contempt, it was held in high repute, and much cultivated from the 13th to the 17th century, especially amongst the Saracens. The first Muslim of reputation who is said to have given his attention to the subject, was K͟hālid, a son of the K͟halīfah Yazīd (A.D. 683), and the first who wrote on the subject was Jābir ibn Abbān aṣ-Ṣūfī, who was a disciple of K͟hālid.

Ḥājī K͟halfah, the celebrated author of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, says “the word Kīmiyah comes from the Hebrew, kīm and yah and means ‘from God.’ There is some discussion regarding this science. Many people do not believe in its existence, amongst others the celebrated philosopher Shaik͟h ʿAlī ibn Sīnāʾ, who wrote against it in his book, the Kitābu ʾsh-Shafāʾ: also Yaʿqūb al-Kindī, and many others. But, on the other hand, many learned men have believed in its existence; for example, Imām Fak͟hru ʾd-dīn ar-Rāzi, and Shaik͟h Najmu ʾd-dīn al-Bag͟hdādī.” (Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)

Ahlu Kīmiyāʾ, is a term used not only for an alchymist, but for a deceiver, and also a lover.

Al-Kīmiyāʾu ʾl-Akbar, the philosopher’s stone, or some celebrated tincture.

Kīmiyāʾu ʾl-Maʿānī, the chemistry of meanings, that is, the study of truth.

II.—Amongst the Ṣūfī mystics, the term al-Kīmiyāʾ is used for being satisfied with the things in possession, and not yearning after things which we do not possess. Kīmiyāʾu ʾl-ʿAwām, the alchymistry of the ordinary people, is the exchange of spiritual things for the things which perish. Kīmiyāʾu ʾl-K͟hawāṣṣ, the alchymistry of special people, is the emptying of the heart of everything except God. Kīmiyāʾu ʾs-Saʿādah, the alchymistry of felicity, is the purification of one’s heart from all things that are evil by the attainment of special graces. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

KINĀNAH (كنانة‎). (1) The name of the ancestor and founder of the Arabian tribe, the Banū Kinānah, the father of an-Naẓr, the grandfather of Fihr, who was surnamed Quraish. [[QURAISH].]

(2) The name of the Jewish chief of K͟haibar who defended the fortress of Qamuṣ against Muḥammad. He was slain by order of the Prophet, who afterwards took Kinānah’s bride, Ṣafīyah, to his home and married her. [[SAFIYAH].]

KINĀYAH (كناية‎). “A metaphor.” A word used in the science of exegesis, e.g. “Thou art separated,” by which may be meant, “Thou art divorced,” which is called T̤alāqu ʾl-Kināyah, or a divorce in metaphor.

KINDAH (كندة‎). A tribe of al-Yaman, and the descendants of Ḥimyar. They are admitted to be one of the noblest of the Arab tribes. One of the remarkable descendants of this tribe was al-Kindī the philosopher. [[KINDI].]

AL-KINDĪ (الكندى‎), the philosopher. Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī, who flourished at the court of the K͟halīfah Maʾmūn, A.D. 833, and who translated numerous classical and philosophical works for the Abbaside Government. De Slane says his father Isḥāq was Amīr of al-Kūfah, and his great grandfather was one of the Prophet’s Companions. It was at one time supposed he was a Jew or a convert to the Jewish religion, while others tried to identify him with the author of an Apology for Christianity, entitled Risālatu ʿAbdi ʾl-Masīḥ ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī, in which the writer explains to a Muslim friend his reasons for holding the Christian faith, in preference to Islām, whose acceptance the latter had pressed upon him. But it has been proved that al-Kindī, the philosopher, and al-Kindī, the author of the said treatise, are two distinct persons, although both living at the court of al-Maʾmūn and belonging to the same tribe.

Dr. J. M. Arnold, in his Islām and Christianity, p. 372, says the Risālah, or treatise of al-Kindī, is quoted as a genuine production by the celebrated historian, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī (died A.H. 430), in one of his works in confirmation of his statement that there were human sacrifices offered up in Arabia prior to the time of Muḥammad.

The Apology of al-Kindī has been rendered into English by Sir William Muir, from an edition in Arabic published by the Turkish Missions Aid Society.

KINDRED. [[INHERITANCE], [MARRIAGE].]

KING. The term used in the Qurʾān for a king is generally malik (ملك‎), Heb. ‏מֶלֶךְ‎, e.g. when the Israelites “said to a prophet of theirs, ‘Raise up for us a king.’ ” ([Sūrah ii. 246].)

(1) The word malik is now merely used in Arabia and in Central Asia for a petty chief.

(2) Sult̤ān occurs in the Qurʾān for “authority,” or “power,” and not for a king. [Sūrah lxix. 29], “My authority has perished from me.” But it is now the title assumed by the Emperor of Turkey.

(3) Pādshāh and Shāh are Persian words, the ruler of Persia having assumed the title of Shāh or King. The word Pādshāh is derived from pād, “a throne,” and shāh, “a lord or possessor,” i.e. “the lord of the throne.” In Hindustani it is Bādshāh.

(4) Wālī, is a title assumed by Muḥammadan rulers, the title being held by the Barakzai rulers of Afg͟hānistān in all legal documents. The word simply means a possessor, or one in authority.

(5) Amīr has a similar meaning to Wālī, and is a title which is assumed by Muslim rulers, as the Amīrs of Buk͟harah and of Kabūl. It is derived from ʿamr, “to rule.”

(6) Saiyid, “a lord,” is a title given to the descendants of Muḥammad, and is a regal title assumed by the ruler of Zanzibār.

(7) Imām, “a leader,” is the legal title of the head of the Muslims, and it is that given to the successors of Muḥammad, who are so called in the Traditions and in Muḥammadan works of law. [[IMAM].]

(8) K͟halīfah, “a vicegerent.” K͟halīfah, or Caliph, is used for the same regal personage as Imām. [[KHALIFAH], [RULERS].]

KIRĀMAH (كرامة‎). The miracles of any saint other than a Prophet, as distinguished from muʿjizah, which is always used for the miracles of an apostle or prophet. [[MIRACLES].]

KIRĀMĪYAH (كرامية‎). A sect of Muslims founded by Muḥammad ibn Karīm, and called also the Mujassīyah, or Corporealists, because they admitted not only a resemblance between God and created beings, but declared him to be corporeal in substance.

“The more sober among them, indeed, when they applied the word body to God, would be understood to mean that He is a self-subsisting being, which with them is the definition of body; but yet some of them affirmed him to be finite, and circumscribed either on all sides, or on some only (as beneath, for example), according to different opinions; and others allowed that He might be felt by the hand, and seen by the eye. Nay, one David al-Jawâri went so far as to say that His deity was a body composed of flesh and blood, and that He had members, as hands, feet, a head, a tongue, eyes, and ears; but that he was a body, however, not like other bodies, neither was he like to any created being. He is also said, further, to have affirmed that from the crown of the head to the breast he was hollow, and from the breast downward solid, and that He had black curled hair. These most blasphemous and monstrous notions were the consequence of the literal acceptation of those passages in the Koran ([Sūrahs xl. 10]; [xx. 4]; [ii. 109]), which figuratively attribute corporeal actions to God, and of the words of Muḥammad, when he said that God created man in His own image, and that he himself had felt the fingers of God, which He laid on his back, to be cold; besides which, this sect are charged with fathering on their Prophet a great number of spurious and forged traditions to support their opinion, the greater part whereof they borrowed from the Jews, who are accused as naturally prone to assimilate God to men, so that they describe Him as weeping for Noah’s flood till His eyes were sore.” (Sale.)

KIRĀMUN KĀTIBŪN (كـرام كاتبون‎). Lit. “Illustrious writers.” The two recording angels who are said to be with every man, one on the right hand to record his good deeds, and one on his left to record the evil deeds. They are mentioned in the Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-Infit̤ār (lxxxii.): “Yet truly there are guardians over you, illustrious recorders (kirāman kātibīn) cognizant of your actions.”

It is related that the Prophet enjoined his people not to spit in front, or on the right, but on the left, as on that side stands the recording angel of evil. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. viii. pt. 1.)

As these angels are supposed to be changed every day, they are called the muʿaqqibāt, or those who succeed each other.

KISRĀ (كسرى‎), pl. Akāsirah. The Chosroes, or Cyrus, a name given to almost every king of Persia of the Sassānian dynasty (like Cæsar among the Romans and Pharaoh among the Egyptians). The kings of Persia, prior to Islām, according to Arab historians, composed four dynasties, namely, the Peshdādians, the chronology of which is unknown; the Kayānians, which ended B.C. 331, when Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great; the Ashkānians, which terminated A.D. 202; and the Sassānians, the last of whom was overcome by the Arabs, A.D. 636.

From the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxx. 1], it appears that after the taking of Jerusalem by Chosroes, the sympathies of Muḥammad were all enlisted on the side of the Cæsar, and he foretells his ultimate victory over the king of Persia:—

“The Greeks have been conquered in the neighbouring coast, but in a few years after their defeat they shall again be victorious.”

In the sixth year of the Hijrah, Muḥammad sent a despatch to Chosroes, inviting him to Islām. Sir William Muir says (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 384):—

“The despatch for the King of Persia reached the Court probably some months after the accession of Siroes. It was delivered to the Monarch, who, on hearing the contents, tore it in pieces. When this was reported to Mahomet, he prayed and said: ‘Even thus, O Lord! rend Thou his kingdom from him.’ Connected with the court of Persia, but of date somewhat earlier than the despatch sent to it, is a remarkable incident, which was followed by results of considerable importance.

“A few months before his overthrow, the Chosroes, receiving strange reports of the prophetical claims of Mahomet, and of the depredations committed on the Syrian border by his marauding bands, sent order to Bâdzân, the Persian Governor of Yemen, to despatch two trusty men to Medîna, and procure for him certain information regarding the Pretender. Bâdzân obeyed, and with the messengers sent a courteous despatch to Mahomet. By the time they arrived at Medîna, tidings had reached the Prophet of the deposition and death of Chosroes. When the despatch, therefore, was read before him, he smiled at its contents, and summoned the ambassadors to embrace Islâm. He then apprised them of the murder of the Chosroes and the accession of his son. ‘Go,’ said he, ‘inform your master of this, and require him to tender his submission to the Prophet of the Lord.’ The glory of Persia had now departed. She had long ago relaxed her grasp upon Arabia; and the Governor of Yemen was free to choose a protectorate more congenial to his people. Bâdzân, therefore, gladly recognised the rising fortunes of Islâm, and signified his adhesion to the Prophet. From the distance of this province, its allegiance was at the first little more than nominal; but the accession served as a point for further action, and meanwhile added new prestige to the Prophet’s name.”

KISWAH (كسوة‎). Lit. “A robe.” The covering of the Kaʿbah, or cube-like building, at Makkah. [[KAʿBAH].]

When Captain Burton visited Makkah in 1853, he found it to be a coarse tissue of mixed silk and cotton, and of eight pieces, two for each face of the building, the seams being concealed by the broad gilt band called the ḥizām. It is lined with white calico, and has cotton ropes to secure the covering to metal rings at the basement. But on the occasion of Captain Burton’s visit, the kiswah was tucked up by ropes from the roof. The whole is of a brilliant black, with the gold band running round it.

The burqaʿ, or veil, is a curtain hung before the door of the Kaʿbah, also of black brocade, embroidered with inscriptions, in letters of gold, of verses from the Qurʾān, and lined with green silk.

According to Burton, the inscription on the gold band of the kiswah is the ninetieth verse of the third Sūrah of the Qurʾān: “Verily, the first House founded for mankind was surely that at Bakkah, for a blessing and a guidance to the worlds.” The whole of the kiswah is covered with seven Sūrahs of the Qurʾān, namely, XVIIIth, XIXth, IIIrd, IXth, XXth, XXXIXth, and LXVIIth (i.e. al-Kahf, Maryam, Ālu ʿImrān, at-Taubah, T̤ā Ḥā, Yā Sīn, and al-Mulk). The character is the ancient Kufic, and legible from a considerable distance.

Mr. Lane says that the kiswah is made of a mixture of silk and cotton, because the Prophet expressly forbade silk as an article of dress.

The kiswah and burqaʿ are now manufactured at Cairo, at a manufactory called the K͟hurunfīsh, and is made by a family who possess the hereditary right, and who are called the Baitu ʾs-Saʿd. When they are completed, they are taken to the mosque known as the Sult̤ān Ḥasan, and there kept until they are sent off with a caravan of pilgrims to Makkah. This usually takes place a few days after the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, generally about the 6th day of the month of Shawwāl, and two or three weeks before the departure of the regal canopy or Maḥmal. [[MAHMAL].] The procession of the kiswah is similar to that of the Maḥmal, and therefore requires no separate description.

According to Muslim historians, the Kaʿbah was first dressed with a kiswah or robe by a Ḥimyarite chief, named Tubbaʿu ʾl-Arqān. From the time of Quṣaiy it was veiled by subscriptions collected from Pagan Arabs, until Abū Rabiyah ibn al-Mug͟hīrah ibn ʿAbdi ʾllāh provided the covering, whereby he obtained the title of al-ʿAdl, “the Just.” When Muḥammad obtained possession, he ordered it to be covered with fine Yamānī cloth, and ordered the expense to be defrayed from the public treasury. The K͟halīfah ʿUmar chose Egyptian linen, and ordered the robe to be renewed every year. K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān, being a man of eminent piety ordered it to be clothed twice a year. For the winter it had a robe of brocade silk, and in the summer a suit of fine linen. Muʿāwiyah, the Umaiyah K͟halīfah, was the first to establish the present kiswah of silk and linen tissue, but being reminded of the Prophet’s well-known dislike to silken robes he changed it again to the more orthodox covering of Yamānī cloth. The K͟halīfah Maʾmūn (A.D. 813) ordered the dress to be changed three times a year, the fine Yamānī cloth on the 1st of Rajab, white brocade on the 1st of Shawwāl, for the pilgrimage two months later, and rich red brocade on the 10th of Muḥarram. The K͟halīfah al-Mutawakkil (A.D. 847) sent a new robe every two months. During the Abbaside dynasty, the investing of the Kaʿbah with the kiswah was regarded as a sign of sovereignty over the holy places. The later K͟halīfahs of Bag͟hdād are said to have sent a kiswah of green and gold. The Fāt̤imide K͟halīfahs made the kiswah at Cairo of black brocade of mixed silk and cotton; and when Sult̤ān Salīm assumed the power of the K͟halīfate (A.D. 1512), the kiswah still continued to be supplied from Cairo, as is now the case under the Ottoman rule.

(Burckhardt’s Arabia, Lane’s Egyptians, Ali Bey’s Pilgrimage, Burton’s Mecca and Medina.) [[KAʿBAH], [MASJIDU ʾL-HARAM].]

AL-KITĀB (الكتاب‎). “The Book.” A term used for the Qurʾān, and extended to all inspired books of the Jews and Christians, who are called Ahlu ʾl-Kitāb, or believers in the book.

KITĀBĪ (كتابى‎). A term used for one of the Ahlu ʾl-Kitāb, “the people of the Book,” or those in possession of the inspired word of God, as Jews or Christians.

KITĀBĪYAH (كتابية‎). Fem. of Kitābī. A female of the Ahlu ʾl-Kitāb, or those who possess an inspired book, Jews or Christians.

KITĀBU ʾL-AʿMĀL (كتاب الاعمال‎). [[SAHIFATU ʾL-AʿMAL].]

AL-KITĀBU ʾL-ḤUKMĪ (الكتاب الحكمى‎). A letter transmissible from one Qāẓī to another when the defendant in a suit resides at a distance. Such letter must be a transcript of real evidence.

AL-KITĀBU ʾL-MUBĪN (الكتاب المبين‎). Lit. “The Manifest or clear book.” The term is used in the Qurʾān both for the Tablet of Decrees (Lauḥu ʾl-Maḥfūz̤), and for the Qurʾān itself.

[Sūrah vi. 59]: “No leaf falleth but He knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor a green thing or sere, but it is noted in the clear book.”

[Sūrah iv. 18]: “Now hath a light and a clear book come to you from God.”

KITMĀN (كتمان‎). “Concealing; keeping secret.” The injunction of the Qurʾān is: “Hide not the truth while ye know it”; and yet the art of concealing profane religious beliefs has been a special characteristic of the Eastern mystics.

KNEELING. The attitude of kneeling amongst Muḥammadans consists of placing the two knees on the ground and sitting on the feet behind. Kneeling as practised by Christians in the present day, does not exist amongst Muslims as an attitude of worship.

The word jās̤ī, which occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xlv. 27]: “And thou shalt see each nation kneeling (jās̤iyatan), each nation summoned to the book,” expresses an attitude of fear and not of worship.

KNOWLEDGE. [[ʿILM].]

KORAH. Arabic Qārūn (قارون‎). Heb. ‏קֹרַח‎. The son of Yaṣhar (Izhar), son of Qāhis̤ (Kohath), son of Lāwī (Levi). The leader of the rebellion against Moses. [Num. xvi. 1]; [Jude 11] (where he is coupled with Cain and Balaam). He is mentioned three times in the Qurʾān.

[Sūrah xl. 24, 25]: “Moreover we had sent Moses of old, with our signs and with clear authority, to Pharaoh, and Haman, and Korah; and they said, ‘Sorcerer, impostor.’ ”

[Sūrah xxix. 38]: “And Korah and Pharaoh and Haman. With proofs of his mission did Moses come to them, and they behaved proudly on the earth; but us they could not outstrip; for every one of them did we seize in his sin. Against some of them did we send a stone-charged wind; some of them did the terrible cry of Gabriel surprise; for some of them we cleaved the earth; and some of them we drowned.”

[Sūrah xxviii. 76–82]: “Now Korah was of the people of Moses: but he behaved haughtily toward them; for we had given him such treasure that its keys would have burdened a company of men of strength. When his people said to him, ‘Exult not, for God loveth not those who exult; but seek by means of what God hath given thee, to attain the future Mansion; and neglect not thy part in this world, but be bounteous to others as God hath been bounteous to thee, and seek not to commit excesses on the earth; for God loveth not those who commit excesses:’ he said, ‘It hath been given me only on account of the knowledge that is in me.’ Did he not know that God had destroyed before him generations that were mightier than he in strength and had amassed more abundant wealth? But the wicked shall not be asked of their crimes. And Korah went forth to his people in his pomp. Those who were greedy for this present life said, ‘Oh that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Korah! Truly he is possessed of great good fortune.’ But they to whom knowledge had been given said, ‘Woe to you! the reward of God is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness, and none shall win it but those who have patiently endured.’ And we clave the earth for him and for his palace, and he had no forces, in the place of God, to help him, nor was he among those who are succoured. And in the morning those who the day before had coveted his lot said, ‘Aha! God enlargeth supplies to whom He pleaseth of His servants, or is sparing. Had not God been gracious to us, He had caused it to cleave for us. Aha! the ungrateful can never prosper.’”

Al-Baiẓāwī says Korah brought a false accusation of immorality against Moses, and Moses complained to God, and God directed him to command the earth what he pleased, and it should obey him; whereupon he said, “O earth, swallow them up”; and immediately the earth opened under Korah and his confederates, and swallowed them up, with his palace and all his riches.—There is a tradition that as Korah sank gradually into the ground, first to his knees, then to his waist, then to his neck, he cried out four several times, “O Moses, have mercy on me!” but that Moses continued to say, “O earth, swallow them up!” till at last he wholly disappeared: upon which God said to Moses, “Thou hadst no mercy on Korah, though he asked pardon of thee four times; but I would have had compassion on him if he had asked pardon of Me but once.”

He is represented by Jalālu ʾd-dīn as the most beautiful of the Israelites of his time. His opulence and avarice have become a proverb for those who amass wealth without giving away in alms and charity.

In the Talmud it is said that “Joseph concealed three treasures in Egypt, one of which became known to Korah … the keys of Korah’s treasure chambers were a burden for 300 white mules.” Midr. Jalkut on Eccl. v. 12: “Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt,”—which may have furnished Muḥammad with the nucleus of this story. Compare also Tract. Psachim, fol. 119a.

AL-KŪFAH (الكوفة‎). A city on the west bank of the river Euphrates, about four days march from Bag͟hdād, but which has now entirely disappeared.

The city of al-Kūfah was founded soon after the Arabs conquered Persia, A.D. 636, and in the reign of the K͟halīfah ʿUmar. It was built opposite the ancient town of Madain, on the other side of the river. The first Abbaside K͟halīfah, Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās, A.D. 750, made it his capital, and it was then a flourishing city, but when the K͟halīfah al-Manṣūr built Bag͟hdād, al-Kūfah decreased in importance, and gradually fell into decay. It was much famed for its learned men, and especially for its grammarians. Two sects of rival grammarians were named respectively from al-Baṣrah and al-Kūfah, and the more ancient characters of Arabic writing are called Kūfī or Kufic, after this seat of learning. The Kufic-Arabic letters resemble the Syriac, being square and heavy. The ancient copies of the Qurʾān are written in Kufic.

KUFR (كفر‎). Lit. “That which covers the truth.” Infidelity; blasphemy. Disbelieving in the Qurʾān or in any of the tenets of the Muslim religion. [[KAFIR].]

KULĀH (كلاه‎). The Persian for a cap, or cowl, especially worn by Muḥammadan faqīrs or darweshes. The faqīrs generally call it their tāj or crown, and it is one of the distinguishing marks of their order.

KULAHS. (E. Campbell.)

KULS̤ŪM (كلثوم‎). Kuls̤ūm ibn Hadam, the name of a hospitable but blind chief, with whom Muḥammad stayed at Qubāʾ upon his arrival in that place after his flight from Makkah. It was whilst he was staying with Kuls̤ūm that Muḥammad built his first mosque at Qubāʾ. Kuls̤ūm died soon afterwards.

KURZ IBN JĀBIR (كرز بن جابر‎). A Quraish chieftain who committed a raid near al-Madīnah, and carried off some of the flocks and herds of the Muslims. He was afterwards converted to Islām, and fell under K͟hālid at the taking of Makkah.

KUSŪF (كسوف‎). [[ECLIPSE OF THE SUN].]