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.