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.