“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.”