Glossary: K
A B D F G H I J K L M N Q R S T U W Y Z
kabad
Kabad means “toil, exhaustion”: toil and trouble envelop all aspects of human life, and no worldly pleasure is free of struggle and suffering. → Read at 90:4
kabāʾir
Plural of al-kabīrah (the big one), qualifying an omitted noun such as 'sins'. Since greatness is relative to smallness, 'great sins which you are forbidden' implies that sins are of two kinds, great and small, and the 'evil deeds' expiated are the small ones. → Read at 4:31
kadḥ
Al-Rāghib: kadḥ means “effort, striving, toil”; others define it as toiling in action in a way that affects the soul, and either way, with the preposition ilá, it implies journeying toward one’s Lord. → Read at 84:6
kadhb
The opposite of honesty (ṣidq); besides speech it applies to errors of perception, as in "his eyes deceived him," so the Prophet's heart did not err in what it saw. → Read at 53:11
kāffah
Al-Rāghib: kaff is the hand, and came to mean to push away; in this verse kāffatan means one who keeps people (kāffan) from wrongdoing, the -ah making it intensive. This reading is reinforced by bashīr and nadhīr, which clarify it; reading it as "to all people" is convoluted. → Read at 34:28
kaffārah
From al-kufr, to cover or hide: an action that in some way covers the evil of disobedience. Al-Rāghib: that which covers the sin, from which comes the expiation of an oath. → Read at 5:89
kalālah
Originally a maṣdar meaning to encompass (from it come al-iklīl, crown, and al-kull, whole). Al-Rāghib: al-kalālah is an heir other than the child and the father; the Prophet described it as one who dies leaving neither child nor parent, and both explanations are correct since the maṣdar covers the inheritor and the inherited. → Read at 4:12
al-kalim al-ṭayyib
The good word does not refer to speech itself but to a good meaning: the true beliefs which uplift a person when he assents to them and builds his deeds on them, the most certain being the word of tawḥīd, from which all true beliefs stem. → Read at 35:10
kalimah
- () In language, a single meaningful word as well as a sentence or a phrase. In the terminology of the Qur'an, a word attributed to God means 'that which shows the will of God', whether an order such as the creative word 'Be', or a word of revelation and inspiration. → Read
- () A speech that conveys a complete or incomplete meaning; one Qur'anic usage of the term is God's definite decree to fulfill His promise, as in (). → Read
kalimah ṭayyibah
The "good word" likened to a good tree is firm, true belief: an utterance based on firm belief and resolution on which a person remains steadfast and does not deviate in action. → Read at 14:24
kanūd
Kanūd is synonymous with kafūr (ungrateful): an aspect of human nature leads people to pursue desires and worldly pleasures and cease being grateful to their Lord. → Read at 100:6
kanz
Al-Rāghib: to pile coins on top of one another and hoard them; originally, to store dates in a container. The word conveys hoarding wealth and preventing it from flowing freely between people in dealings. → Read at 9:34
karāmah
Angels are recurrently characterized in the Qur’an with karāmah (nobility, honor); apparently this refers to their inherent immunity from sin and disobedience, for they have no will except what God wills. → Read at 82:11
kawthar
Majmaʿ al-bayān: kawthar means “something that is embedded with abundance,” here abundant good; in light of it specifically refers to the Prophet’s abundant progeny, or abundant good of which progeny is a part. → Read at 108:1
kayd
- () Al-Rāghib: a kind of stratagem, praiseworthy or blameworthy, though more often used in the pejorative sense; the same applies to istidrāj and makr. → Read
- () Al-Rāghib: a kind of stratagem or ruse; Majmaʿ al-Bayān: to scheme or plot, or, according to others, an action done in secret that would anger another if it came to light. → Read
khabʾ
Majmaʿ al-bayān: al-khabʾ means something encompassed by something else so that it cannot be perceived. In the ʿAllāmah's explanation, "bringing forth the hidden" is a metaphor for bringing things out of non-existence into existence, very close to using fiṭr (splitting) for God's creation. → Read at 27:25
khalāʾif
Khalāʾif is the plural of khalīfah (successor); people being successors on the earth means each has the responsibility and authority of previous generations to make use of the earth as they did, a position attained through the faculty of generation. → Read at 35:39
khalq
- () Al-khalq (to create) comes from khalaq al-thawb (sewing a garment), so composing a thing from various components is part of its meaning, as opposed to al-jaʿl (to make), which involves no components; perhaps that is why 'create' is used for the heavens and the earth and 'make' for the darkness and the light. → Read
- () It is said that the root meaning of khalq is to measure (taqdīr), as when one measures fabric to make a garment (khalaqtu al-thawb). → Read
- () Creation is the outpouring of existence (ifāḍat al-wujūd); death, like life, results from the Creator's determination, not from any deficiency in His power. → Read
khalq jadīd
A new creation is turning their worldly existence into another kind of existence with its own order beyond the cosmic order of this world: everlasting rather than transitory, life without death; labs here means confusion. → Read at 50:15
khannās
Majmaʿ al-bayān: waswās is the speaking of the voice in the mind as a whisper; khannās is an intensive form of khunūs, "to hide after appearing," and it is said that Satan is so called because he withdraws when people remember God and resumes when they become mindless. → Read at 114:4
kharṣ
Originally speaking on supposition and conjecture without knowledge; since this is close to lying, a liar is called kharrāṣ, but here kharrāṣūn most likely means those who speak about the Resurrection without knowledge. → Read at 51:10
khashiyah
Khashiyah is a trait of the heart: fearing something undesired or what would cause it. It differs from khawf, the fear or unease that impels a person to guard against a threat, an external matter pertaining to deeds, whether or not fear strikes the heart; so the prophets fear (khashiyah) only God. → Read at 33:39
khashya
Apparently khashya is the heart's reaction to the prospect of evil, while khawf moves one to take precautions against the harm. Perhaps, as al-Rāghib says, khashya is stronger: a fear accompanied by awe rooted in knowledge (). → Read at 13:21
khāsiʾ
Al-Rāghib: sight constricted and downcast through humiliation; ḥasīr is something exhausted and fatigued, conceivable in an active and a passive sense. → Read at 67:4
khaṭaʾ
Al-Rāghib (al-Mufradāt): khaṭaʾ means deviating in direction; one type is intending what should not be intended and done, which is a total wrong for which one is held accountable. → Read at 17:31
khātam
A khātam (seal) is something that seals a thing, also used for what imprints a seal, such as a signet ring; calling the Prophet the seal of the prophets means that prophethood comes to a conclusion with him and there is no prophet after him. → Read at 33:40
khāṭiʾ
Al-Rāghib: al-khāṭiʾ is one who undertakes an act but does not do it well and yet carries it out, as in "to kill them is a great error" (), while al-mukhṭiʾ is one who undertakes an act and does it well, but something contrary to what he intended happens from him; the comprehensive meaning is to deviate from the intended course. → Read at 28:8
khawḍ
Al-Rāghib: to wade into water, used figuratively for entering into matters, mostly in the Qur'an for things blameworthy to enter into. → Read at 52:12
khawf
- () The fear in this verse apparently differs from fear of punishment: it is humbling oneself before God because He is the Lord of majesty and honor, not from fear of His punishment or desire for His reward but in sincere devotion; this is the fear God attributes to His angels (). → Read
- () Khawf is the impression of one who is weak and dominated by one who is strong, involving humility and awe; its opposite, ṭughyān (transgression), means violating and exceeding the limits, having no regard for one’s Lord’s station out of arrogance. → Read
khayr
Perhaps khayr signifies good in its unqualified sense: loving one’s good is inherent in humans, and the problem arises when they take the adornments of this world to be their good. → Read at 100:8
khayrāt ḥisān
Khayr is usually used for abstract qualities and ḥasan for tangible forms, so the maidens are beautiful in manners and in appearance. → Read at 55:70
khilāfah
- () Vicegerency is setting one thing in place of another, and is unthinkable unless the vicegerent is a true copy of his predecessor in all characteristics, traits and abilities; man was to be made vicegerent of God, representing Him in the earth. → Read
- () Caliph here most readily means a divinely appointed authority, as in ; since a caliph mimics the one he succeeds in attributes and acts, God's caliph on earth must conduct himself in a godly manner, intending and doing what God intends and judging as God has decreed. → Read
khiyānah
- () Al-Rāghib: betrayal (khiyānah) and hypocrisy (nifāq) mean the same thing, but khiyānah is used for pacts and trusts and nifāq for religious matters. Its antonym is amānah (faithfulness), which means adhering to the provisions of a pact, trust or the like. → Read
- () Al-Rāghib: khiyānah and nifāq are synonyms, khiyānah originally used for breaking pacts and trusts and nifāq for hypocrisy in religion; khiyānah is opposing truth and right, as in secretly violating a pact, its antonym being amānah. → Read
khizy
khulūd
Al-Rāghib: for something to endure without being affected by corruption and to remain in its condition; used of long-lasting things, then metaphorically for what endures eternally. → Read at 11:107
khuluq
- () Al-Rāghib: khalq and khulq have the same root, but khalq is specifically for shapes and forms observed by sight, while khulq is for faculties and traits observed by insight. → Read
- () A spiritual trait from which deeds readily issue, divided into noble and ignoble; used alone it means a good trait. Al-Rāghib: khalq came to mean the outward form seen by the eye and khulq the inner faculties and dispositions perceived by insight. → Read
khushūʿ
- () Khushūʿ is a specific state of a person dominated and defeated by a mighty being, which disconnects him from everything else and directs his attention only to that being; it is apparently a state of the heart, but on some viewpoints it is also ascribed to other organs. → Read
- () A kind of humility; khushshaʿ (plural of khāshiʿ, one humbled and fearful) is attributed to their eyes because that is where fear is most apparent. → Read
- () The feeling produced in the heart when confronting something magnificent; it compares with khuḍūʿ, which appears outwardly in the limbs. Rahq is covering something with force. → Read
khushub musannadah
Khushub are pieces of wood and tasnīd is propping something up against a support; the hypocrites have impressive bodies and sweet speech but are like propped-up wood, shapes without spirits, useless for lack of understanding. → Read at 63:4
khusr
Khusr, khusrān, khasār and khasārah all refer to “a loss in capital and one’s original asset”; life is the human capital, which is lost if one follows falsehood instead of faith and righteous deeds. → Read at 103:2
khusrān
Khusr and khusrān mean to lose one's capital, in part or in full, khusrān being the more profound loss. To lose one's self means to expose it to danger and misery so that it loses the potential for perfection and thereby happiness, without even hoping for it. → Read at 39:15
kibriyāʾ
Al-Rāghib: supremacy means being above submission; Ibn Athīr says it means magnificence and dominion, and al-Ṭabrisī in Majmaʿ al-Bayān absolute authority, majesty and superiority. → Read at 45:37
kitāb
Kutub, plural of kitāb (something written), can mean tablets, inscribed words, their meaning, or decrees; here the writings are divine teachings and ordinances, called qayyimah (upright) because they protect the well-being of human society. → Read at 98:3
kitāb ḥafīẓ
A preserving Book is one that preserves everything with its effects and states, or records all that happens and is protected from alteration: the Guarded Tablet (lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), containing all that is and will be until the Resurrection. → Read at 50:4
kufʾ
An equal (kufʾ) is a peer that parallels God in His essence or acts, and a being would be one only if it were independent of Him in that domain; since all beings depend on God, the Ultimate Recourse, He has no equal. → Read at 112:4
kufr
Kufr means “concealing the clear truth”; here it is meant in its general sense of any concealment of the truth, including rejecting God’s Lordship and refraining from His worship, though “ingratitude” is also true in its own right. → Read at 80:17
kun
God's saying "be" to a thing is not a physical utterance, which would lead to endless regress, nor something the not-yet-existent thing could hear; it is metaphorical, meaning that the creation of things springs immediately from God's essence with no intermediary and no delay. → Read at 36:82