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Kāhin (2,242 words)

Fahd, T.

, a term of controversial origin (cf. T. Fahd, Divination arabe , 91 ff.), belonging to Canaanite, Aramaic and Arab traditions. At the earliest stage
known to us it appears to have been used by the “Western Semites” to designate the possessor of a single function with related prerogatives,
that is to say, the offering of sacrifices in the name of the group, the representing of this group before the deity, the interpretation of the will
of the deity, and in addition the anticipation and communication of his wishes. The evolution of this function and these prerogatives follows
the social evolution of these three groups themselves; with their transition from a pastoral to an agricultural civilization, their conception of
the deity and of the service due to him changed to suit the conditions of daily life. As the pre-Islamic Arabs were the last followers of the
pastoral way of life, their conceptions of the priesthood probably reflect more or less faithfully the earliest stage of the priestly function, so far,
of course, as the post-Islamic data at our disposal have remained faithful to their oral or written sources.

In this respect, although the accounts in which the kāhin appears may be fanciful and tendentious, it remains true that, in order to recreate a
proper context for these stories and to avoid anachronisms, the people who told them and the people who used them must have tried to
reconstitute and preserve the original terminology. For those who know the Semitic theodicy in particular, the importance of the names and
epithets given to the deities in polytheism and to God in monotheism in the elaboration of theology is obvious, bearing in mind above all that
the true Muslim theodicy is to be found in the treatises of the asmāʾ al-ḥusnā [q.v.] rather than in those of the mutakallimūn .

We are of the opinion that the same reasoning applies to the terminology designating the personnel and the accoutrements of the cult.
Therefore we have chosen as our point of departure the various names and attributes designating the function and prerogatives of the kāhin,
in the hope of gaining a clearer picture of his characteristics as they must have appeared in the religious outlook of the greater part of the
Arabs, since we lack documents of sufficiently established authenticity that deal with the conception of the kāhin held by the élite of the
people and the ruling class.

Like the Greek ἰερεύς and the Latin sacerdos , the Arab kāhin combined the functions of sacrificer and guardian of the sanctuary, and those of
the µαντίς and the augur ; hence it is possible to render the word kāhin by “priest”, in the sense of agent of the official cult. But the
predominance of nomadism, where it was usually the head of the family or tribe who offered sacrifices, after the manner of the patriarchs in
the Old Testament, and in which frequent migrations ¶ prevented the establishment of an official form of worship and fixed places of
worship, weakened the first role of the kāhin while favouring the development of the second, more in keeping with the expectations of most
of his fellow-tribesmen. Thus it is virtually necessary to translate kāhin as “diviner” (since we lack an exact equivalent) with the dual meaning

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of the Latin divinus , that is to say “one inspired” and “prophet”, without excluding his strictly priestly role in places where social conditions
allowed it, such as at Mecca and al-Ṭāʾif, and near a few important holy places of Arabia (D̲ h̲ u ’l-K̲ h̲ alaṣa, al-D̲ j̲alsad, al-Fals, for example; cf.
details in T. Fahd, Le Panthéon de l’Arabie centrale à la veille de l’Hégire , Paris 1968).

The oracular, mantic and augural role of the kāhin is for all practical purposes the only one recognized in the evidence we possess, which
derives essentially from folklore. The numerous special divinatory functions which he exercised are known to us only through the various
names which designated the exercise of these functions, illustrated by a few examples. These names, frequently used as synonyms for kāhin
(as are for example for “diviner and the female equivalent: “augur”, “haruspex”, “magus”, “pythoness”, “sybil”, “seer”, etc.), are: afkal , ḥāzī , d̲ h̲ ū ,
ilāh , sādin , ʿarrāf , ʿāʾif , zād̲ j̲ir , ḳāʾif , nās̲h̲ id , etc. Our knowledge of the kāhin amounts in practice to no more than the significance of those
names and the deductions to be drawn from the stories which illustrate them.

To begin with the term kāhin itself: its etymological origin is obscure (possibilities are the Semitic root k w n, “to be, to stand up”, and the
Akkadian root kʾn , giving the idea of prostration; but the unusual permutation of the consonant h is still unexplained). However, it seems to
have been part of the earliest religious vocabulary of the Western Semites, after the manner of the bārū at Mari and in Akkad. Like the bārū,
he combined the functions of guarding the holy place, transmitting the oracle, offering sacrifices, and interpreting signs by divination. These
were the functions of the Hebrew kōhēn before the institution of the Monarchy, as described in the Bible (cf. H. Ringgren, Israelite Religion ,
1966).

The Arab kāhin had not developed beyond this stage when the advent of Islam brought about his disappearance because of the absence, in
the nomadic environment in which he lived, of a permanent stable kingship which, as in neighbouring kingdoms and elsewhere, would have
organized the priesthood if only to keep it under control. This lack of organization resulted in making the kāhin the sole repository of
supernatural knowledge, dispensed in Israel by the kōhēn and the nabī , and this led them to the practice of both divinatory and ecstatic
techniques. Thus, like the bārūm of Mari (cf. A. Finet, La place du devin dans la société de Mari , in La Divination en Mésopotamie ancienne et
dans les régions voisines , Paris 1966, 93), the kāhin of ancient Arabia held in his hands the fate of the entire tribe, in both peace and war.

The oracular and ecstatic aspects of his functions appear more overtly in the kāhina , who like the “ecstatic prophetess” of Mari ( muḫḫutum ,
cf. G. Dossin, Sur le prophétisme à Mari , ibid., 80) had visions and was in charge of an oracle (rabbat bayt: cf. examples and references in
Divination arabe , 98 ff.). The most famous of these women was Ṭ(Ẓ)arīfa.

As far as the kāhin is concerned, these aspects are revealed more particularly by two names borne by certain of their numbers: afkal (ʿAmr b.
al-D̲ j̲uʿayd, the sayyid of the Rabīʿa) and ḥāzī (Zuhayr b. D̲ j̲anab, ¶ the sayyid of the Kalb). In fact afkal, from the Sumero-Akkadian apkallu
and preserved in several Semitic languages with the meaning of high priest (cf. Divination arabe, 103 f.), seems to have acquired an ecstatic
character among the Arabs (loc. cit.); in the same way the ḥāzī, a term of Aramaic origin comparable to the Hebrew roʾeh , the forerunner of
the nabī, must have been originally a “seer”, as is indicated by his name; but he became increasingly an observer of omens, and the term
became a generic one covering different divinatory and magical practices (op. cit., 112 f.). [On the oracular utterances of the kāhin and the
kāhina see SAD̲ J̲ʿ ].

The aspect of guardian and sacrificer in holy places and places of worship appears in the following names given to the kāhin: rabb , who like
the r b of Ugarit and the Ḳaṭabānī r b y had to manage the affairs of the holy place (territories and entrances); d̲ h̲ ū ilāh , caretaker of the
bethel, the “sacred stone” itself entrusted to his keeping during the movements of the tribe, expressing at the same time the close link arising
from the proximity between the deity and his servant (compare with ʿabd , taym , imruʾ , and their Semitic equivalents); sādin and ḥād̲ j̲ib ,
which properly speaking designated the function of guardian in the holy places and the cellae where the sacra of a tribe or a group of tribes
were deposited. This presupposed, therefore, a measure of settlement and all that this implied with respect to institutions, organizations and
established customs. The observation of what was happening in other temples of the world around (compare for example the reforms
introduced by ʿAmr b. Luḥayy [q.v.] after a stay in a Hellenistic spa, and the institutions founded in the 5th century by Ḳuṣayy [q.v.], who came
from a Byzantine area where ecclesiastic and monastic organization were highly developed) aided the development of the office of the sādin,
and stability made possible the creation and preservation of traditions, myths and legends. But the function of the sādin was not restricted to
the guardianship of the holy place; he took the place of the kāhin, and like him performed sacrificial and divinatory rites, as did the Ugaritic n
ḳ d (compare Hebrew nōḳedh from the Mes̲h̲ aʿ stela) who also bore the titles r b and k h n (see Divination arabe, 111).

The divinatory aspect of the function of the kāhin is covered generically by the term ʿarrāf, and specifically by names derived from the
divinatory specialities which he practised, such as ʿāʾif and zād̲ j̲ir [see ʿIYĀFA ], ḳāʾif [see ḲIYĀFA ], nās̲h̲ id and several other secondary
designations for particular occasions, such as ḥakam (arbitrator on the occasion of a munāfara ), k̲h̲ aṭīb , (spokesman and messenger), s̲h̲ āʿir
(incantator and inciter to battle), ṭabīb (medicine man), k̲h̲ abīr (valuer).

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The ʿarrāf is the kāhin, even though the former occupies a lower rank than the latter in the hierarchy of seers because he does no more than
exercise the divinatory prerogatives of the kāhin; however, since in a nomadic society these predominated, ʿarrāf and kāhin were eventually
applied to the same person.

ʿIrāfa is the knowledge of things unseen or of things to come, on the basis of things visible or present. It implies agnostic knowledge (compare
maʿrifa in relation to ʿilm ), and consequently a knowledge restricted to the initiated, an implication contained in the Akkadian and Hebrew
equivalents of ʿarrāf: mūdū and iiddeʿonī . Therefore irāfa , while belonging essentially to the realm of divination, comes close to that of
enchantment and magic.

ʿArrāf and ʿarrāfa are inspired by a tābiʿ or tābiʿa ¶ (familiar spirit) or a raʾiyy or riʾiyy (inspirer for particular occasions); therefore the ʿarrāf is
called matbūʿ (flanked by a demon), and ʿirāfa is at times assimilated to sorcery and to s̲h̲ aʿbad̲ h̲ a (legerdemain, conjuring). The lowest stage
of the function of the ʿarraf and the kāhin is rendered by the term nās̲h̲ id . This epithet refers both to his role as exorciser ( munās̲h̲ ada ) and
to his role as finder of lost animals and other objects. It is often in this guise that the kāhin-ʿarrāf appears in the apologetic folktales of
primitive Islam.

Before Islam, the kāhin in central Arabia was the spiritual and intellectual guide of the tribe, a role filled by all agents of a cult in
underdeveloped societies at every period and every place. By reason of the geographic, historic and social circumstances in which he
practised, he was an independent holy man, like his Greek counterpart, even though at times connected with an oracle, rather than an official
in the service of a centralizing state, like his Assyro-Babylonian and Roman counterparts.

(T. Fahd)

Bibliography
Apart from references in the text, and in particular T. Fahd, La divination arabe, Leiden 1966, a work containing references, justifications and a
long bibliography, the principal sources and studies are: a) Sources: Ibn His̲h̲ ām

Ibn Saʿd

Ṭabarī

Masʿūdī, Murūd̲ j̲

Ibn al-At̲h̲ īr

Azraḳī, Ak̲h̲ bār Makka, ed. Wüstenfeld

Ibn al-Kalbī, K. al-Aṣnām, ed.-tr. W. Atallah, Paris 1969

Buḥturī, Ḥamāsa, ed. Cheikho, in MFO, iii-v (1909-11)

Ibn Durayd, Is̲h̲ tiḳāḳ, ed. Wüstenfeld

Ag̲ h̲ ānī 1

D̲ j̲āḥiẓ, Ḥayawān

idem, K. al-Tarbīʿ, ed. Pellat, Damascus 1955

Ibn Ḳutayba, K. al-Maʿārif, ed. ʿUkās̲h̲ a

Yāḳūt

Ḳazwīnī, ʿAd̲ jā̲ ʾib al-mak̲h̲ lūḳāt (I) wa-āt̲h̲ ār al-bilād (II), ed. Wüstenfeld

Ibs̲h̲ īhī, al-Mustaṭraf, I-II, Cairo ed. 1352/1933, Fr. tr. G. Rat, Paris-Toulon 1902.

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b) J. Wellhausen, Reste 2

H. Lammens, Le culte des Bétyles et les processions religieuses chez les Arabes préislamites, in BIFAO, xvii (1919-20), 39-101

idem, Les sanctuaires préislamites dans l’Arabie occidentale, in MUSJ, xi/2 (1926), 39-173

E. Dhorme, La religion des Hébreux nomades, Paris 1937

A. Haldar, Associations of cult prophets among the ancient Semites, Uppsala 1945

J.-M. Lagrange, Études sur les religions sémitiques 2, Paris 1905

W. Robertson Smith, Lectures on the religion of the Semites 3, London 1927

idem, On the forms of divination and magic enumerated in Deut. XVIII, 10-11, in The Journal of Philology, xiii (1885), 273-87, xiv (1885), 113-28

T. Witton-Davies, Magic, divination and demonology among the Hebrew and their neighbours ... London 1899

G. Ryckmans, Les religions arabes préislamiques 2, Louvain 1953

E. O. James, The nature and function of priesthood, London 1955

A. Jamme, La religion sud-arabe préislamique, in Histoire des Religions, Paris, Blood et Gay, iv (1947), 239-307

J. Starcky, Palmyrénéens, Nabatéens et Arabes du nord avant l’Islam, ibid., 201-37

H. S. Nyberg, Bemerkungen zum “Buch der Götzenbilder” von Ibn al-Kalbî, in Skrifter utg. av. Svenska institutet i Rom, Ser. 2/I (1939), 346-66

Ed. Doutté, Magie et religion dans l’Afrique du Nord, Algiers 1909

I. Goldziher, Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie, i-ii, Leiden 1896-99

I. Engnell, Studies in divine kingship in the ancient Near East, Uppsala 1943.

Cite this page

Fahd, T.. "Kāhin." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2014. Reference. University of Chicago.
26 September 2014 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ka-hin-SIM_3784>
First appeared online: 2012
First Print Edition: isbn: 9789004161214, 1960-2007

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