كِتَابٌ

[verbal noun of 1, q. v.

as a subst.,] A thing in which, or on which, one writes: [a book:] a written piece of paper or [a record, or register; and a written mandate;] of skin: (K:) a writing, or writ, or thing written; as also ↓ كَتِيبَةٌ: and both are applied also to the revelation from above: and to a letter, or epistle, which a person writes and sends: sometimes made feminine, as meaning صَحِيفَةٌ: AA says, I heard an Arab of the desert, of El-Yemen, say, فُلَانٌ لَغُوبٌ جَاءَتْهُ كِتَابِى فَاحْتَقَرَهَا Such a one is stupid: my letter came to him, and he despised it: so I said, Dost thou say, جاءته كتابى? and he replied, Is it not a صحيفة? (Msb.) Pl. كُتُبٌ and كُتْبٌ. (S.)

A revealed scripture. (Msb.) [Whence أَهْلُ كِتَابٍ People having a revealed scripture: and أَهْلُ الكِتَابِ The people of the Bible. See also أَهْلٌ.] الكتاب signifies The تَوْراة, or Pentateuch, or Mosaic Law: (K:) and the Gospel, or Book of the Gospels: the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians: (Expositions of the Qur'an, passim:) and the Qur'an. (TA.)

See also 3.

-A2- كِتَابٌ [verbal noun, or subst.: see 1] Divine prescript, appointment, or ordinance: judgment, or sentence: fatal decree, or predestination. (S, K.) لَأَقْضِيَنَّ بَيْنَكُمَا بِكِتَابِ اللّٰهِ I will assuredly determine, or judge, between you two according to the judgment, or sentence, of God, which hath been revealed in his book. A tradition, not relating to the Qur'an. (TA.) El-Jaadee says,

يَا ابْنَةَ عَمِّى كِتَابُ اللّٰهِ أَخْرَجَنِى

عَنْكُمْ وَهَلْ أَمْنَفَنَّ اللّٰهَ مَا فَعَلَا

[O daughter of my paternal uncle! the decree of God hath expelled me from you: and could I indeed forbid God to do what He hath done?] (S.) [Hence,] الكِتَابُ الأَوَّلُ [The first writing; meaning the register of God's decrees]. (M and K voce مَحْبَلٌ, q. v.)

A receptacle for ink. (K).