The word as it is recited in the Quran: Mahmoud Khalil Al-Hussary, Al-Ma’idah 5:6.
Kaab in Islam
Kaʿb ibn Malik, a poet of the Ansar, was one of the three Companions who stayed behind from the expedition of Tabuk: he refused to make excuses and waited fifty days for Allah’s forgiveness, revealed in verse 9:118. He told this story of repentance himself (al-Bukhari 4418). The expiation owed by a pilgrim who shaves his head because of illness (2:196) was revealed about Kaʿb ibn ʿUjra (al-Bukhari 4517).
Kaʿb means the protruding ankle bone, where the leg meets the foot, and more broadly any protrusion, such as the knots of a spear; figuratively it means glory and rank: one says aʿla Llahu kaʿbahu, “may Allah raise his standing”. The name of the Kaʿba comes from the same root, so called for its cube shape. The Quran uses the word in the dual in the verse of ablution: “… and your feet up to the ankles” (5:6).
O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janābah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allāh does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.
‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn ‘Abdullāh ibn Ka‘b ibn Mālik reported that (his father) ‘Abdullāh ibn Ka‘b ibn Mālik, who was Ka‘b's guide from among his sons when Ka‘b turned blind, said: I heard Ka‘b ibn Mālik relating a Hadīth in which he mentioned his story when he remained behind after the departure of the…
لَمْ أَتَخَلَّفْ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي غَزْوَةٍ غَزَاهَا قَطُّ إِلاَّ فِي غَزْوَةِ تَبُوكَ غَيْرَ أَنِّي قَدْ تَخَلَّفْتُ فِي غَزْوَةِ بَدْرٍ وَلَمْ يُعَاتِبْ أَحَدًا تَخَلَّفَ عَنْهُ إِنَّمَا…
