The letter Kaf, Likeness, the mirror, the one who reflects, the letter of correspondence

What Kaf encodes

Kaf carries the prefix كـ (ka. Like, as, similar to). It is the letter of likeness and correspondence: كلام (kalam. Speech) begins with Kaf. كريم (karim. Generous, noble) begins with Kaf. The principle is mirroring. Kaf letters and names carry a quality of reflecting, of responding to, of correspondence between things.

Ibn Arabi and the Science of Letters

Kaf appears in كن (kun. "Be!", the divine creative command). Al-Karim, the Generous, the Noble, is the divine name most connected to Kaf. A person whose name carries Kaf often has a quality of generous responsiveness. They reflect back what is given to them, amplified and ennobled.

Kaf as the first letter

A name beginning with Kaf produces someone whose primary quality is responsive generosity. They meet what comes to them with nobility and enlarge it. The kun principle means they have a quality of creative response: what they touch becomes.

Kaf in the Quran

Kaf appears in كن فيكون (Be, and it is. The divine creative command), كريم (noble/generous), and opens كهيعص (Ka-Ha-Ya-Ain-Sad, Surah Maryam. The surah of miraculous birth and divine care).

Names opened or shaped by Kaf

Each of the following names carries the Kaf principle. Either as the opening letter that governs the outward self, or within the name where it shapes the interior life. Click any name to read its full reading.

Letters whose principles interact meaningfully with Kaf:

Kaf joins on both sides, so it takes all four shapes. In a word it connects to the letter before it and to the letter after it, and the shape you see depends on where in the word it falls.

Kaf is a moon letter. When the definite article ال (al-) comes before it, the l is pronounced clearly and stays audible, as in القمر, al-qamar, the moon, which gives this group its name. Names beginning with Kaf keep their al- intact when they carry one.