26 r Brannon Wheeler
prophetic activity and the prophet Muhammad in particular, such as
“kāhin” cognate to the Hebrew Bible “priest” [kōhen]. Both Q 52:29 and
69:42 make a clear distinction between the prophetic status of Muham-
mad and that of a kāhin. According to Ibn Kathīr, a kāhin received visions
from the Jinn and delivered them to people as though they were revela-
tions from heaven.^7 That the prophetic role of the kāhin was known in
pre-Islamic Arabia is also evident from reports preserved in the biogra-
phies of the prophet Muhammad. Exodus 3:1 and 18:1 refer to Jethro, the
father-in-law of Moses, as the “kōhen” of Midian, suggesting that the term
be applied to priestly figures among certain Arab tribal groups.
The term khn is also attested in Phoenician, Punic, at Deir Alla, in Old
Aramaic, Official Aramaic, Jewish Aramaic of Palestine, and Mandaic.^8
In Old Aramaic inscriptions, the kōhin is often linked with a particular
deity such as Ba ̔al [khn b ̔lt], Ashtarte [khnt ̔štrt], Ba ̔alshamayim [khn
Šb ̔lšmn], and Yahweh [khny’zy yhw ’lh’]. A Nabataean inscription refers
to the kāhin of Lat and Allāt [khn ’ltw ’lht’].^9 Such references suggest that
the kāhin was associated with a particular location and people attached
to certain deities. Hebrew and Old Aramaic inscriptions also provide the
title of “great” or “high” kāhin [hkhn hgdl, khn’ rb’], implying a hierar-
chy and possibly the affiliation of the kāhin to a state or other political
establishment.^10
Ibn Durayd records a tradition that the pre-Islamic kāhin ̔Amr b. al-
Ju ̔ayd, of the Rabī ̔ah b. Sa ̔d, was considered an “afkal,” a term known
from the Sumerian apkallu, and attested also in Nabataean, Palmyrene,
Hatran, Sabaean, Lihyanite, and Hasaean.^11 Like the kāhin, the afkal is
often linked with particular gods, including Lāt and Allah, in Lihyanite,
Hasaean, Hatran, and Nabataean inscriptions.^12 A Palmyrene inscrip-
tion mentions the “afkal of ̔Uzaza Allah the Good and Merciful” [’fkl dy
̔zyzw ’lh’ tb’ wrhmn].^13 The afkal is also connected with kingship and the
state. A Lihyanite inscription refers to an afkal as “the representative of
the Ghassan” [wkl h ̔sn], and a Hatran inscription mentions “Sntrq king
of Arabia son of Nusrw the lord, the great father, the great priest [’fkl rb’]
of Shamash.” Both the kāhin and the afkal seem to be closely affiliated
with the functioning of and the officiation at cultic activities such as sac-
rifice and the consecration of certain objects and locations. A Dedanite
inscription mentions the “Afkal of Wadd and his sons,” who consecrate
a boy as a victim or servant of the god Dhu Ghabat [dh ġbt]. A Lihyanite