Kun and Payah Kun. 



By W. G. Maxwell. 

 Every student of pawang-lore is familiar with the terms 

 kun and payah kun, which most frequently occur in such 

 expressions as " kun kata Allah, payah kun kata Muhammad " 

 {kun saith Allah, payah kun saith Muhammad), but no one has 

 yet, so far as I am aware, discovered their meaning. 



Kun presented no difficulty ; it is obviously the Arabic ^r 

 "let it be." But the antithetical term payah kun remained 

 without a solution. My father suggested that it was a corrup- 

 tion of the Malay word (5^ supaia — meaning" in order that,' 

 and in this he is followed by Skeat,* but the sense thus derived 

 from the sentence does not appear to be altogether satisfactory. 



Another suggestion was that the word was the Arabic *£ fthi 

 —meaning " to him." But this, too, seemed inconclusive. 



For the solution of the puzzle I am indebted to Mr. J. C. 

 Sugars, of the F. M. S. Civil Service. 'Payah kun is merely 



a corruption of the Arabic fa yakun Oy*£ — meaning " and it 

 is. " The correct reading therefore is " kun kata Allah, fa 

 yakun kata Muhammad" 



' Let it be " saith Allah : " and it is " saith Muhammad.) 



* Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 4. Footnote. 

 Jour. Straits Branch, R. A. Soc, No. 46, 1906. 



