المعنى الاصطلاحي

A term refers to a Jewish or Christian woman.

الشرح المختصر

The disbelievers are of three categories: 1. People of the Book: the Jews and Christians and those who conform with them in terms of the fundamentals of their religions from among their different sects, whether they are belligerents (at war with Muslims) or "Dhimmis" (living safely in a Muslim country), and whether they are Arabs or non-Arabs, and whether their parents are both from the People of the Book or neither of them is or one of them is and the other is not. 2. Those who are doubted to have a heavenly book, namely the Magians. 3. Those who neither had a book nor believed that they had one, and they include all the people other than the first and second categories, such as idol worshipers, hypocrites, heretics, etc. The term "Jew" refers to the person who embraced the distorted version of Judaism, which is the religion ascribed to Mūsa (Prophet Moses), peace be upon him, and they are many sects, including: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Samaritans, and others. As for the Christian, he is the one who embraced the distorted version of Christianity, which is the religion ascribed to ‘Isā (Jesus), peace be upon him, and they are many sects including: the Melkites, the Nestorians, the Jacobites, and others. Some scholars stipulated that the name "kitābi" only applies to the person who adheres to his creed and the rulings of his religion; otherwise, if he denies his religion and becomes an atheist, like some people who are ascribed to Christianity in our present time, he is not considered a "kitābi".

التعريف اللغوي المختصر

"Kitābiyyah": feminine form of "kitābi"; a name ascribed to the noun "kitāb" which means "book", meaning scriptures gathered between two covers. Everything you can write in is called "kitāb", such as a letter. "Kitāb" is originally derived from "katb", which means joining something to another. "Kitābi": a male Jew or Christian; which is a singular form of "Ahlul-Kitāb", which means: People of the Book, i.e. Jews and Christians.