S.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Hughes, Thomas Patrick
ṢARF (صرف). (1) A term used for a special kind of sale or exchange. According to the Hidāyah, baiʿu ʾṣ-ṣarf, or ṣarf sale, means a pure sale, of which the articles opposed to each other in exchange are both representatives of price, as gold for gold or silver for silver. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 551.)
(2) That part of grammar which relates to the declining of nouns and the conjugating of verbs.
ṢARĪḤ (صريح). Explicit or clear. A term used in Muslim law for that which is express in contradistinction to that which is kināyah, or implied. For example, the T̤alāqu ʾṣ-ṣarīḥ, is an explicit form of divorce, whilst T̤alāqu ʾl-kināyah is an implied form of divorce, as when a man says to his wife, “Thou art free.”
ṢĀRIQ (صارق). A thief. [THEFT.]
SATAN. Arabic Shait̤ān (شيطن). [DEVIL.]
SATR (ستر). A curtain or veil. A term used for the seclusion of women, called also ḥijāb. In the Traditions it is used for necessary and decent attire, bābu ʾs-satr being a special chapter in the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ (book iv. ch. ix.). The satr for a man being from the waist to the knee, and for a free woman from the neck to the feet; but for a slave girl from the waist to the knee as in the case of a man. That part of the body which must be so covered is called ʿaurah or ʿaurat, “shame or modesty,” from which the Hindustani word, ʿaurat, “a woman,” is derived. [HARIM, WOMEN.]
SATTŪQAH (ستوقة). Base coin. The term is used for a coin which is current amongst merchants, but is not received at the public treasury. Coins in which the pure metal predominates are not considered base. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 560.)
SAUDAH (سودة). One of the wives of Muḥammad. She was the widow of Sakrān, a Quraish, and one of the early companions of the Prophet. Muḥammad married her within two months of the death of K͟hadījah. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 117.) She died A.H. 55.
SAUL. Arabic T̤ālūt (طالوت). Heb. שָׁאוּל Shaool. King of Israel. Mentioned in the Qurʾān as a king raised up of God to reign over Israel, to whom was given an excellent degree of knowledge and personal appearance.
The following is the account given of Saul in the Qurʾān, with Mr. Lane’s rendering of the commentator’s remarks in italics. (Mr. Stanley Lane Poole’s 2nd Ed.)
“Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after the death of Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, namely Samuel, Set up for us a king, under whom we will fight in the way of God? He said unto them, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our children by their having been taken prisoners and slain?—The people of Goliath [Jáloot] had done thus unto them.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them, who crossed the river with Saul. And God knoweth the offenders. And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul. And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth?
He replied, Verily God hath chosen him as king over you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample in His beneficence, knowing with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom.—And their prophet said unto them, when they demanded of him a sign in proof of his kingship, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark shall come unto you (in it were the images of the prophets: God sent it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said); therein is tranquillity [SAKINAH] from your Lord, and relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left: namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables [of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a sign unto you of his kingship, if ye be believers. Accordingly the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it, until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young men seventy thousand.
“And when Saul went forth with the troops from Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear, (and it was between the Jordan and Palestine), and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who takes forth a draught in his hand, and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them, who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred and somewhat more than ten. And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they said, We have no power to-day to contend against Goliath and his troops. And they were cowardly, and passed not over it. They who held it as certain that they should meet God at the resurrection (and they were those who had passed over it) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (or will) of God! And God is with the patient, to defend and aid.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, by strengthening our hearts for the holy war, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (or will) of God, and David, who was in the army of Saul, slew Goliath.” (Sūrah ii. 247–252.)
ṢAUM (صوم). “Fasting.” The usual Arabic term used for this religious act whether during the Ramaẓān or at any other time. Its equivalent in Persian is rozah. [FASTING, RAMAZAN.]
ṢAUMU ʾT-TAT̤AWWUʿ (صوم التطوع). A voluntary fast other than the month of Ramaẓān.
SAUT̤ (سوط). [DIRRAH.]
S̤AWĀB (ثواب). “Recompense; reward”; e.g. Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 195: “A reward from God; for God, with Him are the best rewards.”
AS-SAWĀDU ʾL-AʿZ̤AM (السواد الاعظم). Lit. “The exalted multitude.” A term used in the Traditions and in Muslim theology for the Assembly of God, or the congregation of faithful men, or for a large majority.
SAWĀʾĪM (سوايم), pl. of Sāʾimah. Flocks and herds which are grazing and for which zakāt must be collected. [ZAKAT.]
SCHOOLS. Arabic maktab (مكتب), pl. makātib; madrasah (مدرسة), pl. madāris. According to Muslim law, all education should be carried on in connection with religious instruction, and consequently schools are generally attached to mosques. [EDUCATION.]
SCRIPTURE, HOLY. The expression, “Holy Scripture,” is rendered in Persian by Pāk Nawishtah (پاك نوشته), “the Holy Writing,” its equivalent in Arabic being al-Kitābu ʾl-Muqaddas (الكتاب المقدس), “the Holy Book,” or Kalāmu ʾllāh (كلام الله), “the Word of God.” These terms, whilst they are generally understood by Muslims to refer to the Qurʾān, more correctly include all books acknowledged by Muḥammadans to be the Word of God. They profess to receive all the Jewish Scripture and the New Testament as well as the Qurʾān as the revealed Word of God. [PROPHETS, INSPIRATION.]
SCULPTURE. Arabic anṣāb (انصاب). The making of carved, graven, or sculptured figures, is understood to be forbidden in the Qurʾān under the term ṣanam (صنم), “an idol” (see Sūrah xiv. 38); also in Sūrah v. 92: “Verily wine, and games of chance, and statues (anṣāb), and divining arrows, are an abomination of Satan’s device.”
Consequently sculpture is not allowed according to Muslim law, although ar-Rāg͟hib says a ṣanam is that which diverts the mind from God.
SEA. Arabic baḥr (بحر). “The sea,” al-baḥr, is a term applied in the Qurʾān to the Red Sea, known amongst Muḥammadans as the Baḥru ʾl-Qulzum. [RED SEA.] Sūrahs ii. 47; vii. 134. “The ships that sail like mountains in the sea,” are amongst the “signs” of God. (See Sūrah xlii. 31.) In Sūrah lii. 6, Muḥammad swears by “the swelling sea.” In Sūrah xvii. 68: “It is the Lord who drives the ships for you in the sea, that ye may seek after plenty from Him.” In Sūrah xviii. 109, it occurs as an illustration of the boundless character of the Word of God. “Were the sea ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely fail before the words of my Lord fail; aye, though we brought as much ink again.”
In Muḥammadan works, in the Traditions and commentaries, the Arabic baḥr is used for large rivers, as the Euphrates and the Nile, in the same sense as the Hebrew יָם yām (but the word nahr, Hebrew נָהָר nāhar, occurs in the Qurʾān for “rivers”).
It is related that Muḥammad said, “Let none but three classes of people cross the sea (for it has fire under it which causes its troubled motion), namely, (1) those who perform the Ḥajj, or ‘Pilgrimage’; (2) those who make the ʿumrah, or ‘visitation’; (3) those who go forth to war.” (Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, vol. i. p. 76.)
The following are the names of the seas as current in Muḥammadan literature:—
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Ak͟hẓar, the Green or Indian Ocean.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Abyaẓ, the White or Mediterranean Sea.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Aswad, the Black, or Euxine Sea.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Azraq, the Blue or Persian Sea.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Qulzum, or al-Baḥru ʾl-Aḥmar, the Red Sea.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-Lūt̤, the Sea of Lot or Dead Sea.
Al-Baḥru ʾl-K͟hiẓr, the sea of Khizr, the Caspian Sea.