S.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Hughes, Thomas Patrick
ṢĀʿ (صاع) or ṢUWĀʿ (صواع). A certain measure used for measuring corn, and upon which depend the decisions of Muslims relating to measures of capacity. It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xii. 72, for the drinking-cup placed by Joseph in his brother’s pack.
The compiler of the Tāju ʾl-ʿArūs, says that according to five different readers of the Qurʾān, it is given ṣuwāʿ in that verse, but in the majority of texts it is ṣāʿ.
The Qāmūs explains ṣuwāʿ as a certain vessel from which one drinks, and ṣāʿ, a measure of capacity. Its invariable measure being, according to ancient authorities, four times the quantity of corn that fills two hands of a man of moderate size.
Al-Baiẓāwī records, besides ṣuwāʿ and ṣāʿ, the reading ṣauʿ and ṣuwāg͟h.
SABAʾ (سبا). (1) A tribe of Yaman, whose dwelling-places are called Maʾrib, mentioned in the XXXIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān (entitled the Sūratu Sabaʾ), verse 14:—
“A sign there was to Sabaʾ in their dwelling places:—two gardens, the one on the right hand and the other on the left:—‘Eat ye of your Lord’s supplies, and give thanks to him: Goodly is the country, and gracious is the Lord!’
“But they turned aside: so we sent upon them the flood of Iram; and we changed them their gardens into two gardens of bitter fruit and tamarisk and some few jujube trees.
“Such was our retribution on them for their ingratitude.”
M. Caussin de Perceval, Hist. des Arabes, vol. iii., as well as M. de Sacy, fix this event in the second century of the Christian era.
(2) Also the name of a province referred to in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xxvii. 21, where it seems to be identical with the Sheba שֵׁבָא of the Bible, or the country of the Queen of Sheba:—
“Nor tarried it (the lapwing) long ere it came and said, ‘I have gained the knowledge that thou knowest not, and with sure tidings have I come to thee from Sabaʾ:
“ ‘I found a woman reigning over them, gifted with everything, and she hath a splendid throne;
“And I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of God; and Satan hath made their works fair seeming to them, so that he hath turned them from the Way: wherefore they are not guided,
“To the worship of God, who bringeth to light the secret things of heaven and earth, and knoweth what men conceal and what they manifest:
“God: there is no god but He! the lord of the glorious throne!”
For a discussion of the identity of the Sabaʾ of Arabia with the Sheba of the Bible, refer to the word Sheba in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
SABʿATU-AḤRUF (سبعة احرف). [SEVEN DIALECTS.]
SABAʿU ʾL-MAS̤ĀNI (سبع المثانى). Lit. “The Seven Repetitions.” A title given to the Introductory Chapter of the Qurʾān by Muḥammad himself. (Mishkāt, book viii. ch. i.) There are three reasons assigned for this title:—
(1) Because it is a chapter of seven verses, which is said to have been revealed twice over.
(2) Because it contains seven words twice repeated, namely, Allāh, God; Raḥmān, Compassionate; Raḥīm, Merciful; Iyākā, Thee and to Thee; Ṣīrāt̤, Way; ʿAlaihim, to whom and with whom; G͟hair, Not, and Lā, Not.
(3) Because the seven verses are generally recited twice during an ordinary prayer. (See Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, in loco; and ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq.)
SABBATH. The term used in the Qurʾān for the Jewish Sabbath is Sabt (سبت), a corruption of the Hebrew שַׁבָּת Shabbāth. It occurs five times in the Qurʾān:—
Sūrah ii. 61: “Ye know, too, those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, and to whom We (God) said, ‘Become scouted apes.’ ”
Sūrah iv. 50: “Or curse you as We (God) cursed the Sabbath breakers.”
Sūrah iv. 153: “We (God) said to them (Israel), ‘Break not the Sabbath.’ ”
Sūrah vii. 163: “And ask them (the Jews) about the city that stood by the sea when its inhabitants broke the Sabbath; when their fish came to them appearing openly on their Sabbath-day, but not to them on the day when they kept no Sabbath.”
Sūrah xvi. 125: “The Sabbath was only ordained for those who differed about it.”
In explanation of these verses, the commentator, al-Baiẓāwī relates the following traditions. Moses gave orders for the observance of the Day of Rest on Friday; but the Jews would not obey, and declared that they would observe Saturday, as it was on that day that God rested from creation, so it came to pass that “the Sabbath was ordained for those who differed about it.” But in the time of King David, certain people began to break the Sabbath by fishing in the Red Sea near the town of Ailah (Elath), and as a punishment they were turned into apes.
For an account of the Muḥammadan Sabbath, see FRIDAY.
SABEANS. Arabic Ṣābiʾ (صابىء), pl. Ṣābiʾūn. Probably from the Hebrew צָבָא tsābā, “a host.” Gen. ii. 1, i.e. “Those who worship the hosts of heaven.” According to some Arabic writers, the Ṣābiʾūn were a certain sect of unbelievers who worshipped the stars secretly, and openly professed to be Christians. According to others, they are of the religion of Ṣābiʾ, the son of Seth, the son of Adam; whilst others say their religion resembled that of the Christians, except that their qiblah was towards the south, from whence the wind blows. In the Qāmūs it is said they were of the religion of Noah. The word ṣābiʾ also means one who has departed from one religion to another religion, and the Arabs used to call the Prophet aṣ-Ṣābiʾ, because he departed from the religion of the Quraish to al-Islām. (See Lane’s Dict. in loco.) Al-Baiẓāwī says some assert they were worshippers of angels, others that they were the worshippers of the stars.
They are mentioned three times in the Qurʾān, and from the following verses it would appear that Muḥammad regarded them as believers in the true God.
Sūrah ii. 50: “They who believe and they who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans—whoever believeth in God and the Last Day, and doeth that which is right, shall have their reward with their Lord.”
Sūrah v. 73: “They who believe, and the Jews and the Sabeans, and the Christians—whoever of them believeth in God, and in the Last Day, and doeth what is right, on them shall no fear come; neither shall they be put to grief.”
Sūrah xxii. 17: “They who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeans, and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who join other gods with God, verily God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection.”
ṢĀBIʾ (صابىء). [SABEANS.]
SABĪLU ʾLLĀH (سبيل الله). “The road of God.” A term used for religious warfare and other meritorious deeds; e.g. Qurʾān, Sūrah ii.:—
Verse 149: “And say not of those who are slain in the road of God that they are dead, but rather that they are living.”
Verse 263: “Those who expend their wealth in the road of God.” [JIHAD.]
SABT (سبت). [SABBATH.]
SACRAMENTS, CHRISTIAN. [EUCHARIST, BAPTISM.]