ṢALĀTU ʾT-TARĀWĪḤ (صلاة التراويح‎). “Prayer of rest.” So called because of the pause or rest made for ejaculations between every four rakʿahs. (ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq.)

Twenty rakʿah prayers recited after the night prayer during the month of Ramaẓān. They are often followed with recitations known as ẕikrs [ZIKR], and form an exciting service of devotion. The Imām recites the Tarāwīḥ prayers with a loud voice.

Abū Hurairah says: “The Prophet used to encourage people to say night prayers in Ramaẓān without ordering them positively, and would say, ‘He who stands up in prayer at night, for the purpose of obtaining reward, will have all his sins pardoned’; then the Prophet died, leaving the prayers of Ramaẓān in this way. It is said ʿUmar instituted the present custom of reciting the twenty rakʿahs.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xxxviii.) [RAMAZAN.]

ṢALĀTU ʾT-TASBĪḤ (صلاة التسبيح‎). “Prayer of praise.” A form of prayer founded on the following tradition related by Ibn ʿAbbās, who says:—

“Verily the Prophet said to my father, ‘O ʿAbbās! O my uncle! shall I not give to you, shall I not present unto you, shall I not inform you of a thing which covers acts of sin? When you perform it, God will forgive your sins, your former sins, and your latter sins, and those sins which you did unknowingly, and those which you did knowingly, your great sins, and your small sins, your disclosed sins and your concealed sins? It is this, namely, that you recite four rakʿahs of prayer, and in each rakʿah recite the Fātiḥatu ʾl-Kitāb (i.e. the Introductory chapter of the Qurʾān), and some other Sūrah of the Qurʾān; and when you have recited these portions of the Qurʾān in the position of Qiyām, then say, “Holiness to God!” (Subḥāna ʾllāhi), and “Praise be to God!” (Wa ʾl-Ḥamdu li-ʾllāhi), and “There is no deity but God!” (Wa lā Ilāha illā huwa), and “God is most great!” (Wa ʾllāhu Akbar), fifteen times. Then perform a rukūʿ and recite it ten times; then raise up your head and say it ten times, then make the sajdah and say it ten times; then raise your head and say it ten times; then make another sajdah, and say it ten times, then raise your head again and say it ten times; altogether seventy-five times in every rakʿah; and do this in each of the rakʿah. If you are able to say this form of prayer every day, then do so, but if not, do it once every Friday, and if not each week, then say it once a month, and if not once a month, then say it once a year, and if not once a year, then do it once in your lifetime.’ ” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xli.)

The foregoing is a striking illustration of the mechanical character of the Muslim religion as regards its system of devotion [ZIKR.]

SALE, The Law of. [BAIʿ.]

ṢALĪB (صليب‎). “A crucifix; a cross.” [CROSS.]

ṢĀLIḤ (صالح‎). A prophet mentioned in the Qurʾān (Sūrah vii. 71), who was sent to the tribes ʿĀd and S̤amūd. Al-Baiẓāwī says he was the son of ʿUbaid, the son of Asaf, the son of Māsih, the son of ʿUbaid, the son of Ḥāẕir, the son of S̤amūd. Bochart thinks he must be the Pileg of Genesis xi. 16. D’Herbelot makes him the Salah of Genesis xi. 13.

The following is the account of him in the Qurʾān, with the commentators’ remarks in italics (see Lane’s Selections, 2nd ed., by Mr. Stanley Lane Poole):—

“And We sent unto the tribe of Thamood their brother Ṣáliḥ. He said, O my people, worship God. Ye have no other deity than Him. A miraculous proof of my veracity hath come unto you from your Lord, this she-camel of God being a sign unto you. [He had caused her, at their demand, to come forth from the heart of a rock.] Therefore let her feed in God’s earth, and do her no harm, lest a painful punishment seize you. And remember how He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after [the tribe of] ʾA′d, and given you a habitation in the earth: ye make yourselves, on its plains, pavilions wherein ye dwell in summer, and cut the mountains into houses wherein ye dwell in winter. Remember then the benefits of God, and do not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.—The chiefs who were elated with pride, among his people, said unto those who were esteemed weak, namely, to those who had believed among them, Do ye know that Ṣáliḥ hath been sent unto this? And they hamstrung the she-camel (Ḳudár [the son of Sálif] doing so by their order and slaying her with the sword); and they impiously transgressed the command of their Lord, and said, O Ṣáliḥ, bring upon us that punishment with which thou threatenest us for killing her, if thou be [one] of the apostles. And the violent convulsion (a great earthquake, and a cry from heaven) assailed them, and in the morning they were in their dwellings prostrate and dead. So he turned away from them, and said, O my people, I have brought unto you the message of my Lord and given you faithful counsel; but ye loved not faithful counsellors.” (Sūrah vii. 71–77.)

SĀLIK (سالك‎). Lit. “A traveller.” A term used by the mystics for a devotee, or one who has started on the heavenly journey. [SUFI.]

SALSABĪL (سلسبيل‎). Lit. “The softly flowing.” A fountain in Paradise, mentioned in the Qurʾān in Sūrah lxxvi. 19, and from which the Muslims in heaven are said to drink. “A spring therein named Salsabīl, and there shall go round about them immortal boys.”

SALUTATIONS. Arabic as-salām (السلام‎), “peace.” Taslīm (تسليم‎), Heb. ‏שָׁלוֹם‎ shalom, the act of giving the prayer of peace; pl. taslīmāt. The duty of giving and returning a salutation is founded on express injunctions in the Qurʾān.

Sūrah xxiv. 61: “When ye enter houses, then greet each other with a salutation from God, the Blessed and the Good.”

Sūrah iv. 88: “When ye are saluted with a salutation, salute ye with a better than it, or return the same salutation.”

ʿAlī says that Muḥammad established it as an incumbent duty that one Muslim should salute another. [FITRAH.] The ordinary salutation of the Muslim is “as-Salāmu ʿalai-kum,” i.e. “The peace be on you.” And the usual reply is “Wa ʿalai-kum as-salām,” i.e. “And on you also be the peace.”

The supposed origin of this salutation is given in a tradition by Abū Hurairah, who relates that the Prophet said:—

“God created Adam in his own likeness, and his stature was sixty cubits; and God said to Adam, ‘Go and salute that party of angels who are sitting down, and listen to their answer; for verily it shall be the salutation and reply for you and your children.’ Adam then went and said to the angels, ‘as-Salāmu ʿalai-kum,’ i.e. ‘The peace be on you,’ and the angels replied, ‘as-Salāmu ʿalaika wa raḥmatu ʾllāhi,’ i.e. ‘The peace be on thee, and the mercy of God.’ ”

This form is now usually given in reply by devout persons. (Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, p. 919.)

Muḥammad instructed his people as follows regarding the use of the salutation:—

“The person riding must salute one on foot, and he who is walking must salute those who are sitting, and the small must salute the larger, and the person of higher degree the lower. It is therefore a religious duty for the person of high degree, when meeting one of a lower degree; the giving of the Salām being regarded as a benediction. For,” says Muḥammad, “the nearest people to God are those who salute first. When a party is passing, it is sufficient if one of them give the salutation, and, in like manner, it is sufficient if one of the party return it of those sitting down.”

The Jews in the time of Muḥammad seem to have made the salutation a subject of annoyance to Muḥammad; for it is related when they went to the Prophet they used to say, “As-sammu ʿalai-ka,” “On you be poison.” To which the Prophet always replied, “Wa ʿalai-ka,” “And on you.”

Usāmah ibn Zaid says: “The Prophet once passed a mixed assembly of Muslim polytheists, idolaters, and Jews, and he gave the salutation, but he meant it only for the Muslims.”

Jarīr relates that on one occasion the Prophet met a party of women, and gave them the salutation. But this is contrary to the usual practice of Muḥammadans; and ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, in his commentary on this tradition, says: “This practice was peculiar to the Prophet, for the laws of Islām forbid a man saluting a woman unless she is old.”

In the East it is usual to raise the right hand (the raising of the left hand being disrespectful, as it is the hand used for legal ablutions) when giving the Salām, but this custom, common though it be, is not in accordance with the traditions. For ʿAmr ibn Shuʿaib relates, from his fore-fathers, that the Prophet said, “He is not of us who likens himself to another. Do not copy the Jews or the Christians in your salutation. For a Jew’s salutation is by raising his fingers, and the Christians salute with the palm of the hand. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. i.)

In Central Asia, the salutation is generally given without any motion of the body, in accordance with the above tradition.

SALVATION. The Arabic word najāt (نجاة‎), “salvation,” only occurs once in the Qurʾān, namely, Sūrah xl. 44: “O my people! how is it that I bid you to salvation, but that ye bid me to the fire?” Nor is the word generally used in Muslim works of divinity, although the orthodox sect of Muslims claims for itself the title of Nājiyah, or those who are being saved.

The word mag͟hfirah, “forgiveness,” is frequently used in the Qurʾān to express what Christians understand by “salvation”; also Islām, Īmān, and Dīn, words which express the idea of a state of salvation.

According to Islām, a man obtains salvation by a recital of the Kalimah, or creed; but if he be an evil doer, he will suffer the pains of a purgatorial fire until his sins are atoned for; whilst he who has not accepted the Muslim creed will endure the pains of everlasting punishment. [HELL.]

AṢ-ṢAMAD (الصمد‎). “The Eternal.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs once in the Qurʾān, Sūrah cxii.: “God the Eternal.”

In its original meaning, it implies a lord, because one repairs to him in exigencies; or when applied to God, because affairs are stayed or rested on Him. Hence, according to al-Muḥkam, in loco, and the Lisānu ʾl-ʿArab, it signifies the Being that continues for ever—the Eternal One.

SAMĀḤAH (سماحة‎). [BENEFICENCE.]

SAMARITAN. [AS-SAMIRI.]

AS-SAMĪʿ (السميع‎). “The Hearer.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word frequently occurs in the Qurʾān.

AS-SĀMIRĪ (السامرى‎). Mentioned in the Qurʾān (Sūrah xx. 87: “As-Sāmirī has led them astray”) as the person who made the golden calf for the Children of Israel. In Professor Palmer’s translation, it is rendered “the Samaritan,” which is according to al-Baiẓāwī, who says his name was Mūsā ibn Z̤afar, of the tribe of Samaritans. [MOSES.]

SAMUEL. Arabic Ishmawīl (اشمويل‎), or Shamwīl; Heb. ‏שְׁמוּאֵל‎, referred to in the Qurʾān (Sūrah ii. 247) as “the prophet” to whom the Children of Israel said, “Raise for us a King, and we will fight for him in God’s way.”

Ḥusain, the commentator, says it is not quite certain who he was. He was either Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn, or Shamʿūn ibn S̤afīyā, or Ishmawīl. (Tafsīr-i-Ḥusainī, p. 65.)

The Kamālān give his name as Shamwīl, but say it was originally Ismāʾīl, and that the meaning is the same.

ṢANʿĀʾ (صنعاء‎). A city in al-Yaman, the Viceroy of which, Abrahatu ʾl-Ashram, an Abyssinian Christian, marched with a large army and some elephants upon Makkah, with the intention of destroying the Temple (see Qurʾān, Sūrah cv.) in the year Muḥammad was born. Hence the year was known as that of the Elephant.

SANAD (سند‎). Lit. “That on which one rests, as a pillar or cushion.” An authority; a document; a warrant. A term used in Muslim law.

ṢANAM (صنم‎), pl. aṣnām. The word used in the Qurʾān for an idol, e.g. Sūrah xiv. 38: “Turn me and my sons away from serving idols.” [IDOLS.]

SANCTUARY. The Prophet forbade putting a murderer to death in a mosque, but he may be taken by force from the mosque and slain outside the building. The same rule applies to persons guilty of theft. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. viii.)

The custom of sanctuary was derived from the Levitical law of refuge. The six cities being established as cities of refuge for the involuntary manslayer. The altar of burnt offerings was also a place of refuge for those who had undesignedly committed smaller offences. (Deut. xix. 11, 12; Joshua xx.) According to Lecky (European Morals, vol. ii. p. 42), the right of sanctuary was possessed by the Imperial statues and by the Pagan temples. Bingham (Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 554) says it seems to have been introduced into the Christian Church by Constantine.

SANDALS. [SHOES.]

SAQAR (سقر‎). “A scorching heat.” According to the commentator, al-Bag͟hawī it is the special division of hell set apart for the Magi. It is mentioned thus in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah liv. 48: “Taste ye the touch of saqar.”

Sūrah lxxiv. 26: “I will broil him in saqar! And what shall make thee know what saqar is?” It leaveth nought and spareth nought, blackening the skin of man.

SARACEN. A term used by Christian writers for the followers of Muḥammad, and applied not only to the Arabs, but to the Turks and other Muslim nations.

There is much uncertainty as to the origin of this word. The word Σαρακηνός was used by Ptolemy and Pliny, and also by Ammianus and Procopius, for certain Oriental tribes, long before the death of Muḥammad (see Gibbon). Some etymologists derive it from the Arabic sharq, “the rising sun, the East” (see Wedgwood’s Dict.). Others from ṣaḥrāʾ, “a desert,”—the people of the desert (see Webster). Gibbon thinks it may be from the Arabic saraqah, “theft,” denoting the thievish character of the nation; whilst some have even thought it may be derived from Sarah the wife of the Patriarch Abraham.

SARAH. Arabic Sārah (سارة‎), Heb. ‏שָׂרָה‎, Greek Σάῤῥα. Abraham’s wife. Not mentioned by name in the Qurʾān, but referred to in Sūrah xi. 74: “And his wife was standing by laughing, and We gave her the glad tidings of Isaac, and of Jacob after Isaac.”

SARAQAH (سرقة‎). [THEFT.]

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.

SEAL OF PROPHECY. K͟hātimu ʾn-Nubūwah (خاتم النبوة‎). A mole of an unusual size on the Prophet’s back, which is said to have been the divine seal which, according to the predictions of the Scriptures, marked Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets,” K͟hātimu ʾn-Nabīyīn.

According to a tradition recorded in the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, book iii. ch. 7, it was the size of the knob of a bridal canopy. Others say it was the size of a pigeon’s egg, or even the size of a closed fist.

Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says “it was a piece of flesh, very brilliant in appearance, and according to some traditions it had secretly inscribed within it, ‘God is one and has no Associate.’ ”

Abū Rams̤āʾ, whose family were skilled in surgery, offered to remove it, but Muḥammad refused, saying, “The Physician thereof is He who placed it where it is.”

According to another tradition, Muḥammad said to Abū Rams̤āʾ, “Come hither and touch my back”; which he did, drawing his fingers over the prophetical seal, and, behold! there was a collection of hairs upon the spot. (See Muir, new ed. p. 542.)

ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq also says it disappeared from the Prophet’s back shortly before his death.

It is not clear how far Muḥammad encouraged the belief in this supernatural sign of his prophetic mission, but from his reply to Abū Rams̤āʾ, it would not appear that he really attributed any special power to its existence. [MUHAMMAD.]

SECTS OF ISLĀM. Arabic firqah (فرقة‎), pl. firaq. Muḥammad is related to have prophesied that his followers would be divided into numerous religious sects.

ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿUmar relates that the Prophet said: “Verily it will happen to my people even as it did to the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel were divided into seventy-two sects, and my people will be divided into seventy-three. Every one of these sects will go to Hell except one sect.” The Companions said, “O Prophet, which is that?” He said, “The religion which is professed by me and my Companions.” (Mishkāt, book i. ch. vi. pt. 2.)

The number has, however, far exceeded the Prophet’s predictions, for the sects of Islām even exceed in number and variety those of the Christian religion.

The Sunnīs arrogate to themselves the title of the Nājiyah, or those who are “being saved” (as, indeed, do the other sects), but within the limits of the Sunnī section of Muḥammadans there are four which are esteemed “orthodox,” their differences consisting chiefly in minor differences of ritual, and in varied interpretations of Muslim law. These four orthodox sects or schools of interpretation amongst the Sunnīs, are the Ḥanafīyah, the Shāfiʿīyah, the Malakīyah, and the Ḥambalīyah.

1. The Ḥanafīyahs are found in Turkey, Central Asia, and North India. The founder of this sect was the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, who was born at al-Kūfah, the capital of al-ʿIrāq, A.D. 702, or A.H. 80, at which time four of the Prophet’s companions were still alive. He is the great oracle of jurisprudence, and (with his two pupils, the Imāms Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad) was the founder of the Ḥanafīyah Code of Law.

2. The Shāfiʿīyahs are found in South India and Egypt. The founder of this school of interpretation was Imām Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ash-Shāfiʿī, who was born at Asqalon, in Palestine, A.D. 767 (A.H. 150).

3. The Malakīyahs prevail in Morocco, Barbary, and other parts of Africa, and were founded by Imām Mālik, who was born at al-Madīnah, A.D. 714 (A.H. 95). He enjoyed the personal acquaintance of Abū Ḥanīfah, and he was considered the most learned man of his time.

4. The Ḥambalīyahs were founded by Imām Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥambal, who was born at Bag͟hdād, A.D. 780 (A.H. 164). He attended the lectures delivered by ash-Shāfiʿī, by whom he was instructed in the Traditions. His followers are found in Eastern Arabia, and in some parts of Africa, but it is the least popular of the four schools of interpretation. They have no Muftī at Makkah, whilst the other three sects are represented there. The Wahhābīs rose from this sect. [WAHHABI.]

From the disciples of these four great Imāms have proceeded an immense number of commentaries and other works, all differing on a variety of points in their constructions, although coinciding in their general principles.

The G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hāt gives the following particulars of the seventy-three sects, spoken of in the Traditions, arranging them in six divisions of twelve sects each, and concluding with the Nājiyah, or “Orthodox” Sunnīs.