1626.—"He is by Religion a Mahumetan, descended from Persian Ancestors, and retaineth their opinions, which differing in many points from the Turkes, are distinguished in their Sectes by tearmes of Seaw and Sunnee."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 995.
1653.—"Les Persans et Keselbaches ([Kuzzilbash]) se disent Schaì ... si les Ottomans estoient Schaìs, ou de la Secte de Haly, les Persans se feroient Sonnis qui est la Secte des Ottomans."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 106.
1673.—"His Substitute here is a Chias Moor."—Fryer, 29.
1798.—"In contradistinction to the Soonis, who in their prayers cross their hands on the lower part of the breast, the Schiahs drop their arms in straight lines."—G. Forster, Travels, ii. 129.
1805.—"The word Sh'eeah, or Sheeut, properly signifies a troop or sect ... but has become the distinctive appellation of the followers of Aly, or all those who maintain that he was the first legitimate Khuleefah, or successor to Moohummad."—Baillie, Digest of Mah. Law, II. xii.
1869.—"La tolerance indienne est venue diminuer dans l'Inde le fanatisme Musulman. Là Sunnites et Schiites n'ont point entre eux cette animosité qui divise les Turcs et les Persans ... ces deux sectes divisent les musulmans de l'Inde; mais comme je viens de dire, elles n'excitent généralement entre eux aucune animosité."—Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus., p. 12.
SHEERMAUL, s. Pers.—Hind. shīrmāl, a cake made with flour, milk and leaven; a sort of brioche. [The word comes from Pers. shīr, 'milk,' māl, 'crushing.' Riddell (Domest. Econ. 461) gives a receipt for what he calls "Nauna Sheer Mhal," nān being Pers., 'bread.']
[1832.—"The dishes of meetah (miṭhā, 'sweet') are accompanied with the many varieties of bread common to Hindoostaun, without leaven, as Sheah-maul, bacherkaunie ([bakir-khani]), chapaatie ([chupatty]), &c.; the first two have milk and ghee mixed with the flour, and nearly resemble our pie-crust."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 101.
[SHEIKH, s. Ar. shaikh; an old man, elder, chief, head of an Arab tribe. The word should properly mean one of the descendants of tribes of genuine Arab descent, but at the present day, in India, it is often applied to converts to Islam from the lower Hindu tribes. For the use of the word in the sense of a saint, see under [PEER].
[1598.—"Lieftenant (which the Arabians called zequen)."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 24.