Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir says there are not less than 150 sects in Islām.
SERMON. The oration delivered at the Friday midday prayer is called the k͟hut̤bah (خطبة); exhortations at any other time are termed waʿz̤ (وعظ). The former is an established custom in Islām, and the discourse is always delivered at the Masjidu ʾl-Jāmīʿ, or principal mosque, on Fridays, but sermons on other occasions although they are in accordance with the practice of Muḥammad, are not common. Very few Maulawīs preach except on Fridays. [[KHUTBAH].]
SERPENT, Arabic ḥaiyah (حية), occurs in the Qurʾān once for the serpent made from Moses’ rod ([Sūrah ii. 21]). The word used in another place ([Sūrah vii. 104]) is s̤uʿbān (ثعبان). The Hebrew תַּנִּין tanneen is also used for a large serpent in Muslim books, but it does not occur in the Qurʾān.
In the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 34], it is said Satan made Adam and Eve to backslide and “drove them out from what they were in,” but no mention is made of the serpent.
The commentators say that when the devil attempted to get into Eden to tempt Adam, he was stopped by the angelic guard at the gates of Paradise, whereupon he begged of the animals to carry him in to speak to Adam and his wife, but they all refused except the serpent, who took him between his teeth and so introduced him to our first parents. (Tafsīru ʾl-ʿAzīzī, p. 124.)
SETH. Arabic Shīs̤ (شيث); Heb. שֵׁת Sheth. The third son of Adam. A prophet to whom it is said God revealed fifty small portions of scripture. [[PROPHETS].] In the fourth century there existed in Egypt a sect of gnostics, calling themselves Sethians, who regarded Seth as a divine emanation (Neander’s Ch. Hist., vol. ii. p. 115), which will account for Muḥammad classing him as an inspired prophet with a revelation.
SEVEN DIALECTS. Arabic Sabʿatu Aḥruf (سبعة احرف). The Prophet is related to have said that the Qurʾān was revealed in seven dialects (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. ii.). The word aḥruf, translated “dialects,” may admit of two interpretations. Some understand it to mean that the Qurʾān contains seven kinds of revelation: Commandment (amr), prohibition (nahy), history (qiṣṣah), parable (mis̤āl), exhortation (waʿz̤), promises (waʿdah), and threatening (waʿīd). But the more common interpretation of aḥruf is “dialects,” by which is understood that by changing the inflections and accentuations of words, the text of the Qurʾān may be read in the then existing “seven dialects” of Arabia, namely, Quraish, T̤aiy, Hawāzin, Yaman, S̤aqīf, Huẕail, Tamīm. [[QURʾAN].]
SEVEN SALĀMS. Seven verses of the Qurʾān, in which the word salām (سلام), “peace,” occurs:—
[Sūrah xxxvi. 58]: “Peace shall be the word spoken unto the righteous by a merciful God.”
[Sūrah xxxvii. 77]: “Peace be on Noah and on all creatures.”