SHAVING. The shaving of the beard is forbidden in the Traditions, for Ibn ʿUmar relates that the Prophet said: “Do the opposite of the polytheists; let your beards grow long and clip your mustachios.” The shaving of the head is allowed, provided the whole and not a part is shaven, for the Prophet said: “Shave off all the hair of the head or let it alone.” (Mishkāt, xx. ch. iv. pt. 3.)
In Afghanistan it is the custom to shave the head, but not in other parts of Islām.
SHAVING THE HEAD. Arabic taḥlīq (تحليق). Forbidden in the Ḥadīs̤ (Mishkāt, book xiv. ch. v.), although it is most common amongst the Muḥammadans of India and Central Asia.
SHAWWĀL (شوال). Lit. “The month of raising the tail.” The tenth month of the Muḥammadan year. (For a discussion of the meaning of the title of this month, see Lane’s Arabic Dict. in loco.)
SHAʿYĀʾ (شعياء). [[ISAIAH].]
SHECHINA. [[SAKINAH], [TABUT].]
SHEM. Arabic Sām (سام). A son of Noah. Not mentioned in the Qurʾān, but his name is given in commentaries.
SHĪʿAH (شيعة). Lit. “Followers.” The followers of ʿAlī, first cousin of Muḥammad and the husband of his daughter Fāt̤imah. The Shīʿahs maintain that ʿAlī was the first legitimate Imām or K͟halīfah, or successor, to the Prophet, and therefore reject Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, the first three K͟halīfahs of the Sunnī Muslims, as usurpers. They are also called the Imāmīyahs, because they believe the Muslim religion consists in the true knowledge of the Imām or rightful leaders of the faithful. Also the Is̤nā-ʿasharīyah, or the twelveans, as followers of the twelve Imāms. The Sunnī Muslims call them the Rāfiẓī, or the forsakers of the truth. The Shīʿahs strenuously maintain that they are the “orthodox” Muslims, and arrogate to themselves (as do also the Sunnīs) the title of al-Muʾminūn, or the “True Believers.”
The spirit of division, which appeared among the followers of Muḥammad, even before his death, broke out with greater violence after it; and the rapid strides of his successors to even imperial power, only afforded a wider sphere for ambition. The great and radical difference between the Shīʿahs and Sunnīs, as we have already remarked, arises from the former maintaining the divine and indefeasible right of ʿAlī to succeed to the K͟halifate on the death of the Prophet. ʿAlī’s claims, they assert, rested on his nearness of kindred to Muḥammad, of whom he was a cousin, and on his having married Fāt̤imah, the only offspring of the Prophet which survived him. They also assert that he was expressly declared his successor by the Prophet himself, under direct guidance from God.
The text quoted in defence of the divine institution of the K͟halifate in the Prophet’s own family, is the 118th verse of the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, or the Second Chapter of the Qurʾān, which reads:—