“Do not associate anything with God, although they kill or burn you. Do not affront your parents, although they should order you to leave your wives, your children, and your property. Do not abandon the divine prayers, for he who does so will not remain in the asylum of God. Never drink wine; for it is the root of all evil. Abstain from vice, for from it descends the anger of God. Refrain from running away in battle, although ye be killed. When a pestilence shall visit mankind, and you are in the midst of it, remain there. Cherish your children, and chastise them in order to teach them good behaviour, and instruct them in the fear of God.”
It is related that a Jew once said to his friend, “Take me to this Prophet.” He said, “Do not call him a prophet, for if he hears it he will be pleased.” And they came to the Prophet and asked him about the nine (sic) wonders (i.e. Ten Commandments), which appeared (from the hands of Moses). He said, “Do not associate anything with God, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor murder, nor take an inoffensive person before the king to be killed, nor practise magic, nor take interest, nor accuse an innocent woman of adultery, nor turn your backs on the field of battle; and it is proper, particularly for the Jews, not to work on Saturday.” The Jews kissed the hands and feet of the Prophet, and said, “We bear witness that you are a Prophet.” He said, “What prevented you from being my disciples?” They replied, “David called on God to perpetuate the gift of prophecy in his family, and we fear the Jews will kill us if we become your followers.”
SINAI. Arabic Saināʾ (سيناء), Heb. סִינַי Sinai. In the Qurʾān T̤ūru Saināʾ (طور سيناء), also T̤ūru Sīnīn (طور سينين), “Mount Sinai”; and at̤-T̤ūr (الطور), “the Mount”; Chaldee טוּר T̤ūr. In Muslim commentaries, Jabalu Mūsā (جبل موسى), “the Mount of Moses.”
It is referred to in the Qurʾān as the mountain on which God gave the tables of the Law ([Sūrah vii. 139]), and as the place where God assembled the prophets and took a compact from them ([Sūrah iii. 75]). In [Sūrah xcv. 2], Muḥammad makes the Almighty swear “by Mount Sinai”; and in [Sūrah xxiii. 20], we are told that, “a tree growing out of Mount Sinai produces oil and a condiment for those who eat.”
Al-Baiẓāwī (Fleischer’s ed., vol. i. p. 343), and the author of the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār (p. 57), both say that Moses received the tables of the Law on the mountain called Jabalu Zubair (جبل زبير).
SINGING. Arabic g͟hināʾ (غناء). Among Muslim theologians, singing is generally held to be unlawful, and the objection is founded on a tradition recorded by Jābir, who relates that Muḥammad said, “Singing and hearing songs causeth hypocrisy to grow in the heart, even as rain causeth the corn to grow in the field.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. ix. pt. 3.)
Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, in his commentary, remarking on this tradition, says, it is not a tradition of any authority, and adds, “The traditionists all agree that there is no Ḥadīs̤ of any authority forbidding the practice of singing.” (vol. iv. p. 63.)
The Ṣūfīs, who engage in the service of song as an act of worship, say Muḥammad only forbade songs of an objectionable character. Still most divines of reputation regard the practice with disfavour.
SĪPĀRAH (سيپاره). The Persian term for the thirty juzʾ, or divisions of the Qurʾān. From sī, “thirty,” and pārah, “a portion.”
The Qurʾān is said to have been thus divided to enable the pious Muslim to recite the whole of the Qurʾān in the month of Ramaẓān. Muḥammadans generally quote the Qurʾān by the Sīpārah and not by the Sūrah. [[QURʾAN].]