The principal differences between the Sunnīs and the Shīʿahs are treated of in the article [SHIʿAH].
SUPEREROGATION, ACTS OF. [[NAFL].]
SŪRAH (سورة). Lit. “A row or series.” A term used exclusively for the chapters of the Qurʾān, of which there are one hundred and fourteen in number. These chapters are called after some word which occurs in the text, e.g. Sūratu ʾl-Ḥadīd, the “Chapter of Iron.” The ancient Jews divided the whole law of Moses into fifty-four siderīm, or “sections,” which were named after the same manner as the Sūrahs of the Qurʾān. [[QURʾAN].]
SUTRAH (سترة). Lit. “That wherewith anything is concealed or covered.” Something put up before one engaged in prayer facing Makkah, to prevent others from intruding upon his devotions. It may be a stick, or anything a cubit in height and an inch in thickness. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. x.) [[PRAYER].]
SUWĀʿ (سواع). An idol mentioned in [Sūrah lxxi. 22]. Professor Palmer says it was an idol in the form of a woman, and believed to be a relic of antediluvian times. (Introduction to the Qurʾān, p. xii.)
SWEARING. [[OATH].]
SWINE. Arabic k͟hinzīr (خنزير), pl. k͟hanāzīr. Heb. חֲזִיר k͟hazīr. Swine’s flesh is strictly forbidden to Muslims in four different places in the Qurʾān, namely, [Sūrahs ii. 168], [v. 4], [vi. 146], [xvi. 116]; in which places its use is prohibited with that which dieth of itself and blood.
In the Traditions, it is related that Muḥammad said that “when Jesus the Son of Mary shall descend from the heavens upon your people as a just king, and he will break the cross and will kill all the swine.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. vi.)
SYNAGOGUES. [[CHURCHES].]
SYRIA. [[SHAM].]