SAUT̤ (سوط). [[DIRRAH].]
S̤AWĀB (ثواب). “Recompense; reward”; e.g. Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 195]: “A reward from God; for God, with Him are the best rewards.”
AS-SAWĀDU ʾL-AʿZ̤AM (السواد الاعظم). Lit. “The exalted multitude.” A term used in the Traditions and in Muslim theology for the Assembly of God, or the congregation of faithful men, or for a large majority.
SAWĀʾĪM (سوايم), pl. of Sāʾimah. Flocks and herds which are grazing and for which zakāt must be collected. [[ZAKAT].]
SCHOOLS. Arabic maktab (مكتب), pl. makātib; madrasah (مدرسة), pl. madāris. According to Muslim law, all education should be carried on in connection with religious instruction, and consequently schools are generally attached to mosques. [[EDUCATION].]
SCRIPTURE, HOLY. The expression, “Holy Scripture,” is rendered in Persian by Pāk Nawishtah (پاك نوشته), “the Holy Writing,” its equivalent in Arabic being al-Kitābu ʾl-Muqaddas (الكتاب المقدس), “the Holy Book,” or Kalāmu ʾllāh (كلام الله), “the Word of God.” These terms, whilst they are generally understood by Muslims to refer to the Qurʾān, more correctly include all books acknowledged by Muḥammadans to be the Word of God. They profess to receive all the Jewish Scripture and the New Testament as well as the Qurʾān as the revealed Word of God. [[PROPHETS], [INSPIRATION].]
SCULPTURE. Arabic anṣāb (انصاب). The making of carved, graven, or sculptured figures, is understood to be forbidden in the Qurʾān under the term ṣanam (صنم), “an idol” (see [Sūrah xiv. 38]); also in [Sūrah v. 92]: “Verily wine, and games of chance, and statues (anṣāb), and divining arrows, are an abomination of Satan’s device.”
Consequently sculpture is not allowed according to Muslim law, although ar-Rāg͟hib says a ṣanam is that which diverts the mind from God.
SEA. Arabic baḥr (بحر). “The sea,” al-baḥr, is a term applied in the Qurʾān to the Red Sea, known amongst Muḥammadans as the Baḥru ʾl-Qulzum. [[RED SEA].] [Sūrahs ii. 47]; [vii. 134]. “The ships that sail like mountains in the sea,” are amongst the “signs” of God. (See [Sūrah xlii. 31].) In [Sūrah lii. 6], Muḥammad swears by “the swelling sea.” In [Sūrah xvii. 68]: “It is the Lord who drives the ships for you in the sea, that ye may seek after plenty from Him.” In [Sūrah xviii. 109], it occurs as an illustration of the boundless character of the Word of God. “Were the sea ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely fail before the words of my Lord fail; aye, though we brought as much ink again.”
In Muḥammadan works, in the Traditions and commentaries, the Arabic baḥr is used for large rivers, as the Euphrates and the Nile, in the same sense as the Hebrew יָם yām (but the word nahr, Hebrew נָהָר nāhar, occurs in the Qurʾān for “rivers”).