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 .] S̤IQAH ( ثقة‎ ). “Worthy of confidence.” A term used in the study of the Ḥadīs̤ for a traditionist worthy of confidence. ṢIRĀT̤ ( صراط‎ ). Lit . “A road.” The word occurs in the Qurʾān thirty-eight times, in nearly all of which it is used for the Ṣirāt̤u ʾl-Mustaqīm , or the “right way” of religion. In Muslim traditions and other writings it is more commonly used for the bridge acro the infernal fire, which is described as finer than a hair and sharper than a sword, and is beset on each side with briars and hooked thorns. The righteous will pa over it with the swiftne of the lightning, but the wicked will soon mi their footing and will fall into the fire of hell. ( Mulla ʿAlī Qārī , p. 110.) Muḥammad appears to have borrowed his idea of the bridge from the Zoroastrian system, according to which the spirits of the departed, both good and bad, proceed along an appointed path to the “bridge of the gatherer” ( chinvat peretu ). This was a narrow road conducting to Heaven or Paradise, over which the souls of the pious alone could pa , whilst the wicked fell into the gulf below. (Rawlinson’s Seventh Oriental Monarchy , p. 636.) The Jews, also, believed in the bridge of hell, which is no broader than a thread, over which idolaters must pa . ( Midrash , Yalkut , Reubeni , sect. Gehinnom .) AṢ -ṢIRĀT̤U ʾL-MUSTAQĪM ( الصراط المستقيم‎ ). “The right way,” i.e . the Muḥammadan religion; e.g . Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 44 : “Fear God and obey me; of a truth God is my Lord and your Lord: Therefore worship Him. This is the right way .” It occurs in about thirty other places.