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S / س – ش – ص
This glossary page will give meanings for words beginning with the English letter ‘S’ and the Arabic letters س (seen), ش (sheen) and ص (saad)

Shar’iah شَرِيْعَة (plural: Shar’aa’i شَرَائِع)
Comes from the trliteral verbal root sha-ra-’a شَرَعَ which means ‘to prescribe laws‘, ‘to devise‘, ‘to begin‘, ‘to enter‘ and is a noun literally meaning ‘a water hole‘ or ‘a drinking place‘. In our nomenclature it means a body of law, specifically Islamic Law (al-Shari’ah al-Islamiya اشريعة الإسلامية)

Shart شرط (plural: Shuroot شروط)
Comes from a triliteral verbal root sha-ra-ta شَرَطَ which means ‘to tear‘, ‘to make incisions‘, ‘to stipulate‘, ‘to make conditional‘ and is a noun meaning ‘an incision‘, ‘a tear‘, ‘a condition‘, ‘a stipulation.’ It is these last meanings that are intended by the usage here, i.e. a condition.

Sultan سلطان (plural: Salateen سلاطين)
Comes from a verbal root sal-ta-na سلطن which means ‘to proclaim authority‘, ‘to establish a ruler‘ and is a noun meaning ‘power‘, ‘might‘, ‘authority‘, ‘reign‘, ‘legitimation‘.

Sultani سلطانى
An adjective from the same root as Sultan meaning ‘sovereign‘, ‘royal‘, ‘imperial‘.

Sunnah سُنَّة (plural: Sunan سُنَن)
Comes from the triliteral verbal root sanna سَنَّ which means ‘to prescribe‘, ‘to enact (a law or custom)‘. Is a noun meaning ‘a habitual practice‘, ‘customary practice‘, ‘norm‘ and refers specifically to the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad (s). The full definition of the term Sunnah and its position in Islamic Law is given in the series on Usool al-Fiqh.