The Sabians (Arabic: صابئة) of Middle Eastern tradition are a variety of monotheistic: Gnostic (Mandeans), Hermetic (Harranian) as well as Abrahamic religions mentioned three times in the Quran with the people of the Book, "the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians"
The root-meaning of the word "Sabian" (from which they derive Seboghatullah) means proselyte, and is identical in usage with the Greek words for Godfearers sebomenoi, theosebes,phobeomenoi.[note 18]
Characteristics of the Sabi religion[edit]
The Sābi'ūn knew God as the Rabb al-'alihah (lord of gods), and 'ilah al-'alihah (god of gods). During meditations, they spoke to angels.[note 19] Sabians believed each angel dwells in a different star, causing non-believers to derogatorily and erroneously accuse Sābi'ūn of angel worship, as well as star worship (in Arabic it is said, saba'at al-nujūm, meaning "the stars appeared"). Sābi'ūnread from the Zaboor (as did the Slavonic Subbotniki or Psaltirschiki). They also used the sun as a qiblah, facing the equator at midday.[note 5][note 6][note 20][note 21] Fundamentally, Sabian teaching is La ilahah il Allah, i.e., 'there is no god but Allah'.[note 2] Abd al-Rahman ‘ibn Zayd remarked, "the Sābi'ūn did not believe in the Prophet Mohammed", as Islamists do. Nevertheless, the Sabian were known to say of the Prophet Mohammed and his companions, 'these are the Sabians', comparing themselves to Muslims.[note 3] Despite these strong similarities, Sābi'ūn are, to varying degrees, akin to Christians. [note 7] Hanif Sabians are more universal, looking to Noah as their prophet of the Dīn. [note 1]Sābi'ūn have five daily prayers[note 22] Sabians believe in all prophets, reiterating the Din of Noah, and belief in the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, i.e., the Seal of the Prophets — although their belief system differs from that of Islam. [note 23] Additionally, Sabians also practiced annual 30-day fasts.[note 24]
Maimonides
Although too late to be of relevance in identifying the sect mentioned in the Qur'an, Maimonides wrote about the Sabians, Hebrew: צבאים. Based upon a book called The Nabataean Agriculture which Maimonides translated, Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed describes the Sabians in quite some detail. They were questioned by Caliph al-Ma'mun of Baghdad in 830 CE, according to Abu Yusuf Absha al-Qadi, about what protected religion they belonged to. Not being Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Magian, the caliph told them they were nonbelievers and would have to become Muslims or adherents of one of the other religions recognized by the Qur'an by the time he returned from his campaign against the Byzantines or he would kill them.[8] The Harranians consulted with a lawyer who suggested that they find their answer in the Qur'an II.59 which made it clear that Sabians were tolerated. It was unknown what was intended by Sabian and so they took the name.[9]
These newly dubbed Harranian Sabians acknowledged Hermes Trismegistus as their prophet and the Corpus Hermeticum as their sacred text, being a group of Hermeticists. Validation of Hermes as a prophet comes from his identification as Idris (i.e. Enoch) in the Qur'an (19.57 and 21.85).[10]
The Harranian Sabians played a vital role in Baghdad and the rest of the Arab world from 856 until about 1050; playing the role of the main source of Greek philosophy and science as well as shaping the intellectual life. The most prominent of the Harranian Sabians was Thabit ibn Qurra.[10]