Who Were the Sabians The Lost Religion of the Quran

One of the central and most widely known aspects of Islam is its inclusion of other religious groups within its wider framework. While Islam is seen as the final and only fully legitimate revelation from God and therefore religious law and religious system, it does recognize that other religions also carry truths that they were also revealed by God but had gone astray from the original message and intention. Islam sees itself as final correction that encompasses the truths and messages of all previously revealed religions. And this is the theological background to the so-called demi system in Islam that there are certain religious groups particularly the so-called the people of the book but also generally historically most religious minorities have had the ability to be protected by law and free to practice their religion as long as they pay tax called the Jiza. and people have different opinions about this. Some think this is just kind of extortion while others see this as unusually open attitude towards religious minorities at that time in history especially as central part of the religion's theological teachings in itself so to say but regardless of one's opinion about that that has been central aspect of Islam and Islamic history and while in practice most non-Muslims who have lived in Islamic lands have been eligible for this protection and paying the as said the group that is guaranteed this treatment in the Quran and Islamic law are the so-called or the people of the book and this is category taken directly from the Quran and refers to groups that are directly mentioned in that sacred text as religions that were revealed by God previously and thus have certain level of legitimacy. wellknown is the fact that this category includes Christians and Jews and various other communities have been considered part of this category historically as well. But there's actually third group that is mentioned alongside Christians and Jews in the Quran, but whose identity is lot more mysterious and confusing. They are called the Sabun, often anglified as the Sabbians. They're mentioned in several places in the Quran, all in very similar context and again alongside Christians and Jews as people who depending on how one interprets the text are possibly allowed into paradise despite their non-Muslim status. In surah al bakar for example it says indeed the believers Jews Christians and sabians sabun whoever believes in law in the last day and does good will have the reward with their lord and there will be no fear for them nor will they grieve and there are almost identical mentions in surah maida and surah haj and in the latter we also get mention of the so-called majus or the zoroastrians but who are these sabun mean Christians and Jews are pretty clear, right? There lived Jews and Christians in Arabia at that time at the time of the prophet Muhammad. So, it makes sense they would mention them. They interacted with Jews and Christians and this these were widely known religions. Even the Zorastians were quite known. But who are the Sabun? Who are the Sabians in this context? This is actually one of the greatest mysteries of the Quran because no one really knows what this word is referring to. It could of course be referring to some smaller group that existed in the hijaz at the time of the prophet Muhammad who have since disappeared and memory of them thus waned. But there has in fact been lot of speculation about the identity of these sabians from the very earliest periods of Islam and which have given many different answers. When we read the earliest writings of Muslim scholars who talk about the Sabians or mention the Sabians from the 8th century, maybe even the late 7th century, but mostly the 8th century, it becomes clear that no one really knows for sure, right? Even in the Quran taps, the earliest commentaries on the Quran, again, this is clear that this is kind of mystery even to them. And thus in these writings by the early Muslim scholars, we get many different and varied answers and theories perhaps on who they think the Sabiun actually are. And because of this ambiguity where the original meaning of the Quran had been lost to memory, the term was basically up for grabs. Anyone could and many did claim to be the Sabian and were equally claimed to be Sabian by Muslim scholars as well as by historians today. And in this sea of possibilities, we have many claims and many theories. One claim is that the category refers to the Hunafa, which was term that was used to refer to certain pre-Islamic monotheistic believers in Arabia, followers of Abraham that were neither Christian nor Jews. Some will even claim that Muhammad was one such hanife, right? monotheistic believer, follower of Abraham that was neither Muslim nor or sorry that was neither Christian nor Jew. There is another intriguing connection in the fact that there used to be kingdom in ancient Yemen called the kingdom of Sabah named after the queen of Sheba. The people of this kingdom were known as Sabayans and later Christians associated with the region were often also referred to with this name. So this is one possibility that some people have pointed to. Maybe the Sabi refers to the kingdom of Sabah in southern Arabia that some people came maybe specifically kind of Christian group from southern Arabia. One problem with this theory is that edmologically it doesn't really fit because the sabun in the Quran is spelled with sod. So sun whereas sabah from the kingdom is spelled with scene. So it's different root different letter combination. So this sort of points to this not being the case. Maybe the manacheans have also sometimes been brought up as possible contenders. But by far the two most widely considered groups that have been identified with the Quranic Sabian historically both by Muslims and non-Muslims and even by the communities themselves are the Mandeans and the Sabian of Haram. Manddayism is fascinating religious tradition that still survives today. Indeed, it is often referred to as the last surviving quote unquote gnostic religion in the world. They claim similar line of sacred history as the Judeo-Christian Islamic stories and place an emphasis on the figure of John the Baptist as an important later prophet and figure for the faith. There's strong dualistic character to their theology being gnostic of course and ritually there's huge emphasis on baptism and the power of running water as kind of purifying force. They of course claim to originally come from Judea around the Jordan River where John the Baptist was active. But for most of history they have been mostly located and and active in southern Iraq or southern Mesopotamia. I've actually made an episode previously on this channel dedicated to the Mandalans that you can check out and hope to also make updated more in-depth video on the topic in the future. Of all these connections and different groups that were identified as the Sabian by the Muslims and others, the Mandeans might have been one of the earliest groups that was officially identified as the Sabians by Muslim scholars. Assassi Gunda shows in fantastic study on the topic. We can look at the earliest Islamic sources mentioning the Sabiun and we get variety of different statements that sometimes even seem to be contradictory. Abdullahb Abbas seems to have claimed that the Sabiun are sect of Christianity. Mujahed Benjar says that they have no distinctive religion but is quote in between Judaism and Zoroastrianism or Mianism. Hassan Albasi supposedly says that they look like Mians that is Zoroastrians that they worship the angels. Abu Hanifh says that they are between Jews and Christians and that they read the Psalms. It's whole ocean of different claims. But by the middle of the 8th century, certain features started to be pretty recurring and interesting for our purposes here. The Sabians are recurrently located in Iraq, often in southern Iraq. They are between Judaism and Christianity or between Judaism and Zoroastinism. Hence perhaps having features associated with both. They believe in the prophets though not all of them obviously according to Islam. They are monotheists and affirm the proclamation there is no God but God just like the Muslims do. They pray five times day and they supposedly quote worship the angels. Now these are all features that point quite conveniently towards the Mambians. They were, as we said, mostly located in Iraq at this time. They are generally monotheistic. They could be argued to have similarities with both Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. In the Ginszerba, the sacred scripture of the Mandans, they are told to pray five times day. They do read psalms. And the idea that they worship the angels is somewhat supported by the fact that angels, the malaika or malika or good spirits are an important feature of the religion. So while it isn't stated outright, it seems that by the 8th century, many people seem to be identifying the Mandeans as the mysterious Sabiun of the Quran. And this would continue to be popular attribution throughout history and still is today. He was even more firmly expressed and established in the 10th century in the writings of Iban Bahul, Christian Arab writer. He writes in his kitabil quoting another figure called Abu Ali. Quote, few of them came into my presence in the city of peace that is Bad in the days of my employment as secretary for Sarah, the daughter of Al-Mad Bilah, may God have mercy on him and my employment as secretary for her mother and for her sister Safia. had requested for Sarah's mother as an administrative land grant the site of Badir known as the Jewish ina and Adil in Asalik all of whose inhabitants are Sabians. So investigated their situation and query them about it thoroughly. found that they profess the religion of Seth son of Adam peace be upon him. They say that he is their prophet. They acknowledge Yahib and Zachariah that is John the Baptist. They have book that they call the first psalter being 120 suras short and long. They pray with it. The direction of prayer is Jerusalem. They have books of precepts, one of which is attributed to John the Baptist and another to Seth, son of Adam. They do not believe in the resurrection of the body, but of the spirit. They have the recompense of the garden and the recompense of the fire. As for the chief and his disciples, they enter the temple every day. the common people among them enter it every Sunday after they have immersed themselves in the water and cleansed themselves. And he goes on, but it's already pretty clear that he's referring to Mandeans and directly identifying them with the Sabians who by this time in the 10th century has started being referred to as the Sabia rather than the Quranic Sabiun. But part of what Iban Bakloud is doing here is to argue that the Mandans are the real Sabia as opposed to another group that were often called as such too. At the beginning of the section that we just quoted he says quote Abu Ali may God have mercy on him said they are the ones by whose epithet the Haranians are called. They are the ones mentioned in the Quran. Their status as dimmis is sound. There is no relationship between them and the Haranian pagans, nor is there any point of comparison in any aspect of their religious laws. Rather, they are distinct from them in every way. This other group that he's arguing are not Sabians are referred to here as the Haranians and they are the second group most commonly identified as the Quranic Sabiun. Indeed, from the time of the kaiff al- Matmoon, so around the 830s maybe, they seem to possibly be the most popular theory among Muslim scholars, which is why Ibakul has to push back against it in this text. Right? He's arguing that these Haranians that many people think are the Sabians are in fact not the Sabians. That's what he's saying here, right? He's saying the Mandeans probably are the real Sabians. The name Haranian refers to the city that they are from and associated with Haran in northern Syria which is part of the modern nation state of Tokya. This was place that had been important for the old Babylonian religious tradition housing famous temple for the moon god scene. And it appears that despite the growth of monotheism in late antiquity, both Christianity and Islam, the people of Haran still held fast to their old religious traditions in way that many other places in the region didn't. There seems to have been fascinating remnant of Babylonian polytheism and the Arab writers often refer to them as star worshippers in particular. Some of the most important early scientists and philosophers in the Islamic world were indeed from Haran and belonged to this group. Most notably the court physician, mathematician and astronomer Fabbit Iben Kura. There's also really fascinating theory that Haran was kind of hotbed for neoplatonic and maybe even hermetic philosophy that had survived after the closing of the Athenian Academy in the 6th century that the last scholars or leaders of the Neoplatonic school there like Damascus who had been forced to flee to Persia and then came back to the Roman Empire that they had actually settled in Haron and that it is in this city that the neoplatonic school was actually carried forward and then handed over so to say to the to the Muslims or the Arab writers. Right? This is one very interesting theory mostly rejected today would say but still very very fascinating. The Haranians are truly so interesting. Right? And this is why I've decided to make dedicated episode just covering the the Haranians or the Sabians of Harans sometimes also called where will be diving deeper into this particular movement. really this video that I'm making now, this episode is really just an excuse to sort of pave the way for me to make that video about the Haranians. So look forward to that in the hopefully very near future. In any case, the Haranians were also quite early identified as the Sabians or the Sabun at least from the early 9th century and around the time as we said of the Kaiff al- Mun or rather perhaps we should say that the Hadians themselves had identified themselves as the Sabians. As we said before, being among the people of the book or the groups mentioned in the Quran generally meant that you were seen as legitimate religion and that you could practice it without any trouble from the Islamic authorities. So when the term Sabion was up for grabs, it was beneficial for groups to claim to be the Sabians because that would give them legitimacy and freedom, this seems to have been the case for both the Mandans and the Haranians. Indeed, there is an interesting, albeit questionable story about how this came to be. It's story told by Christian writer 70 years after the event happened. But it does say that the famous Abbassad Kaiff al- Matmoon was visiting or standing at the gates of the city of Haran. Obviously, the people of the city would have looked and dressed differently from what they were used to. So he asked what religion they belonged to. Now they weren't Muslims or Christians or Jews or or Zorastians but had as we've seen kind of religion of their own and responded simply by saying we are Haranians and when he asked whether they believed in the prophets or had any scriptures they gave kind of vague non-answers now as response to this and Matmoon said that when he returned to the city next time after campaign that he was going to in in in the Byzantine territories the Haranians better be Muslims, Christians or Jews or he was going to kill them all. Distraught over their situation, it is claimed that the Haranians then turned to Muslim judge, khadi or jurist and asked what to do. He then told them of the verses in the Quran that we have quoted and told them to just say that they were Sabians which they then did and thus they were able to escape the wrath of the caiff. Now, while this is quite fanciful story, the general picture it paints is probably somewhat true in the sense that the Hadians probably chose to identify themselves as the Sabbians in order to make their situation easier and more comfortable within Islamic law. And it might have actually allowed them to survive for lot longer than they would have otherwise. Because according to our sources, it seems that they were practicing or identifying Haranian Sabbians as far into history as the 11th century. The Muslims and Arab writers were often fascinated by the supposed Sabian of Haran, but we unfortunately don't have that many descriptions of the religion other than the wider label of calling them star worshippers. One of the most famous accounts comes from Al-Mas Ui, kind of historian, geographer and writer who claims to have visited Haran in the 9th century and gives us very interesting description. Quote, "This community known as the Haranians and the Sabians has philosophers. However, there are some of the common riffraff of the philosophers differing from their elite sages in their doctrines. consider them philosophers only by way of lineage, not by way of wisdom because they are Helens. Not all of the Helens are philosophers. Only their sages are the philosophers. Now, important to point out is that when he says Helens, that word in Arabic, it's it's Yunania. So when one would say the Helens, the Greeks, what that meant essentially was pagans. So that the word Helen had come to be used in such way that it basically meant polytheists or pagans. He then says, saw on the doornocker of the gathering place of the Sabbians in Haran saying of Plato written in Syriak of which Malikb and others of them inform me of the interpretation. It is he who knows his essence becomes divine." In Arabic, Plato has said man is heavenly plant. The indication of it is that he is like an inverted tree. Its roots are toward heaven and its branches are toward the earth. Obviously, this is one of the main sources used by people who want to argue for Haranas. This continuation of the neoplatonic tradition having quote by Plato seems to be good indication of that lineage in some way while others will disagree. But anyway, in any case, the Sabians of Haran continue to be among the most popular identifications for the Sabi of the Quran or the Sabia. And when you read literature or or or source books, it will often refer to this community, the Haranians, as the Sabbians of Haran. very common attribution. Indeed, if there is one group that was maybe most widely accepted as the Sabians in in the Middle Ages and perhaps further on, it was probably the Harians, but don't quote me on that, but that's that seems to be the most common attribution. should add though that by the 10th century the term Sabian or Sabia had come to be used in very wide sense as essentially meaning just pagans too and it would be used as such for the rest of history. we can see this in for example the writings of mymonades in his guide for the perplexed he talks about the Sabians and very clearly sort of indicates that they are just the pagans more generally. Even in al-mas udi there is this indication in part of his writings where he clarifies that the haranian sabians are category that he refers to as Egyptian sabians because there's lineage there to Hermes and so on. whereas there are Sabians of other regions that are clearly identified as Buddhists for example, right? So so Sabian could also come to mean just any pagan. but the point stands that if there was any particular group that was associated with the term rather than its broad usage, it would have probably been the the Haranians. But does this actually solve our problem? Well, not really. would argue and scholars would probably hold the same opinion that it's quite unlikely that the Quranic Sabun is actually referring to the Haranians. It's more likely that they adopted this name themselves for practical reasons later on. Now, would argue that the attribution of the name to the Mandeans is more likely option here, but even that is kind of guesswork. In short, we simply don't know for sure and possibly will never know exactly what is meant by the Quranic Sabion. But there is another option that we haven't brought up. One that is favored by many scholars today including Kevin Fambladel and which is based on the etmology of the word itself and its use in the contemporary environment of Muhammad's Arabia. Indeed, scholars like Famblad and others point to the Arabic word sabah which was used at the time of the prophet in Arabia and meant something like to change or to come out or to return. For example, this verb was used to describe the stars when they come out at night. It could also be used to describe camel that returned home again and importantly for people who changed their religion. So it was said about people who had converted to Islam or the believers movement of Muhammad that they changed their religion. Indeed, according to hadith reports in places like Bkari, it is claimed that the prophet himself was called by his critics in Mecca sabi because he had changed his religion from the old polytheistic one to his new monotheism. Quote, Rabia Ubad said, saw the prophet when was pagan. He was saying to people, if you want to save yourselves, except there is no god but Allah." At this moment noticed the man behind him saying he is sabi. When asked somebody who he was he told me he was Abu Lahab his uncle. According to Gundus there are two ways that this has been understood. Either the prophet and those who joined him were called Sabi or that they sed so to say to anglify it because there was already group of independent monotheists that were known as Sabiun. And the prophet and his companions were called this because their new religion resembled that one in some way that this was the first association that people had to non-Christian non-Jewish monotheistic religion in the region. The 8th century writer Abd Rahman ib zed reports quote the polytheist used to say of the prophet and his companions these are sabians comparing them to them because the sabians who live in jazer moili would say there is no god but god or the other option which is that the term sab was used for the prophet and others simply as designation of those who had changed their religion. So in other words, if we follow this line of reasoning, it's very possible that when the Quran refers to the Sabi, it's simply referring to the followers of Muhammad, perhaps specifically to those who had converted from polytheism as opposed to the Christians or Jews. Eventually, as the community of believers became more established and unified, the term sabun would have eventually lost its relevance since they were all believers and there were no more polytheists left to convert. so that the Muslims would have forgotten the context in which it was used in the Quran already by the late 7th and 8th centuries. It's very intriguing theory and it's quite convincing in my opinion. There are still certain questions left unanswered and I'm not fully convinced of it that much more than am of some of the others that we've mentioned. But it does offer some very tantalizing arguments. think we'll just have to settle on the idea that we don't currently know who the Sabiun of the Quran actually are. But that doesn't mean that we don't know anything about the different groups that have been identified as the Sabian because we do know at least some of them we know quite lot about and that is what want to turn my focus to in the next video. So, in my next episode or one of the next coming videos, as said, I'm going to be focusing on the Hadians or the Sabians of Hadan in particular. And also want to make an updated more in-depth version of the episode on the Mandeans, both of whom, as we've seen, have been identified with the Sabian. So, look forward to those episodes in the the near future. For now, hope this was an interesting dive into the question of the mysterious Sabiun in the Quran. I'm sorry to say that we don't have any more certain answer than than than we do, but it's still very interesting and very fascinating topic that that really lends itself to lot of interesting speculation and discussion. Thank you so much for watching and listening. want to remind you that just released single with my project Zeni called Tasting. It's new song rock oriented sort of alternative rock with influences and instruments from the Middle East like UD and Duduk and Tambour. So if you're interested in that then check that out. want to thank all my patrons over on patreon.com who support this channel monetarily and without whom none of this would be possible. Thank you as always from the bottom of my heart. would appreciate if anyone else wants to become patron. So I'll leave links to all of this. 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