Who were the Sabians?

Coriolanus

Just wondering. There's apparently a reference to them in the suras. All I could think of was the Sabines of central Italy, but I presume its not them.

hivizman

Nevore wrote: »

Just wondering. There's apparently a reference to them in the suras. All I could think of was the Sabines of central Italy, but I presume its not them.

The Sabians (sometimes spelled Sabeans) are referred to in three verses: Surah al-Baqarah 2:62, Surah al-Ma'idah 5:69 and Surah al-Hajj 22:17. In all three verses, they are associated with Jews and Christians. There is a lack of agreement as to which group is being referred to. In The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia (ed. Oliver Leaman, Routledge, 2006), they are described as:

An enigmatic religious community, the Sabeans are mentioned three times in the Qur'an, appearing each time alongside the Jews and the Christians as 'People of the Book'. Their identifiy has been the subject of much debate by Muslim exegetes and Western scholars, yet it remains unknown. Some have identified the Sabeans as the gnostic Mandeans of southern Iraq, although it is highly unlikely that such a community would have been known to Muhammad and the Medinan community, while de Blois argues that they might possibly have been Manicheans and Yusuf Ali posits a possible connection with the Queen of Sheba.

Muhammad Asad, in his translation The Message of the Qur'an, suggests that the Sabians "seem to have been a monotheistic religious group intermediate between Judaism and Christianity." He suggests that they were followers of John the Baptist, and equates them with the Mandeans. They are probably not the same as the Sabaeans, a South Arabian people that flourished up to around 200 C.E.

Although the Sabeans survived as a sect in Iraq until after the recent invasion, they have come under the same persecution that has dramatically reduced the Christian population, and it is believed, according to a recent article, that there are only about 5,000 left in Iraq.

Coriolanus

Interesting stuff hivizman! Thanks for the reply.

AbuYusuf

Salam Alakium,

In his tafseer of Surah Baqarah, ayat 62, Ibn Kathir wrote the following:

The Sabi'un or Sabians

There is a difference of opinion over the identity of the Sabians. Sufyan Ath-Thawri said that Layth bin Abu Sulaym said that Mujahid said that, "The Sabians are between the Majus, the Jews and the Christians. They do not have a specific religion.'' Similar is reported from Ibn Abi Najih. Similar statements were attributed to `Ata' and Sa`id bin Jubayr. They (others) say that the Sabians are a sect among the People of the Book who used to read the Zabur (Psalms), others say that they are a people who worshipped the angels or the stars. It appears that the closest opinion to the truth, and Allah knows best, is Mujahid's statement and those who agree with him like Wahb bin Munabbih, that the Sabians are neither Jews nor Christians nor Majus nor polytheists. Rather, they did not have a specific religion that they followed and enforced, because they remained living according to their Fitrah (instinctual nature). This is why the idolators used to call whoever embraced Islam a `Sabi', meaning, that he abandoned all religions that existed on the earth. Some scholars stated that the Sabians are those who never received a message by any Prophet. And Allah knows best.

Coriolanus

Thanks to you too AbuYusuf. It's an interesting little mystery.