Who are the Sabians?

There are several opinions on who the Sabians are and what are their beliefs. Some scholars believe that they are the current Mandaeans who believe in the teachings brought by Prophet Nūḥ ﷺ while others believe they are a sect from the Jews. Although, the theories are several, the reality about the Sabians remains shrouded in mystery.

Sabians in the Quran

There are three mentions of the Sabians (also spelled Sabeans) in the Quran along with the mention of other previous nations, such as: Jews, Christians, and the Majūs (Magians) where Allah ﷻ promises a good hereafter for those of among them who sincerely adhered to their Scripture and Prophetic guidance and followed it to the best of their ability.

First mention

Baqarah 2:26 — Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabians - those ˹among them˺ who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.

Second Mention

Ma'idah 5:69 — Indeed, those who have believed ˹in Prophet Muhammad˺ and those ˹before Him˺ who were Jews or Sabians or Christians - those ˹among them˺ who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.

Third mention

Ḥajj 22:17 — Indeed, those who have believed and those who were Jews and the Sabians and the Christians and the Magians and those who associated with Allah - Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is, over all things, Witness.

Sabians in Hadith Literature

Arabs at the time of the Prophet ﷺ used to use the word Ṣabaʾ to mean one who does not worship idols. These used this word to describe the Prophet ﷺ and those who believed him and converted to Islam. An example of this is in a hadith of Bukhārī:

Bukhārī 3865 — When ʿUmar embraced Islam, all The people (polytheists of Makkah) gathered around his home and said, "ʿUmar has become a Sabian." (meaning that he has accepted Islam)

Sabians in Tafsīr Literature

Regarding the Sabians, some opinions of the scholars of Tafsīr are summarized in this linked article but it is not comprehensive. Ibn ʿĀshūr details his understanding about them in the excerpt that follows.

Opinion of Ibn ʿĀshūr

In his tafsīr, al-Taḥrīr wa-al-Tanwīr, regarding the āyah of Baqarah 2:26, Ibn ʿĀshūr says:

According to me, the origin of the word Ṣābī or Ṣābi'ah or whatever branches from it is an ancient term from either Arabic or ancient Semitic language, specifically a dialect between the two rivers of Iraq. In Islamic knowledge, the name Ṣābi'ah is derived from an ancient Hebrew root (Ṣ B ʿA) meaning immersion, known to the Mandaeans, a sect in Iraq, which is a Jewish-Christian sect who perform baptism like Christians... This religion is ancient and emerged in the land of the Chaldeans in Iraq, spreading mostly between the Khabor and the Tigris rivers, and between the Khabor and the Euphrates, residing in the outskirts, Kasakar in Asida, and in Harran in the regions of Mesopotamia.

(Origin) The people of this religion were originally Nabateans in the land of Iraq. When the Persians appeared in the region of Iraq, they removed the kingdom of the Sabians and prohibited them from worshipping idols. They did not dare afterward to worship their idols. Likewise, the Romans prevented the people of Syria and the Jazira from the Sabians. When Constantine embraced Christianity, he compelled them by the sword to embrace Christianity, and the worship of idols ceased among them from that time. They professed Christianity openly. When Islam emerged in their lands, they were considered among the Christians in general. The people of the lands of Kaskar and the Baṭāʾiḥ were considered a sect of Christians, belonging to the Prophet Yaḥyá b. Zakariyyah. Nevertheless, they have books they claim were revealed by Allah to (Prophet?) Seth, the son of Adam, and they call him Agathodemôn. Christians call them Johannites, derived from John, who is Yaḥyá in Arabic ʿand the Quranʿ.

(Religious Practices) The essence of this religion is the worship of the celestial bodies, such as the planets, the moon, and some stars like the North Star. They believe in the Creator of the universe, who is one, wise, and holy, transcending the qualities of events. However, they claimed that humans are incapable of reaching the majesty of the Creator, so it is necessary to approach Him through intermediary beings close to Him, which are pure, holy, disembodied spirits. They claimed that these spirits inhabit the planets and descend into human souls to connect with them to the extent that human souls approach the nature of spirituality. They worship the celestial bodies intending to connect with their spiritualities, and for the descent of those spiritualities onto human souls, it is necessary to purify the soul from the effects of carnal desires and anger as much as possible, and to engage in worship through supplication to the spirits, purification of the body, fasting, charity, and goodness. They bound themselves to the four cardinal virtues of the soul, which are chastity, justice, wisdom, and courage, and to adhere to the partial virtues that branch out from the four cardinal virtues, which are righteous deeds and avoiding partial vices, the opposites of virtues, which are evil deeds."

(Opinions on their Creed) Among the scholars, there are those who say that they claim the lack of necessity for the sending of messengers, and they justify this by stating that human claimants of prophethood cannot serve as intermediaries between people and the Creator. Some scholars mention that they claim to follow the religion of Noah. They assert that the first teachers of the Sabian religion are Agathodemôn, Hermes, who is Seth, son of Adam, and Enoch. They draw from the wisdom of the ancients, seeking assistance for perfection, and therefore, their discourse often resembles the statements of Greek philosophers, especially Solon, Plato, and Aristotle. It is not far-fetched to suggest that these philosophers might have drawn some of their ideas from ancient Sabians in Iraq, as there are similarities between them in the worship of celestial bodies, deifying them, and in the affirmation of the God of gods.

(Worhsip and Purification) They built temples for the planets to serve as places of descent for the spirits of the planets. They were diligent in purifying and perfuming these temples so that the spiritual entities would be pleased with them. They sometimes make statues resembling the forms of the spiritual entities, according to their beliefs. Their religion includes three daily prayers, and their Qiblah is towards the direction of the northern winds. They purify themselves before prayer, and their readings and invocations are called Zamzamah in the translation of Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣābi'ī. They observe fasting for thirty days a year, distributed across three periods in the year. They consider it obligatory to perform ghusl (ritual bathing for purification) after sexual impurity, and women in menstruation must also perform ghusl. They prohibit celibacy, and it is permissible for a man to marry as many women as he desires, but he should only marry a Sabian woman who follows their religion. If he marries a non-Sabian woman, or a Sabian woman marries a non-Sabian man, they are considered to have left the religion, and repentance from them is not accepted. They wash their dead, shroud them, and bury them in the ground.

(Arab Encounter) This religion became famous in Harran, from the lands of Mesopotamia. Hence, Sabians are known in the Islamic creed books as al-Harnaniyyah ... named after Harran... Ibn Ḥazm said in his book al-Faṣl: "The religion adopted by the Sabians is one of the oldest religions in history, prevailing in the world until they introduced new elements into it. Then Allah sent Abraham ﷺ with the Hanifiyyah (pure monotheism)."

The religion of the Sabians was well-known among the Arabs during the pre-Islamic era due to the proximity of the Sabian lands in Iraq and the Levant to the dwellings of some Arab tribes, such as the regions of Bakr, the neighboring lands of the Nabateans to the territories of Taghlib and Qudāʿah.

We see that when Muhammad ﷺ was sent, the polytheists described him as a Sabian. Perhaps they referred to him as the son of Abū Kabshah, who is one of the ancestors of Āminah al-Zuhriyyah, the mother of the Prophet ﷺ, they accused him of practicing the open worship of celestial bodies among his people, claiming that the Prophet inherited this from them, which was a fabrication.

(Incident 1) In the narration of ʿImrān b. Huṣayn, it is mentioned that they were on a journey with the Prophet ﷺ, and their water ran out. They sought water and met a woman between two hills with a camel. They said to her, "Go to the Messenger of Allah." She replied, "You mean the one known as the Sabian?" They confirmed that it was him. This hadith narrates the miracle of the abundance of water.

(Incident 2) They used to call the Muslims al-Subāh as mentioned in the narration of Saʿd b. Mu'adh, who was a friend of Umayyah b. Khalaf. Whenever Saʿd passed by Makkah, he would stay with Umayyah. When the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ migrated to Madinah, Saʿd once went for ʿUmrah and stayed with Umayyah in Makkah. He asked Umayyah for a private moment to circumambulate the Kaʿbah. When Saʿd came out for the circumambulation, Abū Jahl met them and asked Umayyah, "Who is this with you?" Umayyah replied, "Saʿd." Abū Jahl then said to him, "Don't you see him circumambulating Makkah safely, although you have harbored a Subāh?"

(Incident 3) In the narration of the Battle of Judhaymah, it's reported that when Khālid b. al-Walīd offered them the choice of Islam or the sword, they did not choose to say, "We have embraced Islam," but instead, they said, "We have become al-Subāh."

(Other Arabic Tribes) It has been said that a people from the tribe of Tamīm worshipped the star of Dubbārān. And that a people from Lakhm and Khuzāʿah worshipped Shiʿra al-ʿAbur, which is among the stars of the Gemini in the circle of Cancer. And that a people from Kinānah worshipped the moon. Some thought that these were Sabians, assuming that they adopted the worship of these stars due to a misunderstanding of the Sabian religion. al-Zamakhsharī did not assert that there were Sabians among the Arabs. In his commentary, al-Kashshāf, on the verse "Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon" Fussilat: 37, he said, "Perhaps some of them used to prostrate to the sun and the moon like the Sabians, so they were prohibited from doing so."

(Other Opinions) The Islamic scholars have differed regarding the Sabians. Mujāhid and al-Ḥasan considered them a group between Jews and Magians, while al-Bayḍāwī stated that they are a people between Christians and Magians. Some scholars classified them as People of the Book, while others associated them with the Magians. The reason for this confusion is the ambiguity of their circumstances and their secrecy in religion, compounded by the intermingling resulting from the conquests of nations that prevailed over their lands. The group dominated by the Persians saw their religion mixed with Magianism, while those dominated by the Romans saw their religion mixed with Christianity. Ibn Shās, in his book, al-Jawāhir al-Thamīnah, quoted Shaykh Abū al-Ṭāhir Ibn Bashīr al-Tanūkhī al-Qayrawānī: "They prohibited ˹eating from˺ the sacrifices of the Sabians because they were between Christianity and Magianism, undoubtedly referring to the Sabians of Iraq, who, before the advent of Islam in their lands, followed the religion of Magianism." In the clarification based on Ibn al-Ḥājib al-Farrī's summary in the chapter on sacrifices, al-Ṭurṭūshī stated: "The sacrifice of the Sabians is not eaten, but it is not considered forbidden like the sacrifice of the Magians." Additionally, in the chapter on hunting, Malik said: "The game of the Sabians and their sacrifices are not to be consumed."

In the explanation provided by ʿAbd al-Bāqī ʿAlī Khalīl, it is mentioned: "The Sabians' adoption of Christianity is not considered strong, as mentioned by Abū Isḥāq al-Tūnisī. According to Malik, a Muslim man should not marry a Sabian woman." al-Jaṣṣās in his commentary on Surat al-ʿŪqūd and Surat al-Barāʾah mentioned that it was narrated from Abū Ḥanīfah that the Sabians are People of the Book, while Abū Yūsuf and Muhammad argued that they are not. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karkhī stated that the Sabians, specifically those in the region of Harran who worship celestial bodies, are not People of the Book according to all. al-Jaṣṣās further elaborated: "The Sabians known by this name at this time do not include People of the Book, and their adoption is essentially the same, meaning those in the region of Harran and those in the region of Baṭāʾih and Kaskar in Sawād Wāsit. The difference lies between those in the region of Harran and those in the region of Baṭāʾih in some of their laws, but none of them are People of the Book. What I strongly believe Abū Ḥanīfah witnessed was a group among them pretending to be Christians, who were from the region of Baṭāʾih and Kaskar, referred to by Christians as 'Yuḥanna Siyyah,' claiming affiliation with Prophet Yaḥyá (John the Baptist) and attributing scriptures they believe were revealed to (Prophet?) Seth and Prophet John."

(Not Considered People of the Book) Those whose beliefs align with the Sabians, specifically the Harranian sect, who reside near Harran, worship idols and do not associate themselves with any of the prophets nor do they adopt anything from the scriptures of Allah. There is no disagreement among the jurists that they are not of the People of the Book. Therefore, their slaughtered animals are not permissible to eat, and their women are not permissible for marriage. Abū Yūsuf and Muhammad stated that the Sabians are not the People of the Book, without differentiating between the two groups. Similarly, this is the opinion of al-Awzaʿī and Mālik b. Anas.

(Explanation of the Āyah Baqarah 2:26) The reason for specifically mentioning these three religions alongside Islam, rather than others like Zoroastrianism, Dahriyyah, or heretical sects, is because these three religions were more likely to accept Islam and renounce their own beliefs. They were more inclined to embrace Islam because they believed in a singular creator of the universe and followed virtues, albeit with variations among them in this regard. Therefore, the mention of these groups in the Quran is almost a confirmation of their potential acceptance of Islam. Don't you see that the mention of the Magians along with them in the āyah Ḥajj 22:17 is for the purpose of affirming the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ and the Muslims.