The Sabaeans, Magians and Zandīqīn As They Pertain To Islāmic Originsby Mikhayah ben David

בשם יהוה הרחמן הרחם/بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Surely those who believe and those [Jews] who turn [towards God] and the Sabi’in and the Naṣārā and the Magi and those who associate (with God) surely God will decide between them on the Day of Resurrection; surely Allah is a witness over all things. (22:17)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالصَّابِئِينَ وَالنَّصَارَى وَالْمَجُوسَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْصِلُ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّ اللَهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

Arab writers after around 832 CE typically identify a group of star and planet worshipping polytheists as Sabaeans. This late view is undoubtedly the source of Maimonides’ confusion on the matter as well. The Qur’ānic Sabaeans, however, are a group which is never associated with polytheism or shirk, and never even critiqued. As we will see, Muḥammad himself is described by his “polytheistic” adversaries as Sabaean, indicating that whatever their religion was, it was certainly more similar - if not identical - to the minhāj of Muḥammad than the planet and star worshipping cults which later authors describe. We will therefore restrict our inquiry to the earliest reports after Muḥammad, heavily favoring those reports before him. We will find that the Sabaeans were in fact a designation that pre-dated Muḥammad, and related to the Ossaean sect from which Elchasitism emerged and Manichaeanism splintered off. Related to this, we will accordingly find that early Muslim scholars used the Sassanid era Middle Persian term for Manicheans “Zandik” to describe those who embraced Sufism without Islāmic law or fiqh.

Abd’ullāh ibn al-Abbās (ca. 650 CE) wrote that “the religion of the Sabeans is a sect of the Naṣārā (Nazarenes).”[1] Ziyād ibn `Abīhi (d. 672 CE), the governor of Iraq during the first Umayyad Caliph Mu`āwīyah ibn ‘Abī Sufyān explained that “the Sabeans believed in the prophets and prayed five times daily.”[2] It is somewhat unlikely that the groups prayed at five distinct prayer times, as the Qur’ān references the three Jewish prayer times, and the Shī`ah maintained these as the three times of prayer. What is clear from these two discrepant reports, however, is that the group had some similarities with the quasi-Jewish Nazarene sect (dissimilar to normative, Pauline Christianity), and also practiced ṣalāt; Islāmically the defining feature of a muslim.

We read from `Abdul al-Zanād (d.747 CE) that: “The Sabeans are from Kutha in Iraq, they believe in the prophets, fast 30 days in a year, and pray 5 times daily towards Yemen.”[3] The fact that they fasted for at least a month annually makes it clear that they are the source of the Ramaḍān fast. The Qur’ān itself makes it clear that Muḥammad was not introducing anything new. We see this unequivocal position expressed in the following ‘ayat.

“And verily, it had been revealed to you as has been revealed to those before you…” (39.65)

وَلَقَدْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ

“[This is the] Sunnah to the Messengers whom We sent before you: you will find no change in Our Sunnah (sunnatina)” (17.77)

سُنَّةَ مَنْ قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِنْ رُسُلِنَا ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا

“Allah intends to make [things] clear to you and guide you to the Sunnah that was revealed to those before you.” (4.26)

يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ سُنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

Hasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728 CE) wrote of the Sabaeans: “They read the Zabūr and pray in the direction of the qiblah.” Al-Baṣrī also wrote that the Sabean religion “resembled the Magians” by which it would seem he meant Zoroastrians’ also commenting that they “worshipped angels.”[4] This account is perhaps partially correct, in that the “direction of the qiblah” would have likely represented a general Eastern direction of prayer. Qatadah ibn Di`amah (d. 736 CE) wrote more specifically that “The Sabeans worshipped angels, read Zabūr, prayed five ritual prayers.” In addition he writes that they “pray towards the sun.”[5]

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The rest of this section and the rest of the sections in this article can be read by purchasing the eBook. Pay Pal $19.99 to Mikhah@gmail.com. The rest of the text has the following sections:

The Sabeans and the Zabūr

Between Judaism and Nazarenism?

The Zindīqin

Ossaean-Sabaeans In Arabia After the Diaspora and the Ḥanīfīyyah

Al-Majūs As It Relates to Islāmic Origins

The Relationship Between Magians and Jews and How This Helps Us Potentially Better Understand the Qur’ān

Bibliography

Notes