The Sabians

Anyone ever wondered who these people were? Well here is the info straight from wikipedia.org

To read the whole article click HERE Its very interesting. They are a strange mix of Christianity and Islam coming from the line of Noah (AS) with a little mysticism thrown in.

Islamic reference

The recent debate on who the Sabians were is directly connected to how to best translate the following verses from the Qur'an out of the original Arabic. The Qur'an briefly announces the Sabians in three places and the Hadith provide further details as to who they were as people of the book:

• "Those who believe, and the Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabi'in, who believe in God and the Last Day and do good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve." Quran 2:62

• "Those who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabi'un, and the Christians, who believe in God and the Last Day and do good, there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve." Quran 5:69

• "Those who believe, the Jews, and the Sabi'in, Christians, Magians, and Polytheists,- Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment: for Allah is witness of all things." Quran 22:17

The Sabians existed before Muhammad, and are said to have read from a book called the Zabur (i.e. the Psalms). The Saabi`ah Hunafa` ΘΕΟ-ΣΕΒΕΙΑΝΟΙ came under Islamicrule about 639 AD. At that time in history they were described as Greek immigrants^{[citation needed]} but were grouped together with the Saabi'ah Mushrikuun Nabataeans.

Under sharia, the Sabians form a protected religious group (along with Christians and Jews), to be subjugated as seen in the Pact of Umar.

Many Islamic writers from the period of about 650 CE onward gave further descriptions of the Sabians. They wrote that the Sabians lived in Iraq around Sawad, Kutha and Mosuland they "wash themselves with water" and had "long hair" and "white gowns"^{[citation needed]}. They had a monotheistic faith with religious literature (the Zabur) and acknowledged the prophets. Their theology resembled that of Judaism and Christianity yet were neither, nor were they Magians.

With regard to their beliefs, Ibn al-Qayyim said: "The people differed greatly concerning them, and the imams were unsure about them because they did not have enough knowledge of their beliefs and religion." Al-Shaafa’i said: "Their case is to be examined further; if they resemble the Christians in basic matters but they differ from them in some minor issues, then the jizya is to be taken from them. But if they differ from them in basic issues of religion then their religion cannot be approved of by taking the jizya from them." And he elaborated elsewhere: "They are a kind of Christian." consistent with a comment about some of them mentioned in Bahai writings.

Ibn al-Qayyim said: "The Sabians are a large nation among whom are both blessed and doomed. They are one of the nations who are divided into believers and disbelievers, for the nations before the coming of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) were of two types, kaafir nations all of whose people were doomed and among whom were none who were blessed, such as the idol-worshippers and the Magians; and others who were divided into those who were blessed and those who were doomed, namely the Jews,Christians and Sabians."

According to Islamic scholars,^[5] they did not reject the Prophets of Islam but neither did they regard it as obligatory to follow them. According to the Hanif Sabians, whoever followed (the Prophets) may be blessed and saved, but whoever follows a path similar to that of the Prophets by virtue of one's own reasoning is also blessed and saved, even if one did not follow the Prophets in specific terms. In their view the call of the Prophets was true but there was no one specific route to salvation. They believed that the universe had a Creator and Sustainer, Who is Wise and above any resemblance to created beings, but many of them, or most of them, (i.e. the Sabians of Harran) said: we are unable to reach Him without intermediaries, so we have to approach Him through the mediation of spiritual and holy who are pure and free of any physical elements and who are above place and time, rather they are created pure and holy.

Marc Edmund Jones, founder of the modern Sabian Assembly ('The Sabian Assembly'), described the Sabians of Harran as a "Mohammedan" group, that is, acceptable in principle, together with the Jews and Christians. Sabaeans as such worshipped God's Names (El-Esmea) as angels in the stars, a practice which the modern Sabian Assembly as whole does not embrace.

Sabi`ah Hunafa` (Hanif Sabians) follow a somewhat disorganized religion^[6][7][8] following the Din of Noah^[3] as a sect who read the Zabur^[9][10] akin to Christianity.^[11] They appear to be between Judaism and Magianism^[12][13] but are in fact closer to Judaism.^[14][15][16] Sābi'ūn recognise the practice of the prophet Muhammad in going to the caves prior to his inspiration, as in accordance with the Sabi quest for Tawheed Hunafa' and, in general, many similarities with the Sabians meant Muhammad and his companions were often considered to have been Sabians.^[17][18] Most specifically this was because of the Sabian shahada “La ilaha ila Allah”.^[19][20][21]

The root-meaning of the word Sabi (deriving from their religion Seboghatullah) means Proselyte, and is identical in usage with the Greek words Sebomenoi or Theosebes and to a lesser extent Phobeomenoi.^[22]