In The Name of Allah,
the Beneficent and the Most Merciful
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Volume 1: Surah Baqarah, Verse 62
Surely
those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the
Sabaeans, whoever believes in Allāh and the Last Day and does good, they
shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them,
nor shall they grieve (62).
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COMMENTARY
The verse first mentions the
believers, and then says, "whoever believes in Allāh . . ." The
context shows that the latter phrase refers to the real belief, the true
imān, and that the word, "those who believe", (mentioned at first)
refers to those who call themselves believers. The verse says that Allāh
gives no importance to names, like the believers, the Jews, the
Christians or the Sabaeans. One cannot get a reward from Allāh, nor can he
be saved from punishment, merely by giving oneself good titles, as they,
for example, claim that: no one will enter the Garden except he who was
a Jew or a Christian (2:111). The only criterion, the only standard,
of honour and happiness is the real belief in Allāh and the Day of
Resurrection, accompanied by good deeds. It should be noted that Allāh did
not say, ‘whoever of them believes'; otherwise it would have accorded
some recognition to these titles, and would have implied that there was,
after all, some benefit in acquiring these names.
This theme has been repeatedly
expounded in the Qur’ān. The honour and felicity depend entirely on true
and sincere servitude; no name, no adjective, can do any good unless it is
backed by correct belief and good deeds. This rule is applicable to all
human beings, right from the prophets to the lowest rank. Look how Allāh
praises His prophets with all beautiful and excellent attributes, and
then says: and if they had set up others (with Him) certainly
what they did would have become ineffectual for them (6:88).
Also, He describes the high status and great prestige of the Holy
Prophet and his companions, and then ends it with these words: Allāh
has promised those among them who believe and do good, forgiveness and a
great reward (48:29). Ponder on the significance of the phrase "among
them".
Then we find that Allāh had given a
man some of His signs but he went astray: and if We had pleased, We
would certainly have exalted him thereby, but he clung to the earth and
followed his low desire . . . (7 :176) .
There are many verses clearly
showing that the honour and respect with Allāh depends on reality, not on
appearance.
TRADITIONS
Salmān al-Fārisi said: "I asked the
Prophet (s.a.w.a.) about the people of that religion which I followed
(prior to Islam), and I described their (way of) prayer and worship. Then
it was revealed: Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews. . .
" (ad-Durru 'l-manthūr)
The author says: Various other traditions with
different chains of narrators, say that this verse was revealed about the
people of Salman.
Ibn Faddal said: "I asked ar-Rida
(a.s.) why "an-Nasārā" (= the Christians) were given that name. He
said: 'Because they were from a village called an-Nāsirah (= Nazarath) in
Syria. Maryam and `Isa
settled there after they returned from Egypt.' " (Ma`āni
'1-akhbār)
The author says: We shall comment on this
tradition when writing on the stories of `Isa (a.s.) in Chapter 3
(The House of `Imrān) , God willing.
The same tradition says that
"al-Yahūd" (= the Jews) got this name because they are descended
from Yahūda, son of Ya'qūb. (ibid.)
The Imām said: "The Sabaeans are a
people, neither Zoroastrian nor Jews, neither Christians nor Muslims;
they worship the stars and planets. (at-Tafsir,
al-Qummi)
The author says: It is idol-worship of a special
type; they worshipped only the idols of the stars, while others worshipped
whatever idol caught their fancy.
A HISTORICAL DISCUSSION
Abū Rayhān at-Bīrūnī writes in his
book al- ‘āthāru 'l-bāqiyah:
"The earliest known among them
(i.e., the claimants of prophethood was Yudhasaf. He appeared in India at the end of the first year of the
reign of Tahmurth; and he brought the Persian script. He called to the
Sabaean religion, and a great many people followed him. The Bishdadian
kings and some of the Kayanis who resided in Balkh held the sun, the moon,
the stars and the planets together with other elements in high esteem and
believed that these luminaries were very sacred. It continued until
Zoroaster appeared at the end of the thirtieth year of Peshtasav's
reign. The remnants of those Sabaeans are now in Harrān, from which they
have got their new name, Harrāniyyah. Also it is said that this
nomenclature refers to Harān, son of Tārukh (Terah) and brother of Ibrāhīm
(a.s.), as he allegedly was one of their religious leaders and its
staunchest follower.
"Ibn Sancala, the Christian, has
written a book against Sabaeans. In that book he has attributed many
ridiculous things to this Harān. For example, he describes the
Sabaeans' belief about Ibrāhīm (a.s.) in these words: “Ibrāhīm (a.s.) was
removed from their community because a white spot had appeared on his
foreskin, and the Sabaeans believed that a person having a white spot was
unclean, and avoided mixing with such person. To remove that defect,
Ibrāhīm cut his. foreskin, i.e. circumcised himself. Then he entered one
of the temples; and lo! an idol called out to him: "O Ibrāhīm! you went
away from us with one defect and came back with two; get out and do not
ever come back to us." Ibrāhīm was enraged; he smashed the idols; and went
out. After some time, he felt remorse for what he had done, and decided to
sacrifice his son on the altar of Jupiter, as it was their custom to kill
their children to please the deities. When Jupiter was convinced of the
sincerity of his repentance, it sent a lamb to him to slaughter in place
of his son.”
" ‘Abdu '1-Masīh ibn Ishāq al-Kindī
wrote a book in reply of a book by ‘Abdullah ibn Ismā'īl al-Hāshimī. In
that book `Abdu '1-Masīh writes about the Sabaeans:
"’It is generally believed that they
indulge in human sacrifice, although nowadays they cannot do so openly.
But so far as our own information goes, they are monotheists who believe
that God is free from every defect and evil, they describe God in
negative, not positive, terms; for example, they say: Allāh cannot be
defined or seen, He is not unjust or oppressive. According to them, the
beautiful divine names may be used for God, but only in an allegorical
sense, because no divine attribute can truly describe the reality. They
believe that the management of all affairs is done and controlled by the
sky and the heavenly bodies; the sky and those bodies are living things
having the characteristics of speech, hearing and sight. They revere the
light and the luminaries. One of their legacies is the dome above the
niche in the Umayyid mosque of Damascus; it was their prayer house,
and at that time even the Greeks and the Romans followed the same
religion. Then it came under Jewish control and they turned it into a
synagogue. Later, the Christians took it over and converted it into a
church. Then came the Muslims, and they changed it into a mosque. The
Sabaeans had their numerous places of worships, and their idols were
named after various names of the sun, and shaped with fixed patterns, as
has been described by Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi in his book, The Houses of
Worship. For example, there was the temple of Ba'lbak which
housed the idol of the sun; of Qirān, which was related to the moon and
built in the moon's shape, like a shawl worn over head and shoulders. And
there is a village nearby, Salamsīn by name; it is a corruption of its
original name, (Sanam Sīn = the idol of the moon). Likewise,
another village is called Tara'ūz, that is, the gate of venus. They do
also claim that the Ka'bah and its idols belonged to them, and that
the Meccan idol-worshippers were of the Sabaean religion. According to
them the idols, Lat and `Uzza, represented Saturn and Venus. They
have many prophets in their hierarchy, most of them being the Greek
philosophers, for example, Hermes of Egypt, Agadhimun, Walles,
Pythagoras and Babaswar (maternal grandfather of Plato) and many others
like them. Some of them do not eat fish - lest it be spume; nor poultry,
because it is always hot. Also, they do not use garlic, because it creates
headache and burns the blood and semen (which is the source of continuity
of the human race); and they avoid beans, because it dulls the
intelligence and also because it had first sprouted in a human skull. They
observe three compulsory prayers: at sunrise (eight rak `at) ; at
noon (five rak`at) ; and at the third hour of the night.
"’They prostrate three times in each
rak`ah. Also, they observe two optional prayers - at the second and ninth
hours of the day.
" `They pray with taharah and
wudu '; they take bath after janābah; but they do not circumcise
their children because they have not been told to do so. Most of their
laws concerning marital and penal codes are like the sharī `ah of
Islam; while the rules about touching a dead body are similar to Torah's.
They offer sacrifices to the stars, their idols and the temples; the
sacrificial animals are killed by the priests and witch-doctors, who read
in it the future of the man who offers the sacrifice and answer to his
questions.
" 'Hermes is sometimes called ldris,
who is mentioned in Torah as Akhnukh. Some of them say that Yudhasaf was
Hermes.
" ‘Some others have said that the
present-day Varraniyyah are not the real Sabaeans; rather these are
mentioned in the books as heathens and idolaters. The Sabaeans were those
Israelites who stayed behind at Babylon when their majority returned
to Jeruselem in the reigns of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. They were favorably
disposed to Zoroastrian beliefs, as well as to the religion of
Nebuchadnezzar. What resulted from this exercise was a mixture of Judaism
and Zoroastrianism - like the Samaritans of Syria. Most of them are found
in Wasit and the rural areas of Iraq around Ja'far and Jāmidah; they trace
their genealogy to Enosh, son of Seth. They criticize and oppose the
Harraniyyah and their religion. With exception of a few things, there is
no similarity between the two religions: The Sabaeans face towards the
North Pole in their prayers, while the Harraniyyah face towards the
South Pole.
" ‘Some people of the book have said
that Methuselah had a son (other than Lamech), named Sābī, whom the
Sabaeans have descended from. The people, before the sharī`ah
spread and before Yudhasaf appeared on the scene, followed Samanian
beliefs; they lived in the eastern part of the world and worshipped idols.
Their remnants are found in India, China and Taghazghaz, and the
people of Khurasan call them Shamnan. Their relics, places of worship and
idols are seen in eastern Khurasan adjoining India. They believe in
eternity of the universe and transmigration of soul. According to them,
the sky is falling down in an endless vacuum, and that is why it is moving
round and round.’
"According to some writers, a group
of them rejects the theory of eternity of the universe and says that it
came into being one million year ago."
The author says: All the above description has been
taken from the book of al-Biruni. The opinion, attributed to some writers,
that Sabaeans' religion was a mixture of Judaism and Zoroastrianism
flavored with some elements of Harraniyyah's beliefs, seems better suited
in this context; after all, the verse obviously enumerates the groups
which followed a divinely inspired religion.
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