The Sabians
Nation of the Quran
The Sabiansالصابئون
The Quran gives no dateHarran (one opinion)
The Quran names the Sabians three times beside the Jews and Christians (2:62, 5:69, 22:17). It promises that whoever of these believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward. It gives no details of their beliefs.
What does the Quran say?
Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - 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.
Quran 2:62
How did they end?
Not ended: a people who carry the name survive today as the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran.
What do historians say?
Who they were is debated: commentators suggested star-worshippers or followers of an old monotheism. Many modern scholars link them to the Mandaeans of the southern Iraqi marshes, who honour Yahya; the star-worshippers of Harran took the name under the Abbasids.
The lesson
Allah judges people by their faith and deeds, not by their labels.
Everyone and everything in the timeline
People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.
Nations of the Quran
- People of Nuh
- Ad
- Thamud
- People of Lut
- Madyan
- Companions of the Thicket
- Companions of the Rass
- People of Tubba
- Saba (Sheba)
- Bani Israil
- People of Firaun
- People of Yunus
- The city of the Sleepers
- Companions of the Ditch
- Companions of the Elephant
- People of the Sabbath
- Yajuj and Majuj
- Quraysh
- Thaqif
- Hawazin
- Aws and Khazraj (the Ansar)
- The Romans (Rum)
- The Persians
- People of Ibrahim
- Jurhum
- People of Ilyas
- People of the Town (Ya-Sin)
- The Sabians
- The Magians (Majus)