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Previous reference: Part D: http://www.paklinks.com/gs/religion-and-scripture/575654-one-god-one-creed-part-1-noahs-descendants.html
The Sabians
Now let us see what, according to the Qur’an, was the name of the first religionists in India. Among the sects who embraced the religions professed by the earlier prophets, the Qur’an mentions a group named **‘Saabis’ (the Sabians). **The Qur’an does not tell us any more about sect. Their characteristics, however, have been investigated by Qur’anic arrived at some conclusions, which though, are not unanimous. They have recorded different opinions, and a couple of the more dominant of these are cited below:-
“The famous Muslim historian, **Ibn Nadim (935-955 A.D.) **discusses the Sabians at great length in his Al Fihrast. He says, inter alia: “The Sabians claim that they are the followers of Nooh and Sheth, prophets preceding Prophet Ibrahim. They have with them a Scripture which eminent Muslim scholar, notes in his work, Al Fisalu fil Milali Wanni’hal: “The Sabian religion is the most ancient in the world”. In the opinion of a good many Quranic commentators like Wahab ibn Munabba, Abdur Rahman ibn Said, Fakhrudden al Raazi and Ibn Katheer, the Sabians were devotees of one God.
In the light of these observations, we may consider the Sabians as the disciples of Prophet Noah. The centers of the adherents of this religion included **Har-an **in West Asia. It is the birth place of the eminent scholar Ibn Taimiyya. During his time (1263-1328 A.D.), may ancient shrines of the Sabians existed in Har-an and Damascus as their memorials. But since by then the populations had all been converted to over for use by Muslims as Mosques, and the Mosques had two qiblas (facing directions) each. One was towards the north pole while the other faced the Ka’aba. The reason behind these twin qiblas was that the Sabians, as required of them by their religion, constructed shrines facing north; later, they embraced Islam, they used the same places of worship for Islamic prayers as well, building another qibla facing the Ka’aba’ Thus did two qiblas find place in each of these shrines.
A small group of Sabians live in Iraq, and were known by the name ‘Mandaeans’. Many of them turned Christian in response to Christian missionary work. These new converts then unveiled the secret in accordance with their tradition; detailed information regarding these people is given in an earlier edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. A few relevant facts may be cited here: The Sabians used to offer their ritual prayers three time a day facing the north pole. They would take a bath before each prayer, and observed a great number of fasts. During the days of fast, men and women wore white dress. They abstained from killing animals and from eating meat. It is interesting to note that they believed that Abraham, who was born in Ur after Noah, was but an impostor. Of all Israeli prophets they accept John (Yahya)…And so on and so forth. From this short account we can gather the importance the Sabians attach to the practice of bathing. With them it was a religions rite.
Now let us see what we have learnt from the remains of the Indus Valley people. There every house had a well and a bathroom with drains to clear dirty water. Also discovered there were raised tank for public bath (the Great Bath) with many bathrooms all around it. K.V. Gopala Menon writes in his World History:
“The Mohenjo-Daro relics spread over approximately a square mile. The even-sized streets there, the houses, the inside bathrooms and the drains going under the streets have a wonderfully modern look…Every house has inside it a courtyard, around which are the kitchen, storeroom, bathroom and so on. Wells are round in all houses… Yet, the most interesting of all is the tank built up there. Around this tank is yard surrounded on the four sides by verandahs and at the back of these are bathrooms; arrangements for a steam bath also found in some bathrooms.
Archaeologists report that such raised thanks have been discovered near Har-ran as well. We have already noted that Har-ran was an ancient centre of the Sabians. It is recorded in A Journey Through the Yemen (p.279) that three large artificial tanks were discovered in certain parts of Yemen adjoining the trade route to Har-ran.
Artificial tanks are built today in many places adjacent to mosques. Using such a tank called hawd Muslim performs wudu (ablution) before prayers. The hawd is for performing this ablution. Similarly the Sabians were required to take a bath before prayers. It must have been for this purpose that the Indus valley tanks were constructed. Such artificial ponds were found in Harappa as in Mohenjo-Daro.
It may therefore be assumed that the Indus people followed the Sabian religion. The opinion of Muslim scholars that the Sabians were disciples of Noah cannot be summarily ruled out. In short, the hands that founded this progressive civilization in the Indus Valley belonged to the Sumerians, the offspring of Noah. They were monotheists, and not idolaters. It must have been from the same stock that the Dravidian sect originated.
References:
1- Arsul Qur’an, Vol-2 P-195
2- Ibid, Vol-2 P-196
3- Cited on P-104 Vol-1 of Tafsir by Ibn Kathir, while interpreting verse 62, Chapter 2 of the Qur’an. The Qur’anic verse means: “O those who believe and are Jews, Christian and Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does right - surely have their rewards with their Lord, and no fear shall overcome them, nor shall they grieve.” This shows that the Sabians, like the other three peoples, were disciples of a prophet.
4- Ar-raddu’alal Mantiqiyyeen by the famous scholar Ahmed Ibn Taimiyaa (1263-1328 A.D.) is quoted in Arsul Qur’an Vol-2 P-196 and says: "Har-an was a particular centre of these Sabians…At the time of advent of Islam, those Sabians and philosopher (already resident in Har-ran) remained in the Islamic state to the end.
It was those Sabians that worked as doctors and teachers in Baghdad etc. Many of them had not accepted Islam at theat time.
When Faaraabi (the famous Muslim philisopher) came to Har-ran, he learnt philosophy from them…It (the Sabian religion) was the religion of the people of Damascus etc. before Christianity.
They said their prayers facing the north pole. Even today a great many temples are found in Damascus which have one qibla (facing direction) towards the north pole. Under the Damascus Juma’ Masjid is a great temple which also has its qibla facing north. This had once been owned by the Sabians.
Ibn Taimiyaa goe son to say that among the Sabians there were two groups, both mentioned by the Qur’an, the one being monotheistic who accpted Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and the other group who did not.
5- Description are exerpted from Sayyid Sulaiman Nadwi’s summarisation in Arsul Qur’an, Vol-2 PP-198-201, of Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th Edn.), Vol-17, P-555.
6- World History by K.V. Gopala Menon (a Mathrubhumi Publication) Vol-1, P-66 (1954).
7- Arsul Qur’an Vol-1, P 47.