A Gnostic group of Acephali embraced the term Haniph and used a different Nabatean-Aramaic Christian word meaning Judas (traitor) as their own word for apostates. Hence, the word Yahud in the Quran did not originally refer to Jews. Nevertheless, these Gnostic Baptists had great respect for '''NASARA''' which for them referred to any Church in communion with Dyophysites. Gnostic Baptists considered Nasara to be closest to themselves because of Nasrani humility and voluntary monasticism but criticised their observance of it as flawed and did not take Nasara as allies.
==590 Caucasian Albania (Azerbaijan)==The Church of Caucasian Albania gains Autocephaly from Armenia. Azerbaijan was once a Parthian land and is the only country in the world where Alevism is the official state religion. Prior to that it was part of a Jewish empire called Khazaria. The time of the Autocephalous Church of Caucasian Albania immediately precedes the rise of the Khazarian Empire. Just how widespread Parthian Gnosticism was among in the Chistians there Church of Caucasian Albania is currently unknown and whether the Church of Caucasian Albania was important or not in the rise of Islam is unclear at this point but the area certainly became a refuge for Jewish Gnostics by the end of its autocephaly.
