Chwolson’s style of arguing seems easy, and it can be synthesized as follows: since Muhammad could not include a pagan community in the ''People of the Book'', to which Jews and Christians surely belonged, the Harranians cannot but lie when professing themselves ''Sabians'' (and in this sense the famous story of the meeting/dispute between Caliph al-Ma’mùn and the Harranians contained in al- Nadìm’s ''Fihrist ''chapter X plays a decisive role, as the perfect thing for this occasion <ref>IBN AL-NADIM, ''Kitàb al-Fihrist'', ed. G. FLUGEL, Leipzig 1872; ET by B. DODGE, ''The Fihrist of al-Nadìm'', New York-London 1970, pp.751-3. A similar version of the facts, even if much shorter than that, is given by HAMZA ISFAHANI, ''Ta’rìkh sinì mulùk al-ard wa l-anbiyà’'', LT by I..M.E. GOTTWALDT, Petropoli-Lipsiae, 1848, p.3; and by AL-KHWARIZMI, ''Mafàtih al-‘ulùm'', ed. G. Van VLOTEN, Lugd. Bat. 1895, p.36 (= CHWOLSON, op. cit., II, p.504 and p.506). Though not changing the information’s bulk, it seems us quite interesting the Greek word (= ''neighbourhood'', ''proximity'') quoted in brackets by the English translator of AL-BIRUNI, ''The Chronology of Ancient Nations'', ed. and ET by E. SACHAU, London 1879, p.314 f.: ''The same name is also applied to the Harrànians … although they themselves did not adopt this name before A.H. 228 under Abbasid rule, solely for the purpose of being reckoned among those from whom the duties of ''Dhimma ''(''metoikìa'') are accepted and towards whom the laws of ''Dhimma ''were observed. Before that time they were called heathens, idolaters, and Harrànians''. For the connection ''pàroikos ''(= ''mètoikos'') – ''ger ''- proselyte, see SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the JewishPeople'', III, 1, p.170 n.78 (with abundant items from ''Talmud ''and ''Mishnah''’s writings): ''The word [''ger''] is originally equivalent to ''pàroikos'', ''advena'', but later a convert to Judaism – ''nomìmois proselelytòs toìsIoudaikoìs'', ''Ant. ''xviii, 3, 5 (82)''.</ref>; on the other hand, if the Harranian people are not the ''Sabi’ùn ''mentioned in ''Suras'' II, V and XXII laconic verses, there is no doubt that the Prophet had somebody else in mind: but who are the members of this unknown monotheistic community? The phonetic likeness ''Subbi''-''Sàbi’ùn ''provides Chwolson with the answer he wishes <ref>CHWOLSON, ''Die Ssabier'', I , chap. 5 (''Ueber die babylonischen Ssabier im Coràn oder die Mendaiten''), pp.100-38. The Russian orientalist accepts an idea previously proposed by J.D. MICHAELIS, ''Orientalischen Bibliotek'', Vol. 13, Frankfurt 1778, p.30 and Vol. 18, 1782, p.52, p.54, and by M. NORBERG, ''De Religione et Lingua Sabaeorum Commentatio'', Comment. Soc. Reg. Societ. Gott''., ''Vol. III, 1781 (cf. CHWOLSON, op. cit., I, p.66 ff.).</ref>.

But this solution is only apparently easy: it requires both a falsehood on the part of the Harranians who wanted to defend at any cost their ancient religious traditions, and an interested misunderstanding by the Islamic authorities who were welldisposed to turn a blind eye on a pagan community ''à outrance ''in exchange for money (the well-known ''leit-motiv ''of the Near-Eastern peoples’ innate corruption); moreover, it lets a very small religious group grow up in Muhammad’s mind until it becomes a Universal Religion like Christianity and Judaism, as it requires a rather free use of the rules of Etymology (and it is not surprising that very soon the latter point in Chwolson’s thesis was bitterly criticized). This is why we say that Chwolson fails not only in working out the simplest theory, but just a simple one, unless one uses the word as a fable, rather than as something worthy to the word Science. It goes without saying that if all the pieces of evidence in the new pattern which we are going to provide were demonstrated <ref>So for example J. PEDERSEN, “The Sabians”, in T.W. ARNOLD - R.A. NICHOLSON eds., ''‘Ajabnàma.A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to E.G. Browne'', Cambridge 1922, p.387. Further criticisms already by T. NOLDEKE, Review to ''Thesaurus sive Liber Magnus vulgo Liber Adami appelllatus OpusMandaeorum ''…, ed. H: PETERSMANN, ''Gottingische gelehrte Anzeigen'', I, Leipzig 1869, pp.481-501; W. BRANDT, ''[[Elchasai]], ein Religionstifter und sein Werk '', Giessen 1912 p.144 ff.</ref>beyond any doubt, we would not have spent so many words arguing and criticizing a book written a hundred an fifty years ago, even if – as we have already said – its theoretical issues are those which are to be found in most encyclopaedias and dictionaries. But we believe that all means are valid to show how much the opening of an alternative horizon on the Sabian problem is needed: it will lead the scholars’ efforts in a direction that might have been totally ignored, without the material collected here. In other words, we hope that, with the help of our suggestions, new evidence will come to light, strengthening our arguments’ validity.

==The Etymological Model==

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