==Premise==

This is one of the main reasons why we have decided to take up the subject again; the second, and more important one, is that we have gathered new and relevant pieces of information in support of our theory during recent last years, a circumstance that allows us not only to add further details to the picture already drawn in our previous study, but also to underline the extent to which the facts collected relate to one another with more accuracy and to point out better the weight of each one of them. Finally, we have paid more attention to the methodological aspects of the research, since we believe that the main cause of the unsuccessful results of the different authors who have been concerned with the Sabian ''enigma'' depends on methodological errors; in other words, we will show that there was a systematic fault in the scientific means of approaching the matter, especially concerning the etymological solutions to the problem of the meaning of the term ''Sabian'', as well as how the historical value of textual evidence has been taken into account.

Al-Bìrùnì’s first-quoted text also turns the reader’s thought to the Jewish context, even if the Persian writer seems to believe that the Jewish presence along the Euphrates and Tigris valley is connected to a religious reality that will come along after several centuries, namely the migration from Palestine into Southern Mesopotamia of some Hemerobaptist sects as Elkesaits and Mandaeans <ref>The migration of these sects from Palestine has been often put in doubt: see for example E. PETERSON, “Urchristentum und Mandaismus (Nachtrag)”, ''ZNW ''27 (1928), pp.91-98. We wish to recall here that CHWOLSON’s identification (cf. ''Die Ssabier''’s Index, s.vs.) of the religious group called by al- NADIM, ''Fihrist'', ET p.811, the ''[[Mughtasila]]''(“Those who wash themselves”), or ''[[Sàbat al-batà’ih]]'', with the [[Elkesaites]] and the Mandaeans is valid only for the former group, as the discovery of the so-called ''Mani-Codex ''has demonstrated once for all: ''Der Kolner Mani-Kodex … ''kritische Edition … herausgegeben und ubersetz von Ludwig LOENEN und Cornelia ROMER, ''Papyrologica coloniensia ''14, Opladen 1988. </ref>. But if one interprets the information by means of al-Bìrùnì’s second excerpt, one sees rather the real influence that Zoroastrianism had on Hebraic religion, because it was precisely during the ''Babylonian captivity'' that some typical features of Hebraism such as the juxtaposition Good-Evil and God-Satan or concepts such as the Last Judgement and the Resurrection of the Dead came into being <ref>On the Jews in Babylonia, also during the Persian period, see the up-to-date bibliography in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, § 31 ns.11 ff. </ref>. To sum up, we have supposed that al-Bìrùnì’s first text was only to be connected with such a historical phenomenon; on the other hand, it had relations with the historical rising of Jewish Proselytism, and reminded for example a well-known textual passage by Josephus mentioning the transfer of the Jews from Babylon to Asia Minor by Antiochus III at the end of the III century B.C.E. <ref>Antiochus settled two thousand Jewish families in Lydia and Phrygia: granting them the right to follow their own laws and other privileges. JOSEPHUS, ''Ant. Jud''., 12, 149-50, quotes the relevant passages of the letter of the king to his governor Zeuxix: for the authenticity of this document, see the discussion in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.17 n.33; TREBILCO, ''Jewish Communities'', p. 5 ff. </ref>: it was from this original bulk that many well-organized Jewish communities spread throughout Asia Minor and elsewhere, exerting a strong spiritual attraction on the surrounding Gentile milieu, as archaeological findings have proved with certainty. In Afrodisia <ref>We limit ourselves to quote again TREBILBO’s book, where large space is reserved to the most important Jewish communities in Asia Minor (Sardi, Priene, Acmonia, Apamea), with exaustive bibliography. </ref>, in particular, Gentiles’ involvement in the local synagogue appears to have been really massive, since more than half of the people attending the cult-place were Gentiles whose status range across the entire social spectrum, from the highest civic positions and liberal professions to craftsmen and simple workers <ref>See REYNOLD-TANNEMBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers'', pp.116-23, for a detailed analysis of “the trade designations” in Aphrodisia’s inscription. </ref>: it is worth noting, once again, that such people were not fullconverts, but plain ''theosebeìs'', God-Fearers, whereas only three individuals are recorded in the engraved inscription mentioning the donors’ names of the beneficent institution which they contribute to as ''proselytoi ''<ref>REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit.: for the mention of ''prosèlytos ''see p.5, face A, ll.13, 17, 22 (“The important fact that 3 persons are explicitly called proselytes … in a period in which Jewish proselytism was forbidden by imperial decree, is a strong testimony of the powerful influence of the Jewish community of Aphrodisia”: P. W. Van der HORST, ''Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity'', p.171 [from the study “Jews and Christians in Aphrodisia in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor” contained in the same volume, pp.166-81, and firstly published in ''NedTTs ''43 (1989) pp.106-21]): Commentary pp.43-48, where also the problem of the imperial legislation is treated. </ref>, namely people legally converted to Judaism <ref>Cf. the previous note, and above p.12 and ns. 90-92. </ref>. Probably the Roman laws prohibiting circumcision and conversion to Judaism since Hadrian’s times played a significant role in such a meagre number of persons claiming explicitly that ''passing of the boundary'' which Juvenal so greatly feared and bitterly mocked: here, in fact, most of the no-Jews prefer to remain in the more neutral religious position of Juvenal’s ''pater metuens sabbata'', worshipping ''nubes et caeli numen ''and abstaining from ''carne suillam ''rather than that of the son who decides to make the last step and thus ''mox et praeputia ponit ''without any reserve <ref>Cf. above p.14 and n.113. </ref>.

For the cultic features of the Western ''metuentes'', what we have observed in Juvenal’s satyrical verses <ref>Above in the text and n. 209.</ref>is perhaps enough; in reference to God-Fearers’ practices in ''Acts ''one must rather stress the crucial decision of Jerusalem’s Council (51 C.E.) <ref>For “The Apostolic Council of Jerusalem”, see K. LAKE’s ''Note XVI'', in ''BC'', I, 5, pp.195-212.</ref>, where the duties of such Gentile Converts to Christianity were fixed once and for all: ''Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood'' <ref>''Acts'', xv, 19-20. </ref>. What is that? It is just the moral-religious code which, according to rabbinical tradition, every man is obliged to follow, and in particular the stranger, the ''resident alien'' (''[[gertoshàb]] '', ''ger ash-sha’ar'') in the State of Israel <ref>For the equivalence ''ger(ei) [[toshàb]] – ger(ei) ash-sha’ar – ben(ei) Noah, ''cf. SCHURER-VERMESMILLAR- GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.171; STRACK-BILLERBECK, ''Komm. z.NT'', II, p.722 f.; MOORE, ''Judaism'', I, p.341; REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.48 f. and 58 f. </ref>: the so-called ''Noachite Laws'' <ref>''Talmud'': ‘''Aboda Zara'', (8, 4) 64b; ''Sanhedrin'', 56a; ''Ger. ''3, 1; cf. the arts. “Laws (Noachian)”, ''JE ''VII, pp.648-50 and “Noachite Laws”, ''EJ ''XII, cols. 1190-1; see also J. BONSIRVEN, ''Le Judaisme Palestinien auTemps de Jesus-Christ'', I, Paris 1934, p.251; KLAUSNER, ''Von Jesus zu Paulus'', p.345. We reproduce the list given by REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.59, and their relative remarks: “What were the seven commandments? On the one hand, we find commandments against 1) idolatry; 2) incest; 3) murder; 4) profanation of the name of God; 5) robbery; 6) a positive commandment on the duty to form instruments of justice; 7) a ban of eating parts cut out of living animals. On the other hand we are told that the tanna’itic school of Manasseh omitted from the Noachite commandments those on the courts and on blasphemy (nos. 6 and 4 above), and substituted prohibitions of emasculation and ‘forbidden mixture’ (of plants, in ploughing, etc.)”.</ref>. There exist various versions of such prescriptions <ref>Cf. for example ''The Book of Jubilees'', 7, 20 ff., which hands down a quite different list. The set of prescriptions contained in ''Acts'', xv, 19-20 (and repeated in the next passage 28-9), however, is specially worth of attention, since it “is the only one that bears any systematic relationship to the set of religious laws which the Pentateuch makes obligatory upon resident aliens” (“Noachite Laws”, col.1190); cf. also ''Ps.Clementines'', ''PG ''II, col.221. </ref>, but it is interesting to notice now that after this historical decision Christians Converts coming from Gentilism, namely uncircumcised Christians (''Ecclesia ex Gentibus'') <ref>“The Apostolic decree, a rule agreed at the Apostolic Council where Paul, Peter and others met to discuss the extent to which the gentile converts to Christianity had to follow Jewish Law, is currently agreed by many to be a kind of Christian God-fearers’ rule” (REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.61, with bibliographical references at n.261); cf. SIMON, ''Verus Israel'', p.392: “Le décret apostolique, fixant comme condition à l’admission des Gentils la pratique des precepts dits noachiques, se place dans la mème ligne de la propagande juive”. </ref>, God-Fearers, at least the ''sebòmenoi/phoboùmenoi ''(''tòn theòn'')/''Hellenes ''contacted by Paul and other apostles, ''Hunafà’'', at least the ''Hanìf ''Zayd whose devotional practices are the only ones to be explicitly stated in the ''Sìra ''<ref>A fundamental correspondence between these different cathegories of people are also suggested by the English translator of the ''Sìrah'', A. GUILLAUME who, when commenting ibn Ishàq’s portrait of Zayd, pointed out that “the influence of the Jewish formula, taken over by early Christianity, is clear” (''The Life ofMuhammad'', p.99 n.2). Cf. however above, p.21 f. and ns. 188-192. </ref>, Sabians, whom many traditions consider as Noah’s heirs and consequently followers of the ''Noachite Laws'' <ref>See the authors and the works quoted by CHWOLSON, ''Die Ssabier'', II, p.563 (cf. I, p.271 and n.1), and p.592 f. (cf. GREEN, ''The City of the Moon-God'', p.13); add Khalìl ibn Ahmad who, according to al- Qurtubì, ibn Kathìr and ibn Hayyàn, states that “the Sabians believe that they belong to the religion of the prophet Noah” (quoted by GUNDUZ, ''The Knowledge of Life'', p.25).</ref>, and finally Harranians, whose capital city is said to have been founded by Noah or by some of his relatives (a son or a nephew) after the Flood <ref>For textual references to ibn al-Kalbì, Yàqùt and Bar Hebraeus, see again CHWOLSON, op. cit., II, p.553 and p.549 f. (cf. I, p.311), who, in relation to Bar Hebraeus, mentions Sem’s son Arpakshad, whereas in BUDGE’s translation of the ''Chronicon ''(cit. above n.159), p.7, one finds out the name of Noah’s nephew Shàlàh. AL-TABARI, on the other hand, in his ''History ''claims that ''Sàbì ''is another name of Lamech, the father of Noah (''Ta’rìkh al rasùl wa al-mulùk'', ed. M.J. De GOEJE, repr. Leiden 1964, I, p.178 [ET ''TheHistory of al-Tabarì'', New York 1987]: the great poligraph accepts this derivation of the name ''Sàbi’ùn ''from an eponymous hero together with the other one proposed by him in his ''Tafsìr'': see below p.30 and n.271); cf. AL-ASH’ARI, ''Tashìl al-sabìl'', Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 59 (quoted by CHWOLSON, II, p.563, cf. I, p.271). For the opinion that the Sabians claim to be followers of the religion of Noah, see AL-TUSI, ''al-Tibiyàn fì tafsìral-Qur’àn'', I, ed. Najaf 1376 H./1956, p.282 (Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 62); KASHANI, ''Minhaj al-sàdiqìn fì ilzàmal-mukhàlifìn'', III, ed. Teheran 1346 H.S./1927, p.283 (Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 62): cf. Mc AULIFFE, “Exegetical Identification of the Sàbi’ùn”, p.97 and p.100; add the modern Muslim lexicographers quoted by CHWOLSON, II, p.592 f. , and the authors cited in the previous note. </ref>, appear to share to some extent the same ethicalreligious duties.

A passage from Gregory of Nyssa’s ''Contra Eunomium ''is another classical source about ''Hypsistiani'': that is the name, indeed very similar to the previous one recorded by the other Gregory, by which he denotes the members of this Monotheistic group, but without adding any relevant information except for the acknowledgement of attributes such as ''the highest'' and ''Pantokrator ''given to God by them and, at the same time, their rejection of a Christian attribute such as ''Father'' in reference to God <ref>GREGORIUS OF NYSSA, ''Eun.'', 2 (''PG ''45, 481D – 484A). For funerary epitaphs of two possible Hypsistarians in Phrygia, see MITCHELL, ''Anatolia'', p.50; R.L. FOX, ''Pagans and Christians'', Viking 1986, p.404; LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', p.101f. and n.107. </ref>.

One changes geographical area with Cyril of Alexandria, whose information is worthy of attention mostly because of the name of the group that he mentions, for it recurs again under the form of ''Theosebeìs'', which we have already encountered. They live in Phoenicia and Palestina, worship ''Hypsistos Theòs ''but also other deities such as the Sun and the Moon, Earth and Heaven, and the brightest stars: just as was the case for Gregory of Nazianzus’ ''Hypsistarii'', also Cyril claims that ''Theosebeìs''’ beliefs and ritual customs are neither Jewish or Christian, but are a sort of mixture of both <ref>CYRILLUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ''De Ador. in Sp. et Ver.'', 3, 92 (''PG ''68, 281 BC). </ref>.

Regarding the Sabians’ beliefs and rites, the following evidence comes out from these sources:

:1) They believe in only One God <ref>Wahb ibn Munabbìh (d. 110-14 H./ 728-32 C.E.), according to IBN QATAYBAH, Al-ma’àrìf, ed. Cairo 1934, p.202; IBN KATHIR, Tafsìr, ed. Cairo 1376 H./1956, I, p.104; and to ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd (d. 182 H./798 C.E.), cf. AL-TABARI, Tafsìr, I, p.319; IBN KATHIR, op. cit., I, p.104; ABU AL-FARAJ, Tafsìr, ed. Beirut 1384 H./1964, I, p.92; IBN HAYYAN, Tafsìr, ed. Riyàd n.d., I, p.239. It is worth noting that this person is one of the sources of al-Tabarì (who mentions him simply as “al-Zayd”), to whom is also due the relevant information that the Sabians lived in Jazìrat al-Mawsil (i.e. the region around Mosul in Northern Mesopotamia), as MARGOLIOUTH, art. “Harrànians”, p.519, had stressed for demonstrating that just at this early date – namely almost fifty years before the date proposed by the Fihrist’s famous tale - the Harranians were called “Sabians”: the scholar claimed in fact that “the region around Mosul” is an acceptable geographical approximation for Harràn; cf. GREEN, The City of the Moon-God, p.106 (who dates back Zayd’s death to 770, so that the link between Harràn and the Sabians can be established at least 75 years before al-Ma’mùn’s visit). Indeed, one should perhaps keep in mind that “in the time of the emperor Julian (361-3) the anchorite movement was widely extended and the region of Tùr ‘Abdìn [the large mountainous plateau running just South of Harràn in the direction of Mosul] had already acquired that name which means ‘Mountain of the Servants of God’, because of the number of its ascetics and cenobitic groupings” (SPENCER-TRIMINGHAM, op. cit., p.126).</ref>;

:3) They state they are followers of the prophet Noah <ref>Khalìl ibn ‘Ahmad (d. 170 H./786-7), according to AL-QURTUBI, ''Al-jamì’ al-‘ahkàm al-Qur’àn'', ed. Cairo 1387 H./1967, I, p.434; IBN KATHIR, loc. cit.; IBN HAYYAN, loc. cit.; cf. CHWOLSON, ''DieSsabier'', I, p.188. </ref>;

:9) They fast 30 days a year <ref>Abù al-Zanàd, according to IBN KATHIR, loc. cit. It is convenient to recall here – in relation to points 5, 7, 8 and 9 - the quite strange picture of the Sabianism drawn by IBN HAZM, op. cit. (above n.188), p. 34 ff., according to whom it would have had many rites and practices in common with Islàm. According to our sources of information about it (and in particular AL-NADÌM and AL-BÌRÙNÌ’s cultic ''Calendars''), however, we must acknowledge that the religion of the Harrànians fits well with all these elements, excepting the reading of the ''Psalms'': the question of having no cult, scripture or prophet(s), on the other hand, deserves a more detailed analysis which we are going to perform in the next pages. </ref>.

:8) They have 5 daily ritual prayers <ref>Abù al-Zanàd, according to IBN KATHIR, loc. cit.; Ziyàd ibn Abìhi, according to IBN KATHIR, loc. cit.; Qatàdah, according to the same sources quoted in relation to him above n.255. </ref>;

It is clear that there are some contradictions among these statements; it is evident, in other words, that some of these scholars have in mind a certain religious community, a precise one, probably even the Mandaeans or another Baptismal sect, since some of them lived – as they still do nowadays – in the South of Iraq <ref>It is the case of Ziyàd ibn Abìhì, Hasan al-Basrì, Qatàdah, Abù al-Zanàd, Khalìl ibn Ahmad, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abù Yusuf and Muhammad ibn Hasan. </ref>. But the problem is not to determine whether the Mandaeans may be included among the Sabians and may consequently be part of the ''People of the Book'' <ref>Taking into account its Monotheistic character, the possession of a Holy Book and the acknowledgment of a Prophet, in fact, their religion, as well as the doctrine of the Elkesaites/''Mughtasila''/''Sàbat al-Batàih'', no doubt is consistent with the features of the “People of the Book” and consequently with those of the group designated as the “Sabians”, mostly because Muhammad himself “may not have fully understood the practices and beliefs of the people he called by that name” (GREEN, ''The City of the Moon-God'', p.105). Despite the identification Sabians = Mandaeans of which he appears to be convinced, J. THOMAS himself, who consecrated a study to ''Le Mouvement Baptiste en Palestine et en Syrie ''(Gembloux 1935), had to recognize that the latter group – in consequence of its peripherical position and of the small number of its members - could never attract the attention of the Prophet nor let him consider the Mandaean sect in terms of a cult as important as Christianity and Judaism: “Il est clair cependant que la secte sabéenne des auteurs arabes (nos Mandéens) … n’aurait pas, à elle seule, merité un tel traitement de faveur; c’est un mouvement plus vaste qui a du ètre visé … Le Coran aurait-il englobé sous l’appellation de Sabéens les Baptistes de Syrie ? Nous n’oserions ni l’affirmer ni le nier” (p.208 f.). </ref>; the problem is whether these features fit with their religion or not. Now, we think that a statement such as the second one, namely that ''they do not have any cult, scripture or prophet'', or that ''they do not have a certain canonical law'', or even that ''they have no distinctive religion'' is a very singular feature. Actually, with the final summary of the beliefs and the rites of the Sabians made by S. Gunduz, the last and resolute exponent of the ''Mandaean party''<ref>GUNDUZ, ''The Knowledge of Life'', p.25 f.</ref>, one cannot appreciate thoroughly the real weight that the above cited definitions have according to these scholars, while they recur very frequently and are particularly stressed by many of them <ref>We believe that the number of witnesses in agreement about a certain feature could not be judged by itself an undisputable factor for deciding the very weight which it deserves: it needs to take into adequate consideration not only the historical and cultural context of the source in question, but also the role which sometimes the chance may have played for the survival of a certain document: all this may appear ever so trivial, but it seems us closely paralleled by the important methodological discussion about the wrong use of the material in their possession often made by epigraphists, carried on by MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, pp.97 ff. and 111 ff. In any case, it should be noted that nobody – as far as we know – has ever dwelt upon such a definition of Sabianism, despite its exceptional, very astonishing nature. Actually, literally speaking, which could be the meaning of a similar information ? How could one answer to the question ? 262 bis) About this point see the convincing argument of R. DUSSAUD, ''Histoire et religion des Nosairìs'', Paris 1900, p.84. </ref>.