Those Who Believe, Those Who Hadeed, the Sabeans, and the Christians: A different reading in the light of the Qur’an
In this paper, we will talk about vocabulary in the Holy Qur’an and provide a new understanding of it that we claim will solve some of the issues we face in understanding the nature of our dealings with the Book of God.
The terms we are talking about are: Believers, Hadwa, Sabians, and Christians.
The first thing we notice about these words in the Quran is that they are names:
1) Either they called it themselves.
2) Or others called them and adopted them.
3) Or they are their own mouthpiece.
By themselves, these labels do not represent any differentiation between these groups in terms of piety, faith, or even social interaction.
We’ll start with those who believe.
First: Who are those who believe?
Those who believe are those who claim or say that they believe in God, what was sent down to them, and what was sent down before.
This means that it is a group that is present with any messenger or prophet and verbally acknowledges that they believe in God, what that prophet was sent with, and what was revealed before. It was present with Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and all the prophets and messengers in between.
They did not call themselves that, but it is a divine command to say so:
{We believe in Allah and what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, what was given to Moses and Jesus, and what was given to the prophets from their Lord; we do not differentiate between any of them, and we are Muslims.}
(Surat al-Baqarah, verse 136)
{We believe in Allah and what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord; we do not differentiate between any of them, and we are all Muslims.}
(Surah Al-Imran, verse 84)
Being called by this name makes them one of “those who believe” as a designation and as a sect to which the discourse is directed among other sects , but it does not give them any differential advantage unless the faith is transformed by wordof mouth into practical application, that is, moving it from mouth talk and social manifestation to useful and effective activation insociety, to become one of the believers.
In the previous verse (136) of Surah Al-Baqarah, we notice that he ordered them to say: “We believe in Allah and what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Ibrahim…”, just a saying, to become one of those who believe.
This term, as mentioned above, does not characterize people as believers, righteous and guided, and therefore, when they respond, they must be seen to have faith, i.e., its practical application, in order for them to be described as guided.
And he said to them:
{If they believe the same as you do, then they will be guided}
He takes them from saying: (“Say ‘Believe'”) to doing: (“Say ‘Believe'”)
to action: (“If they believe”)
He did not say: “If they say the same as you,” because saying it makes them one of those who believe, but does not make them one of those who are guided. Guidance requires faith as an active behavior, and it is not enough to just talk with our mouths.
{Say: We believe in Allah and what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, what was given to Moses and Jesus, and what was given to the prophets from their Lord, and we make no distinction between any of them. (136) If they believe in the same thing that you believe in, then they will be guided, but if they turn away, then they are in dispute, but Allah will suffice for them, and He is the All-Hearing and All-Knowing (137)}
(Surat al-Baqarah, verses 136-137)
Those who go on to describe “those who believe” as those who give security, it’s a nice description, but it’s a bit advanced. This characterization is like someone who starts counting positive numbers and starts from the fourth digit and says: Four, five, six, seven, eight… And so on, forgetting the positive numbers before the number 4.
“Those who believe” is a designation that begins with the least description, which is saying: “We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us…”.
The next verse describes people who say they believe in God and the Last Day. They are among those who believe, but because they do not turn their words of faith into action and behavior, they are notdescribed as believers:
{Many people say they believe in Allah and the Last Day, but they are not believers}
(Surat al-Baqarah: 8)
Hence the definition:
“The group of those who believed is usually the one who first came into contact with the prophet in question, trusting in his prophethood and message, saying that they believed in him and what he came with, and they continue to bear the name even after the death of that prophet, unless they deviate and choose another name for themselves or adopt a name given to them by others.”
However, this is not an indulgence for them, but they will move to other names when they adopt a new name, or adopt a new name that has been given to them, so they will move directly from the name “those who believed” to the new name, as we will see in the cases of those who calmed down and others, as names remain names and have no value in human destiny.
Secondly: Who are the Hadwa?
According to the previous definition of those who believed, we can say that the first group to declare their faith in the Messenger of God Moses represented the category of those who believed in that prophetic community, and the first of them were the magicians of Pharaoh who said: “We believe in the Lord of the Worlds.”
(120) They said, “We believe in the Lord of the Worlds (121), the Lord of Moses and Aaron (122)}
(Surat al-A’raf: 120-122)
These people cannot be called believers, because faith requires activation and interaction.
Nor do we call them Jews or those who hadawa, as that would require a deviation from calling them those who believed.
Their words alone made them one of those who believed in that prophetic community.
Then we find them continuing to address Pharaoh when he threatened them:
{They said, “We will turn to our Lord.” (125) You will not punish us except that we believed in the revelations of our Lord when they came to us, Lord, grant us patience and make us die Muslims.” (126)}
(Surat al-A’raf: 125-126)
When Pharaoh and his men harassed them by killing them, Moses reminded them to seek help from God and be patient:
{Moses said to his people, “Take refuge in Allah and be patient.” (128) They said, “We were hurt before you came to us and after you came to us.” (129) He said, “May your Lord destroy your enemies and succeed you in the land to see how you do.}
(Surat al-A’raf: 128-129)
But is the path to faith and guidance easy?
(2) We have tested those before them, so that Allah may know those who are true and those who are false (3)}
(Surat al-Ankabut: 2-3)
No, it’s a very tempting path of scrutiny.
Those of Moses’ people who believedfell at the beginning of the roadand asked Moses to make gods for them, although they had just said, “We believe in the Lord of the Worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron.”
(137) And We bequeathed to the people who were oppressed the shores of the earth and the ends of the earth, wherein We have blessed them; and the word of Your Lord has been fulfilled upon the children of Israel because of their patience; and We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people were making and what they were living on (137) And We passed with the children of Israel across the sea. They came upon a people who were sitting on their idols, and they said, “O Moses, make us a god as they have gods,” and he said, “You are ignorant people.” (138) (139) He said, “O Moses, make us a god, just as they have gods, but you are ignorant people.” (140)}
(Surat al-A’raf: 137-140
[Surat al-A’raf: 128-140]
Even though they said “we believe” and God delivered them from Pharaoh, they did not persistand asked for personalized gods, right after they were delivered from torment, all of which did not take them out of the title of “those who believed”, which does not give themthe status of “believers” yet.
Then for the second time they fall into temptation:
(148) When it fell into their hands and they saw that they had gone astray, they said, “If our Lord would not have mercy on us and forgive us, we would be among the losers.” (149)}
(Surat al-A’raf: 148-149)
The first appearance of a new sect that deviated from the “those who believed in Moses”was after the death of the Prophet Moses, and that sect came to be called the “Those Who HADWA.” They consider themselves the successorsof those who believed with Moses. They consider themselves the successors of those who believed with Moses, i.e., they claim to follow their path, and to be their predecessor.
That is, their role models are those who said:
“We are guided to you”
After the death of Prophet Moses, we think they were saying, “We follow our ancestors who guided us to God with the Messenger of God Moses,”and so they were called “those who guided. “
Nevertheless, God makes it clear that His mercy is not just for saying “We are guided to You” or “We believe” , but My mercy is for those who:
They revere
They give zakat
believe in my signs
This is the activation of faith we’re talking about:
{When the tremor took them, Moses said, “Lord, if you had wished, you would have destroyed them beforehand and me, but you will destroy us because of what the foolish among us have done; it is only your temptation to lead astray whomever you will and guide whomever you will; you are our guardian, so forgive us, and have mercy on us, for You are the best of the forgivers. And have mercy on us, for You are the best of the forgivers (155) – and write for us in this world good and in the Hereafter, for We have been guided to You – He said, “My punishment is such that I inflict it on whomever I will – and My mercy is wide enough for all things – so I will write it for those who fear, who pay the zakat, and who believe in Our signs (156)}.
(Surat al-A’raf: 155-156)
Their first deviation is to take on a new name.
On this basis, with the new name, it would be easy to accept any misrepresentation made by the pontiffs under the pressure of political power.
Throughout the life of the Israelites afterMoses, God sent messengers after messengersto clarify what they disagreed about, but they continued to disbelieve the messengers because of their entrenched distortion of the Torah.
Among them are those who ended up being among those who hadawa, i.e. those who deviated from the first level (those who believed in Moses)
Some have taken on new names that are more deviant, extreme, arrogant and closed-minded, namely the Jews
These may have represented the political authority, to have dominance and control over the rabbis and priesthood.
So they were arrogant until they said:
“God’s hands are tied”
“God is poor and we are rich”
“Al-Ezeir is the son of God”
“We are God’s children and loved ones”
Therefore, they have incurred the wrath of God, and He has thrown enmity and hatredbetween them until the Day of Judgment, from war to war, and from killing to killing.
And you will find that the greatest enemies of those who believe are the Jews.
The believers here are not only those who believed in Muhammad, but also those who believed in Jesus and Moses themselves.
After those who believed in Yahya, another group branched off from them, the Sabians, before the coming of the Prophet Jesus, which will be discussed later in this research.
{And We gave Moses the Scripture, and after him We stood after him with the messengers, and We gave Jesus the son of Mary the proofs, and supported him with the Holy Spirit.}
(Surah Al-Baqarah: 87)
This misrepresentation was caused by their rabbis, who practiced prohibition on themselves through their wickedness and attributed it to God:
{And upon those who have gone astray, We have forbidden every hoof, and from cattle and sheep We have forbidden their fat, except what they have borne on their backs, or their loins, or what is mixed with bone; this is what We have rewarded them for their wickedness, and We are truthful.}
(Surat al-An’am: 146)
{We have forbidden to them what We have narrated to you before, and We have not wronged them, but they were wronging themselves.}
(Surat al-Nahl: 118)
There are those who are confused and think that God has legislated this prohibition for them in the Torah.
But when God prohibits, He prohibits for the benefit of the people,and here He clearly indicates that they are good.
There is no mention of their prohibition in the Torah, but it is the distortion practiced by the rabbis on what is in the Torah:
{Unjustly from among those who followed them, We forbade them the good things that had been granted to them, and because they turned away from the way of Allah a great deal}
(Surat al-Nisa: 160)
Even among the sects that follow the Prophet Muhammad, some of them practiced this prohibition through the fatwas of the sheikhs, so you find the legalization of haram in their books spread among their followers, next to the Quran, but we testify that God did not prohibit it in his book.
Then look at them again, how they acknowledge it:
{The polytheists will say, “If Allah had willed it, neither we nor our fathers would have been polytheists, nor would we have forbidden anything.” Similarly, those before them disbelieved until they tasted our misfortune.}
(Surah Al-An’am: 148)
Here, he did not say “those who hadada,” but he said “those whohave polytheism,” and they are the ones who did this from among those who hadada, and passed it down from father to son, who perverted and went astray and followed their fathers.
These verses are all in one context, talking about the Israelites in the community of the Prophet Muhammad, then the speech continues to the Prophet Muhammad while he is in their presence, arguing with him that this prohibition is what God has forbidden for them in His Book.
But Allah directs His Messenger not to testify that Allah has forbidden it, because it is nothing more than perversion and polytheism.
If they testify, do not testify with them:
(149) Say: “Verily, Allah has the ultimate argument, and if He wishes, He would have guided you all.” (149) Say: “Bring your witnesses who testify that Allah has forbidden this, and if they testify, do not testify with them, and do not follow the whims of those who have disbelieved in Our signs and those who do not believe in the Hereafter, and they are justified by their Lord.” (150)}
(Surat al-An’am: 149-150)
The Prophet Muhammad came to remove the shackles they had placed on themselves, and to allow them the good things they had forbiddento themselves, which were passed down to their later generations and attributed to God:
{Write for us in this world a good deed and in the Hereafter, for we have been guided to You.} He said, “My punishment is such that I inflict it on whomever I will, and My mercy is wide enough to cover all things.” (156) Those who follow the Messenger, the Ummi Prophet, whom they find written before them in the Tawrat and the Gospel, commanding them to do what is good and forbidding what is evil, and forbidding what is good. He commands them to do what is good and forbids them from what is evil, and forbids them to do what is good and forbids them to do what is evil, and removes from them their burdens and the shackles that were upon them, so those who believe in him, help him and support him, and follow the light that was sent down with him – those are the ones who are successful (157)}
(Surat al-A’raf: 156-157)
The context then takes them to Surat al-An’am again , to show them what God has already forbidden them in the Torah, without distortion:
{Say, Come, let us recite what your Lord has forbidden to you…}
(Surat al-An’am: 151 to 153)
And he concludes it by saying: “that you may remember.”
This expression usually refers a person to an easily accessible information that does not require diligence and research, meaning that what God has forbidden you is in the Torah, if you refer to it, you will find it effortlessly.
You do not need the jurisprudence of pontiffs and monks or sheikhs and mullahs, nor their misrepresentations:
“Other scholars”
“The public said”
“The Prophet did it and we did it after him…”
But… Who convinces these people that God’s guidance is the guidance?
And who convinces them that this book is the authentication of what is between its hands?
However, we have seen how the hypocrites and the Hadwa would come to the Prophet with prior awareness, wanting to take from him what they wanted from the knowledge, and onlywhat corresponded to their whims, on the recommendation of their pontiffs who twist the word from its positions:
{O Messenger, do not be saddened by those who hasten to disbelief, such as those who say, “We believe with our mouths, but our hearts do not believe,” and among those who have gone astray, “They are hearers of lies, hearers of other people who have not come to you, twisting words from their places, saying, “If you are given this, take it, but if you are not given it, beware of it. They say, “If you are given this, take it, and if you are not given it, beware, and whoever Allah wills to destroy, you will have nothing from Allah.” These are those whose hearts Allah did not want to purify, for them in this world there is shame, and in the Hereafter they have a great punishment.}
(Surat al-Maida: 41)
III: Sabians and Christians
(1) Sabians:
In the previous section, we followed the sequence of clear verses that show us what
Those who believed
those who hadda
Jews
This was in the Israelites from the people of the Prophet Moses to the people of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
We have shown that “those who believed” are those to whom the prophet in question was sent, and they said that they trusted his prophethood and what he brought from his Lord, and what was revealed before him.
However, this does not mean that they always became believers, as there are those among them:
Who has become a polytheist
or becomes a hypocrite
or a disbeliever who lives among them deceitfully
Throughout that period , from Prophet Moses to Prophet Muhammad, many prophets came to them calling their people to worship God:
Believers of the previous prophets
Correcting the misrepresentations of the message
And with every prophet:
Some believe and become one of those who believe
and their descendants follow them.
When the successors deviate,they take on a new name and description
He said:
{Men were one nation, so Allah sent the prophets as heralds and warners, and sent down with them the Book with truth to judge between men in matters in which they differed, and there was no disagreement except among those who received it after the evidence came to them, out of prejudice between them; Allah guided those who believed in what they differed in it from the truth with His permission, and Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path}
(Surat al-Baqarah: 213)
In our mainstream understanding, we imagine that Moses and Jesus had no messengers between them. They call the Torah with him the “Old Testament”and believe that only Jesus came after him, correcting the distortions of the Torah, while they call his message the “New Testament.” The only one who came after him was Jesus, correcting the distortions of the Torah.
But you can imagine how many messengers were sent between Moses and Jesus, from this verse:
{And We gave Moses the Scripture, and after him We stood after him with the messengers, and We gave Jesus the son of Mary the proofs, and supported him with the Holy Spirit.}
(Surah Al-Baqarah: 87)
A group of messengers came to the Israelites after Mosesto correct the people about what they differed in.
Some of them:
He disbelieved and remained in his deviant sect (such as those of the Hadwa)
Some of them were arrogant and hostile to the prophets (like the Jews).
Some of them remained the same as before (those who believed)
That is, whoever recognizes and says: “We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us from the Torah,” becomes one of those who believe.
In this period between Moses and Isa, God’s prophet Yahyaappears, perhaps a little earlier than the appearance of God’s prophet Isa, and comes:
correcting the misrepresentation of the Torah
Some will believe in it and become one of those who believe
Then their descendants will follow them
However, those who exaggerated Yahyaand attributed legislation to him as:
Renovator of their religion
Seal of God’s prophets
They do not believe in a prophet after him
These successors are called by the Quran: Sabians
Although these Sabians still exist today, some of them do not like the namebecause of the meaning the Arabs gave it:
The Arabs say: “Sabi’i” is a person who goes from one religion to another
Or they worship the stars and planets
This is unbearable for them, so they themselves turned the humza intoa guinea, becoming:
Sabiha
Dyers
Indicating that:
Their religion and teachings are the teachings of the first religion, the religion of Adam, peace be upon him
Every religion must be colored by theirs.
This designation is just to rationalize and move away from Arabic interpretations.
While they believe that their prophet is the last prophet and do not recognize a prophet after him, this behavior is unsound, and we will see it when we explain why the word “Sabians” comes after the word “Nazarenes” in Surat al-Baqarah.
The Quranic name refers to the fact that the followers of those who believed among the people of Prophet Yahya exaggerated their prophet, as God gave him the Book and Wisdom when he was a boy, making him the last of God’s prophets.
This exaggeration of the fact that he received wisdom as a boy,as the Qur’an indicates, is behind this designation:
{We gave him wisdom as a child (12) and kindness from us (12) and zakat (13) and he was pious (13)}
(Surah Maryam: 12-13)
Those who believed in Yahya are among those who believed, then their later followers come and exaggerate their prophet who received wisdom in his youth, and reject the next prophets and messengers, so the Qur’an calls them the Sabeans.
The Qur’an does not mention anything about them outside of the three well-known verses, which are in only three verses, which will be explained and analyzed later.
(2) Christians:
We find the association of the Christians with the Prophet Jesus, son of Maryam, at a later stage of his mission, and this name did not exist while he was in their midst.
The first group with each prophet has a choice:
To be one of those who believe
or disbelieve
or reject it because their parents’ religion is the right one.
For example, when Jesus came to the Israelites, he was there:
Those who have calmed down
The Sabians existed
It is from those who:
He confessed and said that he believed in Jesus as a messenger
and believed in what he came with, confirming what he had in his hands from the Torah.
These will be called “those who believe”.
There are those who remain in their old sect, whether they are among the Hadwa or the Sabians.
The first groups that formed the description of “those who believed” with Jesus were:
Apostles
We find their description in these verses:
{When Jesus sensed disbelief among them, he said, “Who are my supporters to Allah?” The disciples said, “We are the supporters of Allah. We believe in Allah and bear witness that we are Muslims (52) Lord, we believe in what You have revealed and follow the Messenger, so write us down with the witnesses (53)}
(Surah Al-Imran: 52-53)
So:
The Apostles and those who followed their path from the Israelites are the ones who make up the description of “those who believed”.
However, after the death of Jesus, the Israelites began to take their education from priests and monks, which does not guarantee that the Torah will not deviate from the Torah and distort it.
We have seen how the rabbis did with the Torah in the past among the Hadith, and we have seen how they used to say, “This is halal and this is haram.”
We saw how they would send their followers to Prophet Muhammadand say:
“If you are given this, take it, and if not, beware.”
We have seen how God warns those who believe against these rabbis and monks:
{O you who have believed, many of the rabbis and shepherds eat people’s money in vain and turn away from the way of Allah, and those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, I promise them a painful punishment.}
(Surat al-Tawba: 34)
The Jews are a group of people who have been convertedand have adopted the idea that they:
God’s children and loved ones
They have taken a hostile stance toward those who refuse to do so.
As for the Nazarenes, they called themselves “Christians”and said that they:
A successor to their predecessors who said, “We are Ansar Allah”
They said, “We are Christians.”
Moreover, they adopted the idea of Jews as:
God’s children and loved ones
and that Jesus is the Son of God
Some of them disbelieved when they said:
God is the Messiah, the son of Mary
He said:
{And the Jews and the Christians said, “We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones.” Why should He punish you for your sins? Rather, you are human beings from among those who have been created; He forgives whomever He wills and punishes whomever He wills.}
(Surat al-Ma’idah: 18)
They have reached a stage where they have come to idolize the clergy, so much so that they:
{They took their elders and priests as gods other than Allah and Jesus Christ, son of Mary, and they were only commanded to worship one God, and there is no other God but Him, and He is above their polytheism.}
(Surat al-Tawba: 31)
They have the Torah and believe in it , but their belief in it is mixed with distortions made for them by their rabbis and monks.
and their following of these made them say:
Eliezer the son of God (Jews)
Christ the Son of God (Christians)
He said:
{The Jews said, “Jesus is the son of God,” and the Nazarenes said, “Jesus is the son of God.” These are the words of their mouths, imitating the words of those who disbelieved before them. (30) They took their rabbis and priests as gods other than Allah and Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, and they were only commanded to worship one God, and there is no other God but Him, and He is above their polytheism (31)}
(Surat al-Tawba: 30-31)
This distortion made them reject any prophet who comes after them.
They hostile to him, and hostile to those who believed in every message:
{You will find the fiercest enemies of those who believe to be the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will find the closest friends to those who believe to be those who say, “We are Christians.” (82) When they hear what has been revealed to the Prophet, you see their eyes welling up with tears from what they know of the truth, and they say, “Lord, we believe. what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes welling up with tears from what they know of the truth; they say, “Lord, we believe, so write us down with the witnesses.” (83) Why should we not believe in Allah and what has come to us from the truth, and hope that our Lord will admit us with the righteous people (84)}
(Surat al-Ma’idah: 82-84)
Now that we’ve finished understanding these terms, let’s summarize and define them again:
Those who believed:
They are all those who believed in God, His message, and what was revealed before Him, whether they were with Noah, Abraham, Lot, Zechariah, Yahya, Moses, Jesus, or Muhammad, peace be upon them all, whether they were with Noah, Abraham, Lot, Zechariah, Yahya, Moses, Jesus, or Muhammad.Those who have been guided:
They claim to be the successors of their ancestors who believed with Moses, who said: “We have been guided to you.”However, they distorted the message of their prophet a lot and refused to believe in what came after him, so they adopted the approach that they were following their ancestors who said: “We have been guided to you.”
The others called them “those who have been guided”.
Jews:
A sect of the Israelites who adopted a hostile stance against God and those who believed in all the messages, exaggerated their religion , took gods without God,and believed that al- ‘Azir was the son of God.Christians:
They claim to be the successors of the Ansarullah of the Apostles who believed in Jesus and said, “We are the Ansarullah.”
They called themselves “Christians”.
But they also took gods without God, distorted the teachings of the Book, and adopted an exaggerated religion until they said, “Christ is the son of God” and then “Christ is God.”Sabians:
They are the successors of those who believed in Prophet Yahyaand considered him the last of the prophets, but did not believe in Jesus or Muhammad, peace be upon them.
Question:
Who came after those who said they believed in God, Prophet Muhammad, and the previous prophets and books?
Yes, Shiitesand Sunniscame, each saying that the other is nothing,and other sects branched out from them as well , applying what the Jews and Christians said before:
{And the Jews said, “The Christians are not on anything,” and the Christians said, “The Jews are not on anything,” while they recite the Scripture.}
(Surat al-Baqarah: 113)
Back to the Sabians:
Now we come to the three verses in which the word Sabiansis mentioned, and it does not appear elsewhere in the Qur’an.
So far, our Qur’anic knowledge of them has not yet reached a specific prophet with whom they are clearly associated, as we have seen in:
Those who believed (with the prophets)
The Hadwa (with Moses)
The Christians (with Jesus)
We also don’t specify the time period in which they grew up.
However, since they are mentioned three times in different verses , we think it is enough to give us what we can understand…
The three verses in which “Sabians” are mentioned:
{Whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good deeds, they have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.}
(Surat al-Baqarah: 62)
{Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, there is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.}
(Surat al-Ma’idah: 69)
{Those who have believed, those who have converted, the Sabians, the Christians, the Nazarenes, the Magi, the Magi, and those who have committed polytheism, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection, for Allah is a witness over all things}.
(Surat al-Hajj: 17)
So, we have key questions that need to be raised here and we seek to answer them:
First question:
In the verses of Surat al-Baqarahand Surat al-Ma’idah, we note that both verses are concluded by saying:
“There is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.”
So what do we make of this conclusion?
Second question:
What is the significance of putting “Christians” ahead of “Sabians” once (in Surat al-Baqarah)?
while in the other verse (Surat al-Ma’idah), “Sabians ” are given precedence over “Christians “?
What if the “Sabians” are introduced before the “those who hadda”?
What is the significance of this diverse arrangement?
Third question:
What do we learn from the addition of “the Magi” and “those who have polytheism” in the verse of Surat al-Hajj?
And concluding it in a different way than the other two verses of Al-Baqarah and Al-Maida?
Analytical notes:
Since there is no other arrangement of Sabein in the Qur’ an other than these three verses.
we believe that they satisfy our desire and curiosity in understanding this term.There must be different purposes for the mention of the word Sabians in terms of:
Literal discipline
Verbal sequence
The contextual significance of each verse
Final comparison:
If we take the verses of Surat al-Baqarahand Surat al-Ma’idah, we find that they are:
They mention the same denominations (with a different order and conjugation)
They conclude with the same text:
“There is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.”
But in Surat al-Baqarah, there is an additional expression that adds to the meaning:
“They have their reward with their Lord.”
If we remove this part of the verse, we find them like this:
{Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds….. There is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.}
{Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, there is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.}
[Surat al-Ma’idah: 69]
If we observe the two verses, we find that they contain the same groups and the same condition of action, which is: Belief in God, the Last Day and good deeds, and the same fate, which is: There is no fear for them, nor do they grieve. However, there is a difference in the order of the “Sabians” and “Christians” sects, as they have swapped positions. The question is: Did this exchange affect their fate?
Answer: No, of course not. As evidenced by his words: There is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.
But there are those who are skeptical, whether Christians or followers of Muhammad, that their Prophet is the Seal, and that previous sects should abolish their teachings and follow only what Prophet Muhammad brought. What is the solution?
The solution is to recognize it without coercion or compulsion. God has emphasized the matter with the expression we omitted earlier, namely: “They have their reward with their Lord.”
And where did this text come from?
In the verse of Surah al-Baqarah, “the Sabaeans” came after the Christians. This shows that this verse came to provethe reward for the skeptics, not to prove a chronological or differential order, and not to exercise coercion on the followers of the previous messengers to bring them to the next message, because God’s guidance is the guidance.
The importance of the Al-Ma’idah verse is that it clarifies the order of these sects according to their temporal precedence. From the verse of Surat al-Ma’idah, we find that the sects are arranged as follows:
Those Who Believe → Those Who Hadda → Sabians → Christians
It should be emphasized again that those who believed in this context are as defined by the research,not by the mainstream understanding.
The word “Sabeon” was raised to show that its actual initiator appeared in the period between Moses and Jesus. While its order in the verse of Surat al-Baqarah came later, to set a rule that: Sects should not be coerced or forced to follow the new prophet and leave their old sect.
The Qur’an proves from this arrangement that the “Sabians” continued to exist even after the Christians, and even at the time of Muhammad’s mission, and proved to them that whoever believes in God and the Last Day has no fear or sorrow: They have their reward with their Lord.
Qur’anic expression: “Whoever believes in God and the Last Day” is the main pillar that makes a person behave Islamically without censorship, authority, or intimidation. It is explained by the verse:
{But whoever surrenders his face to Allah and is righteous, he has his reward with his Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor do they grieve.}
[Surat al-Baqarah: 112]
Note the contrast between this verse and the two verses under consideration:
“Whoever believes in God and the Last Day” = “whoever submits his face to God”
“And he did good” = “and he is a philanthropist”
Both expressions end with the same fate: They have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them nor do they grieve.
In the verse of Surah al-Baqarah, it is clear to us that all the names do not mean preference or chronological precedence, as each prophet came with the purpose of guidanceand confirming what came before him, because God’s guidance is the guidance:
{And neither the Jews nor the Nazarenes will be satisfied with you until you follow their way of life. Say: “The guidance of Allah is the guidance of Allah, and if you follow their passions after what you have received from Allah, you have no guardian or supporter from Allah.}
[Surat al-Baqarah: 120]
The meaning of this concept in a nutshell:
If what I have is the guidance of God, then leaving it and following the guidance of God that you have does not give me an advantage or disadvantage. Because it is the same guidance. This is the meaning of “God’s guidance is the guidance”.
He says to them: God’s guidance that came to you is the same as that which came to me. But God warns the Prophet not to follow them and shows him that they have perverted the guidance that came tothem and followed their own whims.
The verse of Surah al-Ma’idah is the key. “The Sabians” are mentioned in the versewith waw, showing us that their position in the verse determines when this sect arose, i.e., between the Hadith and the Christians. They appeared between the mission of Moses and Jesus. This makes the groups mentioned follow each other in chronological order.
The verse in Surat al-Baqarah places the Sabians after the Nazarenes, giving us a new concept, namely that belief in the next prophet is not required. That is:
It is sufficient for any sect to believe in the prophet to whom it is affiliated, because God’s guidance is the guidance.
The Sabaeans received the Book before Jesus, yet their right tothe reward was proven, and they were not required to leave their Book or to switch to the Book brought by Jesus, even if the two prophets existed at the same time, as in the case of Abraham and Lot, each of them had his own people, and each of them had those who believed in him.
There is nothing wrong with each prophet having a group of those who believed, and there is no preference for anyone according to the prophet to whom he belonged, because God’s guidance is the guidance.
To be sure, the Al-Baqarah verse was not concluded with the same verse as the Al-Ma’idah verse, but rather augmented:
“They have their reward with their Lord.”
To remove doubt, and to emphasize that the truth is preserved, and no one is wronged. Then it concluded with the same phrase: Andthere is no fear for them, nor do they grieve, so that the Christians will not later think that Jesus, peace be upon him, is a Seal that supersedes what came beforehim, thus obliging the Sabians or those who have been guided to follow him. Similarly, the followers of the Prophet Muhammad do not think that the fact that their Prophet is the Seal of the Prophets means that everything before him is canceled.
God’s guidance is the guidance, and every book comes as a confirmation of what came before it. Just as the first people distorted their books , we have distorted it.
These two verses tell us that good deeds and faith in God and the Last Day, as an inner voice and human instinct, are the deciding factors.
They warn us not to follow the path of the Jews who said, “The Christians are nothing,” or the Christians who said, “The Jews are nothing,” so that we will not be among those who do not know, and imitate them and say the same thing about other sects.
These names have no value in the balance of judgment, and have no influence in determining a person’s eschatological fate.
From each of the groups mentioned in the verses of al-Baqarah and al-Maidah, there may be pious people, polytheists, or disbelievers.
The only determinant of a person’s destiny is:
Belief in God, the Last Day, and good deeds, not labels, precedence, or the name of the prophet.
The verse of Surat al-Hajj emphasizes the same concept as the verse of al-Baqarah:
{Those who have believed, those who have converted, the Sabians, the Christians, the Nazarenes, the Magi, the Magi, and those who have committed polytheism, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection, for Allah is a witness over all things}.
[Surat al-Hajj: 17]
Here, the order came to be equal in existence and existence, so that all these groups exist whether you like it or not,confirming the words of the Almighty:
{Were it your Lord’s will, He would have made men one nation, and they would still be different}
[Surah Hud: 118]
Who are the Magi?
Many people have considered the Magi to be a sect of the People of the Book because of their presence in this verse that talks about the People of the Book. Some say that they are Zoroastrians, while others describe them as planetary worshippers, or some priests in some religions, so there is no definitive statement.
For this reason, it was difficult to understand it from within the Qur’an. Most people, both ancient and modern, went to historical explanations, and most of them had some truth to them, but we did not find an explanation of where this name came from, nor did they go to the conjugation of the word and examine its derivations. They did not go to the conjugation of the word and examine its derivations, but used only the historical projection, and were satisfied with it.
If we search the Quran, we find one more verse that we believe offers us something new to say in understanding the term Magi:
{And when the promise of the first of these came, We sent our servants against you, servants of great strength, and they roamed through the countryside, and it was a promise that was fulfilled}
[Surat al-Isra: 5]
“Magi” is not a name of a particular sect, but a description. If we remove the “al” definition, it becomes “Magi”, and the mim here is not an original letter in the word, but the mimof the present tense, i.e. the mim that we insert into the present tense of a triple verb to form an object noun.
An example from the verb arise: Rise → Resident
So is the verb (jas) in the verse: Jas → Jawas → Magus
The noun “spy” is the plural form of the word “spy”: Spies andspies are those who are engaged in the process of spying, traveling, exploring, finding something specific or finding new things that were not originally considered.
The object noun is “Magi”, with an open meme, and they are the ones who are explored, i.e. found. They are the object of exploration, and they become “Magi”, and the singular and plural are one and the same: Magi.
Meaning of “Gus”:
G and S are two letters that indicate gathering and merging with spreading to seek something specific, and the alif makes the movement more powerful and effective (according to Al-Shidyak). The one who “prowls through the houses” in the verse, travels back and forth for a specific purpose. In the process, he may discover something new and become a magus.
The Magi, then, are the ones on whom the deed wasdone, i.e. the ones who were searched for and found, and this is what travelers and orientalists used to do in the past. As for us, we get this by traveling from one country to another, and we discover sects that we have never heard of before.
We have a Sudanese proverb that says: “Breaking in is knowledge.” Breaking in here means: Traveling and moving from one place to a previously unknown place, the point is to obtain knowledge and new knowledge due to this movement.
He said:
{Those who have believed, those who have converted, the Sabians, the Christians, the Nazarenes, the Magi, the Magi, and those who have committed polytheism, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection, for Allah is a witness over all things}.
[Surat al-Hajj: 17]
After we have recognized the other groups in the verse, and these groups are only because they are known and modern in time, we find that there are many groups and sects around us that we cannot prove or disprove the validity of their religious teachings or rituals, whether they are divine or not.
For example: Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and many, many others, as sects that attribute their teachings to names that say they are prophets, teachers, or gods. Even their names, to which their teachings are attributed, we don’t know.
These sects could have been included in the verse, but due to the large number of these groups and the impossibility of mentioning them one by one, the Qur’an used a different method than our human method. When we mention many things, we say: (those who believed, those who had come, the Sabeans, the Sabeans, the Christians… etc.), meaning that “etc.” means that there are other sects that cannot be mentioned.
The Qur’an does not use the term “etc.,” but uses a term with the same full meaning, namely “Magi. In other words, the Magi perform the full meaning of all sects that are not mentioned, will be explored later, or cannot be accurately categorized.
The word Magi in the verse refers to unclassified sects, for which we do not have a clear prophet, or we cannot say whether their teachings are from God or not. God did not leave a village without sending a prophet to it:
{We sent you with the truth as a herald and a warning, and there is no nation except one in which there has been a herald}
[Surah Fatir: 24]
He also said:
{And messengers whom we have told you before and messengers whom we have not told you.}
[Surat al-Nisa: 164]
It is possible that there are other religious sects other than the ones we know of, which attribute their teachings to the apostles or others. These sects fall within the framework of the Magi.
We are the ones who “probe through the land” to discover that they do exist , they are Magi.
So, the verse of Surat al-Hajj mentions the sects that were mentioned in al-Baqarah and al-Maidah, then added to them the sects and sects that may be revealed in the future under the name “Magi“, and concluded the verse with “those who have polytheism”, as if we are in front of all the sects closed on both sides.
Any human being does not come out of these sects.
God then warns us that judging them is not our right, but is a matter that belongs to Him alone:
God is the one who separates them on the Day of Judgment.
{Allah is the witness of all things}
[Surat al-Hajj: 17]
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
