The Sabeans are the people of Noah:
Tafsir Ibne Kasir (the commentary of the Qur’an by Ibne Kasir) also refers to the statement of Abdul Rahman bin zaid that the Sabeans claimed to be the people of Noah.
I have gathered below the sayings along with my notes as well as the explanations, regarding the Sabeans, given by Hazrat Umar, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Ishaq, Abu Alzanad, Qartabi, Allama Ibne Timiya, Imam Gazali, Imam Raghib, Mua’alim, Ibne Jarir, Ibne Kasir, Imam Suheli, Allama Showkani, Qazi baizavi, Abdul Majid Daryabadi and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi.
1. They were the inhabitants of the same place in Iraq where Abraham was born. [It has been affirmed by the excavation of the ruins of Orr, the birth place of Abraham, and the Indian civilization at Harappa and Mesopotomia that there has been a close relation among these two civilizations.]
2. They were ‘the people of the Book’. [It can be inferred from the references of the Sabeans in the Qur’an because they have always been mentioned along with those who were the people of the Book. Which book or Scripture Noah brought to the Sabeans will be discussed later.]
3. They used to recite La ilaha illallah (there is no God but Allah) but were still polytheists. [that the kalma of the Hindus is also La ilaha illallah will be analysed in the following pages.]
4. They used to offer prayers (Namaz) facing Yemen. [It has also been established by the studies of civilizations that a large number of the Hindu race had settled in Yemen. We still find there the forts called Shyam and Hind.]
5. The Sabean is a non-Arabic, rather than an Arabic name.
6. They were the worshippers of the Angels. [In Hindu religion most of the gods are the distorted versions of Angels. They worship them.]
7. They had a firm faith in Astronomy. [Among all the races of the world there is hardly any race which has such a keen interest in Astronomy as the Indian Hindu race has.]
8. They were the worshippers of the stars. [The worship of stars is part of the customs of the present Hindu race.]
9. They were the worshippers of the Fire. [The fire worship at the time of Havan, marriage and death rites is still in vogue in the Hindus.]
10. They were Zoroastrian race Persian descent. [Zoroastrians are also fire-worshippers like Hindus. They are Aryans and the Aryans came to India from there only.]
11. They used to perform Ablution a number of times during the day. [In the world the importance of ablution or bathing in a ceremonial way is most prominent in Hinduism. None of their prayers is complete without bathing. Besides, on some occasions the collective bath is obligatory on their part.]
12. They were proselytes [That the same Hindu race will accept the Truth has already been proved in the previous chapter.]
13. They were subjugating and credulous. [About the substitution of this race there is a reference towards them in Hadith, as has been pointed out in the previous chapter.)
Such are the diverse, and even contradictory, conceptions of our scholars and commentators regarding The Sabeans and, surprisingly enough, all these come true about the Hindu race. Even if the different commentators in different ages had different opinions regarding the Sabeans, at present all these qualities are found in this (Hindu) race alone. It might be that in the past all the groups having the above qualities and conceptions had migrated to and assembled in India. I do not think there is still any place of doubt left as to who are the Sabeans. It is possible that in early ages the definition of the Sabeans could have been applied to different groups but in the present age, it is crystal clear as to who are meant by the Sabeans.
The discussion will remain incomplete if we do not mention here that even Hazart Shah Waliullah regarded the Sabeans as Aryans as can be attested to by the following references. “Christ was verily a saint who attempted to carry his teachings to non-Israel people or, in other words, to the Sabeans or the Aryan races.”3 “Iran at that time was the center of Aryans or the Sabeans. Prior to it India enjoyed the status of being the center.4” Besides, see also Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadvi’s assertion, in which he too regard the Sabeans as the inhabitants of the ancient India: “Just as there as Magdub (Wrath earners) and dal (the people who went astray) among the people of the Book, there are similar other communities, in our opinion, with similar temperamental conditions among those who resemble the People of the Book. The two communities that the Qur’an familiarizes us with, are the Zoroastrians and the Sabeans which include the inhabitants of the Ancient Persia and India.”
At the end let us also take into account that a small sect is found in Iraq and Syria which calls itself ‘Subi’. These people do not acknowledge any prophet after Hazrat Yahya (Jonah of the Bible) and it is most likely that the Qu’ran may have called them the Sabeans too. But renowned researchers and discerning thinkers like Sulaiman Nadvi and Maulana U’baidullah Sindhi have identified the Sabeans as the Hindu race only. Verily they will be knowing about the sect ‘Subi’. Besides, there is hardly any such quality in this ‘Subi’ sect, in addition to their being the people of the Book, as commentators have attributed to the Sabeans – these I have already mentioned above.
According to my understanding, the different terminologies used in the Qur’an have been applied to different communities at a time, and some times to different communities at different times. Therefore, it is possible that the term, ‘The Sabeans’ used in the Qur’an may also be applicable to the ‘Subi’ sect (referred to above) but, undoubtedly, the Hindu race is also included in the definition of the Sabeans.
