Question 6: What is meant by Allah’s words, “Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him” (Al ‘Imran 3:85), and who are the Sabians?
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Question 6: How can we reconcile between these two verses—“Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him” (Al ‘Imran 3:85) and His statement, “Indeed, those who believed, the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians—whoever believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteous deeds, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve” (Al-Ma’idah 5:69)?

Answer: There is no contradiction between the two verses, contrary to what the question might imply. The verse that speaks of Islam refers to the period after the message of Islam had reached those communities whom Allah, exalted is He, describes in the second verse—“no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve”—among whom He mentions the Sabians. When the Sabians are brought up, people usually think of star-worshippers; yet in reality the term applies to any people who slipped into shirk (polytheism) after once being upon tawḥīd (pure monotheism). The Sabians were originally monotheists; then polytheism and the worship of heavenly bodies overtook them. Those referred to in this verse are the believers among them—the monotheists. Prior to the advent of Islam’s call, these Sabians stood in the same position as the Jews and Christians, and they are mentioned in precisely the same context in which