(1) The majus (Magians) are a people who worship light, fire, darkness, the sun and the moon, and who claim that the universe has two gods. They inhabited Persia and its surroundings. Islam virtually eradicated this creed, yet traces of it survived among certain groups such as the Shiah, the Ikhwan al-Safa, the Baha’is, the esoteric Nusayris, the Qadariyyah, and others. (2) In manuscript T the text reads: “and sects.” (3) Linguistically, the word sabi denotes someone who leaves one religion for another. The Sabians were described as worshippers of the planets and the angels; others held that they have no revealed religion but remain upon their innate nature, a view preferred by Ibn Kathir (Tafsir Ibn Kathir 1:104). (4) The early Muslims called the Qadariyyah “the Majus of this ummah.” Several narrations—some ascribed to the Prophet—use this designation: Ibn Majah, Sunan, no. 92 (1:35); Abu Dawud, Sunan, “Book of the Sunnah,” chapter on qadar, no. 4691; Ahmad, Musnad 2:125 and 5:407; and Ibn Abi Asim, Kitab al-Sunnah 1:144–145, no. 329. Although hadith scholars judged the individual chains weak, they strengthen one another. The name was given because, by denying that Allah created or decreed evil, the Qadariyyah were compelled to claim that humans create their own acts—an idea later held by the Mu‘tazilah—and thus resembled the Magians, who assert that Allah is the god of good and light while evil and darkness have a different creator. Exalted is Allah above what they claim. See: Al-Baghdadi, Al-Farqu bayn al-Firaq, 94–95; Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmu‘ al-Fatawa 8:258–261. (5) In manuscripts A and T the reading is: “sects.”