…are unanimously agreed that ʿAdnān was a descendant of Ishmael, as were Rabīʿah and Muḍar. As for Qaḥṭān, some have claimed, “They too descend from Ishmael,” yet the sound view is that they were already settled in the land of Yemen before Abraham. From them came the tribe of Jurhum, who later inhabited Mecca, and from them Ishmael learned Arabic.

Concerning those early scholars who said, “The Sābians are a group among the People of the Scripture who recite the Zabur,”—a view reported from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, al-Suddī, Jābir ibn Yazīd, and al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas—they were referring to the Sābians who had embraced the religion of the People of the Scripture.

Similarly, some said, “They are a type of Christians,” as is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās: “They are a group of Christians, wandering ascetics who shave the middle of their heads.” Here too the intent was those Sābians who had joined the ranks of the People of the Scripture.

Others said, “They worship the angels.” Al-Ḥasan remarked, “They are a people who worship the angels,” and Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī said, “It has reached me that the Sābians worship the angels, recite the Zabur, and perform prayer.” This description is also accurate, for it pertains to another faction among them. Indeed, many Sābians venerate the higher celestial spirits; such Sābians, however, are idolaters, not followers of the ḥanīf way.

The jurists likewise disagreed over whether the Sābians belong to the People of the Scripture. Two reports on the matter are found from Aḥmad and two opinions from al-Shāfiʿī. The position adopted by the leading jurists is that the Sābians are of two sorts: whoever adheres to the religion of the People of the Scripture is classed with them, and whoever does not, is not.

Abū al-Zinād said, “The Sābians are a people living near Iraq. They believe in all the prophets, fast thirty days each year, and pray toward the sun five times a day. These are the Sābians whom Islam encountered in the land of Ḥarrān. Those who examined their beliefs discovered that they are not of the People of the Scripture but polytheists who worship the stars, and it is not lawful to eat—”