The Harranian Sabians

According to al-Mas'udi, the Harranian Sabians were the common people of the Greeks and the uncritical followers of the early philosophers. They arranged ranks of priests in their temples. ²

Al-Mas'udi says that the surviving temple of theirs in the year 332 AH was a house in Harran at the Raqqa Gate, known as Maghlitiya. They claim that it was the temple of Azar, father of Abraham. Beneath it were vaults for idols in the forms of the heavenly bodies, and the attendants spoke from behind the walls through bellows, so that speech came out of the hollow images. ²

He mentions that Abu Bakr al-Razi recorded their doctrines in a book. Al-Mas'udi adds that Budasaf was the first to make the Sabian doctrines known. ³

Ibn al-Nadim reports from al-Kindi that they agreed that the world has one cause that has never ceased, that he sent messengers, and that their great teachers were Awrani, Aghanadimun and Hermes. He says that they have three prayers a day and fasting for thirty days, sacrifices that are burnt and not eaten, and that they do not circumcise. ⁴