Those who believe (in the Qur’an) those who follow the Jewish (Scriptures) and the Sabians and the Christians any who believe in God and the Last Day and work righteousness on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. (5:69)
Who are the Sabians? Their identity is an interesting mystery. The Muslim scholar Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (d. 786–787 CE), who was in Basra before his death, wrote: “The Sabians believe they belong to the prophet Noah, they read Zabur, and their religion looks like Christianity.”
This description makes me think a lot of the Noachides and makes me wonder if some pre-modern version of the group existed in Arabia in the time of the prophet.
For those who aren't familiar, the Noachides are basically Gentiles who strive to follow the way of life which Orthodox Judaism teaches is universally binding on all human beings (i.e. the children of Noah). This is usually summed up as seven laws.
1. No idolatry.
2. No blasphemy.
3. No murder.
4. No eating the limb of a living animal.
5. No theft.
6. No sexual immorality.
7. Establish courts / governments to enforce the previous laws (the only positive commandment).
Each of the seven commandments can be broken down further into smaller components (in one breakdown, 66 commandments and in another, 30 commandments) so perhaps it is best to think of these as seven categories of commandments. And there are other principles which don't necessarily fall neatly into a single category.
I've been interested in the Noachides for almost as long as I've been Muslim. And there is an interesting resonance between the Noachide faith and Islam. Noachides are monotheists. They believe in a universal law largely consistent with the shariah. Depending on ones exact definitions, you could almost argue that Muslims are naturally Noachides. (Both the Noachide Faith and Islam are monotheistic Abrahamic religion. And the seven laws are, broadly speaking, already a part of the shariah. Among the points of controversy would be that according to some sources, to be a proper Noachide you have to follow the 7 laws ONLY because they were found in the Torah of Moses, not because of reason and not because they were given by some other prophet.).
One thing which makes the Noachides less attractive as a path is that they don't seem very fleshed out. Just consider, the overwhelming mass of Jewish effort would lie in determining how Jews can connect to the Creator. Figuring out how Gentiles can and should connect would necessarily be an afterthought. And in fact, modern-day Noachides seem to be struggling a bit in terms of how to practice the day-to-day elements of their religion. What is a Noachide funeral like? A Noachide wedding? Noachide birth celebrations or rites of passage? Noachide prayers? They aren't Jewish so simply copying Jewish rituals probably wouldn't be appropriate but then what is left? There have been some attempts to fill in those gaps but there is still a lot of work left.
The modern Noachide movement is one thing but there have also been evidence of earlier analogues. In the Bible there have been mentions of God-fearers, Gentiles sympathetic to Judaism without actually converting.
In Genesis 8-9 we can read:
[20] Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.[21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
[22] While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
Gen.9
[1] And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.[2] The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
[3] Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
[4] Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
[5] For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man.
[6] Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.
[7] And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it."
[8] Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
[9] "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
[10] and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.
[11] I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
[12] And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
[13] I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
[14] When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
[15] I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
[16] When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."
[17] God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth."
So according to the Bible, before God makes a covenant with the Children of Israel at Sinai, and before he made a covenant with Abraham (as), there was a covenant made between God and Noah (and his descendants... i.e. all human beings, and all living things).
Another significant passage where the Bible seems to connect to the Noachide covenant is Acts 15. One of the first conflicts faced by the early Church was the issue of what to do about Gentile believers in Christ. Some insisted Gentiles needed to convert to Judaism entirely, while others seemed to think that none of the Torah was binding on Gentiles. To resolve the contract Paul and others went to James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church who gave his decision:
[19] Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
[20] but should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood.
If we look at James' instructions, they correspond well to the Noachide commandments. First of all, consider that the secular government would already enforce the rules about murder, theft and setting up courts. The rule against "what is strangled and from blood" corresponds to the rule against tearing a limb of a live animal (and the commandments in Genesis 9 regarding blood). "Unchastity" corresponds to the rule against sexual immorality. Rules against "the pollutions of idols" would correspond to the rules against idolatry and blasphemy. So essentially, James is telling the Gentile Christians to follow the Noachide law.
So again, I wonder if the "the Sabians" which Al-Farahidi knew were, in fact, some other permutation of Noachide.
