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Who are the Sabians and what is their religion? What is the name of their book and their prophet? Has their book been corrupted? Does Islam recognize their religion and consider them among the People of the Book, like the Jews and Christians? Is it permissible for Muslims to marry from among them?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Islam does not recognize any religion other than itself, for Allah the Almighty says: "And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him."

As for the recognition of the Sabians in Islamic lands and the collection of jizya from them, it is not permissible to recognize them in the Arabian Peninsula, due to the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, so that I will leave none but a Muslim."

Outside the Arabian Peninsula, scholars have differed: - The Hanafis were of the opinion that it is permissible to recognize them and collect jizya from them, considering them Christians who do not genuinely worship stars. - The Malikis permitted the collection of jizya from them, considering that jizya is imposed on every disbeliever. - The Shafi'is permitted a dhimmi pact with them if they were Christians, but the Sabians who worship stars are not to be recognized. - The Hanbalis held the view that jizya should be collected from them, considering them a type of Christians or Jews.

Ibn al-Qayyim favored the permissibility of collecting jizya from them, considering their condition better than that of the Majus, from whom jizya is collected.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy