A literary history of Persia

THE SABAEANS 303their hair extremely long, and clad in tightly-fitting coats(qabty. Al-Ma'mun, astonished at their appearance, inquiredwho and what they were, to which they replied," Harranians."Being further questioned, they said that theywere neitherChristians, Jews, nor Magians ;while to the Caliph's inquiry" whether they had a Holy Book or a Prophet," they returned" a confused reply." Convinced at last that they wereheathens (" Zindiqs and worshippers of idols "), the Caliphordered them, under pain of death, either to embrace Islam, orto adopt "one of the religions which God Almighty hathmentioned in His Book," giving them respite for their decisiontill his return from the war. Terrified by these threats, theHarranians cut their long hair and discarded their peculiargarments, while many became Christians or Muhammadans ;but a small remnant would not forsake their own religion, andwere greatly perplexed and troubled until a Muhammadanjurist offered, for a consideration, to show them a way out oftheir difficulty. So they brought him much fine gold fromtheir treasuries, and he counselled them to call themselvesSabasans when al-Ma'mun returned to question them, since theSabaeans were mentioned in the Qur'an, yet, since little wasknown of them, the change of name would involve no changeof beliefs or customs. But al-Ma'mun returned not, for deathovertook him on that march ;and most of the Harranians whohad declared themselves Christians at once openly apostatised,and returned to their old beliefs,which their brethren whohad adopted Isldm dared not do, since apostasyispunished withdeath in the Muhammadan law. And " since that time," saysthe narrator," they have kept this name (of Sabaeans) ;forpreviously there were in Harrdn and the surrounding district nopeople who bore the name of Sabaeans."Now these pseudo-Sabasans of Harrdn, a remnant of theancient Syrian pagans of Mesopotamia, included " une elited'hommes fort instruits,un corps d'aristocrates d'esprit, qui sesont distinguesdans les sciences, et qui ont enrichi les litteratures