Now what Mohammed Aš-Šahrastani really means by the Ṣabians of the Koran, I am unable to state. In his general discussion of Ṣabianism however (vol. 2, pp. 201-250), he seems to speak of two main Ṣabian sects. He refers to one together with the ancient philosophers; and declares that the Ṣabians followed rational ordinances and judgments which originally they may have derived from some prophetic authority, but that they denied all prophecy. The philosophers followed their own devices and took their system from no prophetic source. The authority we are quoting calls this sect “the original Ṣabian sect,” and says that it followed Seth and Enoch. In another place (vol. 1, p. 24) he writes, “The Jews and the Christians follow a revealed Book; the Magians and the Manichæans, a like Book; the original Ṣabian sect, ordinances and judgments, but accepts no Book; the original philosophers, the atheists, the star-worshippers, the idol-worshippers, and the Brahmans believe in none of these.” The other main Ṣabian sect is mentioned together with the Jews, the Christians, and the Moslems. The difference between these religious bodies, according to Aš-Šahrastani, is that “the Ṣabians do not follow the Law (of God) or Islam; the Christians and the Jews believe in these, but do not accept the Law (religion) of Mohammed; while the Moslems believe in them all. Aš-Šahrastani, moreover, derives the name Ṣabian (p. 203) from a root meaning one who turns aside, deviates; and declares that the Ṣabians were those who turned aside from the statutes of God, and deviated from the path of the prophets. He seems to regard the notion that man is incapable of approaching God, and that therefore he is in constant need of intercessors and mediators, as a controlling idea in Ṣabianism. This belief, the writer points out, has manifested itself in three different forms: in the veneration of angels among what he calls the followers of angels; the adoration of stars among the followers of stars; and in the worship of idols among the followers of idols, heathens (pp. 203, 244). The last two, we are told, are polytheists, and referred to in the Koranic statement: (“When Abraham said to his father, Azar, ‘Dost thou take idols for gods?’—Surah 6, 74. Said he—Abraham—‘Do ye serve what ye hew out?’—Surah 37, 93. When he—Abraham—said to his father, ‘Oh my sir! why dost thou worship what can neither hear nor see nor avail thee aught?’—Surah 19, 43.”) And in the following references: (“And when the night overshadowed him he saw a star and said, ‘This is my Lord.’ And when he saw the moon beginning to rise he said, ‘This is my Lord.’ And when he saw the sun beginning to rise he said, ‘This is my Lord, this is greatest of all.’”)—Surah 6, 76, 77, 78.