In that book he has attributed many ridiculous things to this Harân.

In that book he has attributed many ridiculous things to this Harân. For example, he describes the Sabaeans' belief about Ibrâhîm (a.s.) in these words: “Ibrâhîm (a.s.) was removed from their community because a white spot had appeared on his foreskin, and the Sabaeans believed that a person having a white spot was unclean, and avoided mixing with such person. To remove that defect, Ibrâhîm cut his. foreskin, i.e. circumcised himself. Then he entered one of the temples; and lo!

an idol called out to him: "O Ibrâhîm! you went away from us with one defect and came back with two; get out and do not ever come back to us." Ibrâhîm was enraged; he smashed the idols; and went out. After some time, he felt remorse for what he had done, and decided to sacrifice his son on the altar of Jupiter, as it was their custom to kill their children to please the deities.

When Jupiter was convinced of the sincerity of his repentance, it sent a lamb to him to slaughter in place of his son.” " ‘Abdu '1-Masîh ibn Ishâq al-Kindî wrote a book in reply of a book by ‘Abdullah ibn Ismâ'îl al-Hâshimî. In that book `Abdu '1-Masîh writes about the Sabaeans: "’It is generally believed that they indulge in human sacrifice, although nowadays they cannot do so openly.

But so far as our own information goes, they are monotheists who believe that God is free from every defect and evil, they describe God in negative, not positive, terms; for example, they say: Allâh can­not be defined or seen, He is not unjust or oppressive. According to them, the beautiful divine names may be used for God, but only in an allegorical sense, because no divine attribute can truly describe the reality.

They believe that the management of all affairs is done and controlled by the sky and the heavenly bodies; the sky and those bodies are living things having the characteristics of speech, hearing and sight. They revere the light and the lumin­aries. One of their legacies is the dome above the niche in the Umayyid mosque of Damascus; it was their prayer house, and at that time even the Greeks and the Romans followed the same religion.

Then it came under Jewish control and they turned it into a synagogue. Later, the Christians took it over and converted it into a church. Then came the Muslims, and they changed it into a mosque.