The Harranian Sabians
“After the Roman Empire, Hermetism, or the religious philosophy that gave rise to the Corpus Hermeticum, expanded to include alchemy and the occult sciences (divination, astrology, magic, etc.). All three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) found a place for it, though sometimes a grudging one. It entered Islam thanks to the Sabaeans of Harran, the center of an ancient copper industry now in Turkey near the Syrian border. The Sabaeans, who receive favorable mention in the Qur’an, blended star worship with Neopythagoreanism, Neoplatonism, and practical alchemy.6 Their patron divinities were Hermes and Agathodaimon, who were made respectable as the Muslim prophets Idris (= the Enoch of the Bible) and Adam’s son Seth. For a century or more Harran was also the home of a school of translators who specialized in Greek mathematics and astronomy, thus transmitting much of the Pythagorean tradition to the Muslim world. Their work was taken over in the tenth century by the Brethren of Purity of Basra (Iraq), who compiled an encyclopedia of all the arts and sciences, including theurgy and magic. This was studied by the Druses, by the sect of the Assassins, and by most Sufi schools, in which it is still read today.” - The Golden Thread The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions. Joscelyn Godwin