المعنى الاصطلاحي :

A sect of disbelievers who worship the angels and planets/stars. It is also said that they are from the People of the Book.

الشرح المختصر :

"As-Sābi’ah" (the Sabians): The scholars held different opinions regarding the true identity of the "Sābi’ah": 1. They were people who embraced the religion of Nūh (Noah), peace be upon him. 2. They are one type of Christians. 3. They are people whose religion combined Judaism and Zoroastrianism. 4. They are between the Jews and the Christians. 5. They are people who worship the angels, pray while facing the "qiblah" (direction of the Ka‘bah), recite the Psalms, and perform the five prayers. 6. They are people who used to say: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", but they had no deeds, no book, and no prophet. 7. The Sabians are two distinct sects that share only the name: A. The Harranian Sabians: They existed before the Christians, during the time of Ibrāhim (Abraham), peace be upon him. They used to worship the seven planets, believe in their influence, and claim that the orbit is a speaking living being.B. A group of the People of the Book who resemble the Christians but differ with them in many aspects of their religion. The Christians call them "Yoohānisiyyah". Ibn Taymiyyah added a third group of people who lived before the Torah and the Bible and were monotheists. Those were the people whom Allah, the Almighty, praised in the verse wherein He said: {Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.} [Al-Baqarah: 62]

التعريف اللغوي المختصر :

"Sābi’ah" (sing. sābi): someone who left one religion for another religion. Original meaning: emersion, projection. It then became the name and title for a certain sect of disbelievers.