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Chapter VI

The “Sibghatullah”, or the Baptism with the Holy
Spirit and with fire

One of the few religious phenomena I have not
been able to explain is this: How is it that the well-
known Saba’ites (Sabians), so predominant in the
Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, did not embrace
Christianity if the Prophet John the Baptist (pbuh) had
really and openly. Declared and presented Jesus (pbuh)
as the “more powerful” Prophet than himself, and the
Messiah whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose? If,
as foretold by John, Jesus was the Apostle of Allah who
came to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire the
myriads whom he “dyed” in the water of the Jordan and
elsewhere, why did not Jesus (pbuh) baptize them instantly
with the Spirit and with fire and then purge of idolatry
all the lands promised by Allah to the seed of Abraham
(pbuh) and establish the Kingdom of God by force and fire?
It is inconceivable that the disciples and the believers
in the divine mission of John (pbuh) should not follow
Jesus (pbuh) if he had been presented to the public as his
Lord or Superior on the spot. The followers of John (pbuh)
might have been excused for their refusal to enter into
the Christian Church of Jesus Christ (pbuh) had come,
say, a century later than the Baptist, but luckily, such
was not the case. They were both contemporaries and
born in the same year. They both baptized with water
unto repentance, and prepared their penitent converts
for the Kingdom of God that was approaching but not
established in their time.

The Saba’ites, the “Dyers” or “Baptists,” were the
faithful adherents of John (pbuh) . They may have fallen into
error and superstition; but they knew perfectly well that it
was not Jesus (pbuh) who was intended in the prophecy of