ABSTRACT
We saw above (I, 2) that the Sabians of Ḥarrān traced their descent back to Hermes and to Agathodairnon. Thabit ibn Qurrah (d. 288/901), their most famous teacher, had written a book in Syriac on the 'Institutions of Hermes' and had hemself translated it into Arabic. For the Manichaeans, Hermes was one of the five great prophets who preceded Mānī. The person of Hermes passed from Manichaean prophetology into Islamic prophetology, in which he is identified with Idrīs and Enoch (Ukhnukh).
