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{{Short description|Former Jewish sect}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar|history}}
The '''Magharians''' ({{Langx|ar|Al-Maghariyyah}}, 'people of the caves')<ref name=dss>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/|isbn=978-0-19-508450-4|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls|title=Magharians|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-first=Lawrence H.|editor-last=Schiffman|editor2-first=James C.|editor2-last=VanderKam}}</ref> or '''Maghāriya''' were, according to [[Jacob Qirqisani]], a pre-[[Christianity|Christian]] and proto-[[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] sect founded in the [[1st century BC|1st century BCE]].

The group apparently earned its name because it stored its books in caves, including the writings of an individual known as "the Alexandrinian" and a later work called ''Sefer Yadu'a''. It possessed peculiar commentaries on the Bible and, in contrast to the [[Sadducees]], rejected all [[Aniconism in Judaism|anthropomorphic representations of God]]. The Magharians believed that God, being too sublime to interact with matter directly, created the world through an intermediary power—an angel who acted as God's representative (''see'' [[demiurge]] and [[Ptahil]]). The sect attributed all anthropomorphic expressions about God found in the Bible to this angel, including communications to prophets.

[[Abraham Harkavy]] and others identify the Magharians with the [[Essenes]], and the author referred to as the "Alexandrinian" with [[Philo]] (whose affinity for the Essenes is well-known), based on the following evidence:{{r|dss}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Abraham|last=Harkavy|chapter=Le-Ḳorot ha-Kittot be-Yisrael|editor-link=Heinrich Graetz|editor-first=Heinrich|editor-last=Grätz|title=Geschichte der Juden|volume=iii|page=496|language=he}}</ref>
# The sect's name, which, in his view, does not refer to its books but to its followers who lived in caves or desert areas—an established Essene lifestyle;
# The sect's founding date coinciding with that of the Essenes;
# The angelic theory aligning with Essene beliefs, as well as Philo's concept of the ''[[Philo#Logos|Logos]]'';
# Qirqisani's omission of the Essenes from his list of Jewish sects, which can be explained if he considered the Magharians to be synonymous with the Essenes.

Harkavy and others sometimes identify them with the [[Therapeutae]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=MAGHARIYYAH, AL- |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10262-maghariyyah-al |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stuckenbruck |first1=Loren T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ica_DwAAQBAJ&dq=Magh%C4%81riya&pg=PA719 |title=T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism Volume Two |last2=Gurtner |first2=Daniel M. |date=2019-12-26 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-66095-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlktAQAAMAAJ&q=Magh%C4%81riya |title=Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics |date=1957 |publisher=Scribner |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bana'im]], another minor Jewish sect
*[[Hypsistarians]]
*[[Hemerobaptists]], another minor Jewish sect

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Maghariyyah, Al-|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10262-maghariyyah-al|first1=Isidore|last1=Singer|first2=Isaac|last2=Broydé|volume=8|page=254–255}}

[[Category:1st-century BCE Judaism]]
[[Category:Cave dwellings]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic groups]]
[[Category:Jewish asceticism]]
[[Category:Judaism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Messianism]]
[[Category:Mandaeism]]
[[Category:Mandaeans]]
[[Category:Israelites]]
[[Category:Extinct Jewish sects]]

{{Gnosticism-stub}}
{{jewish-hist-stub}}

Magarites - Revision history

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