The earliest source to unambiguously apply the term 'Sabian' to the Mandaeans was al-Hasan ibn Bahlul () citing the Abbasid vizier Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Muqla (–940). However, it is not clear whether the Mandaeans of this period identified themselves as Sabians or whether the claim originated with Ibn Muqla. Some modern scholars have identified the Sabians mentioned in the Quran as Mandaeans, although many other possible identifications have been proposed. Some scholars believe it is impossible to establish their original identity with any degree of certainty. Mandaeans continue to be called Sabians to this day. Nasoraeans The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower and James F. McGrath connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot.Lidzbarski, Mark, Ginza, der Schatz, oder das Grosse Buch der Mandaer, Leipzig, 1925 Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans. Relations with other groups Elkesaites The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai. The Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans." Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following: Essenes The Essenes were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE. Early Mandaean religious concepts and terminologies recur in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Yardena (Jordan) has been the name of every baptismal water in Mandaeism. One of the names for the Mandaean God Hayyi Rabbi, Mara d-Rabuta (Lord of Greatness) is found in the Genesis Apocryphon II, 4. An early Mandaean self-appellation is bhiri zidqa meaning 'elect of righteousness' or 'the chosen righteous', a term found in the Book of Enoch and Genesis Apocryphon II, 4. As Nasoraeans, Mandaeans believe that they constitute the true congregation of bnai