The Magharians (Arabic: Al-Maghariyyah, 'people of the caves')[1] or Maghāriya were, according to Jacob Qirqisani, a Jewish sect founded in the 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 anthropomorphic representations of God.
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:[1][2] Harkavy and others sometimes identify them with the Therapeutae.