Aren't you thinking of "people of the book", i.e. christians and jews?
When it comes to Ahl al-Kitab (or Ahlul Kitab), opinions pretty mich differ as to what they are, exactly.

Christians and Jews and Zoroastrians are named in the Qu'ran, as well as the somewhat obscure "sabeans". Interestingly enough, there was an entirely different group called the "Sabians" who lived near Aleppo, and who were to be either relocated or converted to Islam, as they were not Ahl al-Kitab. However, several of their leaders read the Qu'ran and noticed the reference to the "Sabeans", who were actually living in southern Arabia, but they managed to convince Al-Mamun (who had given them an ultimatum) that the Qu'ran actually referenced to them. Al-Mamun accepted this and invited their scholars and astronomers to Baghdad to work in the House of Wisdom.

To what extent the Ahl al-Kitab goes isn't really clear though; there are a lot of different opinions on this, with the fundamentalist side going "well, Christians are idolators and as such will burn in the fiery pits of hell", while the more moderate and liberal clerics would say "well, anyone that follows a moral code is Ahl al-Kitab and should be respected."


On this subject, Gandhi, according to Islam, is probably in heaven.