Mandaeans

Mandaeans (Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) ( ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet.

They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practise baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives.

Today, there are estimated to be 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide.

Etymology

The name "Mandaean" comes from the Mandaic word manda, meaning "to have knowledge".

In Muslim countries, Mandaeans are sometimes also called Sabians ( ), a Quranic epithet historically claimed by several religious groups (see also below). The etymology of the Arabic word is disputed. According to one interpretation, it is the active participle of the Arabic root -- ('to turn to'), meaning 'converts'. Another widely cited hypothesis is that it is derived from an Aramaic root meaning 'to baptize'.

History

left|thumb|The [[Genesis Apocryphon, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls]]

Origin

According to a theory first proposed by Ignatius of Jesus in the 17th century, the Mandaeans originated in Judea and later migrated east to the Mesopotamian Marshes. This theory was gradually abandoned, but was revived in the early 20th century through the first translation of Mandaean texts, which Biblical scholars like Rudolf Bultmann believed capable of shedding new light on the development of early Christianity. According to Carlos Gelbert, Mandaeans formed a vibrant community in Edessa in late antiquity. Brikha Nasoraia, a Mandaean priest and scholar, accepts a two-origin theory in which he considers the contemporary Mandaeans to have descended from both a line of Mandaeans who had originated from the Jordan Valley, as well as another group of Mandaeans (or Gnostics) who were indigenous to southern Mesopotamia. Thus, the historical merging of the two groups gave rise to the Mandaeans of today. Another early self-appellation is bhiria 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 bnia nhura, meaning 'Sons of Light', a term used by the Essenes. The bit manda (beth manda) is described as biniana rba ḏ-šrara ("the Great building of Truth") and bit tušlima ("house of Perfection") in Mandaean texts such as the Qulasta, Ginza Rabba, and the Mandaean Book of John. The only known literary parallels are in Essene texts from Qumran such as the Community Rule, which has similar phrases such as the "house of Perfection and Truth in Israel" (Community Rule 1QS VIII 9) and "house of Truth in Israel."

left|thumb|The [[Damascus Document, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls]]

The Mandaic language, is a Southeastern Aramaic dialect, notable for its abundant use of vowel letters in writing (Mandaic alphabet) and the amount of Iranian and Akkadian language influence on its lexicon, especially in the area of religious and mystical terminology. Mandaic is influenced by Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, in addition to Akkadian and Parthian.

A priest holds the title of Rabbi and a place of worship is called a Mashkhanna. According to Mandaean sources such as the Haran Gawaita, the Nasuraiia inhabited the areas around Jerusalem and the River Jordan in the 1st century CE. According to Mandaean scripture, the Mandaeans descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia

thumb|[[Jordan River]]

Gerard Russell quotes Rishama Sattar Jabbar Hilo, "Ours is the oldest religion in the world. It dates back to Adam." Russell adds, "He [Rishama Sattar Jabbar Hilo] traced its history back to Babylon, though he said it might have some connection to the Jews of Jerusalem." The Mandaean Synod of Australia led by Rishama Salah Choheili states:

Parthian and Sasanian period

thumb|[[Kartir's inscription at Ka'ba-ye Zartosht claimed that he "struck down" the non-Zoroastrian minorities, such as the Mandaeans]]

A number of ancient Aramaic inscriptions dating back to the 2nd century CE were uncovered in Elymais. Although the letters appear quite similar to the Mandaean ones, it is impossible to know whether the inhabitants of Elymais were Mandaeans. Rudolf Macúch believes Mandaean letters predate Elymaic ones. though most scholars believe they were adherents of the pagan astral religion of Harran.

Early modern period

Early contact with Europeans came about in the mid-16th century, when Portuguese missionaries encountered Mandaeans in Southern Iraq and controversially designated them "Christians of St. John". In the next centuries Europeans became more acquainted with the Mandaeans and their religion.

Mandeans, who mostly lived in rural parts of Maysan Governorate, migrated to large cities such as Baghdad and Basra.

In Iraq, Mandaeans were renowned goldsmiths and silversmiths, particularly in Baghdad, where they operated shops in Al-Nahr Street, Shorjah, Qishla, Rusafa, Al-Karimat, Al-Azramli, and Al-Fahhama on the Al-Karkh side. Many Mandaeans also held prominent positions in the government. Many members of the Mandaean community, who were known as goldsmiths, were targeted by criminal gangs for ransoms. In 2009, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwā recognizing the Mandaeans as People of the Book.<gallery widths="200" heights="160" mode="packed">

File:مندى ديانة الصابئة المندائية في بغداد 01.jpg|link=|Mandaean Mandi of Baghdad

File:مندى ديانة الصابئة المندائية في بغداد 23.jpg|link=|Door entrance to the Mandi, written in Classical Mandaic and Arabic

File:مندى ديانة الصابئة المندائية في بغداد 04.jpg|Mandaean Drabsha

</gallery>

Population

Iraqi Mandaeans

:Further information (in Arabic): Mandaeans in Iraq

thumb|A Mandean child being baptised (masbuta) on the Karun River, Iran– May 19, 2021

Prior to the Iraq War, the Iraqi Mandaean community was centered in southern Iraq in cities such as Nasiriyah, Amarah, Qal'at Saleh, Wasit,). Historically, Mandaean quarters had also existed in southern Iraqi towns such as Qurna and Suq al-Shuyukh.left|thumb|Baptism ([[masbuta) gathering next to the Karun River, Iran- May 19, 2021]] Many also live across the border in Southwestern Iran in the cities of Ahvaz and Khorramshahr. Mandaean emigration from Iraq began during Saddam Hussein's rule, but accelerated greatly after the American-led invasion and subsequent occupation. Since the invasion Mandaeans, like other Iraqi ethno-religious minorities (such as Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidi, Roma and Shabaks), have been subjected to violence, including murders, kidnappings, rapes, evictions, and forced conversions. Mandaeans, like many other Iraqis, have also been targeted for kidnapping since many worked as goldsmiths. During the 20th century in Iraq, most Mandaeans lived in large towns and cities, although a minority also lived in rural villages in the marshlands of southern Iraq.

Many Iraqi Mandaeans have fled the country in the face of this violence, and the Mandaean community in Iraq faces extinction. Out of the over 60,000 Mandaeans in Iraq in the early 1990s, fewer than 5,000 to 10,000 remain there as of 2007. In early 2007, more than 80% of Iraqi Mandaeans were refugees in Syria and Jordan as a result of the Iraq War. In 2019, an Al-Monitor study estimated the Iraqi Mandaean population to be 3,000, 400 of which lived in the Erbil Governorate, which is 5% or less than the pre-Iraq war Mandaean population.

Mandaeans in the past were renowned silver and gold smiths, blacksmiths and boatbuilders, even before the Abbasid Caliphate when they gained fame as intellectuals in the cultural and scientific fields. In modern Iraq, Mandaeans have gained prominence as academics, writers, artists, poets, physicians, engineers and jewelers.

Abdul Razzak Abdul Wahid (1930–2015), poet.
Nouman Abid Al-Jader (1916–1991), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) graduate (1950); acting dean of the College of Science – University of Baghdad; chair of mathematics at the University of Baghdad; co-founded the Iraqi Physics and Mathematics Society.
Abdul Athem Alsabti (1945–), supernova astrophysicist who introduced astronomy teaching into Iraq in 1970; University of Manchester graduate (1970); minor planet 10478 Alsabti named after him; president of the British Mandaean Council; founded the Iraqi Astronomical Society and Carl Zeiss Planetarium, Baghdad; project leader for the Iraqi National Astronomical Observatory.
Siham Alsabti (1942–), actress.
Lamia Abbas Amara (1929–2021), poet and pioneer of modern Arabic poetry. She was the niece of Ganzibra Dakheel Edan.
Zahroun Amara, world renowned niello silversmith. People that are known to have owned his silver nielloware include Stanley Maude, Winston Churchill, the Bahraini royal family, Egyptian King Farouk, the Iraqi royal family (including kings Faisal I and Ghazi), and the British royal family including the Prince of Wales who became Edward VIII.
Ganzibra Dakheel Edan (1881–1964), patriarch and international head of the Mandaeans from 1917, until his death in 1964.
Rishama Abdullah bar Negm (early 1900s–2009), patriarch and head of the Mandaeans in Iraq during the late 1900s.
Rishama Sattar Jabbar Hilo, current patriarch and head of the Mandaeans in Iraq.
Najiya Murrani (1919–2011), author, poet.
Aziz Sbahi, secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party; writer.
Zaidoon Treeko (1961–), Oud player, composer, and poet.
Makki Al-Badri (1926–2014), actor.
Jalal Shaker, footballer.

Iranian Mandaeans

thumb|[[Mīnākārī on gold, an ancient art of Mandaeans, Ahvaz, Iran|left]]

The number of Iranian Mandaeans is a matter of dispute. In 2009, there were an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Mandaeans in Iran, according to the Associated Press. After the fall of the shah, its members faced increased religious discrimination, and many emigrated to Europe and the Americas.

In Iran, the Gozinesh Law (passed in 1985) has the effect of prohibiting Mandaeans from fully participating in civil life. This law and other gozinesh provisions make access to employment, education, and a range of other areas conditional upon a rigorous ideological screening, the principal prerequisite for which is devotion to the tenets of Islam. These laws are regularly applied to discriminate against religious and ethnic groups that are not officially recognized, such as the Mandaeans, Yarsanis and Baháʼís.

In 2002, the US State Department granted Iranian Mandaeans protective refugee status. Since then, roughly 1,000 have emigrated to the US, On the other hand, the Mandaean community in Iran has increased over the last decade because of the exodus from Iraq of the main Mandaean community, which used to be 50,000–70,000 strong.

Notable Iranian Mandaeans

Ganzibra Jabbar Choheili (1923–2014), head of the Mandaean community in Iran until his death in 2014.
Rishama Salah Choheili, the current patriarch and head of the Mandaean community in Australia

Other Middle Eastern Mandaeans

Following the Iraq War, the Mandaean community dispersed mostly throughout Jordan, Syria, and Iran. Mandaeans in Jordan number about 2,500 (2018) and in Syria there are about 1,000 remaining (2015). the US (c. 4,000–7,000), France,

Australia

The Sydney metropolitan area in Australia has one of the largest Mandaean diaspora communities in the world. and Liverpool. In Liverpool, the main mandi (Beth Manda) is Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi. The Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia has purchased land by the banks of the Nepean River at Wallacia, New South Wales in order to build a new mandi.

Sweden

Sweden became a popular destination because a Mandaean community existed there before the war and the Swedish government has a liberal asylum policy toward Iraqis. There are between 10,000 and 20,000 Mandaeans in Sweden (2019).

United States

In the United States, Mandaean communities are centered in San Antonio (c. 2,500), New York City, San Diego, Worcester, Massachusetts (c. 2,500), Chicago, and other major metropolitan areas. There is a mandi in Detroit.

The status of the Mandaeans has prompted a number of American intellectuals and civil rights activists to call upon the US government to extend refugee status to the community. In 2007, The New York Times ran an op-ed piece in which Swarthmore professor Nathaniel Deutsch called for the Bush administration to take immediate action to preserve the community. Iraqi Mandaeans were given refugee status by the US State Department in 2007. Since then, more than 2500 have entered the US, many settling in Worcester, Massachusetts. About 2,600 Mandaeans from Iran have been settled in Texas since the Iraq War.

Religion

thumb|270x270px|Mandaean [[Drabsha, symbol of the Mandaean faith]]

Mandaeans are a closed ethno-religious community, practicing Mandaeism, which is a monotheistic, Gnostic, and ethnic religion (Aramaic manda means "knowledge," and is conceptually related to the Greek term gnosis.) Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with Adam the founder of the religion and John being the greatest and final prophet.

The Mandaeans group existence into two main categories: light and darkness.

left|thumb|Inside [[Sabian–Mandaean Mandi of Baghdad|Mandaean Mandi of Baghdad]]

In Mandaeism, the World of Light is ruled by a Supreme God, known as Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). God is so great, vast, and incomprehensible that no words can fully depict how awesome God is. It is believed that an innumerable number of uthras (angels or guardians), Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, a thesis which has been criticized by James F. McGrath. Al-Zuhairy (1998) believes that the roots of Mandaeism lies in Mesopotamia, inherited from the Sumerians, and the present form of Mandaeism likely emerged in Mesopotamia in the 3rd century BCE.

The Mandaean author Aziz Sbahi in his book, The Origins of Sabians and their Religious Beliefs, traced the Mandaeans to the Babylonian Era. Sbahi, who is known more as a secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party, acknowledges that Mandaeism may have been affected by religions in Mesopotamia and the Dead Sea region. Sbahi believes that Mandaeism originated in surroundings that had Hellenic, Babylonian, Gnostic and Judaic influence. However, due to Sbahi's lack of knowledge of the Mandaic language, he read only secondary sources on the Mandaeans. Brikha Nasoraia, a Mandaean priest and scholar, believes in a two-origin theory in which he considers the contemporary Mandaeans to have descended from both proto-Mandaeans originating in the Jordan valley as well as another group of Mandaeans (or Gnostics) indigenous to southern Mesopotamia. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Jewish Aramaic, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Israelite history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, Gilles Quispel, and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy" and adds "heterodox Judaism in Galilee and Samaria appears to have taken shape in the form we now call gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era." Barbara Thiering questions the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness (leader of the Essenes) was John the Baptist. Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins These religious groups, which included the Mandaeans but also various pagan groups in Harran (Upper Mesopotamia) and the marshlands of southern Iraq, claimed the name in order to be recognized by the Muslim authorities as a people of the book deserving of legal protection (). 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 already 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.

Language

Neo-Mandaic is the contemporary language spoken by some Mandaeans, while Classical Mandaic is the liturgical language of Mandaeism. However, most Mandaeans currently do not speak conversational Neo-Mandaic in everyday life, but rather the languages of their host countries, such as Arabic, Farsi, or English.

Etymology

History

Origin

Parthian and Sasanian period

Early modern period

Population

Iraqi Mandaeans

Iranian Mandaeans

Notable Iranian Mandaeans

Other Middle Eastern Mandaeans

Australia

Sweden

United States

Religion

Nasoraeans

Language

Genetics

See also

Notes

References

Works cited

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources

External links