Mandaeism (Classical Mandaic: ), sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion with Greek, Iranian, and Jewish influences. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, and John the Baptist to be prophets, with Adam being the founder of the religion and John being the greatest and final prophet.
The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within West Asia, but outside their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ), or as Sabians (, ). The term is derived from an Aramaic root related to baptism. The term Sabians derives from the mysterious religious group mentioned three times in the Quran. The name of this unidentified group, which is implied in the Quran to belong to the "People of the Book" (), was historically claimed by the Mandaeans as well as by several other religious groups in order to pay legal protection () as offered by Islamic law.; . Occasionally, Mandaeans are also called "Christians of Saint John", in the belief that they were a direct survival of the Baptist's disciples. Further research, however, indicates this to be a misnomer, as Mandaeans consider Jesus to be a false prophet.
The core doctrine of the faith is known as (also spelled and meaning Nasoraean gnosis or divine wisdom) (Nasoraeanism or Nazorenism) with the adherents called (Nasoraeans or Nazorenes). These Nasoraeans are divided into (priesthood) and (laity), the latter derived from their term for knowledge manda. Manda is also the source for the term Mandaeism which encompasses their entire culture, rituals, beliefs and faith associated with the doctrine of . Followers of Mandaeism are called Mandaeans, but can also be called Nasoraeans (Nazorenes), Gnostics (utilizing the Greek word gnosis for knowledge) or Sabians.
The religion has primarily been practiced around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan province in Iran. , there are believed to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology The English spelling Mandaeism is a hypercorrection of Mandaism, which is built on manda using the suffix
The word Mandaean in turn derives from Mandaic , (in Neo-Mandaic: or , plural ), which also derives from the word . On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macúch have translated the term as "knowledge" ( in Daniel 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; , with characteristic assimilation of to the following consonant, medial hence becoming This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from late antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Origins According to the Mandaean text which recounts their early history, the Haran Gawaita (the Scroll of Great Revelation) which was authored between the 4th and 6th centuries, the Nasoraean Mandaeans who were disciples of John the Baptist left Jerusalem and migrated to Media in the first century CE, reportedly due to persecution. The emigrants first went to Haran (possibly Harran in modern-day Turkey) or Hauran, and then to the Median hills in Iran before finally settling in southern Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). According to Richard Horsley, 'inner Hawran' is most likely Wadi Hauran in present-day Syria which the Nabataeans controlled. Earlier, the Nabataeans were at war with Herod Antipas, who had been sharply condemned by the prophet John, eventually executing him, and were thus positively predisposed toward a group loyal to John. The account of the Haran Gawaita is partially repeated in chapter 15 of the Right Ginza, whilst the presence of Nasoraean Mandaeans in Jerusalem is also recounted in the Qulasta, and Draša d-Yahya (Mandaean Book of John).
Many scholars who specialize in Mandaeism, including Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, agree with the historical account. Others, however, argue for a southwestern Mesopotamian origin of the group. Some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates back to pre-Christian times. Mandaeans claim that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and believe that they are the direct descendants of Shem, Noah's son. They also believe that they are the direct descendants of John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
History
During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection, however, did not last with the Sasanian emperor Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir, who persecuted all non-Zoroastrians.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia in , the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush bar Danqa, is said to have appeared before the Muslim authorities, showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya ibn Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans as among the (People of the Book). Hence, Mandaeism was recognized as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. However, this account is likely apocryphal: since it mentions that Anush bar Danqa traveled to Baghdad, it must have occurred after the founding of Baghdad in 762, if it took place at all.
Nevertheless, at some point the Mandaeans were identified as the Sabians mentioned along with the Jews, the Christians and the Zoroastrians in the Quran as People of the Book.. The earliest source to unambiguously do so was Ḥasan bar Bahlul () citing the Abbasid vizier ibn Muqla (–940),; on the identification of al-Hasan ibn Bahlul's source (named merely "Abu Ali") as Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Muqla, see p. 58. though it is not clear whether the Mandaeans of this period already identified themselves as Sabians or whether the claim originated with Ibn Muqla.. On Ibn Muqla's possible motivations for applying the Quranic epithet to the Mandaeans rather than to the Harranian pagans (who were more commonly identified as 'Sabians' in the Baghdad of his time), see p. 66. Mandaeans continue to be called Sabians to this day.
Around 1290, the Catholic Dominican friar Riccoldo da Monte di Croce, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans and is possibly the first European source on the religion. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th and 17th centuries, based on reports from missionaries such as Ignatius of Jesus. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman army in Bahrain.
Beliefs Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
According to Brikha Nasoraia:
Principal beliefs Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is, therefore, necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe. Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light. Immortality of the soul: the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects: A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape. Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form. As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta). The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive, his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns. Planets and stars influence fate and human beings and are also the places of detention after death. A savior spirit or savior spirits that assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'. A cult language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified. 'Mysteries,' i.e., sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest. Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition, with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).