31 Facts About Mandaeans

Mandaeans, known as Mandaean Sabians or simply as Sabians, are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism, presently forming an ethnic minority in southern Iraq.

The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic language, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian.

The other community of Iranian Mandaeans has been dwindling as a result of religious persecution over those two decades.

In Muslim countries, Mandaeans are sometimes called Sabians, a Quranic epithet historically claimed by several religious groups.

Kevin van Bladel has argued that the Mandaeans originated in Sasanian Mesopotamia in the fifth century CE.

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Mandaeans re-emerged at the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia in c, when their leader, 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 mentioned in the Quran by the name Yahya ibn Zakariya.

Mandaeans appeared to have flourished during the early Islamic period, as attested by the voluminous expansion of Mandaic literature and canons.

Status of the Mandaeans was questioned by the Abbasid caliph al-Qahir Billah, even though they had received recognition as People of the Book.

Mandaeans suffered persecution under the Qajar rule in the 1780s.

The Mandaeans were forced to abandon their stands on the cutting of hair and forced military service, which are strictly prohibited in Mandaeaism.

The Mandaeans, who were traditionally considered as People of the Book, lost this status after the Iranian Revolution.

However, despite this, Iranian Mandaeans still maintain successful businesses and factories in areas such as Ahwaz.

The parliament came to the conclusion that Mandaeans were included in the protected status of People of the Book alongside Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians and specified that, from a legal viewpoint, there is no prohibition against Muslims associating with Mandaeans, whom the parliament identified as being the Sabians mentioned explicitly in the Quran.

Many Iraqi Mandaeans have fled the country in the face of this violence, and the Mandaean community in Iraq faces extinction.

In modern Iraq, Mandaeans have gained prominence as academics, writers, artists, poets, physicians, engineers and jewelers.

Until the Iranian Revolution, Mandaeans were mainly concentrated in the Khuzestan Province, where the community used to coexist with the local Arab population.

Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.

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.

Iraqi Mandaeans were given refugee status by the US State Department in 2007.

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.

In relation to the body–mind dualism coined by Descartes, Mandaeans consider the body, and all material, worldly things, to have come from the dark, while the soul is a product of the lightworld.

Mandaeans believe that there is a constant battle or conflict between the forces of good and evil.

Mandaeans believe in an afterlife or heaven called Alma d-Nhura.

The Mandaeans believe these malevolent rulers created demonic offspring who consider themselves the owners of the seven planets and twelve zodiac constellations.

Therefore, many Mandaeans believe the human soul is capable of salvation because it originates from the lightworld.

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Mandaeans do not perform a single baptism, as in religions such as Christianity; rather, they view baptisms as a ritual act capable of bringing the soul closer to salvation.

John the Baptist is a key figure for the Mandaeans; they consider him to have been a Nasoraean Mandaean.

The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples.

Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge.

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.

In Iran and Iraq Mandaeans lived as small and isolated ethno-religious communities.