Sabian Mandaeans are an ancient ethnoreligious minority who claim ancestry to John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.  Mandaean communities still exist in limited numbers in the border territories of southern Iraq and Iran.  They speak a version of Aramaic known as Mandaic.  Neither Christianity, Islam, Judaism nor Zoroasterism, the Mandaean religion contains a variety of ancient elements that attest to the group’s antiquity.  Their faith is a proto-religion that asserts that they descended from Adam – who they consider to be the first to receive Mandaean religious instructions. 

Family is held to be of the highest importance in Mandaean life.[1]

The term ‘Mughasilah’ is first seen in the writings of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq Ibn Al-Nadim.  Ibn al-Nadim wrote about a baptizing sect that he calls Sabat al-bata’ih (Sabians of the Marshes).[2] He also calls them informally al- Mughasilah: “the Baptists” or “ones who wash themselves.”  The Mandaeans resided in the marshy area of the lower plains of Babylonia and continue to live predominately in and around Shat al-Arab and the rivers that converge on it.  As is the case with Christians and Jews, Islamic teaching grants Mandeans “dhimmi” status and classification as a “protected” sect.  Traditionally, when a Mandaean family converts to another religion, they are no longer considered Mandaean, even if ethnic identity is not abandoned.

Demography         

At present, there are thought to be around 70,000 Mandaeans.  Due to continuous forced conversions and violence, the Mandaean numbers have greatly declined.  Since the first Gulf War, thousands of Mandaeans have left Iraq and Iran due to oppression and discrimination.[3] 

Geographic Distribution

The group’s ancestry can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia.[4]  Until recently, the much of the Iraqi population could be found in Baghdad, Umara, and Basra, with fewer in Nasiriya and Ahwaz).  However, with instability on the rise of late, 80 percent of Mandaeans living in Iraq have fled to Syria or Jordan.[5]  Recent estimates indicate that Syria is home to 1,700 families, and Jordan 650 families.  Yemen, meanwhile, reportedly is home to 50 individual Mandaean refugees.  Outside of the Middle East, Mandaeans can be found in Europe (15,000 individuals), the United States (1,500 individuals), Canada (1,000 individuals), Australia (4,000 individuals) and Indonesia (20 individuals). [6]

Historic Hardship

As early as the 3rd century C.E., Mandaeans were discriminated against on the basis of their ethnic and religious identity.  In 224, the Mandaeans were persecuted by the Sassanians, the group that defeated the Parthians.   

As a small minority, the group has been regularly oppressed over the centuries, with five documented massacres or ‘pogroms’ against them:  14th century in Umara by Sultan Muhsin Ben Mahdi; 1782 in southern Iran and eastern Iraq during a Muslim conquest; 1837 in Muhamra; and 1870 in Shuster by the ruler of Iran, Nassir Al-Deen Shah.[7]

Ongoing Hardship

While instances of persecution have had a damaging effect on the well-being and cultural sustainability of the Mandaean people, never has this group come so close to extinction as in the ongoing crisis in Iraq.  Iraqi Chaldo-Assyrians and Sabian Mandaeans represent approximately 40 percent of the refugees who have fled Iraq over the past three years, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), although they constitute less than 3 percent of the Iraqi population.[8]  Additionally, since the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime, discrimination against Mandaeans has continued.  Kidnappings, forced conversions, confiscation of property and displacement threaten the remaining members of the group, both in Iraq and in the neighboring nations where they are seeking asylum.  Political solutions have also proven to be ineffective in protecting the Mandaeans.  Appeals to Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States have yielded no results with respect to either relocation to northern Iraq or expanded opportunities for asylum in the U.S. [9]  While 80 percent of Mandaeans have been forced to leave Iraq, discrimination in Syria and Jordan continues for this at-risk group.  Although they have survived historical persecution, many fear that the current crisis will result in the vanishing of this ancient people.

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