Always a Stranger – The Future of the Mandaean Community in

the “New Iraq.”

Shane E. Hensinger
Politics of the Middle East
Professor Simon Davis
New York University
 Table of Contents

Mandaean Beginnings..............................................................................................3
Early life in Mandaean communities ......................................................................4
Arab Nationalism, Baathism and the Mandaeans....................................................4
The Iran-Iraq War and Mandaeans in Iran...............................................................6
Mandaeans from Gulf War I to Gulf War II.............................................................7
The Mandaean Community in the “New Iraq.”.......................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................10
Works Cited............................................................................................................12

Abstract

The Mandaean community in Iraq has survived for over 2,000 years by
maintaining a strong sense of cohesiveness rooted in the waters of the rivers
Tigris and Euphrates and the marshes and rivers of Southern Iraq. Mandaeans
have weathered invasions by Muslims, Mongols, Persians and Turks and through
persistence and ingenuity have kept their small community together. In the face of
overwhelming numerical superiority by Sunni and Shiite Muslims they have
proven resilient, following the commands of their faith to use knowledge,
dialogue and escape as the main weapons of self-defense.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 by coalition forces led by the Americans and the
British was welcomed by the Mandaean community who thought they would
benefit from the promises of tolerance and democracy made by the political
leaders of the invading armies. Mandaeans are a pacifist people, strictly forbidden
by their religion from carrying weapons. The chaos and violence unleashed by the
invasion has decimated their community – ordinary Mandaeans, their leaders and
lay people have all been targets for assassination, kidnapping, forced conversion,
torture, rape, expulsion and other forms of violence. Their temples have been
targeted for destruction and their numbers have been reduced from an estimated
50,000 - 60,000 before the invasion to an estimated 2,500 - 5,000 today.

This is the story of an ancient people in an ancient land who have found
themselves thrust into the geopolitical maelstrom created by forces beyond their
control. This project is the narrative of their attempts to find a place in the “new
Iraq” amid the dawning realization that to save themselves and their religious and
cultural identity the Mandaeans may have to abandon the land of their forefathers,
the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates or what today is referred to as
“Iraq.”

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Mandaean Beginnings
The Mandaean religion is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world.
Commonly (and mistakenly) referred to as “The Last Gnostics” Mandaeans are
followers of John the Baptist and are completely independent of Judaism,
Christianity or Islam. They consider themselves the true children of Adam, the
first man and in particular the direct descendants of Shem, son of Noah. In Arabic
the Mandaean community are sometimes called “Sabeans” (sābi ūn) and are
thought by some to be the group referred to in the Qur’an as protected (Ahl al-
Kitāb) “people of the book” along with Christians and Jews (Lupieri 3).
Mandaeans have traditionally spoken a dialect of Aramaic but the pressures of
cultural homogenization have led to a decline in the number of native speakers
and the majority of Mandaeans now speak only Arabic or in Iran – Farsi.

As are the beginnings of most religions early Mandaean history is shrouded in

mystery, but it is thought Mandaeans came to Iraq and Iran within 30 years of the
crucifixion of Jesus. Mandaeans view both Christians and Jews as unclean and
because they do not practice circumcision are particularly appalled by that
particular Jewish custom. They also are opposed to celibacy for priests and in
their ancient texts compare Christianity to “a dried up river” (Lupieri 252)

Mandaeans require free flowing water (Iardna) for their religious purposes and so
historically they have settled near rivers, springs and streams. In Mesopotamia
and the Persian Empire the locations of the Tigris and Euphrates and Karun rivers
and in particular the delta of the Tigris and the Euphrates proved hospitable to the
Mandaeans.

The water Mandaeans use for consumption and for baptism cannot be “broken”,
meaning it cannot be piped or taken from its original free-flowing source such as
a river or a spring. Mandaean services mandate full-immersion baptism at least
once a week and more often when “polluted.” Examples of pollution are many
and include eating meat that hasn’t been prepared in the Mandaean-ritual fashion
or having any contact with a woman who is menstruating (Weinberger).

In Iraq and Iran the Mandaeans developed the historical trades they would carry
forward into the modern age – goldsmiths, blackmiths, carpenters, jewelers and in
the modern era proprietors of liquor stores, physicians and pharmacists (Saidi,
Int). They developed their own tight-knit communities in Southern Mesopotamia,
Baghdad and as far north as Mosul (Lupieri 7). In the Persian empire Mandaeans
settled primarily in the ethnic-Arab province of Arabistan (Khuzestan).

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Early life in Mandaean communities
As insular a community as the Mandaeans are they have always been under threat
by the larger cultures which surround them. Due to their pacifist leanings they
have not had the protection of established militias of which other groups in
Mesopotamia or Persia have traditionally availed themselves. Thus they were easy
targets for pillage and conversion from the Muslims whom they abhor.
Mandaeans were the victims of several massacres carried out by Muslim forces in
various parts of Iran and Iraq in 1782, 1837, 1839 and 1870. The enmity between
Mandaeans and Muslims is spoken of in the Mandaean holy texts, which speak of
Mohammed (Mhamat) in this manner:

After that I explain to you, perfect and faithful: After all the
prophets a prophet will rise up from the earth. The Arab prophet
comes and rules over all the peoples. Thus wretchedness is great in
the world dominion the world will be in confusion. After the Arab
Mhamat, son of Bizbat, no prophet will come into the world, and
the faithful will disappear from the earth. GR1.203 (Pet. 29, Lid.
30) (Lupieri 254)

In Mesopotamia (now Iraq) Mandaeans suffered through the same invasions as

did the larger Shiite and Sunni communities, whether by the Mongols, Turks or
the Persians. Despite the upheaval which continually surrounded their community
Mandaeans had always managed to maintain a deep sense of religious, cultural
and social cohesion. As with the rest of the Arab world the carefully structured
existence of the Mandaeans began to fracture with the rise of the secular state in
Iran and Iraq after WWII. At this point a “period of transformation and
acculturation began for the Mandaeans” and led to the most challenging period so
far in their 2,000 year-long history (Lupieri).

Arab Nationalism, Baathism and the Mandaeans

After WWII the rise of Arab nationalism led to a suppression of minority cultural
expression in the form of language and dress. This phenomenon affected
minorities around the Arab world, from the Berbers in North Africa to the Kurds
in Syria and Iraq to the Mandaeans in Iraq.

Despite the pressure to conform to the new Arab identity Mandaean life up until
the time of the overthrow of the Iraqi Hashemite ruler was, in the words of one
Mandaean: “Pretty good, we fared pretty well in the time when we were a
kingdom, then came the overthrow of the king and the establishment of a national

4
security government when they came to take a lot of Mandaeans because they
were involved in non-violent protests” (Saidi)

After the overthrow of the Iraqi Hashemite king and the establishment of the 14
July Revolutionary Government the situation of the Mandaeans became more
precarious (Cleveland 327). It is not beyond the realm of reason to believe that
small, vulnerable populations are always going to be the first to bear the brunt of
political, ethnic or religious instability. In the case of the Mandaeans this was the
case, as “the radicalization of Arab politics” led to a greater emphasis on Arab
identity in Iraq. Because the Mandaeans were neither Arab nor Muslim nor spoke
Arabic as their primary language they were viewed with suspicion by the larger
Arab population.

The situation of the Mandaeans between the 14 July Revolution and the rise of the
Baath party in 1968 is difficult to piece together as first-hand account are not easy
to come by. The face-to-face interviews conducted for this paper were helpful in
providing a context of life in Iraq, but as both subjects were under 40 they had
little memory of this time. The overwhelming impression given by Mandaean
interviewees of life in Iraq was a feeling of separateness, of not feeling a part of
the Iraqi nation because they were not Muslim. One Mandaean interviewee said:

“And everybody knows and it’s a question on every form, like here
when you fill out a job application [in Iraq] one of the questions
will be “What is your religion?” and everyone will ask you that. In
school they teach a class on Islam and of course I am not Muslim
and everybody knows that. And I used to sit in these classes in
elementary and middle school just because my dad wanted me to
have the knowledge and one time in 3rd grade the teacher said
“Hopefully one day God will lead you to Islam, you will find your
way to God.” and I went to my parents and they said “You already
are a believer.” So everybody knows” (Saidi Z).

The time after the establishment of the Baath regime is well-documented.

Mandaeans universally speak ill of Saddam Hussein and state repeatedly that they
felt obligated to give in to Saddam’s demands, that they felt “bought off” by the
Baath regime and despite the protection they received living under Baathism they
still suffered tremendously because of the wars started by Saddam and the
sanctions which followed.

“Saddam used to protect all the minority groups, this is how he

operated – to buy off communities. He gave the Mandaeans a key
piece of land on the river in Central Baghdad, in return they gave
him a copy of their holy book translated into Arabic. You had to
cooperate with the regime to survive.” (Taneja 13)

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 “The country was in better shape all together before he took power
and even right after he took power, until the Iran war started things
weren’t that bad at least that’s what people used to say, everyone
compares, talks about things in relative terms, things were better
but were they really good? Or are they just better than what they
have now?” (Saidi)

The Iran-Iraq War and Mandaeans in Iran

In Iran the situation of the Mandaeans was positive until the overthrow of Shah
Reza Pahlavi in 1979. Protected under the Shah the Mandaeans were unsure how
they would be treated by the new Islamic government. Mandaean leaders took
their holy books to Tehran and requested a meeting with an influential member of
the Iranian parliament, Ayatollah Taleqani. The response they received from the
Ayatollah was not the one they were hoping to hear. They were told they would all
be given a chance to convert to Islam (Lupieri 3).

The subject of an interview for this project stated:

“When Khomeini took power he ruled by the shariah and he gave

them the shariah equivalent of the law, you’re entitled to leave,
take all your possessions, but if you stay you’ll have to live by the
Islamic rule and pay the Jiyzihah – that’s the religious tax and
basically become a second-class citizen” (Saidi).

Mandaeans are a people who straddle the borders between Iran and Iraq. They are
concentrated primarily in the south of Iraq and the Arab-populated Iranian
province of Khuzestan. Because their community exists on both sides of the
border families are often split between Iraq and Iran, with brothers, sisters,
cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents divided between the two countries. Prior
to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980 this didn’t present a problem, but after
the outbreak of the war Mandaeans suffered as much if not more than the general
populace of either country (Amnesty).

Despite the fact that Mandaeans are pacifists who are forbidden by their religion
to carry a weapon or to kill they were forced into both the Iranian and Iraqi armed
forces. There are reports that Iraqi Mandaeans who were captured by the Iranian
Army were forced to convert to Islam and denied the chance to return to Iraq after
the war. A Mandaean who was interviewed for this project said the following:

“My uncle is MIA, he’s missing since 1982 in Mohamara, we had

reports that somebody had spotted him, that he was a convert [to
Islam[ but it’s nothing we have confirmed. We couldn’t confirm
that [he had converted] but we had some relatives in Iran too,

6
 especially after this recent war were able to go look but they
couldn’t confirm” (Saidi).

The war brought ruin to both Iran and Iraq but in particular to the communities
living in the south of both countries. The back and forth battles over the Shaat al-
Arab waterway devastated the region and the people who lived there, especially
the Marsh Arabs and the Mandaeans.

Mandaeans from Gulf War I to Gulf War II

The Shiite uprising that followed the first Gulf War was a harbinger of what lay in
store for Mandaeans in the future. The Mandaean community did not participate
in the uprising and indeed suffered at the hands of some rebellious Shiites during
that time. In the words of an interviewee:

“I have my mother’s uncles in the South and one of them was shot
by the neighbors because they told him “you are an infidel.” They
didn’t kill him but he was shot in the leg. This was right after the
invasion and during the uprising and lawlessness that dominated
everybody felt entitled to do what they think is right. They
definitely, at least the ones that I know, they did not participate in
the uprising. Were they targeted by the government simply because
they lived there? I don’t know. They used to look for people based
on their names and what they looked like to see if they were
Shiite” (Saidi)

After the end of the first Gulf War the Mandaean population was as much affected
by the UN sanctions regime as the rest of Iraq. As Firas Saidi said in an interview:

“After the sanctions and the embargo things were extremely

difficult, living basic lives, barely getting by, that is not to say
others didn’t prosper, a lot of the Mandaean people do have
goldsmiths and jewelry shops, it’s kind of a heritage thing, and
those managed to do well, but if you were an employee in any type
of government job, they used to pay you ok, but your pay with the
inflation and the sinking of the Dinar it was useless, a month’s
salary would buy you two dozen eggs and that’s it, so people were
working overtime, doing other things, doing things they would
rather have not done, to survive” (Saidi).

The Mandaean Community in the “New Iraq.”

Mandaeans initially welcomed the possibility of invasion by coalition forces in
Iraq in 2003, Indeed several of those interviewed for this project stated that they

7
wished the United States and its allied had invaded and deposed Saddam Hussein
in 1991 (Mandaean Associations Union).

But as lawlessness enveloped Iraq immediately after the invasion and was quickly
followed by the growth of the Sunni insurgency many Mandaeans began to be
targeted by insurgents and militia groups from both the Sunni and Shiite
communities. In an atmosphere where everyone was heavily armed the
Mandaeans were conspicuous for their lack of protection, either personal or
provided by a militia. Seeing this they became “easy targets” for those who
despised them because they were not Muslim or because they desired the
properties they occupied or the wealth the Mandaean community was thought to
possess.

The statistics are grim. Estimated vary but the Mandaean community in Iraq, once
thought to number greater than 50,000, is now thought to not include more than
2500 individuals (Saidi). Many Mandaeans have fled to Jordan and Syria and
from there further onward to Australia, Sweden and the United States (Mandaean
Association Union).

Mandaean religious leaders have been targeted for assassination in front of their
families; in 2006 two primary Mandaean religious leaders were killed in Baghdad.
Mandaean goldsmiths have also been targeted for murder, sometimes being killed
in their shops in front of their children. Kidnappings for ransom are epidemic, at
times Mandaean children are returned to their families dead despite their families
having paid the requested ransom. Forced circumcision and conversion to Islam
of Mandaean boys is common as is the rape and forced conversion of Mandaean
girls and women (Mandaean Associations Union)

Mandaean houses of worship have been targeted for destruction. In July of 2007
the Mandaean baptism place in Umara was machine-gunned, three worshipers
were injured. In June of 2006 the Mandaean place of prayer in Basra was attacked
and damaged (Mandaean Associations Union). Because the Mandaean community
has so few places of worship the loss of even one would prove devastating to their
sense of morale and community. In addition to the other attacks their holiest
temple in Baghdad has come under small-arms fire. This temple is known to hold
the holiest of Mandaean holy books, which if lost would be irreplaceable (Saidi
Z).

Violence is a fact of life in Iraq. But the impact of that violence is magnified when
a community is as small and defenseless as the Mandaeans. In the face of daily
assaults on their religious freedom and their lives is there any hope for the
Mandaean community in Iraq?

The answer, sadly, appear to be no. In discussing the impact on the Mandaean
community of leaving Iraq one of the Mandaean interviewees said this: “We were
discussing the issue of leaving Iraq and we said ‘If we leave we’re [the Mandaean

8
community] done.’” Asked to elaborate further the Mandaean community member
said:

“Religious wise, because you know, again we’ll be all over the
place, although there was a promise to keep people all together the
“togetherness” is not really going to stick for long. Now, after
what’s been happening it has turned into more of human rights
issue, of course with a focus on religion but it’s mostly trying to
save these people’s lives. And there are folks in Jordan and Syria
who were offered to come to the States but they really wanted to
go to Sweden because they had relatives there. You know and vice-
versa, so I and the priest, Satar, went to Washington and had three
days worth of meetings with staffers and various groups, and one
of the things that they raised was that not only should we try and
get people out we should really try and put them in one place. And
the priest actually visited various Mandaean communities around
the world and he thought the best thing, the best chance was to
bring everyone to the US or Australia. He figured those would be
viable communities. As opposed to a little bit of folks in Canada,
or Holland or Germany or wherever “(Saidi).

Proposals have been circulated by members of the US Congress to allow the US

government to bring the entire Mandaean community to the United States – en
masse. An Op-Ed piece in the New York Times written by one of the world’s
foremost experts on the Mandaean religion stated:

Of the mere 500 Iraqi refugees who were allowed into the United
States from April 2003 to April 2007, only a few were Mandaeans.
And despite the Bush administration’s commitment to let in 7,000
refugees in the fiscal year that ended last month, fewer than 2,000,
including just three Iraqi Mandaean families, entered the country.

In September, the Senate took a step in the right direction when it

unanimously passed an amendment to a defense bill that grants
privileged refugee status to members of a religious or minority
community who are identified by the State Department as a
persecuted group and have close relatives in the United States. But
because so few Mandaeans live here, this will do little for those
seeking asylum. The legislation, however, also authorizes the State
and Homeland Security Departments to grant privileged status to
“other persecuted groups,” as they see fit.

If all Iraqi Mandaeans are granted privileged status and allowed to

enter the United States in significant numbers, it may just be
enough to save them and their ancient culture from destruction. If
not, after 2,000 years of history, of persecution and tenacious

9
 survival, the last Gnostics will finally disappear, victims of an
extinction inadvertently set into motion by our nation’s negligence
in Iraq (Deutsch, New York Times Op-Ed)

When asked the response by US officials to their pleas one representative of the
Mandaean community in the United States said:

“Promises, just promises. The problem is there are bills they are
working on in Congress and the Senate but they don’t really focus
on individual minority groups, they want to make a political
statement too, but if you put the Mandaeans with the other
minorities and throw in like other types of hate crimes that will
happen they might not move along” (Saidi).

The record of the United States in protecting religious minorities in Iraq is

shameful. After invading Iraq and upsetting the social and religious order in the
country the United States refused to get involved in what it saw as “inter-religious
matters.” It is the stated policy of the United States Armed Forces to not involve
themselves in the protection of any specific religious group in Iraq for fear of
upsetting the delicate balance between religious groups in the country. This policy
of benign neglect has proven devastating to the Mandaeans and has allowed their
exploitation and murder to continue for the benefit of more numerically and
militarily superior factions in Iraq.

In addition the failure of the United States to admit persecuted ethnic and
religious minorities as refugees has been scandalous. The Mandaean community
in Iraq is in danger of extinction. Because of their small size they do not have a
geographically-based area where they can gather for protection from either
American forces or the Iraqi Police (IP). They are entirely at the mercy of those
who surround them in Iraq and as a consequence the fabric of their community
has been wrent, perhaps beyond repair.

Conclusion
The evidence is overwhelming: there is no future for the Mandaean community in
its ancient homeland. Right now the focus isn’t on maintaining the Mandaean
community in Iraq it’s on getting them out so they have a chance of survival.
Numerically tiny, pacifist in belief, perceived as being both wealthy and heretical
the Mandaeans do not have a future in “the new Iraq.” As the focus has shifted
more and more to attempting to transplant the entire community out of the
country in order to guarantee its survival the question has arisen as to whether this
ancient community will have a future after it leaves Iraq.

That question is best left to anthropologists to answer. There are signs of hope for
Mandaeans who have immigrated to the United States, Canada and Australia as
well as Europe. Two subjects of an interview conducted for this project held the

10
first ever Mandaean wedding in the United States in 1999, officiated at by a
Mandaean priest from Australia. Mandaeans in the United States and Canada have
organized politically to advocate on behalf of their beleaguered brethren in Iraq
and Iran. They have also followed the immigrant experience of those who came
here before them by organizing summer camps and day schools in which to
provide a continuity of the Mandaean experience for their children. The
Mandaean community is also confronting the issues of modern society such as the
thorny issue of conversion, currently forbidden but one which is spoken about as a
means of survival by more and more in the Mandaean Diaspora.

Even amongst the tales of horror and exile there remains a small amount of hope
for these ancient people. The morass that is Iraq may turn out to be a fully
functional country at some point in the near future; anyone concerned with the
future of Iraq must have this hope. But for the Mandaeans the very small window
that was their lives in Iraq appears to have been closed by the forces of
sectarianism and religious intolerance, both of which are not only beyond their
control but oftentimes their understanding as well. Always a stranger, this tiny
community, the last remnant of Gnosticism in Mesopotamia, must look abroad to
its future and once again confront the prospect of exile.

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Works Cited
Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder,
CO: Westview, 2004. 1-588.

Deutsch, Nathaniel. "Save the Gnostics." Op-Editorial. The New York Times 6
Oct. 2007, sec. O.

Deutsch, Nathaniel. The Gnostic Imagination. 1st ed. Vol. 13. Leiden, New York,
Koln: EJ. Brill, 1995. 1-163.

Lupieri, Edmondo. The Mandaeans: the Last Gnostics. 1st ed. Grand Rapids,
Michigan/ Cambridge UK: William B. Eerdmans Company, 2002. 3-273.

"Sabian Mandaeans in Iraq: Current Situation and Future Prospects." Mandaean

Associations Union. Hearings on Mandaean Community (Unofficial Title). United
States Department of State, Washington, DC. Oct. 2007.

Saidi, Firas. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2007.

Saidi, Zina. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2007.

Taneja, Preti. Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq's Minority Communities

Since 2003. Minority Rights Group International. London, UK, 2007. 2-44. 5
Dec. 2007 <http://www.aina.org/reports/mrgi0702.pdf>.

Unknown. Iran. Amnesty International. New York: Amnesty International, 2005.

1-4. 1 Dec. 2007 <http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/irn-summary-eng>.

Weinberger, Eliot. "Mandaeans." Harpers May 2007. 5 Nov. 2007

<www.Proquest.com>.

Yamauchi, Edwin M. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins. 1st ed. London:
Oxford University Press: Harvard UP, 1970. 1-102.

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