Mandeans

Mandaeans
Mandeyānāye

Mandeans praying in Ahvaz, Iran, 2013
Total population
60,000 to 70,000
Regions with significant populations
Iraq	10,000
Iran	5,000 to 10,000 (2009)
Jordan	49 families
Syria	1,250 families
Sweden	8,500
Australia	3,500 to 5,000
United States	1,500 to 2,000
United Kingdom	1,000
Canada	1,500
Germany	2,200
Denmark	650
Indonesia	23
Religions
Mandaeism
Scriptures
Ginza Rba, Qolusta
Languages
Mandaic as liturgical language Neo-Mandaic, Arabic and Persian

Mandaeans (Modern Mandaic: מנדעניא‎ Mandaʻnāye, Arabic: الصابئة المندائيون‎‎ aṣ-Ṣābi'a al-Mandā'iyūn) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia and are followers of Mandaeism, a Gnostic religion. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian. Mandaic is mainly preserved as a liturgical language. In the aftermath of the Iraq War of 2003, the indigenous Mandaic community of Iraq, which used to number 60–70,000 persons, collapsed; most of the community relocated to nearby Iran, Syria and Jordan, or formed diaspora communities beyond the Middle East. The other indigenous community of Iranian Mandaeans has also been dwindling as a result of religious persecution over that decade.

There are several indications of the ultimate origin of the Mandaeans. Early religious concepts and terminologies recur in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and "Jordan" has been the name of every baptismal water in Mandaeism. This connection with early baptismal sects in the eastern Jordan region and the elements of Western Syrian in the Mandaean language attests to their Levantine origin. The ultimate Jewish origin of the Mandaeans can still be found despite the vehement polemics against the Jews in Mandaean literature, in which Moses is a false prophet and Adonai (one of the names used in the Jewish bible) is an evil god. There are fewer indications of a relation between early Christians and Mandaeans, which make the connection more problematic. Some scholars, including Kurt Rudolph connect the early Mandaeans with the Jewish sect of the Nasoraeans.