SYRIA: Iraqi Mandean religious minority free to practice their rites in Syria

Record ID: 279593

  • Title: SYRIA: Iraqi Mandean religious minority free to practice their rites in Syria
  • Date: 16th December 2007
  • Summary: (MER-1) JARAMANA, SYRIA (RECENT - NOVEMBER 26, 2007) (REUTERS) SCHOLAR RAAD HANI ABED SHEIKH ZABAD, AN IRAQI MANDEAN, WALKING TO THE RIVER CLOSE OF SHEIKH ZABAD THE RIVER SHEIKH ZABAD STEPPING INTO RIVER SHEIKH ZABAD, AN IRAQI MANDEAN, GETTING BAPTISED PEOPLE WATCHING
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAESFML82HSITR3L9BYT0BZNWW
  • Story Text: Sectarian violence in Iraq has forced many members of the Mandean minority sect to flee the country and find refuges in neighbouring countries, where they can practice their religion.
    The Mandean religious minority in Iraq has always been cautious about revealing its rites for fear of antagonising the larger religious communities around them, mainly Muslims and Christians. But rising sectarian violence over the past few years has made many of its members insecure, prompting them to flee the country. Now, 60 percent of them live in Syria, where they feel free to practice their rituals, which include baptisms and traditional wedding ceremonies.
    Men who intend to become Mandean religious scholars are required to spend seven days and nights without sleep, and to pray day and night in a special room that is decorated with white, which the Mandeans see as a symbol of faith.
    "For seven days, yes, for seven days he doesn't sleep day or night, he stays awake, and he is asked a number of questions, and members of the sect and his friends and loved ones participate (in the rite). He is tested and asked to provide clarifications and explanations. He remains like this for seven days, and during this time, by staying awake, his ability to endure and the strength of his faith, confidence and will are tested,"says Raad Hani Abed Sheikh Zabad, a Mandean from Iraq.
    After that, the prospective scholar must separate from his wife for two months during which he is supposed to read prayers three times a day.
    Almost every Mandean ceremony involves water, and baptism is regarded as the means to ask for forgiveness of sin.
    Iraq's Mandeans worry that their migration to safer countries is a threat to the survival of their faith.
    "This haphazard immigration (from Iraq) to neighbouring countries and to European countries had a profound effect on these minorities, especially the Mandean religion. Because it does not proselytise, it does not recruit new members, and this dispersion (of Mandeans) around the world will lead to the eventual extinction of this religion, and this will make us vulnerable to losing our members to recruitment by others," says Mandean scholar Sattar Jabbar Hilou.
    The Mandean religion has no more than 70,000 followers at most worldwide, and only several thousand remain in Iraq. Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Mandean religion was almost totally exclusive to Iraq. It is similar to Judaism and Christianity, but gives special importance to John the Baptist.
    Until the war in Iraq, the Mandeans had been protected under Islamic law as monotheists. But many of them have received threats since the U.S.-led invasion to either adopt Islam or face death.
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