by Jerome du Bois
One dark aspect of the new freedom in Iraq is the apparent freedom of Shi'ite Muslims to persecute Iraqi Christians, Jews, and others. Among those others are the Mandæan Sabians, a still-surviving ancient Gnostic sect. I know: I had never heard of them either; but their name for God is The Great Life.
Three days ago Robert Spencer at Dhimmi Watch posted a report in which he quoted Fr. Keith Roderick, on the scene in Iraq:
The Mandæans have a vast literature in Aramaic, written in Mandæic script. Much of this literature is very ancient. The man usually thought to be the most ancient Mandæan scribe, Zazai of Gawazta, is datable to around the year AD 270. Recent research in the colophons of Mandæan manuscripts dates a woman scribe, Slama daughter of Qidra, to approximately AD 200. The Mandæan Holy Book, the GINZA (Treasury), contains the teachings of John the Baptist. For two millenia, the Ginza has been transcribed by Mandæan priests, always in the same format. The Ginza is separated into a right and left part, Ginza Right and Ginza Left, and the two parts are organized in such a way that on reaching the end of Right Ginza, a reader must turn the volume upside down to read Ginza Left. The two parts face each other in the manner of two inscribed bowls enclosing the text within.
Now this:
Most Mandæan manuscripts remain in Mandæan hands in Iraq and Iran. These include many works unknown in the West. We fear that these may now be destroyed by Muslims. Three days ago a heartbroken Mandæan priest was telling me how his beloved library of 20,000 books, including 40 esoteric Mandæan manuscripts with wonderful Mandæan artwork, had been destroyed by Shi'ite Muslims shortly after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. The Mandæan Corpus should be seen as part of the cultural inheritance of mankind. Its destruction by ignorant Muslim fanatics would be a loss to all humanity.
I can see the fire from here, and I can taste ashes in my mouth.
Posted by Jerome at December 17, 2003 11:11 AM | TrackBack