Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Mandaeans Suffer in Baghdad

Lisa Ashkenaz Croke | 04.03.2004 06:50 | Anti-militarism | World

Iraq’s post-war chaos is being played out tragically among a small pre-Christian sect in Baghdad.

Corresponding from Baghdad for the non-profit Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), trainee Luma al-Shumary noted that the capital city’s Mandaeans “have suffered ten murders and more than 13 kidnappings in just three months.”

In Iraq’s current environment, the non-violent Mandaeans are obvious targets for thieves as members are generally gold and silversmiths or jewelers by trade and don’t carry weapons.

What is not known is whether the group inadvertently serves as microcosm into the effect of post-war lawlessness on all Iraqis or if the Mandaeans are marked for their religious beliefs. Said to be the last surviving Gnostic order, Mandaeans are strict monotheists who claim Adam as the first Mandaean and, around the second century, adopted John the Baptist as “their last great teacher and healer.” These Judeo-Christian figures aside, Mandaeans’ rejections of Moses, Jesus and Mohammed have meant a long history of persecution and forced conversions.

Devotees of water, Mandaeans practice ritual cleansing. Iraqi Mandaeans have lived along the Lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers for over a millennium, but have begun to emigrate to the West, including the United States.

While their exact numbers are not known, Mandaeanworld.com offers a conservative estimate of 30,000-50,000 members throughout Iraq and 5,000-10,000 in Iran, with hundreds of others worldwide, including in the United States. However, Al-Shumary ventured 100,000 Mandaeans now reside in Baghdad and another 100,000 are sprinkled throughout Iraq, Iran, Australia and Sweden.

Sources:
Ancient Sect Targeted by Luma al-Shumary in Baghdad (ICR No. 45, 22-Jan-04)

Lisa Ashkenaz Croke
- Homepage: http://www.NewsFromThe Front.org

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech