Sabian Mandaeans in Missan cancel eid celebrations due to Baghdad bombings

MISSAN / IraqiNews.com: Sabian Mandaeans have canceled their eid celebrations due to the recent bombing attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in the past two days, official of the Sabian Mandaeans‘ affairs said on Thursday. “The sect decided to cancel their celebrations of Dahu Ahnina festivity (Lesser Eid) to show solidarity with the Christians and Muslims, who lost their beloved ones in the recent terrorist attacks in the past two days in Baghdad,” Badr Jassem Hamadi told IraqiNews.com news agency. Dahu Ahnina, which comes on November 5 in the Gregorian calendar and Ayar 18 in the Mandaean calendar, is deemed by the Mandaean Sabians as a “feast of flourishing.” Mandaeans claim that the occasion revives the memory of the Archangel Gabriel’s descending to earth. The Sabian Mandaeans spread in different areas of southern Iraqi provinces and near rivers, which they believe as sources of purity, sanctity, growth and life. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. They describe Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad as false Prophets. Mandaeans consider John the Baptist to be God’s most honorable messenger. Worldwide, there are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans, and until the 2003 Iraq war, almost all of them lived in Iraq. The 2003 Iraq war reduced the population of Iraqi Mandaeans to approximately 5,000 by 2007. Most Iraqi Mandaeans fled to Syria and Jordan under the threat of violence by Islamic extremists and the turmoil of the war. Mandaeism has historically been practiced primarily in the country around the lower Euphrates and Tigris and the rivers that surround the Shatt al-Arab. In Islam, the term Sabian is used as a blanket term for adherents to a number of religions, including that of the Mandaeans. SH (S)/SR 23