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Some Thoughts on Islam's Influence on The

Some Thoughts on Islam's Influence on The

ARAM, 22 (2010) 171-181. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131036

YAHIA AS MANDAEAN RASUL? SOME THOUGHTS ON ’S INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANDAEAN LITERATURE

Dr. JENNIFER HART (Indiana University, USA)

The presence of , or Yahia as he is commonly known to the Mandaeans, in Mandaean literature has long been a focal point of discussions about the Mandaeans and their religious identity. It is the Mandaean affinity for Yahia that has earned them the misnomer “St. John’s ” and it is one of the primary that initial academic interest in the Mandaeans concentrated on what Mandaeism might reveal about the origins of . But as it became apparent that the seemingly Christian material in Mandaeism, including the passages about Yahia, mostly postdated the New Testament the question changed from what does the Mandaean Yahia divulge about Christi- anity to how and why did Yahia assume such a prominent role in Mandaean religion? Perhaps somewhat heretically I would like to propose that the answer to this question has little to do with any relationship Mandaeism might have with Christianity, but rather that the key to understanding Mandaean literature about Yahia and his importance to Mandaeism as a whole lies with Islam. An expla- nation for who and what Yahia is, the way in which he appears in Mandaean literature and his contributions to the shaping of Mandaeism as a religion are made clear when the Mandaean narratives about Yahia are placed in context with ideas from Islamic theology, especially those connected to the Islamic concept of prophethood. An analysis of Yahia that takes into consideration the qualities that Islam associates with the role of a demonstrates signifi- cant parallels between literary representations of Yahia and Islamic notions of prophethood and not just any notion of prophethood but particularly those qualities which Islam assigns to its highest order of prophet, the rasul. There is considerable evidence within Mandaean literature to suggest that Yahia’s character models elements of the Islamic conception of the rasul. In the paper that follows I will present three examples from the imagery that Mandaean literature uses in the portrayal of Yahia which are also defining aspects of a rasul in Islam. The first example takes draws upon the stories of Yahia’s genealogy, the second example shows Yahia in the role of the giver of a book by of his interaction with the letter of Kusta as described in chapters eighteen and

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nineteen of the Book of John, and the final example looks to the tale of Yahia’s ascent through the purgatories in comparison with ’s well touted journey. Taken together these examples create a portrait of Yahia as a character who is intriguingly in-line with Islamic expectations of what consti- tutes a prophet.

EXAMPLE ONE: STORIES ABOUT YAHIA’S GENEALOGY

Islam has a long tradition of identifying and delineating the traits that demarcate a prophet. Theological treatises dating to the early stages of Islam’s development and written by top Islamic theologians such as the “Signs of Prophecy” and the “Establishment of Prophecy” are dedicated to discussions of prophethood and the characteristics used to define one as a prophet.1 The traits regarded as fundamental to prophethood vary a bit from the works of one Islamic scholar to another but one quality that always appears on the lists of the essential characteristics of a prophet established by Islamic theology is that of the association of the proposed prophet with a group of people who are recognized as belonging to a line of .2 A prophet is understood to be a prophet in part because he is connected to a series of other figures who are also known to be prophets. Amongst the prophets listed in Qur}an the connec- tion between these figures is often, though not always, genealogical. For exam- ple the Qur}an considers the patriarchs of the Hebrew Bible, , , and to be prophets. Similarly Muhammad’s prophetic legitimacy is partially established by his ancestral link to the line of the prophet Abraham via , whom the Qur}an also names a prophet. Mandaean texts likewise rely on the details of Yahia’s genealogy to verify his identity as a prophet. On more than one occasion Yahia is shown to belong to a prestigious line of prophetic forbearers in order to substantiate the predic- tion that he is meant to be a great prophet. For example, in chapter eighteen of the Book of John the of present Aba Saba Zakhria3, the father of Yahia, who is skeptical that given his advance age that he can even child much less one of renown with a lengthy genealogy of influential teachers

1 Stroumsa, “The Signs of Prophecy: The Emergence and Early Development of a theme in Theological literature” Harvard Theological Review 78:1-2 (1985) 101-14. See especially 102-103. 2 Marilyn R. Waldman, “New Approaches to ‘Biblical’ Material in the Qur}an” 75:1 (Jan 85) 1-16, 9. 3 Islamic versions of the life of John also record that Zakhria questioned the likelihood that he or his wife could have children at their advanced age. See Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibra- him Al-Tha}labi, Ara}la Al-Majalis Fi Qisas Al-Anbiya (Life of the Prophets: As Recounted by Abu Ishaq) 629.

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and community leaders who as ancestors of Aba Saba Zakhria and Yahia are proof of their family’s prophetic pedigree, We wish to enlighten you about your tribe and those of your fathers, from whom you have come. Misa, son of Amras, has come from your tribe, Silai and Silbai have come from your tribe. Brahim and Srael have come from your tribe. Bnai and Beni-Amin have come from your tribe…4

The list continues in a similar fashion for another ten to twelve lines, ending with the observation that the “school teachers” are also from the same family as Yahia. (It is worth noting that Islam also identifies both Misa () and Brahim (Abraham) as prophets). Following this recitation of his family tree the priests remind Aba Saba Zakhria that like him all his famous forbearers initially had neither wives nor sons but “in old age each of them had a son” and that “they [the sons] were prophets in Jerusalem.”5 Within the structure of the story itself the pronouncements of the priests are meant to eradicate doubt about the predicted birth and prophetic destiny of Yahia but they also serve the wider purpose of establishing Yahia as a member of a recognized prophetic line. He is, like the prophets in the Qur}an, genetically predisposed to the role of prophet. In another story found in chapter nineteen of the Book of John genealogy is again used to vouch for the legitimacy of Yahia’s prophethood. The Seven and the Twelve6 connect Yahia to a celebrated line of prophets saying, The robe which the First Life has given to , the Man, the robe which the First Life has given to Ram, the Man, the robe that the First Life has given to Surbai, the Man, the robe that the First Life has given to Sum bar Nu, he has now given to you. He has given it to you, Yahia.7

What it means to be given the robe by the First Life is not explicitly stated but considering that this passage follows the First Life’s affirmation of Yahia’s own assertions of his devout profession of the message of the Lightworld, “through the world of my Father I shine”8 and his successful reflection of the teaching of the Lightworld it is reasonable to conclude that the robe is tan- tamount to the mantle of prophecy. Yahia speaks the message of the Lightworld

4 JB 18:74-75, Lidzbarski 81. 5 JB 18:75-76, Lidzbarski 81-82. 6 The Seven and Twelve are probably the planets and zodiac respectively. Normally considered the enemies of Mandaean religion their testimony in favor of Yahia is a bit odd but given that the story has them acknowledging their respect for Yahia along with the Life, who is the supreme Mandaean deity, it might be possible to conclude that the truth of Yahia’s prophecy is so clear that even the Seven and the Twelve recognize it. However they are interpreted the testimony of the Seven and the Twelve, despite their usually negative connotations, is obviously meant as a positive endorsement of Yahia. 7 JB 19:78, Lidzbarski 83. 8 JB 19:77, Lidzbarski 82.

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and embodies its teachings, just as an Islamic prophet is meant to do. The connection between the robe and prophecy is also suggested by the Seven and Twelve who tell Yahia, “Delightful and fair is thy voiced, and none is an equal to you. Beautiful is your word in your mouth, and precious is the speech which was bestowed upon you.”9 This statement immediately pre- cedes the list of great men who received a robe like Yahia, implying that the gift of the robe is a gift that allows one to act as a prophet. And that Yahia is the capstone of a list of men who have all been gifted with the role of prophethood. Consequently, chapter nineteen, like chapter eighteen before it, places Yahia within a line of prophets. Both chapters portray Yahia in a way that accords with a characteristic that Islam recognized as essential for iden- tifying a figure as a prophet. Moreover by positioning of Yahia at the end of these prophetic lineages Mandaean literature presents Yahia as occupying the same, culminating expression of prophecy as Muhammad is understood to hold in Islam.

EXAMPLE TWO: BRINGER OF A BOOK

My second example of how the Mandaean depictions of Yahia follows the contours of the Islamic conception of prophethood is found with regard to the duties that Islam claims are indicative of the higher order of prophets, known as rasul. Islam equates three duties with the rasul, they are acting as a mes- senger for the divine, bringing a holy book to one community, and establishing the religious laws by which the community lives. Yahia functions in each of these three capacities at various points throughout Mandaean literature, but right now I want to focus on his fulfillment of the second task, the bringing of a holy book. The duty of bringing a holy book that proves foundational to the religious community which receives it is an essential factor in being identified as a rasul by Islam. According to Islamic tradition Moses is a rasul because he provided the with the , is a rasul because he brought the to the Christians, and Muhammad is a rasul because he transmitted the Qur}an to the . Yahia, in certain depictions found in the Book of John, seems poised to claim the same book bearing status. The most straightforward presentation of the idea that Yahia received a holy book that he was meant to share with the Mandaeans appears in chapter twenty-six of the Book of John. This chapter tells a story in which a writing, known as the Letter of Kusta (Truth), is placed in the hands of Yahia,

9 JB 19:78, Lidzbarski 83.

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They took the letter and laid in the hands of Yohana10. “Take, Rab Yohana,” they said to him, “the Letter of Kusta, which is sent to you by your Father (of Life).” Yohana opened it and read it and saw in it a wondrous document. He opened it, read it and was filled with the Life. “This is,” he said, “what I want and this my soul wills.”11

There is a wealth of information to be drawn out from this passage. Amongst the important ideas conveyed by these lines is the fact that the Letter of Kusta has claim to divine origins. The divinity of the letter’s provenance is indicated by its very name, Kusta carries with it a de facto association with the divine because, according to the precepts of Mandaean theology, kusta is an entity or quality inherent to the Lightworld. Anything that invokes kusta necessarily belongs to the Lightworld. The letter’s intrinsic connection to the Lightworld is made yet more explicit by the story’s revelation that it was the Father of Life that decided to give the letter to Yahia. The Father of Life is the supreme being of the Lightworld, so anything coming from him is a product of the Lightworld. The letter’s origins in the Lightworld is an important detail to note when considering parallels to Islam because Muslims believe that the Qur}an, as well as any true holy book brought by a rasul, always originates with the divine, from an Ur text known as the Umma al-Kitab (the Mother Book). It is the of the rasul to provide their community with earthly reflections of this divine text. Yahia, by receiving a writing produced in the Lightworld is thus fulfilling the rasul-specific function of transmitting the divine writing. The second important bit of information to be gleaned from the above pas- sage is that the letter represents a substantive text that proves foundational to Mandaeism. Yahia reads and embraces the text and finds within it a message that fills him with “the Life.” In this context fulfillment with the Life can be read metaphorically as receiving the essence of Mandaeism. One of the primary goals of Mandaean religion is to achieve greater knowledge of the truth of the First Life and the origins of the Mandaeans in the Lightworld. So to be filled with the Life is to be filled with Mandaeism, to be filled with the knowledge of Mandaean religion. Upon reading the letter Yahia is filled with the knowledge of Mandaeism which he is then capable of passing along to his fellow Mandaeans. The Letter of Kusta assumes the role of foundational text because Yahia’s encounter gives him the means necessary to share Mandaeism with others. This notion of the letter as a foundational text with religious knowledge to be shared with others is reinforced in the next passage from chapter twenty-six which describes the letter being read and explained to Yahia’s disciples, Yaqif,

10 Yohana or Yuhana are the Aramaic version of Yahia’s name. Yohana and Yahia are often used interchangeably or in combined form (Yahia-Yohana) in Mandaean texts. 11 JB 26:91-92, Lidzbarski 94.

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Beni-Amin and Samel.12 It is significant that the text mentions this because elsewhere in Mandaean literature Yaqif and Beni-Amin are credited with founding the Mandaean priesthood. Since Yaqif and Beni-Amin’s involvement with the start of the Mandaean priesthood likely would have been familiar to the audience of chapter twenty-six it is possible to link that tradition with the story about the Letter of Kusta and conclude or at least speculate that having received instruction from the Letter of Kusta, via Yahia’s transmission of it, Yaqif and Beni-Amin were endowed with the knowledge needed to be the foundational members of the portion of Mandaean society responsible for the development of Mandaean religion. Following such a line of thought offers another example of how the story about the Letter of Kusta gives Yahia claim to the rasul defining identity of a bringer of a holy book that is foundational to the religious community that receives it. As a text that comes from the divine, is communicated through a messenger of , and serves as a source for the faithful to familiarize themselves with the religious teachings of their faith the story about Yahia and the Letter of Kusta accumulates all the hallmarks commonly associated with a rasul and his holy book. This gives ample to begin to see chapter twenty-six as evi- dence of a Mandaean attempt to depict Yahia in a way that carefully aligns him with Islamic tradition. But should any doubt remain about the idea that this is a purposeful attempt to cast the Letter as a holy book or that Yahia’s connection therewith is proof of an active effort to edge him toward the Islamic category of the rasul, the Mandaean story provides one additional detail that seems intent on cementing the parallels between Mandaean and Islamic tradi- tion. Chapter twenty-six reveals that the Jews were the first to receive the Letter, “They [meaning the Lightworld forces] took the letter and laid it in the hands of the Jews” but ultimately the Jews rejected the letter, “These [the Jews] opened it, read it and saw that it does not contain that which they wish, that it does not contain what their souls desire.”13 It is interesting that in a story which seems to depict Yahia as the bringer of a Mandaean holy text the Mandaeans would suggest that the Jews also had a chance to take possession of the divine message but that having been exposed to it they chose not to do so. The Mandaean portrayal of the Jews as disinterested in the Lightworld letter has the intriguing, maybe intentional, effect of calling to mind Islam’s contention that Judaism represents a failure to properly embrace the word of god. Muslims believe that, like the Jews in chapter twenty-six, the Jewish community was once offered access to the divine message, vis-à-vis the Torah and the prophethood of Moses but that through errors in transmission and translation the original, true message of the divine was perverted. As far as

12 JB 26:92, Lidzbarski 94. 13 JB 26:91, Lidzbarski 94.

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Islam is concerned the perversion of the word of god that they believe occurred within Judaism is tantamount to a Jewish rejection of divine truth. This means that Islam and Mandaeism present remarkably similar accounts of how the Jews willfully passed on their opportunity to know the divine message. Additionally the Mandaean story demonstrates that after the Jews falter in their response to the word of god, Yahia, like Muhammad in Islam, steps in to ensure that the message is properly embraced. Yahia is thusly depicted as a rasul both in the sense that he is responsible for bringing a holy book to the Mandaeans and that he assumes the same role as Muhammad by taking up the task of transmitting the divine message when it is rejected by the Jews. For these reasons the nar- rative in chapter twenty-six of the Book of John seems to be a multivalent attempt to appeal to the Muslim neighbors of the Mandaeans.

EXAMPLE THREE: THE JOURNEY TO

The process of imbuing Yahia with a prophetic identity that parallels Islamic notions of the category occurs on a variety of levels. The Islamically oriented depictions begin most generally with the appearance of Yahia’s conformity to a list of characteristics Islam deems definitional of prophethood. This sets the stage for a broad similarity between Mandaeism and Islam with regard to the theme of prophethood. Added to this baseline image is a more specialized portrayal of Yahia that credits him with fulfilling all the functions of a rasul. This nudges the Mandaean texts towards an understanding of Yahia’s position within in Mandaean religion that is even more explicitly in concert with Islamic standards. But perhaps the most forthright attempt to show Yahia as occupying a role that conforms to Islamic sensibilities occurs in the form of images that assign to Yahia a biography that shares certain salient details with the biography of Islam’s ultimate prophet, Muhammad. Their biographical similarities create an intersection between the characters of Yahia and Muhammad which effec- tively encourages the association of one with the other. In this final example I want to look at one of these shared elements of biography. It is a story found in both Mandaean and in which Yahia and Muhammad, respec- tively, are taken on a mystical journey to the divine realm. Within Islam this particular story is often referred to as Muhammad’s night journey. It has roots in Sura Seventeen of the Qur}an but is recorded most fully in various hagiographies, including one written by the well respected, early Islamic scholar Ibn Ishaq.14 Mandaeism does not give a specific name to their version of the story but it does make repeated appearances at various points

14 The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s “Sirat Rasul ”. ed. A. Guillaume. Oxford: , 2004, 180-187.

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throughout their literature. Interestingly Yahia does not appear in all the Man- daean versions of the journey to heaven15, suggesting that the story of such of journey may exist independently of Yahia but that at some point the two tradi- tions were consciously merged. It is in the Right Ginza, book five, section four (hereafter GR 5.4) that one finds the version of the ascent to heaven which includes Yahia. A comparison of the Ibn Ishaq’s hagiographic account of Muhammad’s night journey and the story of Yahia found in the GR 5.4 reveals a series of four major plot points around which both narratives coalesce, giving the impression that Islam and Mandaeism are working from a common tradition. The first instance of correspondence between the Islamic and Mandaean stories comes in the form of the involvement of a divine figure as the instiga- tor or facilitator of the mystical journey. In the case of Muhammad the jour- ney is made possible under the auspices of the Jibril. Jibril appears to Muhammad and magically transports him from to Jerusalem and then accompanies him as he progresses up the mystical ladder to heaven.16 On the Mandaean side it is the light being Manda d Hiia who comes to Yahia and proceeds to guide him through the intermediary worlds that separate Tibil from the Lightworld.17 In addition to divine guides Muhammad and Yahia also share the challenge of passing a religious test before their ascent to the begins. Standing in the company of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other unnamed prophets, Muham- mad is presented with a choice between two or three18 drinking vessels filled with a combination of wine and milk, just milk or just wine. When Muhammad selects the vessel containing just milk Jibril congratulates him for being “rightly guided to the ” and making the choice that will result in the long term well being of the Muslim community.19 For Yahia the test is administered by Manda d Hiia who first appears to Yahia in the guise of a young boy wishing to receive baptism. The disguised Manda d Hiia then quizzes Yahia on his baptismal prac- tices asking, “What is the baptism like with which you baptize?” and “Which name do you speak over them at the baptism that you baptize?”20 Yahia’s cor- rect answers to these questions and his attempts to baptize the little boy/Manda d Hiia in spite of life threatening conditions impress the light being causing him to reveal his true self and confer his blessing on Yahia. This is a sign that Yahia, like Muhammad in his judicious choice of just milk, conducts his baptisms in

15 For example see Drower, Diwan Abatur or Progress through the Purgatories. Studi e Testi 176. Vactican City: Bibliteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1953. 16 Ibn Ishaq 183. 17 GR 5.4, Lidzbarski 190-196. 18 The tradition varies with regard to the number. 19 Ibn Ishaq 184. 20 GR 5.4:190-191, Lidzbarski 192.

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a way that benefits the whole of the Mandaean community. For both men pass- ing these tests also seems to be the event that opens the path for their journey to heaven. Turning now to the journey of their heavenly ascent this event - strates an intriguing correlation between the Islamic and Mandaean material. As Muhammad and Yahia make their way through the liminal space that sepa- rates heaven and earth they both encounter luminaries from the religious history of their respective tradition. Muhammad finds himself visiting with the various prophets, namely Abraham, Moses, and Jesus that have come before him. Yahia encounters figures like Abathur and Ptahil, who once played formative roles in the development of the Mandaeans as a people and the expression of Man- daean religion and who now act as the gatekeepers in the realm of purgatory through which humanity must pass (and in some cases never advance beyond) along the way to the Lightworld. For both Muhammad and Yahia the individu- als they encounter on their way towards the divine represent the foundations upon which their respective traditions are built. It is interesting therefore their stories show them interacting with these great beings of the past, asking them questions or making pronouncements about them. It gives the impression that for both stories this is an educational moment for Muhammad and Yahia. An opportunity for them to gain first hand knowledge about the figures that shaped the religious community for which they are now responsible. The final similarity in plot points found in the Mandaean and Islamic stories of the ascent to the divine world occurs, appropriately enough, once Yahia and Muhammad achieve audience with the divine. The culminating event of their journey is to be given divine instructions regarding religious practices. What makes this moment particularly interesting is that the topic upon which Yahia and Muhammad receive divine guidance is prayer. In Muhammad’s story the prophet is originally charged by Allah with fifty prayers but while Muhammad is returning to earth to present the rest of humanity with the prayers assigned by the divine he encounters Moses who suggests fifty prayers are too great a burden for humankind and so Muhammad returns to Allah for further instruc- tion. After a couple more exchanges between Muhammad and Moses and then Muhammad and Allah, Muhammad finally leaves heaven with the traditional five daily prayers of Islam and the conviction – which is a cornerstone of Islamic thought – that whoever recites these five prayers with full belief will receive the benefit of fifty prayers.21 For his part Yahia arrives in the place of Light, the highest abode of the Lightworld, after having traveled through the intermediary gates with Manda d Hiia, and gives thanks to the Lightworld beings in precisely the manner that humanity is prescribed throughout Man- daean literature to honor the Lightworld. In addition to identifying Yahia’s

21 Ibn Ishaq 185.

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pronouncement as the correct manner in which all humanity ought to pray the text also specifies that true baptism occurs in the name of the Life. The later condition, baptism in the name of the Life, is a defining characteristic of the baptism ritual that is central to Mandaeism’s religious identity.22 The final scenes of the Islamic and Mandaean stories are notable because they both depict their main characters setting forth specific guidelines for engaging in the prayers that are central to their respective communities and because in conjunction with those prayers they also touch upon the ritual – for Islam praying five times daily, for Mandaeism baptizing in the name of the Life – that forms the basis of the respective religious praxis.

CONCLUSIONS

The three examples touched upon here represent just a few of the many ways that the imagery of Yahia found in Mandaean literature seems to con- sciously parallel Islamic notions of prophethood and Muhammad in particular. Recognizing the existence of similarities such as these potentially offers long term implications for the future direction of Mandaean studies. At the most basic level it introduces Islam to discussions about the nature, relationships, and influences of Mandaean religion. Islam’s interaction with Mandaeism is a relatively under-explored topic23, but as the comparison of Yahia and Muham- mad shows it is an area ripe with new perspectives through which Mandaeism can be understood. Considered in conjunction with Islam, the interpretation of Yahia’s appear- ance in Mandaean literature moves beyond the Christian-centric assumption that he represents a fractured Mandaean revision of John the Baptist. To the extent that Yahia seems to fulfill the Islamically defined category of prophet- hood Mandaean literature can be seen to be using Yahia to facilitate a presen- tation of Mandaean religion in a manner that would have been both familiar and acceptable to the Muslims who came to rule the Mandaean homeland. The ability of Mandaean literature to depict Yahia in the mode of a prophet, as a prob- able rasul, who shares saliently biographical details with Muhammad gives the Mandaeans claim to a religious identity that is grounded in Mandaean tradition while appealing to the sensibilities of Islam. The character of Yahia provides the

22 GR 5.4:195-196, Lidzbarski 196. 23 For the few studies that have considered Islam see: Sinas¸i Gündüz. The Knowledge of Life: The Origins and Early History of the Mandaeans and Their Relationship to the Sabeans of the Qur}an and to the Harranians. Journal of Semitic Studies, Supplement 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 and Steve Wasserstrom. “The Moving Finger Writes: Mughira B. Sa} id’s Islamic Gnosis and the Myths of its Rejection” History of Religions Vol. 25, No. 1 (Aug. 1985) 1-29.

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Mandaeans with a means for positively engaging their Muslim neighbors and lays a foundation upon which the Mandaeans could potentially negotiate the theological challenges that may have arisen as a result of Mandaeism’s and Islam’s mutual exposure. It is also worth noting that although this study focuses on how Islamic notions of prophethood might be applied to Yahia the directionality of influence is rarely that simple. As the dominated tradition Mandaeism may manifest a great need for an explicit demonstration of the integration of Islamic ideas but this does not mean that Islam was necessarily immune from any influence flowing from the Mandaeans. The overlap between Islamic notions of prophecy and the Man- daean imagery of Yahia bespeaks a culture of exchange. This means that schol- arship would be well served by considering both how Islam may have impacted the development of Mandaeism as well as how Mandaeism may have contributed to the early formation of Islam. Further study must be done on the relationship between Mandaeism and Islam. A more nuanced understanding of the exchanges that occurred amongst these traditions will enrich both the fields of Mandaean and .

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