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Making a Case for a Connection Between Islam and Mandaean Literature

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Making a Case for a Connection Between Islam and Mandaean Literature ARAM, 22 (2010) 427-440. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131047 MAKING A CASE FOR A CONNECTION BETWEEN ISLAM AND MANDAEAN LITERATURE Dr. JENNIFER HART (Indiana University) Abstract The development of Mandaeism has often been framed in terms of the Mandaeans connection to Judaism and Christianity. There is, however, ample reason to suggest that exposure to Islam also had a lasting impact on Mandaeism. The Muslim practice of awarding special, protected, status (ahl al-dhimmi) to people who possessed a propheti- cally revealed holy book needs to be considered as possible underlying cause directing the compilation of the Ginza and Book of John into the focal texts of Mandaean theology. That the Mandaeans were aware that Islam judged the legitimacy of a religion accord- ing to whether or not the religion possessed a holy book is alluded to in the section of the Haran Gawaita in which Anus, son of Danqa, is described presenting Muhammad with a book of “Great Revelation” in order to secure the Mandaeans future protection from the Muslim conquers. The colophons attached to the Ginza and the Book of John also indicate that the transformation of Mandaean literature from a disparate series of independent pieces of writing into singular “canonical” texts tellingly coincided with the rise of Islam as the new dominant religious power in the homeland of the Mandaeans. Furthermore the comments made by the Mandaean scribes primarily responsible for the compilation of their religious literature during the early Islamic period demonstrates that the Mandaean scribal community was preoccupied with a desire to ensure that their copies of Mandaeism’s literature represented the most accurate and legitimate versions of the texts and that with the advent of their copies all other renderings ought to be abandoned. These particular concerns echo exactly the goals put forth by Islam with regard to the production of the Uthmani Codex of the Qur‘an. Finally there are textual and thematic clues throughout both the Ginza and Book of John which reveal that parts of these texts were written in response to Mandaean encounters with Islam and Islamic theology. Based on Islam’s many connections to the development of the religious litera- ture of the Mandaeans further attention must be given to the study of the relationship between Mandaeism and Islam. In the course of recounting the consequences of the Arab-Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire the multivocal narrator of the Haran Gawaita digresses from a strictly military history to include the telling of the tale of a high rank- ing Mandaean, Anus, son of Danqa,1 and the introduction of the “Mandaean 1 While Anus, son of Danqa, does not appear on the list of ethnarchs found in the Mandaean prayer to their ancestors one Mandaean scribe, Ramuia, does link Anus to the ethnarchs, “I wrote this Diwan in the town of Tib in the years when Anus son of Danqa departed with the heads of 993793_Aram_22_19_Hart.indd3793_Aram_22_19_Hart.indd 442727 118/10/118/10/11 115:255:25 428 MAKING A CASE FOR A CONNECTION Book” to the Muslims. As with many other parts of the Haran Gawaita this tale is somewhat fractured and a few of the characters meld together but from within this confusion it is possible to trace the thread of a story which asserts Muhammad was presented with the central religious text of Mandaeism for the express purpose of earning ahl al-dhimmi status for the Mandaeans. The story begins by revealing that soon about the Arab-Muslim forces vanquished the Sasanians in Iraq Anus, son of Danqa emerged from within the Mandaean community and that he, perhaps with the accompaniment of his namesake Lightworld being, Anus-Uthra, journeyed to Baghdad in order to present the “Mandaean Book” to Muhammad, Then, when all this had taken place, in time there came (one) Anus, called the son of Danqa from the uplands of the Araiia…and he took him from his city to Suf-Zaba which is called Basrah, and showed him the hill-country of the Persians (unto?) the city of Baghdad. And Anus (-Uthra)2 instructed the Son-of-Slaughter [Muhammad], as he had instructed Anus, son of Danqa, about this Book (compiled) by his fathers, upon which all kings of the Nasoraeans stood firm. And a list of kings is in this book, which teachth (chronicleth?) from Adam, king of the world unto King Artabanus, (yea even) unto Anus, son of Danqa, who were (all?) of the Chosen Root [Mandaean].3 According to the next section of the Haran Gawaita Anus, son of Danqa presented Muhammad with this Book, which Drower opines was most likely the Ginza4, with the specific intent of garnering protection from the Muslims. Then he told him [Muhammad] about the king of the Ardubaiia (Sasanians); about all he sought to do and (of) his connections with the children of the great Nation of Life [Mandaeans], in order that they (the Moslems) should not harm the Nasoraeans who lived in the era of his [Muhammad’s] government.5 the people (ethnarchs).” This suggests that even if Anus is not an ethnarch he is closely associated with the leadership of the Mandaean people. Jorunn J. Buckley, The Great Stem of Souls: Recon- structing Mandaean History. (Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2005) 306-307. (Hereafter Stem) 2 The text does not specify whether this is the human Anus, son of Danqa or the Lightworld Being Anus-Uthra. Drower speculates that it is the latter perhaps because of the third person identification of Anus, so of Danqa and his instruction later in the sentence but I would point out that everywhere else in this passage and in the one that follows the text only mentions the human Anus, son of Danqa as the actor in this exchange with the Muslims. In fact, except for Drower’s questioning (questionable) insertion of Uthra into this sentence the Lightworld being does not appear anywhere in the story, which leads me to wonder if he is actually associated with the story or if the story really is all about Anus, son of Danqa and that the grammatical oddities that accompany his appearance are just the product of the dramatic language of story telling. 3 E.S. Drower, The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil Ziwa. Studi e Testi 101. (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1953) 15. (Hereafter HG) The italics are as they appear in the text. They are insertions or alternatives in translation contemplated by Drower. 4 She bases this identification on the notion that the Ginza Rba contains a list rulers like the list of kings used to describe the book introduced to Muhammad. HG 15 fn 10. 5 Drower, HG 16. 993793_Aram_22_19_Hart.indd3793_Aram_22_19_Hart.indd 442828 118/10/118/10/11 115:255:25 J. HART 429 The narrator of the Haran Gawaita is so intent on insisting that the moral of Anus story is that the Mandaeans ought to be spared from harm by virtue of their Book that the call for protection is reiterated in the next line, Thus did Anus, son of Danqa explain and speak so that, through the power of the lofty King of Light – praise be his name! – it was not permitted to the Son-of- Slaughter, the Arab, to harm the congregation of souls, owing to the protection afforded by the explanation of the Great Revelation – praised be its name!6 It is clear from these passages that this is a story of Mandaeism using its literature to seek, and apparently receive the coveted status of a protected reli- gious minority from the Muslims. In the passage following this double exposition of the moral of the story a first person narrative voice bears witness to the antiquity, efficacy and superi- ority of the “Great Revelation” of Mandaeism. The narrator affirms that the “Great Revelation” is the source of Mandaean orthodoxy and it is the sole expression of the true message of the divine, For it is reliable, existing from ancient times and eternally, from the beginning of the eighth world unto the worlds’ end. (These are) writings which teach orthodox procedure, that are all clarity. Instruction about the beginnings of all light and the end of all darkness is found in these writings of the Great Revelation and not found in any other books.7 The “Great Revelation”, as it is portrayed here, echoes Muslim descriptions of the nature the divine message recorded in the prophecies of the Qur‘an. As the uncorrupted word of Allah the Qur’an is also described as reliable, existent throughout eternity and the source that reveals the correct (orthodox) way to worship. Everything about the Mandaean “Great Revelation” corresponds to Islamic expectations for a legitimate holy book. This Islamically inspired image of Mandaean literature continues in the next paragraph of the Haran Gawaita where the Lightworld being Hibil Ziwa the explains that whosoever adheres to the message taught in these writings will receive the rewards of great faith, Then Hibil Ziwa – praised be his name! – taught that every man who concealeth it [from those who wish to corrupt it], but observeth it, when his measure is full he will rise up without sin and (moreover) will loose and take with him sixty (souls) who are bound.8 So great is the “Great Revelation” of the Mandaeans that it offers salvation to anyone who believes in it and even some of those who do not. This is a powerful statement about the truth and efficacy Mandaeism wants to associate 6 Drower, HG 16. 7 Drower, HG 16, emphasis in text.
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