Abdullah Bar Sam
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Abdullah Bar Sam
Sheikh (Rabbi) Abdullah bar Sam (; born in Qal'at Saleh, Iraq; died 1981, Baghdad, Iraq) was an Iraqi Mandaean priest. He is known as the priestly initiator of Jabbar Choheili and Salah Choheili, as well as the father of physicist Abdul Jabbar Abdullah. Life Abdullah bar Sam was born into the Manduia and ‛Kuma families in Qal'at Saleh, Iraq, probably sometime just before the turn of the 20th century. His father's name was the Ganzibra Sam, son of Sheikh Jabbar. Abdullah bar Sam's Mandaean baptismal name was Adam Zihrun bar Sam (). Ganzibra Abdullah copied the Ginza Rabba by hand in 1928; as of 2010, that copy of the Ginza Rabba belonged to the Elmanahi family in New York state, United States. In 1948, he initiated Jabbar Choheili from Ahvaz, Iran into the priesthood. In 1976, he initiated Jabbar Choheili's son Salah Choheili as a tarmida at the Mandi of Dora, Baghdad. Family His son Abdul Jabbar Abdullah (1911–1969) was a well-known physicist and meteorologist, while his ...
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Sheikh
Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of female sheikhs in history. The title ''Syeikha'' or ''Sheikha'' generally refers to women. In some countries, it is given as a surname to those of great knowledge in religious affairs, by a prestigious religious leader from a silsila, chain of Sufi scholars. The word is mentioned in the Qur'an in three places: verse 72 of Hud (surah), Hud, 78 of Yusuf (surah), Yusuf, and 23 of al-Qasas. A royal family member of the United Arab Emirates and some other Arab countries, also has this title, since the ruler of each emirate is also the sheikh of their tribe. Etymology and meaning The word in Arabic stems from a Semitic root, triliteral root connected with aging: , ''shīn-yā'-khā. The title carries the me ...
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Mandaean Baptismal Name
Mandaean names can include both birth names (i.e., secular names) and baptismal names (i.e., religious names; also called maṣbuta names or zodiacal names), called ''malwasha'' () in Mandaic. Birth names Mandaean birth names are secular names that are given at birth and are used by non-Mandaeans to refer to Mandaeans in everyday life. Malwasha (baptismal names) In Mandaeism, a baptismal (zodiacal) or ''masbuta'' name, also known as ''malwasha'' (, which can also mean 'zodiac'), is a religious name given by a Mandaean priest to a person, as opposed to a birth name.Drower, Ethel Stefana. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937. The baptismal name of a priest reflects his spiritual lineage, with his "spiritual father" being the priest who had initiated him rather than his biological father. Since they are spiritual names that are typically used only within the Mandaean community, Mandaeans may often be reluctant to reveal their baptismal names to no ...
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Iraqi Mandaeans
Minorities in Iraq have been incredibly influential to the history of the country, and consist of various ethnic and religious groups. The largest minority group in Iraq is the Kurds, with Iraqi Turkmen, Turkmen following shortly after. Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Assyrian people, Assyrians constituted a sizeable population of 1.5 million, and belonged to various different churches such as the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox/Syriac Catholic Church, Catholic Churches. Other minority groups in Iraq include Iraqi Armenians, Armenians, Mandaeans, Baha'i, and Marsh Arabs, among others. Kurds The vast majority of Iraqi Kurds are Sunni Muslims, with Shia and Christian minorities. Under the Kingdom of Iraq, Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani led a rebellion against the central government in Baghdad in 1945. After the failure of the uprising Barzānī and his followers fled to the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, wh ...
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Mandaean Priests
A Mandaean priest or ''Tarmida'' () refers to an ordained religious leader in Mandaeism. Overview All priests must undergo lengthy ordination ceremonies, beginning with tarmida initiation. Mandaean religious leaders and copyists of religious texts hold the title in Arabic, Sheikh. In Iran, they are also occasionally referred to as Mullah. All Mandaean communities traditionally require the presence of a priest, since priests are required to officiate over all important religious rituals, including masbuta, masiqta, birth and wedding ceremonies. Priests also serve as teachers, scribes, and community leaders. Many Mandaean diaspora communities do not have easy access to priests. Due to the shortage of priests in the Mandaean diaspora, ''halala'' () or learned Mandaean laymen who are ritually clean (both individually and in terms of family background) can sometimes assume minor roles typically assumed by ordained priests. Such laymen taking on limited priestly roles are called ''pa ...
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Religious Leaders From Baghdad
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or religious organization, organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendence (religion), transcendental, and spirituality, spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. It is an essentially contested concept. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sac ...
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People From Qal'at Saleh
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ...
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1981 Deaths
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. J ...
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19th-century Births
The 19th century began on 1 January 1801 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM). It was the 9th century of the 2nd millennium. It was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was Abolitionism, abolished in much of Europe and the Americas. The First Industrial Revolution, though it began in the late 18th century, expanded beyond its British homeland for the first time during the 19th century, particularly remaking the economies and societies of the Low Countries, France, the Rhineland, Northern Italy, and the Northeastern United States. A few decades later, the Second Industrial Revolution led to ever more massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity, a pattern that continued into the 20th century. The Catholic Church, in response to the growing influence and power of modernism, secularism and materialism, formed the First Vatican Council in the late 19th century to deal with such problems an ...
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Rishama
A rishama (''rišama''; ''riš-ama''), rishamma, or rishema (; ; ; ) is a religious patriarch in Mandaeism. It is the highest rank out of all the Mandaean clergical ranks. The next ranks are the ''ganzibra'' and ''tarmida'' priests (see Mandaean priest). In Iraq, the current rishama is Sattar Jabbar Hilo. In Australia, there are two rishamas, namely Salah Choheili and Brikha Nasoraia. Etymology The Mandaic language, Mandaic term ''rišama'' is derived from the words ''riš'' 'head' and ''ama'' 'people'. Although the term for the Mandaean rishama (ablution), daily minor ablution is also spelled the same in written Classical Mandaic (''rišama''), the word for 'minor ablution' is pronounced in Modern Mandaic as , while 'head priest' is pronounced . Notable ''rishama'' or patriarchs Pre-20th century *Zazai d-Gawazta bar Hawa, patriarch datable to around the year 270 CE and earliest known copyist of Alma Rišaia Zuṭa, Qulasta, The Thousand and Twelve Questions, The Baptism of Hibi ...
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List Of Mandaean Priests
This article contains a list of historical and active Mandaean priests, all of whom have the ranks of Rishama, Ganzibra or Tarmida. Mandaean priestly families include the Manduia (Manduwi), Kupašia ( Khaffagi), Kuhailia ( Choheili), and Durakia (Dorragi) families, all of which can be traced back to the mid-1400s. List of Mandaean priests Active As of 2023, Australia has the largest number of active Mandaean priests, all of whom reside in the Western Sydney region. Most of the following list of currently active Mandaean priests is based on Buckley (2023) and from ''The Worlds of Mandaean Priests'' website curated by Christine Robins, Yuhana Nashmi et al. Note that this is a partial, incomplete list. *Rishamma Sattar Jabbar Hilow, Iraq *Rishamma Salah Choheili, Australia *Rishamma Professor Brikha Nasoraia, Australia *Ganzibra Najah Choheili, Iran *Ganzibra Khaldoon Majid Abdullah, Australia *Ganzibra Waleed Khashan, Australia (also known as Walid Abdul Razzak or Walid Ebadfard ...
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Dora, Baghdad
Dora (also al-Dura, or ad-Durah, , Syriac: ܕܘܿܪܵܐ) is a neighborhood in Al Rashid administrative district, southern Baghdad, Iraq. Before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, it was home to the city's largest concentration of Christian Assyrians, as well as Mandaeans and Muslim families. History The area was largely uninhabited until the 1950s when Assyrians from Habbaniya started settling down in Baghdad. Most houses and churches were built during the 1960s and 1970s while the booming neighbourhood attracted more middle-class families. Prior to the Iraq War, the area was home to the largest concentration of Assyrians and Mandeans, as well as mixed Sunni and Shi'ite families. Before the Iraq War, Dora was home to 150,000 Christians, mostly adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church. Iraq War In the early morning of March 19, 2003, U.S. forces initiated the invasion of Iraq by attacking a "buried command post" believed to be occupied by Sadd ...
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Mandi (Mandaeism)
A mandi, mashkhanna ( ), or beth manda (''beit manda'', , 'house of knowledge'; also ''bimanda''), is a Mandaean building that serves as a community center and place of worship. A mandi is traditionally built on the banks of a yardna, or flowing river. Although mandis are traditionally "cult-huts" made of straw, bamboo, and mud that are built by the river,Drower, E. S. 1960. ''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. nowadays mandis can also be modern buildings that serve as community houses and local administrative centers. A mandi typically holds weekly worship services, weddings, and many other important events and rituals. In Iraq A contemporary-style mandi is located in Nasiriyah, Iraq. The town of Liṭlaṭa in Qal'at Saleh District, southern Iraq was also the site of a Mandaean mandi that the British scholar E. S. Drower often visited. In Baghdad, the main mandi is called the Sabian Mandi of Baghdad. It is located on the western ba ...
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