The Knowledge of Life: The Origins and Early History of the Mandaeans and Their Relations to the Sabians of the Qur'an and to the Harranians

Contents
Page
Preface v
Abbrevations vi
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION 1
l
.The Mandaean/Sabian community in Iraq, its cult and rites 1
2 . History of research and the problem of origins 3
Chapter II:
THE SABI ANS ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC SOURCES 15
1. The problem of the Sabians in the Islamic sources 16
2. The Sabians in the Qur’an 17
3.
The Sabians according to early Muslim scholars before
832-33 A.D. (the date of death of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun) 22
4. The Sabians according to later Muslim scholars after the caliph al-Ma’mun 29
5. Conclusion 51
Chapter III: THE MANDAEAN SOURCES 55
1. Date of the Mandaean writings 55
2. The origin and history of the Mandaeans according to their own tradition 62
Chapter IV:
VARIOUS FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN MANDAEISM
AND THE WESTERN CONNECTIONS OF
THE MANDAEANS 74
1. Ancient Mesopotamian and Iranian elements 74
2. Western elements 83
3. Some characteristics of the Mandaean tradition which reflect the western connection of the Mandaeans 109
Chapter V:
EASTERN SOURCES FOR THE MANDAEANS
AND THE PROBLEM OF THEIR EARLY APPEARANCE
IN MESOPOTAMIA 120
1. Iranian evidence 120
2. Manichaean evidence 1 22
3. Medieval Syriac and Arabic sources 124
Chapter VI: CULTS AND BELIEFS OF THE H ARRANIANS 125
1. The history of Harran from the second millennium B.C. to its destruction by the Mongols 126
2. The religion of the Harranians 134
Chapter VII:
A COMPARISON OF MANDAEISM WITH
HARRANIAN RELIGION 192
1.
Some characteristic features of Harranian religion which
do not appear in that of the Mandaeans 192
2.
Some characteristics of Mandeism which do notappear
in Hairanian religion 214
3. Elements which are treated differently in Harranian and Mandaean religion 221
Chapter VIII: CONCLUSION 233
Selected Bibliography 237
Index 251