Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Arabic: mndy'y@ Manda'iyah) is a gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. The Aramaic manda means "knowledge", as does Greek gnosis. According to most scholars, Mandaeaism originated sometime in the first three centuries AD, in Mesopotamia.

The term Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyana. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. Aramaic: man@da'` manda` in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. Hebrew: mada'` madda`, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.  Other scholars derive the term mandaiia from Manda d-Heyyi (Mandaic manda d-hiia "Knowledge of Life," in reference to the chief divinity hiia rbia "the Great Life") or from the word (bi)mandi, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as the baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life). This last term is possibly to be derived from Pahlavi m'nd mand ("house").  Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the Subba (singular: Subbi). The term Subba is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is Sabi. In Islam, the term "Sabians" (Arabic: lSby'wn al-Sabi`un) is used as a blanket term for adherents of a number of religions, including that of the Mandaeans, in reference to the Sabians of the Qur'an. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John", based upon preliminary reports made by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century.  A mandi (Arabic: mnd~) is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A mandi must be built beside a river in order to perform masbattah (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaeic faith. Modern mandis sometimes have a bath inside a building instead.

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