UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

toleration and protection, including the right to worship and protection of their property,
their status has at times been disputed by religious scholars. 303 Since the fall of the former
regime a number of religious edicts (fatwas) and letters have been issued by clerics in Iraq,
denying the Sabaean-Mandaeans the status of “People of the Book” and calling for their
forced conversion or killing of the “infidels” (kuffar). Prior to his assassination in August
2003, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakim, at the time the head of SCIRI, judged that
Mandaeans are not “People of the Book”. 304 The Mandaean Human Rights Group 305 cites
Al-Qa’eda in Iraq as naming “the Shi’ites infidels as bad as the Sub’ba” in a letter
published on the internet. The Group also refers to the late Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qassim
Al-Khoei, who taught in Najaf and is said to have recognized the Sabaean-Mandaeans as
“People of the Book” in 1979, while Iranian Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini, the political
leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, did not. The Mandaean Human Rights Group
also reported that in Friday sermons held in places such as Sadr City, Falluja and Basrah
extremist clerics declared that it was “religiously permitted to take money, property, and
even women from the infidels (…).” 306
The Sabaean-Mandaeans sought the support of religious and political leaders in Iraq such
as Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim of SCIRI, former Prime Minister
Ibrahim Al-Ja’afari and Muqtada Al-Sadr asking them to protect the rights of minorities.
While their demands were met with sympathy, little action has been taken. The head of the
Sabean-Mandaeans in Iraq, Sheikh Sattar Al-Helou, asked Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani,
Iraq’s highest Shi’ite authority, to issue a fatwa calling for the protection of the Sabean-
Kitab, And the Rule Concerning Other Types of Kafirs (Questions 328 and 334), accessed on 9 November
2006, http://www.khamenei.de/fatwas/practical02.htm.
303 At the time of Prophet Mohammed, there was only one Sabian group referred to as those who “immerse
in water”, which lived in Southern Mesopotamia and followed a monotheistic religion that resembles Judaism
and Christianity. Early Islamic sources generally refer to the Sabaean-Mandaeans as the “sabians” of the
Qur’an. In the 9 th century AD, the people from the Harran, known as polytheists, star and idol worshippers,
started to call themselves Sabians as a protection against Islamic persecution, creating confusion as to who are
the “sabians” referred to in the Qur’an. Despite the fact that the Harranian community disappeared from
history in the 13 th century, the common belief that the Sabians were pagans, star and idol worshippers did not
change. Muslims until today continue to question the Sabaean-Mandaeans” status as “People of the Book” by
repeating the speculations found in medieval Islamic sources, despite the fact that the Sabaean-Mandaean
religion prohibits idolatry and planet worship. The fact that the Sabaean-Mandaeans have mostly lived
isolated from their Muslim neighbours as well as the secrecy surrounding their religious belief and cults, have
likely further contributed speculation and misperceptions; see Asuta, The Journal for the Study and Research
into the Mandaean Culture, Religion and Language, Sabians, Sabaeans, or Sabeans, 2000,
http://www.geocities.com/mandaeans/Sabians8.html; Dr. Şinasi Gündüz, Problems on the Muslim
Understanding of the Mandaeans, ARAM Thirteenth International Conference, Harvard University 13-15
June 1999, ARAM, (published by Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies) 11-12, 1999-2000, p. 269-279.
http://www.dinlertarihi.com/dosyalar/makaleler/sinasigunduz/problems%20on%20the%20muslim.htm. See
also: Mandaean Human Rights Group, see above footnote 288.
304 John Bolender, Worse Off Now Than Under Saddam, The Plight Of Iraq’s Mandeans, Counterpunch,
8/9 January 2005, http://www.counterpunch.org/bolender01082005.html.
305 The Mandaean Human Rights Group is a self-organized group dedicated to the protection of Mandaeans
in Iraq and Iran. It works with volunteers in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Europe and Iraq.
306 Mandaean Human Rights Group, see above footnote 288. The National League of Mandaean Sabians in
Iraq confirmed this information in correspondence with UNHCR Iraq in January 2007.
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