The Sabi’an Manda’ians people today are a part of the Mesopotamian peoples, and as a small religious sect among many sects and nations included among the deep-rooted Mesopotamian people. Some of the historic books speak about them and describe them as a very old religious sect. during the past centuries, all its people lived in the south of Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the area of the great marshes, and They take baptism as their basic ritual. The Sabi’ans preferred to live near the rivers because the flowing water suits the needs of their rituals. History also attests that they also lived in other places than in Iraq, like Iran, the city of Haran (the NE portion of Syria), Palestine, and the Jordan Valley. But the exact historical roots of the Sab’ean are obscure or unknown. Perhaps the reason for this is their isolation and closed society, especially in their religious practices, due to constant harassment and persecution throughout their long history. That led to the loss of most of their manuscript books which recorded their history, lives and religion.

The Sabi’an Manda’ians, in fact, are Semitic, like the Hebrews and Babylonians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Arabs, and Arameans, etc. The settlement of all these nations is Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, but researchers want to explore the depths of Manda’ian’s history to arrive at the true origins of this sect and to discover its original home and the first source precisely.

The search for the origins of the Manda’ians has led scholars to Eastern Origin of the Manda’ians, and it says that the original home is Mesopotamia (Iraq). For this reason, they inherited much of the Babylonian mythology, and were impacted by Judaism; and they also impacted the Jews because of contact with these people when they settled in Mesopotamia during the Babylonian Exile. They were also impacted by Christianity because of the proximity to Assyrian and Chaldean. Many researchers believe that the Manda’ians creed appeared for the first time in the South of Mesopotamia.

But there is an important question says, why some of Manda’ians holly books mentioned that this sector lived in Palestine in the period of John the Baptist?

This theory sees that part of the Manda’ians people left Iraq to immigrate for reason of the tyranny of paganism, and that was the same reason which forced the prophet Abraham to left Ur of the Chaldeans in the South of Iraq (NW of Nasiriyah city), Manda’ians people took in their journey the direction of the land of Canaan (Palestine) and their travel was northward following along the Euphrates in the direction of Ashour (Nineveh). And from that area they continued on to the famous city of (Haran) which is located on the Khaboor River, in the Northeast of Syria; then on into Palestine where they settled.

According to this theory, the part of the Manda’ians arrived in Palestine and lived there for a while, and during the time they lived there they were persecuted and pursued by the Jews and the Romans. Therefore, they were compelled to conceal themselves, for that became scattered, and then they immigrated again to their original home, Iraq. As they returned homeward they followed the same route that they took when they came to Palestine. Their immigration started heading toward the NE of Syria (the city of Haran) and remained there for a period of time. Some of them headed toward Jordan valley at the far East of Jordan Kingdom, they practiced their baptism rituals there with their prophet John the Baptist, but they were compelled to immigrate because of persecution by the Jews and because of the pursuit of their priests after the assassination of John the Baptist, last of their prophets.

Then the Sabi’an Manda’ian left Jordan valley heading to Mesopotamia from the North, settled there for a while and then went down to the southern cities where they had been before, because of the warm climate and the prevalence sources of flowing water necessary for their religious rituals. In addition, Historical documents and archaeological remains, although few, indicate that the Manda’ians lived in the mountains of Media and the mountains of Pesht Gawa. They also lived in the city of Mandili where they had many temples. Many pottery dishes were discovered, decorated with Manda’ian writing in the cities of Diala, Wasit, and Babylon, dating from the period between 400 and 900 A.D.

the book Haran Kuwaytha, which is important historical books for the Sabi’an Manda’ians, says that the Manda’ians left Palestine—Jerusalem—in the first century A.D after their persecution became intense at the hands of the Jews and Romans. This immigration was completed under the protection of the Persian King Arduwan the First. And their moving from the North of Mesopotamia to the South was not direct but a process. This occurred during the first century A.D.
but this book didn’t pinpoint the exact time of their journey, nor the duration of their stay in Palestine.

Finally we should say that both Testaments of the Bible (the Torah and the Gospels) contain all of the spiritual history of the old world. There is no mention of the Sab’ean Manda’ians either as a religion or a people group. Therefore the following question should be asked: is the Sabi’an Manda’ian a new religion and founded after that ages, or was it ignored because of the isolation of its followers and remained secret?