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A novel that shows us how words can still move mountains…

It was April 2003 in the capital of Iraq; two days after the invasion; the Baghdad National Museum is a street market, its doors wide open, offering its treasures to everyone wanting to steal them. When Ahmed Sadoun, an Iraqi, stole an old clay bowl on behalf of some British customers, he had no idea of the course of events he had just set in motion. His act would trigger a series of happenings plotted by men working in the shadows to plunder Man’s most valued, yet most forgotten asset: Sound.

After the first chapter, the action takes place in a variety of settings: Baghdad, Cambridge, St Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt, and ultimately in Jerusalem and its environs.

Three Mandaic bowls and a gold amulet are the key elements that take us on an adventure packed with characters moving behind the scenes, plotting to seize the power locked in an ancient Mandaic alphabet.

Never before has anybody attempted to steal words from the voices that move the world, filling us with agonising pain or flooding us with tears of joy. But this is precisely what Professor Samuel Sinclair intends to do. To achieve this, he will have to manipulate the Mandaeans, the traditional trustees of a Gnostic faith, unique in the world, which has survived centuries of persecution. This faith, which predates Christianity, is fated to disappear in the 21st century because of religious intransigence.

The Mandaeans have their roots in antiquity, dating back to Egyptian times. They lived in Jerusalem during the first century AD, when John the Baptist was preaching in the River Jordan. They believe he was the fourth and last prophet, and say he was sent to the world to heal the sick and resuscitate the dead. Almost all the characteristics attributed to Jesus by Christianity were attributed by the Mandaeans to their prophet, John.

They believe their alphabet to be magical and sacred, which is why they communicate in Mandaean, a language that even now, only they are able to understand. They use the letters to write spells and incantations in small bowls that they use to banish demons from their homes. One of these demon-trapping bowls is a thread that runs throughout the plot of the novel.

The Mandaean alphabet or Abagada, the most ancient syntax that can still be heard, will once again unleash its full power. Very few men have the knowledge required to achieve this, and Zakaria Asgari, a Mandaean priest, is one of them.

However, he is not the only person trying to grasp this power. Inside the walls of his old office in Cambridge, Professor Samuel Sinclair is struggling to fit together the pieces of the puzzle that will take him to the top of the academic pyramid. He is assisted by his protégée, young oriental studies student Andrea Jacobs, and Martin Crown, the sinister director of the Saint John's Christians' Association.

In this race against time, researcher Victor Lavine will do all he can to foil his aspirations by being the first to unravel the clues hidden in the sacred alphabet. He will discover that Jerusalem is full of hidden nooks and crannies with a connection to the Mandaeans, and, thereby, their last prophet, John the Baptist.

A barely legible inscription in a tomb near the cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem impels him to visit Ein Kerem, a town dedicated to John the Baptist. After discovering the cave where John's followers were baptised, he will have to excavate the foundations of an ancient gate in the city walls of Jerusalem that belonged to the Essenes. Only then will he understand that today’s Mandaeans were related to the Essenes, the mystical sect responsible for writing the Dead Sea Scrolls.

However, not all these manuscripts were written on sheets of parchment or papyrus. One, very special manuscript, was created using a material too costly for these impoverished mystics: The Copper Roll discovered in Qumrán more than half a century earlier. This roll gives an exceptional twist to the novel, with the discovery of a revealing hypothesis regarding the exact location of the fabulous hidden treasure that archaeologists have been seeking for fifty years.

However, the 100 gold ingots they will find in a strange tomb in Qumrán, which can nowadays be visited, are not the end of the novel. Behind this spectacular discovery lies an even greater mystery connecting the Mandaeans with Egypt, the land of the pharaohs.

The characters in the novel will need to visit Amarna, ancient capital of the famous heretic pharaoh Akenaton, to search for the real power imprisoned in the Mandaean alphabet among its ruins. Following the instructions given to him by the Mandaean priests, Victor Lavine will be able to uncover what led Professor Sinclair to risk his own life and take possession of the words. And there, in a dark underground crypt, a colossal statue carved in gold will reveal to him the secret of how to move mountains.

The Sacred Alphabet is a fast-paced action novel that you just can’t put down. Each scene interweaves with the next, keeping readers’ attention, becoming more gripping with every page turned. Adventure and entertainment go hand-in-hand in this book, which shows us how words can still move mountains.

The Sacred Alphabet by Gemma Nieto

Gemma Nieto is a novel author immersed in a cultural thriller that manages to convey the force of words in a fast-paced action novel.

A novel that shows us that words can still move mountains.

What if reading an alphabet had the power to move mountains? What if someone would read it today?

Long before Christ, our ancestors knew the power of the sounds, the power of words read aloud. But we have forgotten them for centuries and their magic resonate in our minds just empty of meaning.

We know that words can hurt, they are able to harm or emotion us, but little else. But somewhere in our evolutionary brain still keep the memory of what we might do with them if we knew how. Between us there is someone who has not forgotten them, still knows how to read the actual words. And he will do.

Mandaeans three bowls and a gold charm are the key elements that lead us to an adventure full of characters who move behind the scenes trying to seize power that holds an ancient Mandaean alphabet.

Two days after the invasion of Iraq, the National Museum in Baghdad is a market street with the doors open wide their wares to anyone who wants to steal them.

When the Iraqi Sadoun Ahmed steals an old clay bowl commissioned by some British customers, is not aware of the events that just trigger. His act will launch a chain of events fueled by men who work behind the scenes to plunder mankind from their greatest asset, but also the most forgotten sounds.

No one had ever in-tempted to appropriate the words, voices that move the world and which make us shudder with pain or cry with joy. But the professor Samuel Sinclair is willing to do. In his career to follow them he must to manipulate the Mandaeans, the traditional custodians of a Gnostic faith, unique in the world and that has survived centuries of persecution. A faith older than Christianity, certain to disappear in the XXI century due to religious intolerance.

Little sinopsis of the novel

What can enclose the Mandaean alphabet? Written on the inside of an old clay bowl, its simple and irregular strokes contain a powerful magic spell.

When the mercenary Ahmed Sadoun steals an old bowl of the Archaeological Museum of Baghdad, is not aware of events just to launch.

The Abagada, the oldest alphabet still be heard, will release its full force. Only a few men have the knowledge necessary to achieve and the Mandaean priest Zakaria Asgari is one of them.

However, it is not the only one that pursues power. Between the walls of his old office in Cambridge, Professor Samuel Sinclair tries to fit the pieces of a puzzle that will elevate him to the top of the academic pyramid. Account with the help of his protegee, the young orientalist Andrea Jacobs, and Martin Crown, the sinister director of the Christian Association of San Juan.

In a race against time, the researcher Victor Lavine oppose their wishes trying to unravel the clues that encloses the sacred alphabet before him .

They will embark on a journey so hectic and dangerous to reach a revelation jealously guarded by the Mandaeans, a Gnostic community whose origins are lost in time.

Will walk past the stage of the sect, from the tomb of Absalom to the cave of John the Baptist or the ruins of Amarna in an adventure game that will be much more than their own lives.

The Sacred Alphabet is a fast-paced action novel that the reader can not stop reading. A scene is intertwined with the next to keep their attention and interest grows as it passes the pages.

The adventure and entertainment go hand in hand in this book that aims only to tell us that words can still move mountains ...

Mandaeans' voice from Sidney, Australia

This article tells us the problems that the mandaean people have in their refuegee countries.

Life finally deals Mandaean refugees a good hand / By Russell Skelton. Sydney

September 20, 2004

Najieh Ascher Sobbi is free after four years in detention.

Picture:Neil Eliot

During her four years in immigration detention, Najieh would undertake a simple daily ritual. From a pack of tattered playing cards she would deal herself a hand, looking for a sign, an omen, that she and her son, Jafar, would be released.

According to Jafar, 27, the cards never turned up anything positive. No matter how much she shuffled them, the portents were always gloomy. And what they indicated seemed to be true as their bid for asylum was systematically rejected, first by Immigration officials and later by the Refugee Review Tribunal.

Najieh lost hope of a new life in Australia, of joining her sister, Jila, and 13 nephews and nieces in Sydney. Deportation seemed unavoidable. Like so many detainees, she became depressed, her blood pressure rose, and she became increasingly disoriented and had difficulty remembering.

Last month Najieh and Jafar Ascher Sobbi were released from the Baxter detention centre following a high level review ordered by Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone into the plight of Sabian Mandaeans. They are the last of 160 Mandaean men, women and children to be released from detention after their claims of religious persecution in Iran were finally recognised.

"Even now she is afraid, she still thinks that someone from Immigration will knock on the door and take her back to Baxter," says Jafar. "She loves her freedom, but she cannot quite get used to the fact that she is free. She has been conditioned by years of living in total despair." Speaking through an interpreter, Najieh said: "I spent years trying to keep my spirits up, today I can walk down the street and talk to people. I still cannot believe I am free. I ate fresh fish today for the first time."

Their release represents a remarkable turnaround in refugee policy. When Mandaeans first started arriving in Australia six years ago, their applications for asylum were systemically rejected by the then immigration minister, Philip Ruddock, who insisted that they were discriminated against by the Iranian Islamic Republic but never persecuted. He moved to have them deported along with other Iranians whose applications for asylum had been rejected.

But those moves came to an abrupt halt last year when Justice Cooper of the Federal Court ruled that Mandaeans were persecuted in Iran and that the Refugee Review Tribunal had failed to properly investigate their claims. He found that Mandaeans could not attend university, were refused work in the public service, were denied free access to hospitals and that Mandaean women were sexually abused and not properly protected by police.

For Najieh, it has been a long, painful and distressing journey from the dusty Iranian town of Ahwaz, where followers of the Sabian Mandaean faith - who follow the teachings of John the Baptist - have worked for centuries as goldsmiths, boat builders and carpenters. She fled Ahwaz soon after her husband died, realising that she could no longer make a future for her son.

While she is still adjusting to her freedom and is no longer afraid of persecution by Muslims, she admits to finding her new life confusing. "I cannot get used to talking to people without being afraid of who might be listening," she says.

The Sacred Alphabet: read the first pages, II

(pages 36-37)

“What are you thinking?” Zechariah asked him.

The priest looked up, revealing eyes almost hidden by bushy eyebrows.

“I’m afraid.”

“That it’s the genuine bowl?”

“Yes, and that we won’t know how to read it," he added, a note of sadness in his voice. The bishop suddenly seemed to have aged. “If we don’t know how to pronounce the verses, nothing will happen and then… what will we say to them?" He extended his arm and pointed at the Mandaeans spread out along the riverbank. That is was a lie? That the magic of the sacred words had stopped working? If the words had lost their magic, then what would they have to believe in? Zechariah gave his back an encouraging rub, but he said nothing, waiting for him to continue. There was a time for everything.

"But if we read it correctly, if it works…” continued Basaam, “If our chant is the right one, what will happen?”

“I’m afraid, Ganzebra. The words we will be pronouncing are the most powerful of all.”

The both men remained crouching by the fire, watching the sinuous dancing flames. Its heat was not enough to warm their souls.

"I'm afraid, too," the old man said finally. “I even fear for my life… I am the weakest of the three.” he explained.

Basaam knew the legends surrounding his alphabet, but he also knew its true magic. It wasn’t that he believed in it. He was absolutely certain of what it capable of doing. When he had first become a priest, the ganzebra had taught him that the Mandaean alphabet was magical and sacred. He had already known this, as did all Mandaeans, but he was later given the knowledge reserved for priests alone, the true power locked inside each of its 24 letters. The “a” was Perfection, the Beginning and End of all things; the “b”, the Great Father; the “g” represented Gabriel, the Messenger... They would possess the power, because they were reality, and because they were capable of creating it. Repeating them over and over again multiplied their power, this power that had the ability to create, but also to destroy. When men combined the letters and pronounced them, they appropriated their power and the consequences could be unpredictable.

“Such power…” sighed Basaam in a murmur."

About mandaean people

Hardly are about 2,000 of the 50,000 who lived in Iraq. Those who could flee the war have taken refuge in countries like Australia, England or the U.S., who have not accepted without much hesitation. Although they have been persecuted throughout their history, are now about to disappear due to religious intolerance.

The Mandaeans are the last group Gnostic before Christianity was born and still continues to practice their rituals as they did formerly.

For them, their alphabet is magical and sacred, hence, even communicate with each other with the Mandaean, the priests use one language much earlier, the Mandaean known as classic, which only they can understand. It is the alphabet they are written in their holy books, among which is the Ginza, which means treasure.

They also use the letters of their alphabet to write spells and incantations in small bowls, that are like bowls of soup, do in order to ward off the demons of the houses to stop peaceful families living inside. One of these bowls is the demon-traps used in the novel as a theme throughout the plot.

The Mandaeans are rooted in antiquity dating back to Egyptian times and lived in Jerusalem during the first century AD, when John the Baptist preaching in the Jordan River. They claim they knew him and that part of their liturgy is infused with his spirit. In fact, he became in his fourth and final prophet, and say to him who came to earth to heal the sick and raise the dead. Almost all of the Christian tradition attributes to Jesus, except for the divinity, the Mandaeans are those granted to their prophet John.

The Sacred Alphabet uses their rites and customs to take the reader by the hand in a work of thrilling action can not stop reading. However, quite unlike other works of this type, Gemma Nieto's novel is well grounded in a solid documentation that led him to gather more than two years. All the scenarios mentioned in the book are true and it is very difficult to separate fiction from reality because sometimes the novel becomes more credible that the same reality.

This is a work that absorbs the reader from the outset and not allowed to leave the reading to the end, a novel in which the action is perfectly dosed and the plots are intertwined with such mastery that the only thing that the reader can make is ... read.

The Sacred alphabet's resume

The Sacred Alphabet is a 2009 mystery fiction novel written by Gemma Nieto an was published by the editorial Temas de Hoy Novela.

It is a work which falls within the genre of historical thriller follows the adventures of Victor Lavine investigator to help a religious group to regenerate the power of his alphabet.

Thanks the novel, the reader gains knowledge while it entertains. The author reveals the strange and fascinating history of the Mandaeans, a religious group that barely survives in Irak.

It is a fast-paced action novel of the old-style adventure stories of the last century, but at the same time is different because its mysteries take us to the present, because as a religious philosophy mandeism survives today near the Tigris and Euphrates, in Irak and Irán.

The extensive documentation that Nieto Gemma offers on the Mandaean gnostic sect or on recent archaeological discoveries in Jerusalem is built on solid research.

Contents

-Plot Summary

-Characters

   Good people

   The priests

   Bad Peoples

-Stages

-Keys

-Why read the novel?

Plot Summary

What can enclose the Mandaean language?

Written on the inside of an old vessel, its simple and irregular strokes contain a powerful magic spell. When the mercenary Ahmed Sadoun steals an old bowl of the National Museum of Iraq is not aware of events just to launch. The Abagada, the oldest alphabet still be heard, will release its full force. Only a few men have the knowledge necessary to achieve and the Mandaean priest Zakaria Asgari is one of them.

However, it is the only one that pursues power. Between the walls of his old office in Cambridge, Professor Samuel Sinclair tries to fit the pieces of a puzzle that will elevate him to the top of the academic pyramid. Account with the help of his protegee, the young orientalist Andrea Jacobs, and Martin Crown, the sinister director of the Christian Association of San Juan.

In a race against time, the researcher Victor Lavine opposes their wishes before him trying to unravel the clues that enclose the sacred alphabet.

They will embark on a journey so hectic and dangerous to reach a revelation jealously guarded by the Mandaeans, a Gnostic community whose origins are lost in time. They will walk past the stage of the sect, from the tomb of Absalom to the cave of John the Baptist or the ruins of Amarna, in an adventure that much more at stake than their own lives.

Characters
Good people

Victor Lavine: is the main character of the book. A young man, intelligent and humorous, who works for an Italian company dedicated to the pursuit of art pieces on request. His company has received a strange role which will provide unexpected adventures.

Said Alami, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, will help his friend Victor in all risky undertakings in which is involved, against the wishes of his wife who thought she had married a man more at ease.

Andrea Jacobs. Very well drawn character in the novel with a psychological change that is not available to any writer. The exquisite intelligence of Andrea constitutes a counterpoint to Victor, until the end to form the same team.

Isaac ben Shimon is an octogenarian professor specializing in Mandaeism to help the protagonist in his investigations. One of the best profiles drawn from the novel and the reader feels a great sympathy for him.

The priests

Much of the weight of the work rests on three Mandaean priests, who constitute the liaison between the players and their quest. They are the Ganzebra Zakaria Asgari, and their assistants Basaam Jabar and Naseer Kaleel. Three endearing characters, especially the youngest of them, Naseer.

Bad People
Samuel Sinclair is a professor at Cambridge, of great renown, which aims to gain the perks you'll get if he finds what he considers "the greatest treasure of mankind." He dreams that the Queen of England will become Sir for his historical findings.

Martin Crown manages the Christian Association of S. John with a firm hand, a company dedicated to the study of John the Baptist, but his true purpose is to help Samuel Sinclair in their archeological findings. Martin has the help of two dangerous assassins: Abdul Khaled and Jamal Adi.

Stages

The action begins in the National Museum of Iraq, two days after U.S. forces bombed their capital. The country plunged into the chaos of war, cannot defend all fronts and the thief Ahmed Sadoun takes to steal a small clay pot containing a spell inside and will be the central thread of the story. Later, the main characters in the novel match in the Eternal City, in Jerusalem, and will face in a cave known as the cave of John the Baptist. Finally, the investigation of the investigator Victor Lavine, will shift the action to Amarna, the ancient Egyptian capital of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Keys

There are three things that trigger the search which stars Victor Lavine, followed very closely, sometimes too, by Professor Samuel Sinclair. These elements are:

Bowls

These are three small bowls of clay, the size of soup bowls with Mandaean inscriptions written inside. Containing spells are powerful and owe their strength to the magic of an alphabet, the Abagada.

The amulet

The Mandaeans have an ancient legend associated with the use of gold or silver charms that hang from the neck; one of them, alone has been found in gold, to help priests find their "treasure."

The inscripcions

One of the tracks that causes all the action in the novel are some inscriptions found on the facade of the tomb of Absalom, a monument erected nearly two thousand years ago on the Mount of Olives. Victor Lavine, the protagonist, uses them to advance their dangerous quest.

Why read the novel?

The Sacred Alphabet is a fast-paced action novel, where one engages with the next scene so that the reader cannot stop reading it. She spreads with such mastery of intrigue that always manages to leave a question mark in the air to maintain the narrative tension. About his language, simple and correct, increases the final value of the work and making it affordable to very varied readers. The novel is recommended for all those looking for a lively book, entertaining, readable, with a plot and characters beautifully constructed that also aims to teach the Mandaeans exist and they need us. This is a good adventure story with a social background.

The Sacred Alphabet: read the first pages, I

I. THEFT

(pages 13-16)

Baghdad Museum, Iraq, Friday, April 11th, 2003

Ahmed Sadoun wasn't used to getting his hands dirty. He had long fingers and well-cared-for nails in spite of the fact that Baghdad was burning and the bombs never stopped falling around around him. It had been two days since the Americans had starting attacking the capital and the war-torn city was engulfed by fire. The murmur of its ancient street markets had given way to the thunder of explosions, but the Iraqi swept the streets with the hem of his jellabah as though he were above all this chaos.

He heard a bomb whistle as it fell too close to him, and he instinctively pulled his head down below his shoulders. It was impossible to tell whether the Americans or the Iraqi forces had fired, but in any case, the damage to the city would be the same. Ahmed glanced quickly behind him at the buildings he had just left, but he couldn't see them for the damage. It was night and Baghdad was in darkness except for the occasional fires that lit up the ruined buildings and released their inevitable plumes of smoke into the air. He lived in a land without law and order, which was also losing its history; and he was one of those responsible for that loss.

He had waited almost two days since the war had started before going to the National Archaeology Museum, believing that by now the looters would have already taken anything of value. He would never have been able to face up to the organised foreign gangs, nor did he want to tackle the hoards of dispossessed people who came in their wake. The foreigners came in trucks and vans, equipped with the most advanced break-in materials, packing everything up to send to the clients in New York, London and Switzerland who had hired them. The latter were armed with knives and axes, ready to fill their pockets with the remains, which they would sell to local dealers. He didn’t care about either group. “What I have come to collect”, he thought, stroking his thick moustache, “will not have been taken. It is of no importance to anybody but to my client." Or at least that’s what he thought.

Ahmed had been born in Baghdad, and his early years had been easier than those that followed them. When he was still a teenager, his country had gone to war with Iran, and after this conflict the United States had imposed a long embargo against his country for having tried to invade Kuwait. Although everything seemed to have finished with the enormous Operation Desert Storm, all that it had achieved was to further ruin and demoralise the already depressed civil population.

His family had found it very difficult to get regular meals during those years and Ahmed had learned to get hold of food by ingratiating himself with powerful people, who could give him all he needed. There were only two requirements for being successful at this, which were a lack of morals and the ability to obey orders. The problem started at the beginning of 2003 with the news of the imminent war with the United States. He was about to lose control of the situation, and started looking for new "protectors", who he called "clients". He found them abroad, in university circles in England, one of the countries that would eventually attack his own. His new clients wanted "pieces" and it was easy work. All he needed to do was to give them what they wanted.

The Iraqi was a dark man with tanned skin and hard features. He had black hair and a thick, moustache that arched downwards across his face, giving him a perpetual expression of distrust. He was middle aged, although his slight build and dark penetrating stare made it difficult to determine his exact age. He had had a hard life; always entering and leaving by the back door, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to snatch everything his established customers ordered from him. Now he was finding it very easy to give his new customers what they wanted.

He looked behind him again to make sure he was alone in the spacious open grounds of the museum, adjusting his weapon beneath the jellabah. “I might have to use it”, he thought. When he reached the façade of the building, he started walking slowly, tapping his sword against the brick wall, constantly peering beyond the most distant shadows. He was defenceless, and he knew it. Around him were the gardens at the entrance to the Archaeological Museum, which had not so long ago been the scene of a genuine battle. His Iraqi compatriots had dug trenches to defend themselves against the Americans. Some of these might still be occupied, and he needed to move cautiously. He wouldn’t be surprised if a soldier from either side tried to stop him in his tracks.

He kept moving, as quiet as a mouse, skirting the façade until he reached the entrance usually used by staff. He decided to shelter and wait in the little hut that gave access to the interior. Other than the echo of the far away bombs and the noise of the planes circling in the black sky, there was not a sound to be heard. He could not hear anything from inside the museum, nor could he make out any light. Believing he was safe and alone, he switched on his torch and went to the entrance hall.

He was not surprised by the mess of overturned tables, or that the floor was covered with a carpet of paper, nor by the chaos he could make out in the offices he passed as he ventured further into the building. The looters had smashed the doors with axes, leaving man-sized gaps in them. They had made off with the computers and anything of value they thought would be able to sell easily on the black market. Everything they didn’t think useful had been scattered all over the floor or piled up in the corners. He could make out a faint odour of petrol and noticed some torches they had used to illuminate their pillaging activities. As he crept along the corridors, it became darker still and his torch did no more than light up the small circle he followed. He turned the corner, and his steps took him to a staircase leading to the storerooms in the basement, where uncatalogued pieces and those for which there was no room in the public displays were kept. Before he descended, he stopped, startled. He thought he had heard a faint scraping sound. He scanned the stairs with his torch and saw they were covered in cataloguing records, index sheets and official documents, all strewn over the steps and handrail. He saw nobody. However, his face lit up. Beyond the last step, at the end of a short corridor, he saw the enormous ironclad doors that gave access to the basement. He smiled a threatening smile, his thick moustache hiding his lips. As he had expected, the doors had been forced open. All he needed to do was go through them and collect what he had come for.

Mandaeans' videos

These Internet resources I presented to you are very affordable because of an immediate way you can get the documentation you consider more attractive.
It constitutes the first step to approach the Mandaean culture.

-Mandaeans

Beautiful photographic history with old images made over a century ago by pioneering studies Mandaeism, Lady Drower.

-Ancient religion under threat - Sabian Mandaeans

While a Mandaean priest reading a sacred text, the announcer tells the BBC in English some of the highlights of this forgotten faith and speaks of the persecution they are subjected in Iraq. It also introduces us to some supporters who tell of their experiences.

-Mandaeans on BBC

This video begins with images on a wedding and a baptism typically Mandaeans. Then, introduces the audience to the realities of the community of Baghdad showing the funeral of a murdered police Mandaean and a child who had been kidnapped and tortured and whose family was forced to flee to Syria. It has a good technical quality.

-BBC Worl: An ancient Mandaean faith forced into exile

The BBC has been one that has done most to make known the real situation of panic and terror with which the Mandaeans have to live today.

-BBC Sabians Mandaeans Sabians

Report by completing a series of articles published in youtube by the BBC about the situation of the Mandaean community.

-Mandaean refugees

This six-minute and a half trailer proclaims the situation who daily suffer the Mandaeans in Iraq, especially following the U.S. invasion. Asked to help out a greater number of Mandaeans have allowed political asylum by the U.S.

-Mandaean and Iraqi cities

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

This series consists of 4 videos tell us in clear and concise form the way of life and problems of the Mandaean population.

Mandaeans' links

There are many websites dedicate to show us how are the lives and the rites of the Mandaeans. Some of them are created by de own mandaean people but another belongs to historians a teachers.

If you are interested in them, don't hesitate to visit the following sites.

-April of DeConick.

This site belongs to April D. DeConick, professor and historian of early Christian and Jewish thought at the University of Houston (Texas), has its own space dedicated to the Mandaeans with interesting links.

The following links have a special consideration in order to know best to the Mandaean people:
-Wikipedia: Mandaeism.
-Wikipedia: Mandaic alphabet.
-Wikipedia: Mandaic Language.
-Wikipedia: Incantation bowls.

-Mandaean Association Union.

The Mandaean Association of America is an international federation of associations and groups command of the entire world dedicated to representing their rights. Its head office is in Toronto (Canada) and has other subsidiaries in London, Manchester and Stockholm.

-The Gnostic Society Library.

For those wishing to enter the reading of Mandaeans, this is the best site.

-Mandaean Refugee Resources Project. 

American site specially dedicated to preserving and protecting the rights of the Mandaean population and to help all refugees.

-Mandaic.

It is the first attempt to explain in the web the mandaean language and their texts.