Mandaean men performing the ceremonial baptism of the Mandaeism faith, Amara, southern Iraq. #NativeThreads // www.nativethreads.co ⠀
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Mandaeans, also called Sabaeans, are an ethnoreligious group native to southern Iraq. Mandaeans share with Christians and Muslims a reverence for John the Baptist, but venerate him as a leading prophet. Historically, Islamic rulers protected the Mandaeans as a religious minority and under Islamic law were able to freely practice their faith and run their own affairs. Recently however, especially since the US invasion of Iraq and the rise of Salafism/Wahhabism, Mandaeans are intensely persecuted - resulting in the decrease of their numbers in Iraq from 50,000 in 2003 to less than 5,000 today. 📷 via Abbis