Ginza Rabba "The Great Treasure" The Holy Book of

the Mandaeans in English Featured

Written by Prof. Dr. Qais Al saadi

Ginza Rabba "The Great Treasure" The Holy Book

of the Mandaeans in English
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Although Mandaeans neglected to document their

history and have lost much of their oral traditions, they
were quite eager to keep their religious heritage by
copying their manuscripts. They therefore adopted strict
regulations for copying their sacred manuscripts, to
maintain and preserve them from one generation to the
next.
The Ginza Rabba, or “Great Treasure”, is Mandaeans’
largest collection of religious principles and instructions.
According to their beliefs, the Ginza was the first
revelation of God to Adam and thus considered as their
holy book. Among Mandaeans, the book is also known as
Sidra Rabba, the great codex or Sidra ’d Adam, the codex
of Adam.

As unique as these people are, their holy book is specially

arranged: it consists of two volumes, the yamina or
“right” and smala or “left” Ginza. The “right” volume is
larger and contains 18 chapters divided into individual
tractates, whereas the “left” volume includes 3 main
chapters containing many hymns. The way of binding
both volumes together is very particular and used by
the Mandaeans only for this book. Both parts have to be
bundled together in one tome; the “left” part is placed
upside-down to the “right” part, so that both parts can
be read from right-to-left according to the Mandaic
alphabet.

The Ginza Rabba varies in its contents and deals with

spiritual, even metaphysical aspects. It also deals with
the mortal life of human beings and describes ancient
visions concerning life after death. In particular, the
“right” volume depicts the Mandaean theology,
cosmogony and anthropogeny, i.e. the Mandaeans’
dogma of monotheism and the creation story of the
cosmos and mankind; in this part, Mandaean ethics are
outlined by a detailed account of moral duties. On the
other hand, the “left” volume is concerned entirely with
the return of the soul to its origin in the world of light; it
is about the ascent of the soul after death and the idea of
eternal life.

Generally, the Ginza Rabba represents consecutively the

principles of the Mandaean doctrine: the belief of the
only one great God, Hayyi Rabbi, to whom all absolute
properties belong; he created all the worlds, formed the
soul through his power, and placed it by means of angels
into the human body. So he created Adam and
Hawa/Eve, the first man and woman. Since the soul was
brought down to the material world, it has to stay for a
defined period of time in the human body and is obliged
to suffer its worldly fate; however, the soul as a part of
the divine creation should encourage human beings to
do good deeds and to confront evil with God’s help. God
therefore sent the saviour to protect the soul, along
with messengers to guide the people to a pious life
according to His will. When the soul completes its
predestined lifespan, the saviour will come to
accompany it back from the body to its origins,
whereupon it has to pass through several stations of
purification.
In more recent times, Mandaeans have been facing
serious difficulties in reading and understanding the
Ginza Rabba, and explaining its contents to their children
and neighbors because of its original Mandaic language.
In the past, there were several serious attempts to
translate the Ginza Rabba into foreign languages by
scholars as part of their studies of Mandaean religion.
This began with the attempt of the Swedish Orientalist
Mathias Norberg to translate it into Latin in 1815/1816.
The first printed version of the Ginza Rabba was copied
by the German Orientalist Heinrich Julius Petermann in
1867. Then the German scholar Wilhelm Brandt
attempted to translate the whole book into German, but
only published some portions in 1839. His colleague
Mark Lidzbarski produced the first translation of the
whole book into German in 1925. Other scholars
included in their publications some passages translated
into English, usually relying upon the German version.
Despite these considerable efforts, Mandaeans were
unable to use these editions in Iraq and Iran due to the
unfamiliarity of German and Latin there. As the result of
an increasing need to have a comprehensible Ginza in
Iraq, the headship of the Mandaeans decided to translate
the Ginza Rabba into Arabic.

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, the

Mandaeans have been forced to leave their homelands.
They have escaped to many countries, so that three-
quarters of them are now living in the Diaspora.
Due to their emigration to foreign countries, the new
generation of Mandaeans is becoming fully integrated
into their new societies. They are deeply influenced by
the cultures and the languages of these new
“homelands”. However, they have to sustain their
identity by means of understanding their own religion
and presenting their faith to other interested people.
As a result of this, it became necessary to translate the
Ginza Rabba into English, so that coming generations will
maintain their religious education in a language which is
of common use.
Even though this edition represents a translation of the
meaning, reflecting the intentions behind the original
text rather than a literal translation, we were quite
careful and attentive towards conveying the spiritually
worded text from its Mandaic origins to an
understandable language. The Ginza Rabba should be
easily read and understood by everyone; our aim is to
make its ancient heritage coherent with modern usage,
so that readers are not confused.
This project was according to the permission and
supervision of Rishema Sattar Jabbar Hillo the head of
the Mandaeans in the world and Rishema Salah Jabbar
Tawos the head of the Mandaeans in Australia. I would
like to thank them for involving me in this important
project.
http://www.amazon.de/Ginza-Rabba-Prof-Qais-Al-
Saadi/dp/B00A3GO458
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