KarunThe Karun (کارون, kɒːˈɾuːn) is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and its only navigable river. It is long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang, before passing through the capital of the Khuzestan Province of Iran, the city of Ahvaz before emptying to its mouth into Arvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab). The Karun continues toward the Persian Gulf, forking into two primary branches on its delta – the Bahmanshir and the Haffar – that join the Arvand Rud, emptying into the Persian Gulf.
UthraAn uthra or ʿutra (ࡏࡅࡕࡓࡀ, Neo-Mandaic oṯrɔ, traditionally transliterated eutra; plural: ʿuthrē, traditionally transliterated eutria) is a "divine messenger of the light" in Mandaeism. Charles G. Häberl and James F. McGrath translate it as "excellency". Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley defines them as "Lightworld beings, called 'utras (sing.: 'utra 'wealth', but meaning 'angel' or 'guardian')." Aldihisi (2008) compares them to the yazata of Zoroastrianism. According to E. S. Drower, "an 'uthra is an ethereal being, a spirit of light and Life.
ManichaeismManichaeism (ˌmænᵻˈkiːɪzəm; in New Persian آیینِ مانی Āyīn-e Mānī; ) is a former major universal religion, founded in the 3rd century CE by the Parthian prophet Mani (216–274 CE), in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came.
ShushtarShushtar (شوشتر; also Romanized as Shūshtar and Shūstar and Shooshtar) is a city in the Central District of Shushtar County, Khuzestan province, Iran, and serves as both capital of the county and of the district. At the 2006 National Census, its population was 94,124 in 21,511 households. The following census in 2011 counted 106,815 people in 26,639 households. The latest census in 2016 showed a population of 101,878 people in 28,373 households. Shushtar is an ancient fortress city, approximately from Ahvaz, the centre of the province.
Merkabah mysticismMerkabah (מֶרְכָּבָה merkāvā, "chariot") or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 1, or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literature), concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God. The main corpus of the merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Chassidei Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages.
HanifIn Islam, a ḥanīf (ḥanīf; plural: حنفاء, DIN), meaning "renunciate", is someone who maintains the pure monotheism of the patriarch Abraham. More specifically, in Islamic thought, renunciates were the people who, during the pre-Islamic period or Jahiliyyah, were seen to have renounced idolatry and retained some or all of the tenets of the religion of Abraham (إبراهيم, Ibrāhīm), which was submission to God in its purest form.
Gospel of ThomasThe Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as 60 AD and as late as 250 AD.
Mandaic languageMandaic also known as Classical Mandaic is the liturgical language of Mandaeism and a southeastern Aramaic variety in use by the Mandaean community, traditionally based in southern parts of Iraq and southwest Iran, for their religious books. Mandaic, or Classical Mandaic is still employed by Mandaean priests in liturgical rites. The modern descendant of Mandaic or Classical Mandaic, known as Neo-Mandaic or Modern Mandaic, is spoken by a small section of Mandaeans around Ahvaz and Khorramshahr in the southern Iranian Khuzestan province.
ElcesaitesThe Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which originated in the Transjordan, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic orientation. The name of the sect derives from the alleged founder, Elkhasaí (Ἠλχασαΐ in Hippolytus), Elksai (Ἠλξαί in Epiphanius), or Elkesai (Ελκεσαΐ in Eusebius, and Theodoret).
List of Mandaean textsThis article contains a list of Mandaean texts (Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic). Well-known texts include the Ginza Rabba (also known as the Sidra Rabbā) and the Qolastā. Texts for Mandaean priests include The 1012 Questions, among others. Some, like the Ginza Rabba, are codices (bound books), while others, such as the various diwan (illustrated scrolls) are scrolls. This list is by no means exhaustive.