Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms (54 page)

Khamenei, Ayatollah, 85, 105

Khan, Abdur Rahman, 225, 226, 248

Khan, Gordana, 221

Khan, Reza, 100

Khatami, President, 84

Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah, 82, 83, 93–94

penal laws and, xxvii

Plato and, 95

poem by, 97

power for, 86

secularism and, 85

Zoroastrians and, 94

Khorramiyah, 90

Khosro, 89, 97, 99

Khoury, George, 266–267, 268, 270

Kipling, Rudyard, 248

Knights Templar, 136, 275

Koran, 8, 10, 19, 32, 49, 50, 65, 81, 95, 97, 122

burning, 215

Egypt and, 198

Jews and, 152

language of, 184

pharaohs and, 196

Satan and, 62

Zoroastrians and, 102

Kurdish language, 54, 56

Kurdistan, 55, 56, 57, 58, 65, 71

Kurds, 39, 45, 57, 86, 258, 260

Arabs and, xxiv

described, 56

independence for, 55

Turks and, 54

Yazidis and, 40–41, 61, 65–66, 70, 71, 274

Kurmanji language, 39, 45, 47, 54, 66, 272

Labib, Claudius, 198

Lalish, 42, 43, 58, 69, 73, 118, 277

described, 67, 273

temple at, 65 (photo)

visiting, 44, 64, 66

Yazidis around, 71

Lalish Cultural Center, 64

Lawrence, T. E., xii

Layard, Austen Henry, 61

Lebanese civil war, 118, 119, 120, 129, 138

Druze and, 132–133, 138

end of, 113

Lerounis, Athanasios, 227, 228

Levi, 153, 154, 165

Lewis, C. S., 78

Light-World, 1, 2, 11

Lord Sin, 4, 42, 48

Lost Tribes, 147, 149, 153, 156, 169

Louis XVI, King, 25

Loulan Beauty (mummy), 228

Lucifer, 60, 64

Lupieri, Edmondo, 270

Lyde, Samuel: Alawites and, 52–53

Maccabee Wars, 151

Macnaghten, Sir William, 227

Magi, 77, 78, 79, 97, 99, 111

Magic, black, 29–30, 79, 205

Maimonides, 152

Makarem, Sami, 145, 146

Man Who Would Be King, The
(Kipling), 248

Mandaean Human Rights Group, 37

Mandaean priests, 1, 26

Mandaeanism, 12–13, 19, 271

converts to, 23

Iran/Iraq and, xxvi

Mandaeans, x, xix, xxviii, 8, 14–15, 32, 40, 43, 50, 71, 192

asylum for, 279

Babylonians and, 11, 27, 28–29

baptism of, 2 (photo), 10, 11, 23, 23–24, 24 (photo), 27–28, 271

blue and, 69

celibacy and, 14

Christianity and, 18

cleanliness of, 27, 273

curses by, 32

descent of, 2

described, 20–21

emigration of, 37–38, 279

festivals of, 21–22

harassment of, 9, 35

holidays of, 29, 30

holy books of, 7, 19

Jews and, 12–13, 29, 34

language of, 10–11, 25

number of, 18

photo of, 21

polytheism and, 27

tribes and, 37

Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics, The
(Lupieri), 270

Mani, xix, 14–15

on antagonistic masses, 15–16

Christian asceticism and, 18

followers of, 16–17

Jesus and, 15

representation of, 15 (fig.)

statue of, 17

theory of, 16

Manichees, xix, xxii, xxix, 16, 18

Manicheism, 16–17, 18

Mansur, Caliph al-, 6

Marcionites, 13

Marduk, 5, 26

Maronites, 135, 264, 265

Marriage

Chaldeans and, 261

Christians and, 214

Copts and, 214

Druze and, 269

Mandaeans and, 26–27

mixed, 110

Muslims and, 214

Samaritans and, 167–169

Yazidis and, 274

Mary Magdalene, 275

McNair, Lieutenant (Sahib Gul McNair Shah), 222, 223, 233

Mecca, 19, 46, 102, 128, 152

Mehr, Farhang, 100

Melek Taoos, 59–60, 64, 67, 277

Yazidis and, 60–61, 63

Merak, Torag, 224

Messiah, 52, 192

Christian, 91

Jewish, 91

Samaritan, 155

Zoroastrian, 92

Mills, John, 154, 175

on Messiah, 155

Samaritans and, 169, 172, 180

Minorities, 279

crushing, xxiv–xxv

Islam and, xxiii

racial/religious, xxv

Minya, 187, 214

visiting, 204, 205, 206, 208, 210–211

Missionaries, 131, 254, 258

Mithraists, 2, 47, 64

Mithras, xix, 12, 53

depiction of, 48 (fig.)

handshake and, 73

worship of, 47

Mohammed, Prophet, xxi–xxii, 43, 46, 76, 91, 92, 126, 128

Ali and, 52

Islam and, 127

Jesus and, 52

Mohammed Reza Shah, 82, 86

Monastery, Egyptian, 207 (photo)

Monasticism, 17, 18, 207–208

Mongols, xix, xxiii, 50, 128, 196

Monotheism, xxi, 7, 8, 62, 65, 124, 154

Montanus, 61

Morsi, Mohammed, 205, 211

Morton, H. V.: on Samaritans/Arabs, 155

Moses, 127, 149, 172

Aaron and, 180

Jesus and, 140

Mougheeth, Kamal, 202

Moukhtara, 138, 140, 145

carnival of, 135

castle at, 134

Mount Ararat, 149

Mount Ebal, 148

Mount Gerizim, 169, 171

altar on, 165

Samaritans and, 148, 149, 150, 151, 155, 158, 162, 178

Mount Hermon, Druze and, 131

Mount Moriah, 149

Mount Sinai, 149, 171

Mousa, Father, 216, 217

Mubarak, Hosni, 184, 202, 205, 212

Copts and, 203–204

Muslim Brotherhood and, 204

resignation of, 188

Mughtasila, 14, 15, 18

Music, 274

funeral, 183

Muslim Brotherhood, 192, 194, 199–200, 205

Christians and, 217

Copts and, 204

fall of, xxvii

Muslims, xxvii–xxviii, 20, 185, 186, 266, 277

Arab, 152

Christians and, 8, 118, 127, 129, 188, 198, 198, 204, 205, 213, 214, 217, 263, 279

Copts and, 200, 203, 215, 217

Harranians and, 49–50

Iranian, 86

Iraqi, 35

Jews and, 8, 34, 152

Kalasha and, 238, 249, 253–254

Samaritans and, 174, 175

tolerance by, 9

Yazidis and, 39, 60

See also
Islam

My Uncle Napoleon,
83

Mysteries of the Peacock Angel,
275

Nabatean Agriculture,
7, 27, 28–29, 63

Nabateans, 27, 28

Nablus, 158, 161, 162, 164, 177

economy of, 178

Palestinians in, 174

Samaritans in, 153, 154, 156, 163, 167, 173, 174, 175

visiting, 148–149, 163

Nabonidus, 48–49

Naoroji, Dadabhai, 106, 107, 110

Nasrallah, Hassan, 130

Nasser, Gamal Abdel, 184, 200

Copts and, 201

land reforms and, 212

Nationalism, xxv, xxvi

Arab, 33, 201

Iranian, 82

Kurdish, 68

radical, xxvii

Nebu, 26, 30

Nebuchadnezzar, 5, 30

Nefertiti, 185

Neguib, Mohammad, 200

Neoplatonism, 123, 124, 125, 127

Nergal, 64

Nestorians, 52, 258

Nestorius, 258

Netanyahu, Binyamin, 178

New Year

Mandaean, 21–22

Zoroastrian, 90, 96, 105

Newby, Eric, 226