Brakha

Daily prayer in Mandaeism, called brakha ࡁࡓࡀࡊࡀ in Mandaic (cognate with Hebrew berakhah and Arabic barakah) or occasionally birukta (birukhta), consists of set prayers that are recited three times per day. Mandaeans stand facing north while reciting daily prayers. Unlike in Islam and Eastern Christianity, prostration is not practiced.

Mandaean priests recite rahma prayers three times every day, while laypeople also recite the Rushuma (signing prayer) and Asut Malkia ("Healing of Kings") daily. When priests lead laypeople during prayers, laypeople repeat each word or phrase of a prayer after the priest, similar to certain parts of Roman Catholic masses.

In Mandaic, the generic term for an individual prayer is buta ࡁࡅࡕࡀ (plural form: bawata ࡁࡀࡅࡀࡕࡀ).

Prayer times

The three prayer times in Mandaeism are:

Traditionally, the prayers are performed while wearing the rasta (robe), burzinqa (turban), and himiana (belt).

Opening rahma prayer

Before each of the daily prayers, the following opening rahma (daily devotional prayer; recorded multiple times as prayers 108 (morning prayer), 109 (noontime prayer), and 112 (evening prayer) in E. S. Drower's 1959 Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans) is recited.

Mandaic transliteration
(Lidzbarski 1920)		 English translation
(Gelbert & Lofts 2025)

b-šuma ḏ-hiia
l-hiia sagidna
u-l-marai manda ḏ-hiia mšabana
u-l-hak parṣupa rba ḏ-ʿqara
ḏ-mn napšiḥ praš

In the name of the [Great] Life.
I venerate the Life,
and I praise my lord Manda ḏ-Hiia,
and that great Countenance of glory,
who emanated from Himself.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nasoraia, Brikha H.S. (2021). The Mandaean gnostic religion: worship practice and deep thought. New Delhi: Sterling. ISBN 978-81-950824-1-4. OCLC 1272858968.
  2. 1 2 Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-621-9.
  3. ↑ Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
  4. 1 2 3 Drower, E. S. (1959). The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  5. 1 2 Lidzbarski, Mark. 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin.
  6. ↑ Segelberg, Eric (1958). Maṣbūtā: Studies in the Ritual of Mandaean Baptism. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell.
  7. 1 2 Drower, Ethel Stefana (1937). The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford At The Clarendon Press.
  8. ↑ Choheili, Shadan. Rishama and Barakha Rituals. Liverpool, NSW: Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi.
  9. ↑ Gelbert, Carlos; Lofts, Mark J. (2025). The Qulasta. Edensor Park, NSW: Living Water Books. ISBN 978-0-6487954-3-8.