The Thousand and Twelve Questions

The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Classical Mandaic: ࡀࡋࡐ ࡕࡓࡉࡎࡀࡓ ࡔࡅࡉࡀࡋࡉࡀ Alf Trisar Šuialia; Modern Mandaic: Alf Tressar Ešyāli^[1]) is a Mandaean religious text. The 1012 Questions is one of the most detailed texts on Mandaean priestly rituals.^[2] It is kept by Mandaean priests in the shkinta during certain rituals.^[3]

The Thousand and Twelve Questions Alf Trisar Šuialia
Information
Religion	Mandaeism
Language	Mandaic language

The text contains detailed commentaries on Mandaean religious rituals, such as death masses (masiqta) to help guide souls into the World of Light, and the Mandaean wedding ceremony. It is written as a scroll.^[2] A detailed overview of the contents can be found in Drower (1941).^[4]

Manuscripts and translations

An English translation of the text was published by E. S. Drower in 1960, which was based on manuscript 36 of the Drower Collection (abbreviated DC 36). DC 6 is an incomplete manuscript of The Thousand and Twelve Questions in the Drower Collection missing books 1 and 2, but DC 36 is the complete version with all 7 books included.^[5]

Manuscripts from the Rbai Rafid Collection (RRC) that correspond to parts of Alf Trisar Šuialia (DC 36) are:^[6]

• RRC 2M: Diuan Mhita u-Asuta ("Blow and Healing"). Copied by Zihrun br Yahia Sam^[7] in 1086 A.H. (1675–1676 A.D.). Longest RRC manuscript. Contains Neo-Mandaic features.^[8]
• RRC 3R: Tafsir u-Afrašta Kasita. Copied in 1173 A.H. (1759–1760 A.D.). Transliterated text published online in the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon.^[9]
• RRC 6D: Sigia ḏ-Dihbaiia. Copied in Šuštar in 1085 A.H. (1674–1675 A.D.).

Contents

Contents of the 7 parts of the 1012 Questions:^[5]

• Book 1 (contains 207 sections)
  • Part 1: The Questions which Shishlam-Rba and Hibil-Ziwa asked of their father Nbaṭ (a diwan; title as mentioned in section 201, p. 158)
  • Part 2: The explanation of the body (Tafsir Pagra)
• Book 2 (contains 442 sections)
  • Part 3.1: Accidental impurity and its cure
  • Part 3.2: "The Three"
  • Part 4: The agreed form of the masiqta of Shitil; of the Ṭabahata and of the Dukrania
  • Part 5.1: Blow and healing (i.e., ritual errors and how to correct them)
  • Part 5.2: The celebration of the marriage of Shishlam-Rba, son of Lihdaia-Rba-Zadiqa
  • Part 6.1: Burial
  • Part 6.2: Of postulants and priesthood
  • Part 7: Concerning the postulant's first baptism – admonitions (similar to lines 970–1042 in the Scroll of Exalted Kingship^[3])

Parallels in other religions

The 1012 Questions has various similarities to Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah.^[3]

See also

• Ginza Rabba
• Mandaean Book of John

References

1. Häberl, Charles (2022). The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-80085-627-1.
2. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
3. Buckley, Jorunn J. (2016). "Mandaic Literature". The Oxford Handbook of the Literatures of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199699445.013.9. ISBN 978-0-19-969944-5.
4. Drower, E. S. (1941). "The Alf Trisar Šuialia". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2). Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 101–126. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00093424. ISSN 0035-869X. JSTOR 25221732. S2CID 162482018.
5. Drower, Ethel S. (1960). The Thousand and Twelve Questions: A Mandaean Text (Alf Trisar Šuialia). Berlin: Akademie Verlag. doi:10.1515/9783112707012. ISBN 978-3-11-270701-2.
6. Morgenstern, Matthew (2013). New Manuscript Sources for the Study of Mandaic. In: V. Golinets et. al (eds.), Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Sechstes Treffen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Semitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 09.–11. Februar 2013 in Heidelberg. AOAT, Ugarit Verlag.
7. Morgenstern, Matthew (2019). "Neo-Mandaic in Early Mandaean Colophons. Part 2: Texts, Translations and Conclusion". Aramaic Studies. 17 (1): 100–121. doi:10.1163/17455227-01602004. ISSN 1477-8351.
8. Morgenstern, Matthew (2018). "Neo-Mandaic in Early Mandaean Colophons. Part 1: Linguistic Features". Aramaic Studies. 16 (2): 182–205. doi:10.1163/17455227-01602002. ISSN 1477-8351.
9. Morgenstern, Matthew (ed.). "Alf Trisar Šuialia". The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon. Retrieved 2024-07-27.

External links

• Full text at Archive.org
• Photographed scroll (DC 6) from Digital Bodleian
• 1012 Questions (Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)
• 1012 Questions (Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)
• Transliterated text (The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon)