Negm bar Zahroon | |
|---|---|
| Title | Ganzibra |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1892 |
| Died | 1976 Qal'at Saleh, Iraq |
| Children | RabbiAbdullah bar Negm |
| Citizenship | Iraqi |
| Known for | Procuring and copyingDrower Collection manuscripts |
| Other names | Adam Negm bar Zakia Zihrun |
| Occupation | Mandaean priest |
| Relatives | Abdullah Khaffagi (cousin) Ram Zihrun (grandfather) Bibia Mudalal (grandmother) Rafid al-Sabti (grandson) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Mandaeism |
GanzibraNegm bar Zahroon (baptismal name:Adam Negm bar Zakia Zihrunࡀࡃࡀࡌ ࡍࡉࡂࡌ ࡁࡓ ࡆࡀࡊࡉࡀ ࡆࡉࡄࡓࡅࡍ;Arabic:الشيخ نجم ابن زهرون; born 1892,Huwaiza; died 1976,Qal'at Saleh District) was aMandaean priest. He is primarily known asE. S. Drower's main field consultant who helped her procure dozens of Mandaic texts, now kept in theBodleian Library'sDrower Collection.[1]: 156
He is often known simply asSheikh Negm orSheikh Nejm inE. S. Drower's writings. HisMandaean baptismal name isAdam Negm bar ZakiaZihrun barRam Zihrun (or alsoNegm bar Zihrunࡍࡉࡂࡌ ࡁࡓ ࡆࡉࡄࡓࡅࡍ). In his letters to Drower, he refers to himself asSheikh Negm, son of Sheikh Zahroon.[2]
Sheikh Negm was born inHuwaiza in 1892 into theKhaffagi (written Mandaic:Kupašia) clan.[2]: 117 He lived inKhorramshahr during his early youth. He later moved to Liṭlaṭa,Qal'at Saleh in 1914, where he was initiated as atarmida. He became acquainted withE. S. Drower sometime before 1933, with whom he had a lifelong collaboration.[2]: 106 He helped Drower obtain many of the Mandaic manuscripts in theDrower Collection, typically by serving as an agent to help purchase them, but at times also copied some of Mandaic texts himself. Drower Mss. 2, 4, 15, 22, 23, 28-32, 34, 35, 38-41, 43, 44, and others were obtained via the assistance of Sheikh Negm.[2]
In 1920, he was initiated as atarmida (junior priest) by twoganzibras from the Manduia clan, namely Sheikh Damouk (baptismal name: Mhatam Yuhana bar Yahya Sam), who isLamea Abbas Amara's great-grandfather), and by Sheikh Sahan (an uncle of Sheikh Sam, the great-grandfather ofSinan Abdullah ofNiskayuna, New York). In 1947, he was ordained as aganzibra (senior priest).[2]: 116 That same year, Sheikh Negm initiated his son Abdullah as atarmida. Abdullah later married SheikhAbdullah Khaffagi's daughter Šarat (Sharat) from Ahvaz.[2]: 113
From 2 February 1936 to 1 February 1950, Sheikh Negm wrote letters to Drower mostly while she resided in Baghdad (with a few letters also sent to England), using seven different scribes who could write in English. A few letters were also written inModern Mandaic (colloquial Mandaic). Many of Sheikh Negm's letters date to 1939.[2]: 106–107
Sheikh Negm died in 1976.[2]: 116
Negm bar Zahroon's father andAbdullah Khaffagi's father are both the sons ofRam Zihrun, one of the survivors of the1831 cholera epidemic that nearly wiped out the Mandaean priesthood.[1]: 157 Yahya Bihram was Sheikh Negm's grandfather's cousin and brother-in-law.[2]: 119
His brother was Yahya bar Zakia Zihrun (Mandaean baptismal name: Ram Zihrun bar Zakia Zihrun).[2]
His son,Sheikh Abdullah of Baghdad, was arishama[3] who later emigrated to the United Kingdom, and died in the Netherlands in 2009.[4][5] Sheikh Abdullah bar Negm was known for initiating Sheikh Haithem (now known asBrikha Nasoraia, aganzibra and professor living in Sydney, Australia) into the priesthood in Iraq.Rafid al-Sabti, atarmida currently residing inNijmegen, Netherlands, is the son of Sheikh Abdullah, and is hence also Sheikh Negm's grandson.[2]: 118
Negm bar Zahroon's nephew Abdelelah Khalaf al-Sebahi, who was educated in Moscow when Iraq had close ties with the USSR, currently lives in Denmark.[6]: xxix
