RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESManichaeans, along with other Zindiqs, began to be persecuted by
Islamic authorities toward the end of the Marwani period. Khalid al-
Qa~ri executed a Manichaean himself in 742 and a fullscale perse-
cution followed in the early 'Abbasi period under al-Mahdi (775-85).
Although other issues were involved in the eighth century, Islamic
rulers seem to have applied the same sanctions for the same reasons
against Manichaeans that had been applied by the Sasanians.^95
GNOSTICS AND PAGANS
Marcionites and Dai~anites brought gnostic dualism to Iraq, and
Manichaeans helped to spread it. To a certain extent, gnostic ideas
were compatible with the local form of paganism and local pagans
who were inspired by gnostics began to form sects of their own. The
presence of gnostic influences in and around Mada'in is shown by the
formation of several minor sects there. Janji al-Jiikhani, who is said
to have worshiped idols and beat the gong in a temple of idols, aban-
doned paganism and started his own sect called the Janjayiin. He
taught that something existed before Light and Darkness, that male
and female forms were in the Darkness, and that when the female
caught sight of the Light she rose up, like a worm, and was clothed
with Light. She stole the Light with which she had been clothed,
returned to her former place, and created the material world with it.
To Janji's followers, Fire was the queen of the world. Khusraw of
Rumaqan came from a village on the Nahrawan canal in Jukha and
said that while Light was asleep, Darkness came and took some Light.
The Light created a being called the Son of the Living (Ibn al-Al).ya)
and sent him to retrieve the Light. The Son of the Living struck the
Darkness, causing the creation of male and female beings and the
material world. Khusraw required his followers to wear distinctive
clothing, and he cursed and belittled Jesus. Although he produced no
book, his words were used liturgically by his followers, who chanted
them rhythmically. Their liturgy claimed that they had dug a channel
in the world and had stolen a great treasure from it. Other sects such
as the Mariyiin and Dashtiyiin drew on dualist doctrines but allowed
sacrificial slaughter. A wealthy man called Aridi, who lived at Mada'in,
is said to have tricked a Jew into transcribing the books of the prophets
and wise men for him. He founded a sect called the People Who Fear
95 Ibid., n, 803; B. Spuier, Iran in friih-islamischer Zeit (Wiesbaden, 1952), p. 207.