Early contacts between Arab Muslims and Aramaean Mandaeans and the date of Zazay -- Theodore Bar Konay's account of Mandaean origins (circa 792) -- Three sixth-century references to Mandaeans by name in text : "Syriac references"--The Kentaeans and their relationship with the Mandaeans -- The account of al-Hasan ibn Bahlul (Bar Bahlul), second half of tenth century -- Identifying Abu Ali -- The marshes of the Ṣābians -- Other reports on the Mandaeans after Abu Ali -- Back to the question of origins -- Pre-Mandaean Naṣoraeans -- The religious environment of Sasanian Iraq -- Mandaeism as a changing tradition -- Appendix 1. Bar Konay on the Kentaeans, Dostaeans, and Nerigaeans, in English -- Appendix 2. Ibn Wasiya on Aramaic dialects