. . "Mandaeans (Modern Mandaic: \u05DE\u05E0\u05D3\u05E2\u05E0\u05D9\u05D0\u200E Manda\u02BBn\u0101ye, Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0635\u0627\u0628\u0626\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0646\u062F\u0627\u0626\u064A\u0648\u0646\u200E a\u1E63-\u1E62\u0101bi'a al-Mand\u0101'iy\u016Bn) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia and are followers of Mandaeism, a Gnostic religion. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian. Mandaic is mainly preserved as a liturgical language."@en .