Rishama
A rishama, rishamma, or rishema is a religious patriarch in Mandaeism. It is the highest rank out of all the Mandaean clergical ranks. The next ranks are the ganzibra and tarmida priests.
In Iraq, the current rishama is Sattar Jabbar Hilow. In Australia, there are two rishamas, namely Salah Choheili and Brikha Nasoraia.
Etymology
The Mandaic term rišama is derived from the words riš 'head' and ama 'people'. Although the term for the Mandaean daily minor ablution is also spelled the same in written Classical Mandaic, the word for 'minor ablution' is pronounced in Modern Mandaic as rešāmā, while 'head priest' is pronounced rišammā.Notable ''rishama'' or patriarchs
Pre-20th century
- Zazai d-Gawazta bar Hawa, patriarch datable to around the year 270 CE and earliest known copyist of Alma Rišaia Zuṭa, Qulasta, The Thousand and Twelve Questions, The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and The Wedding of the Great Šišlam. The Ginza Rabba, however, predates Zazai's time.
- Anush bar Danqa, the leader of the Mandaeans, who appeared before Muslim authorities at the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Persia
- Yahya Bihram, who revived the entire Mandaean priesthood during the 1830s
- Ram Zihrun, who revived the Mandaean priesthood during the 1830s together with his younger cousin Yahya Bihram
20th and 21st centuries
;Iraq- Dakhil Aidan, patriarch from 1917 to 1964 in Iraq
- Abdullah bar Sam, patriarch from 1964 to 1981 in Baghdad
- Abdullah bar Negm, patriarch from 1981 to 1999 in Baghdad; he emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2000
- Sattar Jabbar Hilow, the current Mandaean patriarch in Baghdad since 2000
- Jabbar Choheili, rishama in Ahvaz
- Salah Choheili, an Iranian-Australian priest who has been a rishama in Sydney since 2010
- Brikha Nasoraia, an Iraqi-Australian priest who has been a rishama in Sydney since 2024