Ram Zihrun

Ram Zihrun (, ) was a 19th-century Mandaean priest. Although initially a learned layman (yalufa), he became known for reviving the Mandaean priesthood together with his cousin Yahya Bihram after a cholera epidemic had killed all living Mandaean priests in 1831. He is mentioned in the colophons of various Mandaean manuscripts.

Ram Zihrun was also informally known by Mandaeans as Sheikh Abdullah.

Mandaean priesthood revival Ram Zihrun and his younger cousin Yahya Bihram were two šgandas (priest assistants) who were the surviving sons of deceased priests during the aftermath of the 1831 cholera epidemic. Together, the two of them went on to revive the Mandaean priesthood by initiating each other as tarmida (junior priests), and later as ganzibra (high priests), in Suq eš-Šuyuk, Iraq.

Ram Zihrun died sometime in the mid or late 1800s.

Family Ram Zihrun's wife Bibia Mudalal, who was Yahya Bihram's sister, survived the 1831 cholera epidemic. Her father came from the Kamisia and Riš Draz families. She was a scribe who copied the Ginza Rabba and also a priest who was likely initiated before the 1831 cholera epidemic. Bibia Mudalal was also the grandmother of Sheikh Negm (or Sheikh Nejm), who copied many manuscripts for E. S. Drower. Sheikh Negm was born in Huwaiza, Iran in 1892, lived in Khorramshahr during his early youth, and moved to Qal'at Saleh, Iraq in 1914.

Ram Zihrun was also the grandfather of Sheikh Abdullah Khaffagi (or Abdullah Khaffaji) in Ahvaz.

Work as scribe

Ram Zihrun personally copied a few of the Mandaic manuscripts that are currently held in the Drower Collection (abbreviated DC), a collection of Mandaic manuscripts collected by E. S. Drower during the early 1900s. These include the DC 7 (Scroll of the Rivers), DC 9 (Haran Gawaita), and DC 22 (Ginza Rabba) manuscripts.