Posted on 01/10/2009 2:24:51 PM PST by appleseed
The best way to understand Ahmadinejad's brand of Shitite eschatology (end-times theology) is to listen to Iranians describe it themselves.
Amir Taheri is a European-based columnist who used to serve as the executive editor of "Kayhan", Iran's largest daily newspaper. In an April 2006 essay entitled "The frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants a Bomb," Taheri wrote that just before announcing to the world that Iran had "gatecrashed 'the nuclear club," President Ahmadinejad "disappeared for several hours" to have a secret meeting with the Islamis messiah, a figure known as the twelfth Imam or Mahdi. Taheri wrote, "According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World."
The article described Ahmadinejad's claim to be one of a select group of men specifically chosen by the Twelfth Imam to be his representatives and helpers in the world prior to his return. Ahmadinejad "boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a 'clash of civilizations' in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the 'Infidel' West, led by the United States, and defeats it."
The article continued:
From childhood, Shia boys are told to cultivate two qualities. The first is entezar, the capacity patiently to wait for the Imam to return. The second is taajil, the actions needed to hasten the return. For the Imam's return will coincide with an apocalyptic battle between the forces of evil and righteousness, with evil ultimately rooted.
Hossein Bastani is an Iranian journalist living in exile. He has written numerous accounts of Shiite leaders in Iran claiming to have witnessed physical sightings of the Twelfth Imam and saying that he will reveal himself to the world soon. "But despite these sightings," Bastani noted in one column, "its the President [Ahmadinejad] himself who presents the strongest claims of being in touch with and thus supported by the twelfth Imam." He added that in 2005, "at a meeting with foreign Ministers of Islamic countries and in response to a question that Iran displayed signs of a crisis, President Ahmadinejad said that these were the signs of the return of the twelfth Imam, who will definitely return in two years."
"Regardless of your political views, you've got to read [Rosenberg's] stuff."
Here's the link to his blog:
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/
Holding two mutually exclusive beliefs at the core of one's being is a sure recipe for insanity.
Spike the well in Qom.
I love Rosenberg’s stuff
Yes. If we can drop a bomb in a window, we can drop a bomb in a well as well.
Still waiting for the always brave Bill Maher to take on this insanity.
Still waiting.
Waiting...
From what I have heard, his hatred of religion is squarely aimed at Christianity.
Insanity is sometimes mistaken for courage.
I am using this book as a supplement to the text on Daniel in a course I am teaching. This past week's news that the drop in oil prices could financially devastate Russia sounded like it was straight out of the book.
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