“I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another’s hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours.”
--Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11-grade Iranian schoolbook
The 2008 election contests have taken the spotlight off of Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lately in the United States.
Ahmadinejad has put the spotlight back on himself the last several days.
In a speech on Sunday, Ahmadinejad reminded those who urge "negotiations" with Iran that there will be no negotiations--if the country is Israel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Tehran wants expansion of relations with all nations and countries, except the "illegitimate Zionist Regime."This would make sense, as Ahmadinejad has more than once vowed to "wipe Israel off the map."
Why negotiate with a country that will no longer exist--if he has anything to do with it?
On Monday, he spoke to crowds in Tehran on the 29th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran.
This speech was also a reminder to those who think "negotiations" are the answer.
Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a defiant tone as he spoke to giant crowds marking the 29th anniversary of the Islamic revolution Monday, vowing never to slow down nuclear development and announcing plans for more rocket launches in Iran's space program.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched through the capital Tehran, chanting "Death to America" and burning effigies of President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
All this could be dismissed as the rantings of a deranged madman--there are certainly no shortage of those in the Middle East--except that Ahmadinejad is deadly serious about a couple of things: the destruction of Israel and his Apocalyptic world view that manifests itself in the coming of the 12th Imam.
The 12th Imam and the Mahdi are Ahmadinejad obsessions.
The Mahdi, according to Shi'ite tradition, will arise at some point before the day of judgement, institute a kingdom of justice, and will in the last days fight alongside the returned Isa Al-Maseeh (Jesus) against the Dajjal, the Antichrist.
Shi'as believe that Muhammad al-Mahdi will reappear when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war emerges between the human race for no reason. At this time, it is believed, half of the true believers will ride from Yemen carrying white flags to Mecca, while the other half will ride from Karbala, in Iraq, carrying black flags to Mecca. At this time, Muhammad al-Mahdi will come wielding God's Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, Zulfiqar (Arabic: ذو الفقار, ðū l-fiqār), the Double-Bladed Sword.
And lest any compare him to Christians who believe in the prophesies of the Bible's Book of Revelation, the Iranian president has put his money--or rather Iran's--where his mouth is.
As mayor of Tehran, for example, Mr. Ahmadinejad appears to have in 2004 secretly instructed the city council to build a grand avenue to prepare for the Mahdi.
And Ahmadinejad will soon be the Iranian with his finger on Iran's nuclear trigger.
From a December 2005 piece by Charles Krauthammer.
But it gets worse. The president of a country about to go nuclear is a confirmed believer in the coming apocalypse. Like Judaism and Christianity, Shiite Islam has its own version of the messianic return -- the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam. The more devout believers in Iran pray at the Jamkaran mosque, which houses a well from which, some believe, he will emerge.
When Ahmadinejad unexpectedly won the presidential elections, he immediately gave $17 million of government funds to the shrine. Last month Ahmadinejad said publicly that the main mission of the Islamic Revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam.
And as in some versions of fundamentalist Christianity, the second coming will be accompanied by the usual trials and tribulations, death and destruction. Iranian journalist Hossein Bastani reported Ahmadinejad saying in official meetings that the hidden imam will reappear in two years.
At his U.N. speech in September of last year, Admadinejad said, ""O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace."
And when he returned to Iran, he stated, "one of our group told me that when I started to say "In the name of God the almighty and merciful," he saw a light around me, and I was placed inside this aura. I felt it myself. I felt the atmosphere suddenly change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. … And they were rapt. It seemed as if a hand was holding them there and had opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic republic."
All this talk of the Apocalypse even has some Iranian mullahs worried.
[S]ome Iranian clerics quietly say they are worried about a leader who has become the foremost public advocate of Iran's nuclear program. "Some of us can understand why you in the West would be concerned," a young mullah here told me last week. "We, too, wonder about the intentions of those who are controlling this nuclear work."
In August of 2007, Ahmadinejad gave a series of speeches concerning his Apocalypic visions.
Here are 20 quotes taken from those speeches, given August 18-29.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Apocalyptic Vision
"The Hidden Imam is heir to everything that has been good and beautiful throughout history, and the call [to await his coming] is a call [to have faith] in the missions of the divine prophets, in monotheism, and in justice."
--August 25-26, 2007
"In these days, humanity longs for monotheism and justice. With God's grace, the [preparations] for a flood of compassion, truth and justice will soon be complete."
--August 25-26, 2007
"The message of Mahdism, which calls [to believe] in the Savior [i.e. the Hidden Imam], brings hope and joy to people [throughout the world]. [It is] a message of steadfastness and patience and of resisting the oppressors [i.e. the West, headed by America]; it is a message of submission [to God] and of the pursuit of justice and honor. The current situation in the world has led the nations to reject in disgust the rule of the oppressors."
--August 25-26, 2007
"Now is the time to invite people to accept the rule of the righteous, and [especially that] of the most righteous of [rulers] - the Hidden Imam."
--August 25-26, 2007
"Today's imperialist forces give humanity nothing by forcing wars [upon it], plundering its resources, violating [human] rights, issuing threats, trampling human dignity and [spreading] corruption, vice and insecurity."
--August 25-26, 2007
"The oppressors and tyrants are responsible for all the difficulties and problems currently faced by the nations, and the only way to establish justice is through popular uprising and determined resistance in the face of these oppressors."
--August 25-26, 2007
"[The day] of these aggressors... who are oppressing and controlling the nations, is now coming to an end."
--August 25-26, 2007
"Those who [seek to] distract the people with materialistic philosophy of one kind or another, and who pursue materialism, have brought humanity nothing but despair and deception."
--August 25-26, 2007
"The time of the righteous rulers will come, and the most righteous of rulers, [i.e. the Hidden Imam], will form a government and thereby instate the monotheism of Abraham [throughout the world]. That day is not far away."
--August 25-26, 2007
"Our enemies naturally feel threatened by the call to [believe in] the Mahdi, for they do not want people to think about justice. But our reply to them is that the era of the aggressive [powers] has come to an end. We believe that it is time for the righteous to rule, and for humanity to be properly [re]born out of love, knowledge, and spirituality."
--August 25-26, 2007
"Today we must prepare ourselves to discharge the responsibility [placed] upon us... which transcends the [boundaries of the] Muslim world."
--August 18-19, 2007
"Islam is the truth. This truth was only partly revealed in Judaism and Christianity, but is fully revealed in Islam."
--August 18-19, 2007
"Today, as ever, the world needs the Hidden Imam, [for] it is suffering under the yoke of dishonest [rulers]."
--August 18-19, 2007
"Our mission transcends the geographical boundaries of the Muslim [world]. Our clerics have a responsibility to call upon humanity as a whole to [embrace] the [true] monotheism and the rule of monotheistic principles."
--August 18-19, 2007
"The current problems faced by the world result from [the rule] of unworthy rulers."
--August 28, 2007
"The ultimate solution is to replace these unworthy regimes and rulers, and to establish the rule of the Hidden Imam."
--August 28, 2007
"Those who are not versed in [the doctrine of Mahdism] believe that the return [of the Hidden Imam] will occur only in a very long time, but, according to the divine promise, [his return] is imminent."
--August 28, 2007
"The Iranian nation and the Islamic Revolution have a pivotal role in preparing the ground for the coming of the Hidden Imam."
--August 29, 2007
"We must rapidly develop Iran in order to create the [right] conditions for his [the Hidden Imam's] coming, and we must also help the rest of the world's nations [to prepare for his return], in order to precipitate this great event."
--August 29, 2007
"The responsibility that currently rests on Iran's [shoulders] is very heavy; it is the kind of mission [with which] the divine prophets [were entrusted]. It does not permit us to rest or slumber even for a moment. Have you ever seen a prophet take a rest from the fulfillment of his mission?"
--August 29, 2007
20 reasons why any "negotiations" with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will ultimately prove fruitless.
How can a man negotiate away that which is foretold?
by Mondoreb
images:
* blogforpeace
* slydawg
* swordattheready
Sources:
* Ahmadinejad: The Return of the Mahdi is Imminent
* The Madhi
* The Twelfth Imam
* In Iran, Arming for Armageddon
* The Mystical Menace of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
* Nuclear Iran means Nuclear War
* Iran Won't Stop Enrichment
* Ahmadinejad: Iran want relations with all countries except ”illegitimate” Israel
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