Here’s the first Imam Mehdi for our eschatologists

Last Thursday Faisalabad police played hide-and-seek on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway with a group of armed men led by a man claiming to be Imam Mehdi. The men had hijacked a bus on the Motorway and demanded to speak to General Pervez Musharraf. The men later surrendered and let the hostages go when the police captured the leader Shahbaz Khan aka Imam Mehdi after a shootout which left one person dead and three injured. According to the police, 35 to 40 armed men wearing orange uniforms raided an anti-narcotics police station in Faisalabad just after noon. They then started airing a message that Imam Mehdi, who would make his appearance at 4 pm after a massive earthquake, was leading them. The men advised all Muslims to immediately contact Imam Mehdi. They then proceeded to the Motorway, firing in the air. After the police caught up with them at an interchange where they were beating up some personnel of the Motorway police, the men hijacked a bus. They exchanged fire with the police, which left three of them injured and one dead. ‘Imam Mehdi’ was captured. Thus ended the drama of the impending Armageddon that underscores the eschatological myth associated with the appearance of Imam Mehdi. What should we make of this lunatic behaviour?

Let’s consider a few facts since Al Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers in New York and President George Bush embarked on his crusade. TV channels in Pakistan, one after another, seem to have gone berserk about the end of the world. We saw this happen during the first Gulf War. There was a sudden demand for videos and books about the prophecies of Nostradamus. That was 1991; the world has still not ended. For the past four years now, however, eschatologists have been doing roaring business theorising about the end of the world, the appearance of kana Dajjal and Imam Mehdi, who is supposed to come and fight the evil of Dajjal. The vernacular press is full of such predictions. Religious scholars, notably Dr Israr Ahmed and Dr Tahir ul Qadri, have chosen to give their own estimates of the end of the world and the appearance of Imam Mehdi.

Woe betide those who think that this business is the preserve of Pakistanis or Muslims; the West has its own share of end-of-the-world Armageddon-fighting fanatics. And just in case anyone thinks that this is a lunatic fringe, may we remind our readers that Mr Bush is on record as having justified his war on Iraq as a divinely-sanctioned venture. Shahbaz Khan, incidentally, has returned from England after two decades. While there he drove a cab and also worked as a butcher. At some point he seems to have convinced himself that the best way to fight his obscurity is to get on to the Imam Mehdi bandwagon. But if that is not the case, and he indeed is not a conman who is clever by half, then he needs a shrink. But his disorder must also be traced to all the writings and TV programmes on the end of the world.

It is a measure of how the multitude can be swayed by myths and prophecies of gloom and doom that such programmes have high ratings. One such programme in fact had to be re-run on popular demand. There is also an element in this of the final victory for the Muslims. This is ironical because every religion seems to have its own version of the final victory. American evangelists want Israel to defeat the Arabs because that is the sign for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the dominance of Christianity. This is a sign of the times we are living in. In Pakistan, the way we have used religion over the past three decades is now beginning to haunt us. The result: we have conmen and/or loonies running amuck posturing as Imam Mehdi.

How can this be tackled? It runs against the spirit of deregulation for the government to tell private TV channels what to air. The paradox is that the end-of-the-world programmes also beget advertisements because of their higher ratings. What can, however, be done is to balance such programmes with other programmes that can show the absurdity of belief in such myths. Also, viewers need to understand that even end-of-the-world fantasies can fill up the coffers of TV channels and advertisers who clearly do not believe that the end of the world is around the bend. If they did, they would fold up everything and prepare for the other world.

Daily Times - All Rights Reserved

The only hope is that Islamists secularize, but then, we are facing another problem. Secular humanism and global socialism. Most secular Muslims are heading left en masse. They are Chomsky-addicts, Soros OSI lackeys, U.N. supporters.

I agree with that assessment. The marginal advantage to the present situation is that at least we would be dealing with enemies who more or less inhabit the same real-world that we do. They would tend moreso to weigh the cost/benefit ratio thoughtfully when developing their strategy toward us.

I would rather face a relatively sane ideological enemy than a religious extremist who has a book that says it's foretold that as outgunned as he is, God guarantees him victory over us -- and besides, there is No Future, so he might as well go down taking as many of us with him as he can.

"35 to 40 armed men wearing orange uniforms raided an anti-narcotics police station..."

Mentally disturbed or drugged?

Shahbaz Khan is probably mentally disturbed and his followers are probably weak personalities under his influence.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\12\17\story_17-12-2005_pg7_4

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Another disciple of 'Imam Mehdi' dies

By Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: Another follower of a man who had claimed to be Imam Mehdi died at Allied Hospital in Faisalabad on Friday.

Sheikh Tahir was shot in the head during a shootout with police on Motorway III, 1.5 kilometres from the Saeeyan Interchange.

The shootout had ensued when Shahbaz Khan, the self-proclaimed Imam Mehdi, and 29 followers had stopped a bus on the motorway and held the 40 passengers aboard hostage. Khan had announced a new religion, Deen-e-Younas, and demanded a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf.

Allied Hospital MS Dr Samiullah said two men injured in the encounter, Khan's disciple Naveed and a passer-by Muhammad Younas, were out of danger.

Meanwhile, clerics in Faisalabad blasted Khan during Friday sermons and demanded that the government publicly hang him. Police raided several places across to arrest Khan's followers, including a property-dealer who had provided him a house in the city to carry out his activities. Police sources said that Khan had recently returned from the United Kingdom, where he worked as a butcher. They said that Khan and a few followers were originally members of a group led by Riaz Ahmad Gohar Shahi, who had declared himself 'Imam Mehdi' in 1998.

Sources said that interrogators were investigating why Khan had adopted criminal means to spread his 'religion', and had chosen the motorway when they could have escaped easily using other routes. They said that there was confusion over why Khan had himself come to negotiate with the authorities.

Sources said that the investigators are focusing on two of Khan's demands: the meeting with President Musharraf and the media, and government action against the Gohar Shahi group.

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For Freepers collecting names, his arrested followers are: Khizar Hayat of Okara, Taj Din of Karachi, Zahid of Toba Tek Singh, Yaseen of Faisalabad, Mukhtar Ahmad of Toba Tek Singh, Muhammad Ishaq of Khanewal, Talib Hussain of Faisalabad, Tahir Mahmood of Toba Tek Singh, Zafar Iqbal of Toba Tek Singh, Atiqur Rehman of Toba Tek Singh, Muhammad Ilyas of Faisalabad, Mahmoodul Hassan of Toba Tek Singh, Taj Ansari of Karachi, Ejaz Ahmad of Pakpattan, Imran of Okara, Shehbaz Ahmad of Karachi, Javed Iqbal of Toba Tek Singh, Naveed Ali Shah of Karachi, Muhammad Iqbal of Toba Tek Singh, Muhammad Ismail of Toba Tek Singh, Shaukat Ali of Sumandari, Abdul Rehman of Gojra, Abid Hussain of Toba Tek Singh, Sajid Ali of Karachi, Muhammad Iqbal of Pakpattan, Baba Shafi of Toba Tek Singh, Tahir of Faisalabad, Muhammad Naveed of Toba Tek Singh and Shehbaz Ahmad of Toba Tek Singh.

comments: many Singhs here, are they converted Sikhs? - - - - - -

Naturally, this latest Mehdi is not found of his competitor the Gohar Shahi " Pictures of Sarkar Gohar Shahi in the Moon, the Sun, the Black Stone and various other places are the Divine signs that clearly indicate that His Holiness Gohar Shahi is the awaited Imam Mehdi." (but at least GS is an opponent of bin Laden et al. and is supporting the West, maybe it is a mix of Islam and Hinduism?) http://www.goharshahi.com/

According to this article http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-7-2004_pg7_43 Riaz Gohar Shahi was arrested under the charges of the blasphemy law and was later murdered in jail because of his controversial religious ideas.

... or Deen-e-Younas is a new brand:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\12\24\story_24-12-2005_pg7_3

8 more "Imam Mehdi" disciples arrested

Staff Report

LAHORE: Police have arrested eight more followers of Shahbaz Khan, the self-proclaimed "Imam Mehdi", who were planning to take out a procession in Faisalabad, Amir Zulfiqar Khan, senior superintendent of police, told reporters on Friday.

The SSP said law enforcement agencies would not let anybody play with religions and beliefs. He said the followers of Shahbaz Khan had their own "Kalma", which was totally different from that of Muslims.

The SSP said police raided several places in the Sattokatla, WAPDA Town B-Block and Nawankot areas to arrest the men. Police also seized several weapons, CDs, computers, a list of friends, including women settled aboard, and international air tickets. "These people have a strong network and are keeping a very low profile. They have a heart-shaped monogram on which the word Allah is printed. Anjuman-e-Sarfaroshan-e-Islam is also written," SSP Khan said. He said the men had planned to arrange processions similar to the one Shahbaz Khan took out a few days ago. Shahbaz and his accomplices were arrested after a gunfight with police, which left two followers dead.

The SSP said Shahbaz Khan's followers were confident of their beliefs. "They are completely convinced that they are following the right man," he said. He said there could be chances that Khan's network is being funded by foreign elements. However, he said investigations were underway. "We are contacting Interpol to arrest Younis in the United Kingdom because he is also backing Shahbaz's activities," the SSP said.

The men arrested include Raja Fiaz from Mianwali, Muhammad Bilal from Gojra, Tariq Saeed from Sherakot, Lahore, Nazar Zakir from Jhang, Muhammad Siddique from Mansehra and Qazi Farooq from Chakri Pindi.

My comment: Kalma is the Islamic creed.

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