Iran leader's messianic end-times mission (Ahmadinejad raises concerns with mystical visions)

XR7 (post# 54): Thanks for the ping!

nuconvert (post# 29): Thanks for the link to the other thread.

I just wrote the following piece for another thread. It does not deal directly with Iran and the Shi’ite bekiefs in the Mahdi as the return of the hidden 12th imam. But I’m too tired and write anything else right now, and other RL duties call me.

Please visit my FR homepage for more information on Muslim millennialism. On my links page there are a couple of threads about Ahmadinejad and Iraq.

I hope you find the following essay helpful.

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I'm going to try to summarize in general how it is that Western Civilization is the Dajjal, for those imams who read Dajjal as a metaphor, and not a literal individual person.

a) The word "Dajjal" literally translates as "Deceiver."

b) From the Muslim, Qur'anic point of view, Jesus was a prophet of Allah, who taught that Allah is the One Undifferentiated God. Anyone who says that God is a Trinity of Three Persons, and that Jesus is one of those Divine Persons, is deceiving. If he says it because he believes it, he is both deceived and deceiving.

So Christianity is itself an AntiChrist, because it is teaching the opposite of what Christ taught.

But that’s not all.

c) But the Dajjal of the hadith is not merely a deceiver - he is the greatest menace ever to scourge the earth from Adam to the Last Trumpets.

d) At the time Muhammed was alive, the Christians were not the Dajjal. They might have been deceived and deceitful, but back then they generally kept to themselves in Europe and thereabouts. For those imams, this “explains” why in Muhammed’s hadith, he talks about the Dajjal as an evil yet to come.

e) The Christians didn’t start menacing the whole planet until the explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries.

f) So now we get into the history of colonization of the world by the European Christian powers, the exploitation of nonwhite races throughout the world, slavery, the pillaging of the world’s land and natural resources by the conquering European nations, etc., etc., etc.

g) Meanwhile, with the Age of Enlightenment, European people are becoming more secular, agnostic, and atheistic (more levels of deceitfulness). With the progress of science and technology, they care more about external material things than about internal spiritual pursuits. With the rise of industrial capitalism, people and the environment are exploited on every level, and the West truly becomes a menace to the entire globe.

h) And let’s not forget the spread of Western Culture throughout the world. On the one hand you have musical instruments, immodestly dressed women, novels and films spreading sinful morality, etc.

On the other hand you have Christian missionaries converting people around the world, slandering Muhammed and the Qur’an, and working hand-in-hand with the governments and banks back in Europe.

i) I’ve been focusing on the Christianity of the West, but my Jewish friends should not feel left out. That’s where the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” comes in. The Trinitarian Christians may be the figurehead Deceivers menacing the globe, but behind the scenes they themselves are being led around by a secret council of Jewish planners and financiers pulling the strings.

j) Q.E.D. The Dajjal is a metaphor for the West.

k) Now in the hadith Muhammed prophesies that the Mahdi will arise who will be the greatest Muslim since Muhammed. Isa (the Qur’an’s version of Jesus) will descend on a cloud and fight under the Mahdi in jihad. Together they will kill the Dajjal and spread Islam and shar’ia law throughout the planet.

l) Okay, now we’re going to get into some tricky interpretation here. Is the Mahdi an individual person, or a metaphor for a social movement of Muslims to oppose Western Civilization and all that it stands for? If he’s an individual, will the Mahdi be the actual person to dual with the Dajjal, or might he be an individual who gets the ball rolling whereby the Dajjal’s inevitable demise is set in motion (*cough*OBL*cough*).

If the Dajjal is a metaphor, why shouldn’t the Mahdi be a metaphor?

But if a literal person, there are lots and lots of candidates in the past and present, and I’m sure there will be more in the future. An imam can pick his favorite one.

m) Now, what does “killing the Dajjal” mean? For some terrorist imams, that means chopping off the heads of Westerners.

For the nicer, pacifist, we-are-in-the-end-times imams, that means the Mahdi will (“like Muhammed”) be a preacher and will convert the West to Islam. The hadith says that “the sun will rise in the west,” so this is interpreted to mean that Islam will spread throughout the West.

n) After killing the Dajjal, the Mahdi will govern the planet in perfect peace and prosperity. Then the trumpets will sound, time will end, and the Day of Judgment will arrive. Allah will judge all souls (well, except for the prophets and martyrs since they are already in Paradise) and they will go to Paradise or Hell for all eternity.

o) I’ve dealt with the Dajjal as a metaphor for Western Civilization. For a more literal treatment of the Dajjal as a coming future individual person who will use the Western nations, the UN, etc. as his power base, revise the scenario accordingly.

p) Again, I myself am an amillennialist. I do not believe we are living in the End Times, whether by this prophecy or that prophecy. I don’t particularly mind if someone does choose to believe in millennialism, unless that person starts using that as an excuse to attack my countrymen. At that point I take it as my duty to alert my fellow countrymen and our allies as to how millennial beliefs are a factor in the attacks.

Thank you. That was most enlightening.

I just wanted to add how Jesus taught us to look out for false prophets. It always seemed to make sense to me.

Matthew 7:15-17
A Tree and Its Fruit
15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Gee, aren't the Left and others of that ilk afraid of Ahmadinejad's avowed religiosity? All that talk about 'heaven' the 'coming of the imam'...doesn't the Left's silence smack of hypocrisy? Well, they're busy slamming Pat Robertson.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1548492/posts
I agree wholeheartedly with President Ahmadinejad. There was no such a thing as the "holocaust"

That's just stupid.

Ummmm..............this guy is a taco short from a combo plate.