Does Ahmadinejad believe he is the Mahdi?

"Explanation: The Moon, fresh from a biting encounter with the Sun last week, appeared next to threaten Venus. The waxing Moon appeared to glide right past, however, just a few degrees away. Venus, of course, is much further away from the Earth than the Moon, so the passing was really just an angular illusion. Pictured above on June 13, a fading sunset finds the crescent Moon and Venus between clouds and above the city lights of Geneva, Switzerland."

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020619.html

The crescent moon and star symbol actually pre-dates Islam by several thousand years.[1] Information on the origins of the symbol are difficult to ascertain, but most sources agree that these ancient celestial symbols were in use by the peoples of Central Asia and Siberia in their worship of sun, moon, and sky gods.

http://www.answers.com/topic/star-and-crescent

"For a derivation of the relation between and the planet Venus, look up in Group 29. The crescent moon, , was the symbol of Constantinople, the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium (now Istanbul). When the Turks, led by Muhammed II, conquered Constantinople in 1453, they also adopted the city's symbol , but changed its position so that it was clearly a picture of the waning moon (for people living on the northern hemisphere).
According to some sources, however, the Turks already used the crescent as their symbol at this time. Now it became the symbol for the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. As such it was used until around the end of the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a star was added to it. At first it was not five-pointed, but soon became so.
From the beginning of the twentieth century this combined crescent and five-pointed star symbol began to appear on other Islamic countries' flags."

http://www.symbols.com/old/encyclopedia/24/2464.html

There's something strange here. While the first name of the Iranian president is "Mahmoud", the domain registration says "Mahdi". In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam, who will change the world into a perfect Islamic society before the end of times. It is well known that Ahmadinejad is a strong believer in the return of the Mahdi. But isn't this registration a strong indication that he (or his staff) believes that he himself is the Mahdi?

While "The Mahdi" ("the rightly guided one") is the title given to the Muslim "messiah" in the hadith, it is also a fairly common name -- both as a surname and as a given name. Muslims often have a whole string of names, too. I'm not surprised that "Mahdi" might be one of Ahmadinejad's.

But it means zilch in terms of his or anyone else's eschatological beliefs.

For an explanation of Muslim eschatology, see my FR homepage.

Thanks for the input. But I would be curious to know if he has used this name in other places and when he started using it? Are you saying that you do not think Ahmadinejad has a Messiah complex?

I looked at your homepage and have some questions. Is the Dajjal a Muslim or a Shia only concept?

From your Homepage: "In the 1980s, the mullahs began to interpret these prophecies as describing the Western inventions of the airplanes, railroads, highways, modern ships, telephones, television, radios, etc. “Restoring the dead to life” meant the discovery of penicillin and all the innovations of modern Western medicine."

It was very enlightening to learn that many of the West's modern inventions and technological developments are viewed by Muslims as signs of the Dajjal, Evil. The expression stuck in the 7th Century is often to describe today's Islam. It appears accurate. Of course it is also a post facto way of explaining and justifying their lack of development and contributions to the modern world and away of keeping the flock subdued.

But I would be curious to know if he has used this name in other places and when he started using it?

Yes, he has used it before. Here's a 6/21/05 (pre-Iranian election) Associated Press news report about presidential candidate "Mahdi Ahmadinejad."

Iranian Presidential Run-Off Heats Up (AP)
excerpt:
"Reformers said they had to defeat his opponent, the unabashedly hard-line Tehran mayor, Mahdi Ahmadinejad."

You know how in many cultures people have a long string of names (e.g. Spain). Until I learn otherwise, my assumption is that his parents named him "Mahmoud blah blah blah Mahdi blah blah blah Ahmadinejad." And sometimes he use one of the middle names, "Mahdi" instead of his first name "Mahmoud" (or something like that). So my guess is that his parents are to blame.

But look in a big city phone book. A lot of Muslims have "Mahdi" as a family name, and even more have it as a given name.

Baby name website:
http://www.weddingvendors.com/baby-names/meaning/mahdi

Are you saying that you do not think Ahmadinejad has a Messiah complex?

If you mean "believes he is the Mahdi" then no, he doesn't.

If you mean "is obsessed with the idea that the Mahdi will return any minute now and make him his closest advisor and general" then yes, very much so.

For a Sunni, the Mahdi will be an "ordinary man" (albeit a most virtuous Muslim) who will rise up to "restore the Caliphate." So Joe bin El-Schmoe could be your bowling partner one week and the Mahdi the next week.

Not so for the Shi'ites. Their Mahdi is pre-set to be an 1100+ year-old man -- and an honest, virtuous man (by Muslim standards -- honest with them). So there is no way for someone to say "Yes, there seem to be baby photos of me from 1958, and I've never mentioned it in any of my speeches before, but I'm really the Twelfth Imam who's been hiding for almost 1200 years." Just cannot be done.

But it would be relatively simple to claim to be _in communication_ with the Hidden Mahdi, and to be his "bestest friend" -- either really believing it, or just to garner populist support or backing from the clerics.

Is the Dajjal a Muslim or a Shia only concept?

Every Muslim believes in the Dajjal -- Sunni, Shi'a, Sufi, and the various smaller sects (e.g., Ahmadiyya, Nation of Islam, etc.).

The Dajjal is described in the Hadith. (The Qur'an is "the word of Allah" and the Hadith are the "words of Mohammed" -- tens of thousands of sayings attributed to Mohammed after he died.) See the links in the middle of my homepage.

Now how various muslims interpret those writings will differ. On my homepage I report what some clerics are saying -- but there are others (the "moderates") who will say that the Dajjal is a boogeyman still far off in the future.

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