Free Republic

Escalating crisis drives surge in Iraq's messianic movements The radicalization of Iraqi politics that has contributed to the current crisis in the country can be better understood with an appreciation of the role of Islamic messianism, especially among Iraqi Shiites. This trend may even be more prominent, because if there is a battle for Baghdad, it will be fought along religious and sectarian lines. Political and economic hardships in Iraq have contributed to the rise of radical Messianic movements that claim to represent the return of the Mahdi. Author Ali MamouriPosted June 19, 2014 Translator(s)Kamal Fayad The advent of saviors...

The Millenarian-Eschatological strain very present in Islam was powerfully revived in the second half of the 19th century by the so-called Muslim "reformer," "progressive" and "modernizer," Jamal al-Din al Afghani, father of pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism, but most of all, reviver of the old Mahdist creed. He turned it into a workable, modern political ideology of a radical sort. As the British Islamologist H.A.R. Gibb wrote: “The heresy of Mahdism is its belief not only that the minds and wills of men can be dominated by force but that truth can be demonstrated by the edge of the sword.” Further: "Mahdism...

Special Dispatch - No. 2535 September 15, 2009 Ahmadinejad Critiques 'Western Theory of Development' as Aimed at Liberal Democracy, Free Market Economy, and Moral Relativism – And Proposes Iranian Alternative Based on 'Divine and Idealistic Values,' 'Society of Ali and the Mahdi' In a September 10, 2009 speech to university professors, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad critiqued "the West's theory of development," which he said was aimed at "the dominance of liberal democracy, the establishment of a free market economy, the favoring of moral relativism, and the non-interference of moral values in social relations." He argued that this theory had reached...

The Doctrine of Mahdism: In the Ideological and Political Philosophy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Mesbah-e Yazdi By A. Savyon and Y. Mansharof Background According to Shi’ite tradition, the Twelve Imams, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali Ibn Abi Talib, were endowed with divine qualities that enabled them to lead the Shi’ite believers and to function as Allah’s emissaries on earth. However, when the Twelfth Imam Muhammad Al-Mahdi(1) disappeared in 941 CE, his connection with the Shi’ite believers was severed, and since then, the Shi’ites are commanded to await his return at any time. In the meantime,...