Messianic Fervor Grows Among Iran’s Shiites for Return of 12th Imam!
Article Two of a Two Part Series
April 19, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Once upon a time, when I went to school with, taught, and worked with followers of the Islamic faith, all I knew about the Mahdi, who the Shiite branch of Islam identifies as the 12th Imam, was what I learned from conversations I had with them on their beliefs. The Quran has very little, if anything, to say about this mysterious figure, and most of it was derived from the traditional teachings of Islam after the death of their great Prophet Muhammad, in which they sometimes infer he taught the Mahdi concepts verbally, but did not put in the Quran. I have written many articles about the Imam Mahdi over the last several years in our Prophecy Updates and Blogs, which I researched among the traditional teachings of Islam. I appreciate Brother Joe A. Bennett bringing both Articles One and Two to my attention.
The last Blog, Article One, was the best article I have found that was able to correlate the actions of the current Iranian administration with what they believe about the Imam Mahdi. This article from the Los Angeles Time, by John Daniszewski, is the best I have read on the specific characteristics of the Imam himself, particularly as it relates to a belief he will be able to do great miracles, signs, and wonders. It is interesting that the 12th Imam is said to rise out of the earth, that is, out of a well in the Iranian earth of the ancient Persian Empire, and that he is able to do the things found in Chapter 13 of Revelation.
Revelation 13:11-14 – And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. [12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. [13] And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, [14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Matthew 24:24 – For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Begin LA Times Article by John Daniszewski
Messianic Fervor Grows Among Iran’s Shiites
Many, including the president, pray for the Mahdi’s return to defeat evil. Western critics
fear such beliefs may lead to irrational policies.
By John Daniszewski, – Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
JAMKARAN, Iran — Each Tuesday, thousands of people arrive here at dusk by car and bus. Beneath the twinkling lights of the blue-tiled mosque, they sit on carpets, following prayers broadcast over loudspeakers: families, pilgrims from distant provinces, young men frantic with expectation, women hoping for cures.
The devout make their way to the back of the shrine. There, they write their hopes, dreams and prayers onto slips of paper that they drop into two wells — one for the men, one for the women. They pray, eyes squeezed shut, until moved along politely by mosque workers.
For many devout Shiite Muslims, this is a place of miracles — the place of the Mahdi, the messiah.
From lowly carpet weavers to Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, devotion to the Mahdi and anticipation of his return appears to be crescendoing in Iran.
Particularly on Tuesdays, the day most associated with the Mahdi’s blessings, the night here is filled with fervent prayers, a reflection of the ardent faith that gave rise to the Islamic Revolution, and which conservative supporters of Ahmadinejad hope will sustain the nation in any confrontation with the West over Iran’s nuclear program.
All Muslims await the appearance of the Mahdi; the largest branch of Shiites, those known as Twelvers, await his return.
To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad’s true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.
The Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, the Imam of Our Times, was born Muhammad ibn Hasan and went into hiding around 878.
Shiites believe he maintained contact with representatives until 941, when all communication from him ceased. When the time is ripe, they teach, he will reappear and, along with Jesus, will lead Muslims in a struggle to rid the world of corruption and establish justice. The Mahdi ordered a shrine built in Jamkaran nearly 1,000 years ago, Shiite teachings hold.
It would be a caricature to paint the whole country as caught up in messianic fervor. Even among the clergy, there are many who treat the Mahdi’s return as figurative rather than literal. But at a time when many here believe that Iran, and by extension its brand of Shiism, is under threat by the West, the Mahdi can be a useful symbol for the government to rally the people.
For Iran’s opponents in Washington and elsewhere, the talk of the Mahdi’s return, with its apocalyptic overtones, causes worry.
Some critics of Iran fear that religious zeal might overcome reason when it comes to setting the nation’s policies.
Ahmadinejad’s particular attention to the Mahdi in his speeches and actions — soon after taking office, he allocated $20 million to improve and enlarge the Jamkaran Mosque complex — has been noted by Western critics.
So, too was Ahmadinejad’s appearance in September before the United Nations General Assembly, when he said a prayer calling for the Mahdi’s return: “O mighty Lord, I pray to hasten the emergence of … the promised one … the one who will fill this world with justice and peace.”
Belief in the Mahdi energizes many of the 8 million to 10 million pilgrims who come annually to Qom, the seminary city two hours south of Tehran that is considered among Iran’s most holy places. The Jamkaran Mosque stands just outside Qom.
“A prayer in the Jamkaran Mosque is almost like going to Mecca,” said Adel Safr, a cleric with the Qom mosque’s international department.
He helps receive foreign visitors in a room ornately decorated to resemble a garden.
“According to some of the sayings, if someone comes each week, 40 times in 40 weeks, he can be worthy to meet the Mahdi when he returns,” Safr said.
Visiting the shrine, he said, was “a reaffirmation to say to him that we are still with you — we came because we believe the Mahdi is caring and that he is going to cleanse the world of injustice and corruption.”
To Safr, a 34-year-old who has been studying in Qom for four years, the troubles that have racked the Persian Gulf region in recent years could be portents of the Mahdi’s return.
Just as some Christians see warfare in the Middle East as reflections of Biblical prophecy, some in Iran see a religious pattern in recent events.
The destruction of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra, Iraq, the Mahdi’s birthplace and where he went into hiding, and the sectarian violence in that country are seen as fulfillments of prophecies about the conditions in which he would reappear.
“This is why Mr.
Bush has put divisions in Saudi Arabia and Iraq — to kill the Mahdi and make Jesus the messiah,” Safr said. “I am serious.
There have been speeches in the Pentagon about it.”
For others, the shrine is a place for more personal prayers, a source of solace and hope for believers coping with poverty, health problems, or family or social difficulties.
“Ninety percent of people coming here have lost all their hope in the security of the world and want to grab onto their last chance, and they find it here,” said Majid Haidari, 27, from Khosan.
“This is their ultimate connection to God, and they realize that they are in the right place.”
“I want God to give me a child, and I am very hopeful,” Haidari said. “All those who are worthy, they receive their wishes.”
In a black chador, Akram Mirzails, 43, w alked
along the tree-shaded pavement among those people dropping letters to the Twelfth Imam into the wells.
She carried what looked like a rainbow-colored feather duster as a symbol that she was a worker and advisor at the Jamkaran Mosque, helping pilgrims with directions and hints for their devotions.
Visits to the mosque have climbed steadily, she said.
“It has a very, very high spiritual movement,” she said. “Everyone is waiting for an appearance of the Imam because they feel there is a connection and they can feel his sacredness here.”
“We have visitors from as far away as Pakistan, India, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. In the last few years, I don’t know why, people more and more are drawn to this location on Tuesday nights, even those who are not religious.”
And there are many instances of healing, she asserted.
Just that evening, she said recently, a 13-year-old who had been ill stood up, suddenly cured.
“People were crying. You could not even hear the loudspeaker,” she recounted.
“When the Imam appears, he will display many, many miracles,” she predicted. “I myself have seen some already. Other people sometimes see or feel a guiding presence.”
As she walked away, a new crowd of supplicants made their way to the well, and the din of the crowd and the loudspeakers rose once more.
– Los Angeles Times
End Los Angeles Times Article
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