Iran’s Nuclear Zealot by Kenneth Timmerman
Iran’s Nuclear Zealot by Kenneth Timmerman
Kenneth R. Timmerman, author of Countdown to Crisis:The Nuclear showdown with Iran
With negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program looming once again, understanding Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is critically important. Perhaps the best place to start is the moment the world first gained a glimpse of Ahmadinejad’s character and hardline program.
When President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations in New York last September, he suddenly felt himself surrounded by light. It wasn’t the stage lighting, he said. It was light from heaven. Ahmadinejad related his otherworldly experience in a videotaped meeting with a prominent Ayatollah in Tehran. A transcript of his comments and sections of the video-tape wound up on a hard-line, pro-regime website, baztab.com.
According to the transcript, Ahmadinejad said that a member of his entourage at the UN meeting first told him of the light. “When you began with the words ‘In the name of God’… I saw a light coming, surrounding you and protecting you to the end [of the speech].” Ahmadinejad confirmed sensing a similar presence. “I felt it myself, too, that suddenly the atmosphere changed and for 27-28 minutes the leaders could not blink....They had their eyes and ears open for the message from the Islamic Republic,” he told Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli.
Ahmadinejad’s “vision” at the UN could be dismissed as political posturing if it weren’t for a string of similar statements and actions that suggest he believes that he is destined to bring about the “End Times” – the end of the world – by paving the way for the return of the Shia Muslim messiah. Given that Iran continues to pursue suspect nuclear programs, which could bring the Islamic Republic dangerously close to weapons capability, a leader with messianic visions is worrying. After all, this is the same man who recently pledged to use Iran’s newfound powers to “wipe Israel off the map” and to “destroy America.”
In a November 16 speech in Tehran to senior clerics who had come from all over Iran to hear him, the new president said that the main mission of his government was to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi (May God Hasten His Reappearance).” The mystical 12th Imam of Shia Islam disappeared as a child in 941 CE, and Shia Muslims have awaited his reappearance ever since, believing that when he returns, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about the Last Judgment and the end of the world.
In order to prepare for the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad said, “Iran should turn into a mighty, advanced, and model Islamic society.” Iranians should “refrain from leaning toward any Western school of thought” and abstain from “luxurious lives” and other excesses.
Three months into Ahmadinejad’s presidency, his views of the 12th Imam are being widely discussed in Tehran. According to one rumor, as mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad drew up a new city plan for the Imam's return.
In recent weeks, Ahmadinejad’s aides have denied another rumor that he ordered his cabinet to write a pact of loyalty with the 12th Imam and throw it down a well near the holy city of Qom, where some believe the Imam is hiding. Those who give credence to the rumor point to an early decision of his cabinet to allocate $17 million to renovate the Jamkaran mosque, where devotees of the 12th Imam have prayed for centuries.
Similarly, reports in government media outlets in Tehran have quoted Ahmadinejad as having told regime officials that the Hidden Imam will reappear in two years. This proved too much for one Iranian legislator, Akbar Alami, who publicly questioned Ahmadinejad’s judgment, saying that even Islam’s holiest figures have never made such claims.
While many Shia Muslims worship the 12th Imam, a previously secret society of powerful clerics, now openly advising the new president, are transforming these messianic beliefs into government policies. Led by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who frequently appears with the Ahmadinejad, the Hojatieh society is considered by many Shia as the lunatic fringe. During the early years of the Islamic Revolution, even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini found their beliefs too extreme and sent them scurrying underground.
As devotees of the 12th Imam, the Hojatieh believe that only great tribulation will warrant his coming. Akin in some ways to Lenin’s doctrine that worsening social conditions would hasten revolution, the Hojatieh believe that only increased violence, conflict, and oppression will bring the Mahdi’s return.
Since taking office last August, Ahmadinejad has installed Hojatieh devotees in his cabinet and throughout the bureaucracy. The Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS), largely sidelined by former President Mohammed Khatami, has re-emerged as a powerful repressive force, using plain-clothes agents, allied with the paramilitary Bassij and non-government vigilantes, to crack down on potential opponents of the regime.
As the world prepares to confront an Iranian regime that continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear programs, we must listen to what Iran’s leaders say as we watch what they do. A religious zealot with nuclear weapons is a dangerous combination the world cannot afford to tolerate.
Posted by Jerry Gordon at January 12, 2006 05:19 AM
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1.
Isaac
said:
Yet another example of why the US needs to change course on policy in Iraq, and immediately. Ahmedinejad is a nut, and he means business-- and of course, he has the luxury of being able to sit back, relax, and watch and wait as the US delivers Iraq right into his lap and that of the mullahs in Iran, via the Iranians' Badr Brigade proxies. The US needs to turn its big guns today-- not next week, not tomorrow, but today-- on the Badr Brigades and crush them until they're no longer a viable organization, otherwise Iraq will simply devolve into Iran's western colony. Then Israel and the West are fscked.
It makes me tremble with anger to see all the highly-placed idiots in the Bush Administration talk about the "democratic success" in Iraq, when in reality it's nothing more than Iran's manipulations to get its Badr Brigades and SCIRI into power. Condoleezza Rice is the worst of them, but Condi isn't alone. Cheney, Rumsfeld, the prominent Democrats (Hillary Clinton, Richard Gephardt to name a few) all blather about the same stupid platitudes about "democracy" and the need to crush the Ba'athists in Iraq, when it's the Badr Brigades who pose the ultimate threat. Condi Rice may or may not hate Israel, but she's one of the main advocates of the most dangerous policies for Israel's survival since 1948. She wants to lick the boots of SCIRI and Iran's military proxies there, since it makes for a nice cozy story to help smooth a US exit with a little less apparent humiliation-- thus leaving a subsequent Administration to clean up her blunders.
It's getting to the point when I'm thinking about organizing a protest, a loud, ugly protest of very pissed-off Jews to go to the White House and Congress, and let our timid political leaders know, that they will not be allowed to sacrifice Israel as a way to smooth their exit from the Iraq mess, they will not be allowed to quietly slip out of Iraq as Iran strengthens its grip through SCIRI and the Badr Brigades, seizing the Persian Gulf in a death grip as a prelude to the mullahs' long-awaited plan to wipe out Israel. Either the US makes a big change in the military's Iraq policy, immediately, to smash the Badr Brigades and dismantle Iran's SCIRI front party, OR ELSE there will be a severe political price to pay. This happens now. No more bullshit, no more procrastinations, no more excuses-- Iran's proxies in Iraq have to be stopped immediately.
Posted by: Isaac on January 12, 2006 06:13 AM
2.
BobW
said:
In the name of the Supreme Being, the merciful (I'm off to a good start, I hope), Ahmadinajad is a false prophet. Ahmadinajad wants Iranians to refrain from "luxurious lives". The message reached the hinterland but not some areas where the mullahs reside.
In the conflict a few years ago between Eastern Orthodox Armenia and Islamic Azerbaijan, the holy mullahs of Iran sided with Armenia. They're in it for the money from the oil.
Now, I do support "end times". It's time to end the Islamic Republic of Iran and return the land and the wealth to the descendents of Cyrus. The lat paragraph of our Tanakh references King Cyrus of Persia.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on January 12, 2006 08:44 AM
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Iran’s Nuclear Zealot by Kenneth Timmerman
Kenneth R. Timmerman, author of Countdown to Crisis:The Nuclear showdown with Iran
With negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program looming once again, understanding Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is critically important. Perhaps the best place to start is the moment the world first gained a glimpse of Ahmadinejad’s character and hardline program.
When President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations in New York last September, he suddenly felt himself surrounded by light. It wasn’t the stage lighting, he said. It was light from heaven. Ahmadinejad related his otherworldly experience in a videotaped meeting with a prominent Ayatollah in Tehran. A transcript of his comments and sections of the video-tape wound up on a hard-line, pro-regime website, baztab.com.
According to the transcript, Ahmadinejad said that a member of his entourage at the UN meeting first told him of the light. “When you began with the words ‘In the name of God’… I saw a light coming, surrounding you and protecting you to the end [of the speech].” Ahmadinejad confirmed sensing a similar presence. “I felt it myself, too, that suddenly the atmosphere changed and for 27-28 minutes the leaders could not blink....They had their eyes and ears open for the message from the Islamic Republic,” he told Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli.
Ahmadinejad’s “vision” at the UN could be dismissed as political posturing if it weren’t for a string of similar statements and actions that suggest he believes that he is destined to bring about the “End Times” – the end of the world – by paving the way for the return of the Shia Muslim messiah. Given that Iran continues to pursue suspect nuclear programs, which could bring the Islamic Republic dangerously close to weapons capability, a leader with messianic visions is worrying. After all, this is the same man who recently pledged to use Iran’s newfound powers to “wipe Israel off the map” and to “destroy America.”
In a November 16 speech in Tehran to senior clerics who had come from all over Iran to hear him, the new president said that the main mission of his government was to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi (May God Hasten His Reappearance).” The mystical 12th Imam of Shia Islam disappeared as a child in 941 CE, and Shia Muslims have awaited his reappearance ever since, believing that when he returns, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about the Last Judgment and the end of the world.
In order to prepare for the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad said, “Iran should turn into a mighty, advanced, and model Islamic society.” Iranians should “refrain from leaning toward any Western school of thought” and abstain from “luxurious lives” and other excesses.
Three months into Ahmadinejad’s presidency, his views of the 12th Imam are being widely discussed in Tehran. According to one rumor, as mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad drew up a new city plan for the Imam's return.
In recent weeks, Ahmadinejad’s aides have denied another rumor that he ordered his cabinet to write a pact of loyalty with the 12th Imam and throw it down a well near the holy city of Qom, where some believe the Imam is hiding. Those who give credence to the rumor point to an early decision of his cabinet to allocate $17 million to renovate the Jamkaran mosque, where devotees of the 12th Imam have prayed for centuries.
Similarly, reports in government media outlets in Tehran have quoted Ahmadinejad as having told regime officials that the Hidden Imam will reappear in two years. This proved too much for one Iranian legislator, Akbar Alami, who publicly questioned Ahmadinejad’s judgment, saying that even Islam’s holiest figures have never made such claims.
While many Shia Muslims worship the 12th Imam, a previously secret society of powerful clerics, now openly advising the new president, are transforming these messianic beliefs into government policies. Led by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who frequently appears with the Ahmadinejad, the Hojatieh society is considered by many Shia as the lunatic fringe. During the early years of the Islamic Revolution, even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini found their beliefs too extreme and sent them scurrying underground.
As devotees of the 12th Imam, the Hojatieh believe that only great tribulation will warrant his coming. Akin in some ways to Lenin’s doctrine that worsening social conditions would hasten revolution, the Hojatieh believe that only increased violence, conflict, and oppression will bring the Mahdi’s return.
Since taking office last August, Ahmadinejad has installed Hojatieh devotees in his cabinet and throughout the bureaucracy. The Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS), largely sidelined by former President Mohammed Khatami, has re-emerged as a powerful repressive force, using plain-clothes agents, allied with the paramilitary Bassij and non-government vigilantes, to crack down on potential opponents of the regime.
As the world prepares to confront an Iranian regime that continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear programs, we must listen to what Iran’s leaders say as we watch what they do. A religious zealot with nuclear weapons is a dangerous combination the world cannot afford to tolerate.
Posted by Jerry Gordon at January 12, 2006 05:19 AM