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Iranian president Ahmadinejad is identified with Messianism

munaeem | 09 March, 2007 10:35

n recent years, there has been a growing public debate in Iran around Messianism. Messianism is a popular grassroots movement which has given a concrete dimension to the return of the Hidden Imam (Imam al-Mahdi), to the point of calling for action.

Iran's president Ahmadinejad is identified with Messianism and, after being elected president, made many public references to the return of the Hidden Imam.

The belief that the imam is a superhuman, omnipotent, and faultless leader is one of the unique tenets of Shi'ite Islam. According to Shi'ite belief, the first imam was Ali, the “leader of the faithful”, Muhammad's son-in-law and, according to Sunni tradition, the fourth caliph. The prevailing school of thought in Shi'ite Islam (the Twelvers) holds that there were twelve imams between the death of Ali in A.D. 661 and A.D. 874, when the twelfth imam disappeared. The Hidden Imam, according to Shi'ite belief, will return to the world as a “mahdi” (“guided by Allah on the path of righteousness”). He will return bearing the word of salvation, dispatch the Shi'ites' enemies, and usher the world into an era of Islamic justice.

Messianism, which considers the Imam's return to be a distinct, tangible possibility, poses a theological-conceptual threat to the foundations of the Iranian Islamic regime. Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, based his rule on the combination of religious authority as a model to be followed ( Marja' Taqlid ) and political-governmental authority. Messianism, however, disconnects (in theory) Shi'ite belief (waiting for the “mahdi”) from the vanities of this world. That is one of the reasons that holders of such views have been persecuted in the beginning of the revolution; accusations of Messianism are still used to besmirch political opponents; and the movement is strongly criticized by senior officials of the regime and the religious establishment.

Ahmadinejad as a representative of Messianism

Iran 's president Ahmadinejad is notable for his public statements on the coming return of the Hidden Imam. More than just political rhetoric, such statements stem from his authentic religious beliefs and his social and political background. The president of Iran seems to belong to the Jamkaran group,  itself a part of the larger movement of Hojjatiyeh (see below), which holds that a true Islamic regime is only possible when the Hidden Imam returns, and that the time of his return is drawing ever closer. Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ahmadinejad's spiritual teacher (his Marja' Taqlid , or “role model”) is the spiritual leader of the Jamkaran group.

Since being elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made many statements about the possible return of the Hidden Imam, claiming divine inspiration. For example:

a. Speaking at a convention of clerics on November 16, 2005, Ahmadinejad declared that “the main purpose of the Islamic revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the twelfth imam and to define economic, cultural, and political policy in accordance with the policy of the return of [Imam] al-Mahdi.” Before that, a television camera captured the president telling a religious cleric named Ayatollah Amoli that during his speech at the UN (September 2005), he had felt himself “bathed in a divine aura” (and that he had even had a direct connection with Allah).



A picture of President Ahmadinejad with a holy aura around his head (Fars, an Iranian official news agency)

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