Iran’s supreme leader is promising a world free of infidels and nonbelievers with the coming of the Islamic messiah, Mahdi, a 9th-century descendant of the prophet Mohammad whom the Shiites refer to as the 12th Imam.
“The coming of Imam Zaman [Mahdi] is the definite promise by Allah,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech Wednesday on the anniversary of Mahdi’s birthday at an exhibition of research and historical documents on the 12th Imam.
Khamenei said one of Allah’s promises was that an Islamic revolution would come to Iran. “Who would have thought that in this sensitive region and in this important country, with a regime [run by Shah Pahlavi] and supported by the international powers, a revolution based on religion and Sharia [law] would take place?” Khamenei asked.
The Shiite clerical establishment ruling Iran believes that Iran’s 1979 revolution was a precursor to the coming of Mahdi, during which all infidels will be killed and the flag of Islam will be raised in all four corners of the world.
“The caravan of humanity from the day of creation has been moving through the windings of the hard maze [of life] … to reach an open path, [and] this open path is that of the time of the coming of Imam Mahdi,” he said. “The awaiting for the coming is a hopeful and powerful wait, providing the biggest opening for the Islamic society.”
The supreme leader’s representative in the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi, in a meeting with Guard commanders on Friday, said the coming of Imam Mahdi cannot take place under the current circumstances, and in order for that to happen the Middle East needs to witness major changes. To create those changes, there is a need for “regional preparedness” and that the Islamic revolution in Iran “without a doubt will be connected to the worldwide revolution of Imam Mahdi.”
The secret documentary “The Coming Is Upon Us,” produced by the regime for the preparedness of its forces, Hezbollah and other Shiite jihadists and revealed in 2011, covers the centuries-old hadiths by Mohammad and his descendants in providing a timeline of events and what needs to happen for the coming of Mahdi.
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The warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan is one example of what the hadiths predicted, according to Shiite theology. The fighting in Syria and the current infighting in Iraq and even the likely intrusion of the Islamic Republic’s army into Iraq to counter the Sunni rebellion, as per Shiite understanding of the hadiths, point to the imminent coming of Mahdi, but not before Israel is destroyed.
Iran’s clerical rulers believe the figure “Seyed Khorasani,” who at the end of times facilitates the coming and passes the flag of Islam to Imam Mahdi, is the current supreme leader of the regime, Ayatollah Khamenei.
In the documentary, close associates of Khamenei reveal that he personally has acknowledged his role as the facilitator of the coming. Khamenei has also stated openly, “I can tell you with utmost confidence: The promise of Allah for The Coming and the establishment of a new Islamic civilization is on its way.”
The Obama administration is currently engaged in intensive negotiations over the regime’s illicit nuclear and missile programs. Iran insists on its right to enrichment and the expansion of nuclear research and development, but international analysts believe the goal is to acquire nuclear weapons to use against Israel and the United States.
The supreme leader, in another recent statement covered by The Daily Caller, bluntly said that jihad will continue until America is destroyed.
“This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front, with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides,” he said.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).
