In his speech at the United Nations general assembly meeting, on September 26th, 2012, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at length about the end times. The point of this long section of his speech was that the end times is very near. He asserted his belief that the 12th Imam called al-Mahdi (the guided one) will return soon, with Jesus Christ (PBUH).

Mr. President, Friends and Dear Colleagues,

Creating peace and lasting security with decent life for all, although a great and a historic mission can be accomplished. The Almighty God has not left us alone in this mission and has said that it will surely happen. If it doesn’t, then it will be contradictory to his wisdom.

— God Almighty has promised us a man of kindness, a man who loves people and loves absolute justice, a man who is a perfect human being and is named Imam al-Mahdi, a man who will come in the company of Jesus Christ (PBUH) and the righteous. By using the inherent potential of all the worthy men and women of all nations and I repeat, the inherent potential of “all the worthy men and women of all nations” he will lead humanity into achieving its glorious and eternal ideals.

— The arrival of the Ultimate Savior will mark a new beginning, a rebirth and a resurrection. It will be the beginning of peace, lasting security and genuine life.

— His arrival will be the end of oppression, immorality, poverty, discrimination and the beginning of justice, love and empathy.

— He will come and he will cut through ignorance, superstition, prejudice by opening the gates of science and knowledge. He will establish a world brimful of prudence and he will prepare the ground for the collective, active and constructive participation of all in the global management.

— He will come to grant kindness, hope, freedom and dignity to all humanity as a girl.

— He will come so mankind will taste the pleasure of being human and being in the company of other humans.

— He will come so that hands will be joined, hearts will be filled with love and thoughts will be purified to be at service of security, welfare and happiness for all.

— He will come to return all children of Adam irrespective of their skin colors to their innate origin after a long history of separation and division linking them to eternal happiness.

— The arrival of the Ultimate Savior, Jesus Christ and the Righteous will bring about an eternally bright future for mankind, not by force or waging wars but through thought awakening and developing kindness in everyone. Their arrival will breathe a new life in the cold and frozen body of the world. He will bless humanity with a spring that puts an end to our winter of ignorance, poverty and war with the tidings of a season of blooming.

— Now we can sense the sweet scent and the soulful breeze of the spring, a spring that has just begun and doesn’t belong to a specific race, ethnicity, nation or a region, a spring that will soon reach all the territories in Asia, Europe, Africa and the US.

— He will be the spring of all the justice– seekers, freedom– lovers and the followers of heavenly prophets. He will be the spring of humanity and the greenery of all ages.

— Let us join hands and clear the way for his eventual arrival with empathy and cooperation, in harmony and unity. Let us march on this path to salvation for the thirsty souls of humanity to taste immortal joy and grace.

Long live this spring, long live this spring and long live this spring.

Thank you.
(Source: LatinosPost.com)

What most persons don’t realize, and what the words of the above speech excerpt disguise, is that many fundamentalist Muslims expect the manifestation of the 12th Imam, whom they believe is hidden in the world today, coincides with a great war.

Jewish author Joel C. Rosenberg writes non-fiction (as well as fiction) books based on “a biblically informed view of current events in the Middle East.” In an opinion article at Fox news, he writes the following:

“Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are convinced that the End of Days has come. They believe the Shia messiah known as the ‘Twelfth Imam’ or the ‘Mahdi’ will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate. What’s more, they believe the way to hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Israel (which they call the ‘Little Satan’), and the United States (which they call the ‘Great Satan’).”

Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, a professor at the Religious Learning Centre in Qom, wrote a book on this subject entitled, ‘Al-Imam al-Mahdi’, (‘the Just Leader of Humanity’). In his book, Ayatollah Amini cites a Muslim tradition of eschatology in which the Muslims kill all who refuse to convert to Islam:

“On seeing the fulfillment of many of the signs promised in the traditions, a large number of unbelievers will turn towards Islam. Those who persist in their disbelief and wickedness shall be killed by the soldiers of the Mahdi. The only victorious government in the entire world will be that of Islam and people will devotedly endeavor to protect it. Islam will be the religion of everyone, and will enter all the nations of the world.”
[…]
“The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and the Christians; if they accept it they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed.” [Source]

These ideas from radical Shia eschatology, as adopted by the Iranian leaders, are explained further in my book: Notes on the Apocalypse: 2012 (Revised). But the main point is that the leaders of Iran believe that they have a role in the end times, in conjunction with the 12th Imam al-Mahdi, to start a great war that will result in the whole world converting to Islam. But those who do not convert, will be killed.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has spoken of the dangers posed by the current Iranian regime:

In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.” (The Atlantic)

What will happen if Iran completes its nuclear weapons program and builds several bombs? They will begin to use them in order to undertake this war, so as to hasten the arrival of the 12th Imam and an Islamic kingdom on earth.

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and
translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.