According to "Iran Press News:"

احمدی نژاد و نصرالله با امام زمان ارتباط دارند، ولی بروی خود نمیاورند

"Ahmadinezhad and Nasrallah are in contact with the Imam-i Zaman....;" that is, with the Hidden Imam, soon to return as the Awaited Mahdi. 

Here's the link: http://www.iranpressnews.com/source/016144.htm

[Special thanks to Mr. Brian Kranick for alerting me to this!]

Seems the Blues Brothers are not the only folks convinced they're "on a mission from Gahd," according to a new report from MEMRI:

 

Special Dispatch-Iran
October 19, 2006
No. 1328

Iran President Ahmadinejad: "I Have a Connection With God, Since God Said That the Infidels Will Have No Way to Harm the Believers"; "We Have [Only] One Step Remaining Before We Attain the Summit of Nuclear Technology"; The West "Will Not Dare To Attack Us"

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit: http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD132806 .

 

In an Iftar address to an audience of his supporters, including members of the Union of Islamic Engineers and supporters of the Khat-e Emam,(1) on October 14, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that he had a connection with God, and promised that Iran would continue to develop nuclear energy, and would not give in to the West's demand to suspend its uranium enrichment "even for one single day."

 

In the October 2, 2006 issue of "The New Republic," Andrew Lee Butters reports from Syria that Sufis (Naqshabandiyah order?) in eastern Syria/western Iraq  have turned their meetings into "forums for expressing anger at the U.S. occupation...."  ("Clerical Era. Syria Gets Religion").  

He expresses concern that this might bode ill for the al-Assad regime in Damascus (as if we should worry about that?!).  But the bigger issue is whether some branch of militant Sufism might transmogrify into a Mahdist movement, for historically Mahdism has often materialized within, and emerged from, a Sufi context (most notably Muhammad Ahmad's Mahdist movement in Sudan, 1880-1885).  Heretofore the yearning for the Mahdi in the Sunni world seems to have been limited to certain elements of the jihadist persuasion; but if even some Sufis converge with their non-mystical brethren and decide that they will go on jihad, an openly-proclaimed Mahdi becomes that much more likely.

 

Critical cleric arrested in Iran - reports

Intl. Conference of Mahdism Doctrine opens in Tehran  

TEHRAN, Sept. 6 (MNA) – The Second International Conference of Mahdism Doctrine (belief in reappearance of Imam Mahdi (AS) as the savior of the world) opened at the conference hall of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in northern Tehran Wednesday.

 

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Iranian officials, and over 110 foreign guests participated in the opening ceremony.

 

Promoting culture of Mahdism, teaching Mahdism, Mahdism and political and social doctrines, Mahdism and modernism, Mahdism and morality, as well as Mahdism and mysticism are the main topics of the two-day conference.

Had I found out about this conference sooner, I would have submitted a paper and attended (hey, I'll go to Tehran on the ayatollahs' tab).  This sounds very much like a conference I attended, and presented at, in London in 2004:

http://www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=1233

 

Bottom line: The coming of the Mahdi/Return of the Hidden Imam is NOT some fringe belief, but mainstream.

In case anyone missed it: President Ahmadinejad of Iran prayed for the coming of the Mahdi at the U.N. on September 19, 2006 (referring to the Mahdi as the "Perfect Man"):

"[T]oday's world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet. 0, Almighty God, all men and women are Your creatures and You have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause."

Ayman al-Zawahiri last week is said to have referred to Pope Benedict XVI as al-Dajjal, "the Deceiver"--the Islamic equivalent of the Antichrist who, according to the Hadiths (traditions), will lead the forces of evil and battle both the Mahdi and Jesus before the end of time.

Is this just al-Zawahiri pushing propaganda buttons for his jihadist brethren, or does al-Qa`idah's number two man have an eschatological mindset? My money's on the latter, since as I point out in my book Holiest Wars there are jihadists convinced that Usamah bin Ladin is the Mahdi. 

From The Times of London this morning:

 

THE followers of Moqtada al-Sadr believe that the US invaded Iraq to prevent the return to Earth of their sect’s messiah-like figure, the Mahdi, or 12th imam.

 

Hojatoleslam al-Sadr claims that his militia is preparing for the day when the Mahdi, the last direct descendent of the revered Shia figure Ali, reappears. Shia believe that the Mahdi, who disappeared in 868, will bring justice to Earth.

 

At a prayer service in the central Iraqi city of Kufa on September 15, the cleric told a crowd of thousands that the Americans were collecting a dossier on the Mahdi to prevent his return. “Did you ever ask yourself about why all of this, the bloodshed and the prisons? Why are the brothers fighting each other for a political game planned by the Americans? This all happened because they (the Americans) are waiting for the Mahdi. This planning started ten years ago. They have a big file for Imam Mahdi and they just need his picture to complete it.”

 

Hojatoleslam al-Sadr and his advisers are convinced that the Americans want to destroy Islam and stop the Mahdi. “The Americans are trying to hijack Islamic movements. They think that these are serving the Mahdi’s interests. Whatever they did in Afghanistan and Iraq are all attempts to hijack the Mahdi’s return.”

 

Sound familiar?  Check out my opinion recently featured here from FrontPageMag, in a symposium entitled "Ahmadinejad's Armageddon:" 

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24199