A lot has been posted about Amadinejab and Iran. I thought this might be interesting in helping understand the mindset of the gweeb!
According to Islamic eschatology, there will be an end to the world, and just before that time, their mahdi (messiah) will come. Over the years, there have been a number of Hadith (sayings) attributed to many imams (religious leaders) relating some details about this mahdi. It is interesting to note some parallels with what the Holy Bible has to say about the end times.
A little background, first. According to Islamic legend, this mahdi is also called the Twelfth Imam. Sometime around 900 AD, a person known as the twelfth imam disappeared into a (cave) (well) (hole in the ground), where he was hidden by God to await the promised end to civilization. Following are quotations from various Islamic imams through the centuries, with parallels to scripture or commentaries in plain text after.
There are many signs that will precede him, a general and very important sign is that he will come at a time when there is great confutation, intense disputes and violent deaths. When people are afflicted by disturbance and experiencing great fear. Calamities will fall upon the people, so much so that a man shall not find a shelter to shelter him self from oppression. There will be battles and fitnaas before his appearance. Every time a fitnaa has come to end, another will start, spread and intensify. The people will be troubled to such an extent that they will long for death. It is then that Imam Mahdi will be sent.
Abu Saeed Al-Khudri has repoted that the Messenger of Allah said "He will be sent at a time of intense disputes and differences among people and earthquakes..." (Ahmed) Although some of this description is attributable to what John spoke of in Revelation as occurring during the tribulation, it also bears resemblence to what the general condition of the world is going to be like just prior to the beginning of the tribulation......wars and rumors of wars, disease and pestilence, etc..... see Mat. 24.
Hadhrat Umme Salmah(RA) narrates that Rasulullah(SAW) said:
After the death of a Ruler there will be some dispute between the people. At that time a citizen of Madina will flee (from Madina) and go to Makkah. While in Makkah, certain people will approach him between Hajrul Aswad and Maqaame Ibraheem, and forcefully pledge their allegiance to him.
Thereafter a huge army will proceed from Syria to attack him but when they will be at Baida, which is between Makkah and Madina, they will be swallowed into the ground.
On seeing this, the Abdaals of Shaam as well as large numbers of people from Iraq will come to him and pledge their allegiance to him. Then a person from the Quraish, whose uncle will be from the Bani Kalb tribe will send an army to attack him, only to be overpowered, by the will of Allah. This (defeated) army will be that of the Bani Kalb. Unfortunate indeed is he whodoes not receive a share from the booty of the Kalb. This person (Imam Mahdi) will distribute the spoils of war after the battle. He will lead the people according to the Sunnat and during his reign Islam will spread throughout the world. He will remain till seven years (since his emergence). He will pass away and the Muslims will perform his Janazah salaat. (Abu Dawood) Daniel 7 relates that one person will arise to power after defeating, either militarily or economically, some of his own compatriots. He will then begin a rule over the area and world that will involve a one-world government and religion. During this time, he will "wear out the saints ot the Most High," but at the end he will be removed. Daniel 11 gives more detail concerning this end time ruler, and the battles he will have with some of his kinsmen, particularly Edom, Moab and Ammon.......areas currently encompassing Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
The most telling Hadith concerning the mahdi is the one that says:
Abu Sa'id al-Khudari(RA) narrated that Prophet(SAW) said:
Severe calamity from the direction of their ruler will befall my people during the Last Days. It will be a calamity which, in severity, shall be unprecedented. It will be so violent that the earth with injustice and corruption will shrivel for its inhabitants. The believers will not find refuge from oppression. At that time God will send a man from my family to fill the earth with justice and equity just as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. The dwellers of the heavens and the earth will be pleased with him. The earth will bring forth all that grows for him, and the heavens will pour down rains in abundance. He will live among the people for seven or nine years. From all the good that God will bestow on the inhabitants of the earth, the dead will wish to come to life again.
(Ibn Hajar, al-Sawa'iq al-muharriqa, P. 161; Yanabi' al-mawadda, Vol. 2, P. 177) and
Abu Sa'id al-Khudari(RA) narrated that the Prophet(SAW) said:
Our Mahdi will have a broad forehead and a pointed (prominent) nose. He will fill the earth with justice as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will rule for seven years.
(Abu Dawud, Sahih, Vol. 2, p. 208; Fusul al-muhimma, p. 275)The bolded part, of course, is a direct reference to both Daniel, where the term of the tribulation period is given as 7 years, and Revelation where the same reference is made. Several other Hadith give the time period as a flat 7 years, and 1 other makes the "7 or 9" reference.
Abu al-Hujaf(RA) quotes the Prophet(SAW) saying three times:
Listen to the good news about the Mahdi! He will rise at the time when people will be faced with severe conflict and the earth will be hit by a violent quake. He will fill the earth with justice and equity as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will fill the hearts of his followers with devotion and will spread justice everywhere.
(Bihar al-anwar, Vol. 51, P. 74) In Matthew 24, Jesus gives a description of the time just preceeding the tribulation period, and the rise to power of the anti-christ. Among the descriptions given are noted: wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, disease, and earthquakes (presumed to be larger than usual). It is interesting to note that there are currently over 140 armed conflicts around the world, with the majority of them in Africa, the Middle East and the far East. Also, the past 10 years have seen an increasing number of great (7+) earthquakes in the middle east resulting in enormous loss of life.
Another warning given by Jesus concerns many who will say they are the Christ.
According to the president Amadinejab of Iran, his purpose in life is to pave the way for the emergence of the mahdi, who he believes to be currently hiding in a cave in Qom, Iran. As a side note, for the past 10 or so years, advertisements have been being placed in major newspapers around the globe about appearances of "The Christ," also called Mayatreya, by new-ager Benjamin Creme.
It is also reported that according to some questionable Hadith, this mahdi will be of Hebrew origin. Interestingly, those who follow Islam consider themselves to be "related" to the Hebrews, since they descended from one of Abrahams sons....Ishmael. In Daniel 11 we read a much ignored piece of scripture that relates that the coming anti-christ, or world leader, will "enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers..." The phrase "fattest places" is one considered to be a reference to certain areas of Israel that were reserved only for royalty, or the highest of religious leaders, yet what we have here is a false leader being able to go into them....and he does it, apparently, by invitation. It seems almost inconceivable that the Jews would ever "do business" with an avowed enemy, as the Islamists claim to be, but this might be the "loophole" by which this mahdi will be able to work. Read
this article about Jewish eschatology to get more background.
Of course, the big question is: what difference does all this make to us who believe in Jesus Christ? The answer is found in the words of Jesus when He said "Watch..." (Mat. 14:25, 24:43, 25:13; Mark 13:35; 1 Thess. 5:6; 1 Pet. 4:7). In Matthew, Jesus also commented to the Pharisees that they were capable of telling what the weather would be like because of the signs in the sky, but they couldn't discern the signs of the times.
It behooves us as Christians to take every word of God to heart, and pay close and careful attention...and that means getting our noses out of our own "stuff" and observing (and learning) about what else is going on, because that is just ONE of the ways in which we can "discern the times."
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