Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Cautions Bernard Lewis: Does Iran have something in store?
What is the significance of Aug. 22? This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to "the farthest mosque," usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.
A passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, is revealing. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead--hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement...
And no, this is not just like George Bush and the Christian Right. The American Christian pro-Israel Right are for the most part Premillenial Dispensationalists -- they do not believe the end time date can possibly be known, nor can it be helped along by the hand of man. We are and can only be, bystanders.
Ahmadinejad appears to have a somewhat different view of the coming of the Hidden Imam.
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, p.44
Just wanted to say hello and that there is a French version of that piece of Lewis' at
http://precaution.ch/wp/?p=92
If Lewis had any insight he would first check what was said in Persian and then come up with such a laughable fantasy. In fact it was said that Iran would respond by the end of Mordad, not Rajab 14th or Aug 22nd, and even not "on Mordad 31st". As simple as that! You would expect Lewis to at least be familiar with the Persian calendar.
Lewis actually wrote:
"This was at first reported as "by the end of August," but Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement was more precise."
And Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, wrote in http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=14490 :
"When a statement by the Supreme National Security Council of Iran says it will reply by Aug. 22 to the Western incentive package to stop enriching uranium, it chose that date for a very precise reason.
August 21, 2006 (Rajab 27, 1427) is known in the Islamic calendar as the Night of the Sira’a and Miira'aj, the night Prophet Mohammed (saas) ascended to heaven from the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on a Bourak (Half animal, half man), while a great light lit-up the night sky, and visited Heaven and Hell also Beit al-Saada and Beit al-Shaqaa (House of Happiness and House of Misery) and then descended back to Mecca. The night of August 21 is a very, very important night in Shia'a Islam. What Iran's Ahmadinajead is promising the world by August 22 is the light in the sky over the Aqsa Mosque that took place the night before."
Good enough for me.
But I recall that there was no mosque in Jerusalem back then. Not even a Muslim. Obviously, the masjid al-aqsa of the Koran designated some oasis of the Arabian desert, and the Al-Aqsa mosque of Jerusalem is a blatant fraud.
Can you please explain what is this hidden imam? Big thanks from the Pacific.
If we are to believe Muslims historians, after Muhammad’s death, Muslims had an argument about who was supposed to lead them. Some demanded it was a parent of Muhammad, other prefered a companion of his’. That was one schism of Islam’s.
Shiites call “Imams†those successive (most speak of 12) parents of Muhammad. The last one died over thousand years ago. Well, they say he “disappearedâ€. And they believe that he has been “hidden†and will come back, near the end of time, amidst of a great turmoil, in order to put things right for good. They call that particular Imam the Mahdi.
Ahmadinejad has made great, concrete, efforts to prepare for his return. About that, see http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3258
Quite interesting. We from the pacific wont allow our ladies to wear those weird outfits, too hot for our climate. Isn’t the leviathan and behemoth in the book of job referring to human characters? The creator works in mysterious ways…Bless be the power of music and the Shepard boy.
power of music: Refering to the Song of Solomons, some say the key to end time prophecy (open for correction).God bless israel and HIS annointed servant(s)............... Jesus is the King.