Iranian scholars have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stick to more worldly issues after he said the "hidden imam" of Shiite Islam was directing the country's affairs.
Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, the twelfth imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony.
But in a speech to theology students broadcast by state television on Monday, Ahmadinejad went further than ever before in emphasizing his belief that the Mahdi is playing a critical role in Iran's day-to-day politics.
"The Imam Mahdi is in charge of the world and we see his hand directing all the affairs of the country," he said in the speech, which appears to date from last month but has only now been broadcast.
"We must solve Iran's internal problems as quickly as possible. Time is lacking. A movement has started for us to occupy ourselves with our global responsibilities, which are arriving with great speed."
...
Ahmadinejad's focus on that has previously caused controversy, while other governments have usually place their emphasis on other figures such as the Imam Ali, the cousin of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and first imam of Shiite Islam.
Earlier this year, Iran's former top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani complained that superstition was growing in the country and that people were even putting out food for the Mahdi in case he returned that very night.
Ahmadinejad also raised eyebrows when he said he felt surrounded by a mystical aura when he gave his first speech to the UN General Assembly in New York in 2005.
Similarly, in his latest speech, Ahmadinejad said the Mahdi had guided his "victory" in his famous talk to jeering students at Columbia University in New York last year where he was greeted as a "a petty and cruel dictator".
"I recalled the imam and I said to him 'help so that this scene is to the benefit of Islam'," he said.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/05/07/49515.html
This is the man Obama would treat without precondition. One might say, "but the mullahs are the final authority. Amadinejad can't do anything without their blessings."
Um...re-read the article. He's been giving speeches even after being told to STFU.
What with Volcanos and Earthquakes all over the world Sounds like The Imam Mahdi is About to Awaken. Jeeze maybe The Mahdi and Pele,the volcano godess are the same critter ? the Etna volcano rumbles back to life in Sicily The Etna volcano in Sicily rumbled back to life on Tuesday with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said three days after minor eruptions shook the cone.
A "seismic event provoking a strong explosion was recorded Tuesday at 0424 GMT (6:42 am local) in parts of the peak of the volcano," the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute in Sicily's Catania region said in a statement.
The explosion on Etna, Europe's tallest active volcano at 3,295 metres (10,810 feet), was followed by a rain of ash on the southeast crater, "where significant gas emissions are occurring," the statement said. The institute dispatched experts on Tuesday to the site, but "the phenomenon currently represents no danger to people or property," it said.
Saturday's eruption, accompanied by streams of lava, was also at the volcano's southeast crater. The last eruption of Mount Etna was in November 2007, two months after another eruption forced a temporary closure of nearby Catania airport due to flowing lava and clouds of ash.
snip
http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=080513115454.2kkv9hjr&show_article=1
