Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his mentor
We have previously mentioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s mentor, the hardline Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Messbah-Yazdi. Here is some more, via Pajamas:
One of the most powerful figures in this despotism, and one of the least known in the West, is the hardline Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Messbah-Yazdi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s spiritual advisor. To understand the power and influence of Messbah-Yazdi, one needs to learn a bit about the Hojjatieh sect of Shi’ite Islam. The Hojjatiyeh movement was founded in the early ‘50s by Mahmoud Halabi, a cleric of Arab ancestry and Iranian nationality. The movement believes in the imminent return of the Hidden Imam, Mehdi (a.k.a The Mahdi, the 12th Imam or Sawheb’o’zaman, which means the lord and master of all time). The Mahdi is the 12th descendant of the prophet Mohammad, whose reappearance is predicted for a time when the Muslims are suffering from disaster and injustice; true Islamic rule is possible only upon his return.
The Hojjatiyeh movement opposes the Shi’ite version of a Caliphate, the Velawyat’eh Fagheeh (which Amir Taheri translates as The Regency of the Theologians), which was a principle articulated by Khomeini. Therefore, in a July 1983 speech, Khomeini outlawed the movement and ordered the arrest of Hojjatiyeh supporters. Some he even ordered executed.
Contrary to the concept of Velawyat’eh Fagheeh, which states that all political power should be in the hands of a single leader, Hojjatiyeh claims that a collective leadership should rule until the Imam’s return. The movement’s economic views are liberal, which is the why it enjoys the support of traditional bazaar merchants and landowners; they object to any religiously-based official supervision.
Hojjatiyeh actively encourages its members to spread chaos and violence in society and the world at large, in order to hasten the return of the Twelfth Imam. The movement made the headlines on April 24, 1999, when its members attempted to assassinate the head of Tehran’s judicial system, Ali Razini. In late 2002 and early 2003 Hojjatiyeh increased its activity. In response, Iranian senior officials quickly issued a warning against the entrance of its members into government institutions.
One of the primary missions behind the creation of the sect was the annihilation of the Baha’i faith…Shi’ites generally regard Baha’ism as a heresy: according to Shiite theology, the Hidden Imam went into hiding when he was a child, and they believe he will reappear when the world is being destroyed by oppression and tyranny. Baha’is, on the other hand, believe that Mirza Hossein Ali, known as Baha’ollah, was the reincarnation of the Hidden Imam and that he has already appeared and established Baha’ism. The members of Hojjatieh view this idea as blasphemy, for they believe that Mehdi’s reappearance will usher in the end of the world as we know it, and thus the Baha’is are blasphemously following a false Mehdi.
Ahmadinejad belongs to the Jamkaran group. This is a subdivision of the Hojjatiyeh, named after the Jamkaran mosque, which is located on the outskirts of Qom. The Jamkaran Mosque is a sacred site for the disciples of the Mahdi, who according to a local tradition, drew the plans for the mosque himself and gave them to a man in a dream. Until recently the mosque’s link to the Hidden Imam remained a purely local myth, with little backing from the clergy. But one of the first administrative acts of the newly elected president was to allocate $20 million worth of funding from the government’s coffers to the Jamkaran mosque, in order to strengthen the cult of the Mahdi by creating a place to draw the pilgrims.
One thing we never underestimate is the religious sincerity of Mr. Ahmadinejad. Watch him mock the Baha’is at the United Nations for their lack of a divine prophet, while acknowledging Moses and Jesus as divine prophets for their time. You may get a fuller appreciation of Ahmadinejad’s view of the natural order of things when the Mahdi returns and true religion rules the world.
As a final point, note the narcissism inherent in the belief that this age is the time when the Mahdi will return, with Ahmadinejad, and others of Iran’s clerisy, to herald him and make straight his path. No act is beyond ruthless men who believe such things.