Mulling over Lee Lofaso to Steve Asher 28 Jun 2010

G'day Lee,

 LL> An interesting read.  Makes some valid points, but all a rehash of
 LL> what has gone on before.  What the author fails to mention is every
 LL> ideology depends on a leader for that ideology to succeed. Nazi
 LL> Germany was a personality cult, centered around Adolf Hitler.
 LL> Fascist Italy was more of an ideology rather than a personality
 LL> cult, as Fascist Italy would have continued regardless of who its
 LL> leader was.  Communism was never really an ideology at all, but
 LL> rather a series of successive personality cults - Vladimir Lenin,
 LL> Josef Stalin, etc.  One could say Stalinism was more apt a
 LL> description.  Or Maoism in regards to Communist China.

 LL> When it comes to Islam, what we are seeing today is the same as has
 LL> occurred in centuries past.  The danger is if a leader emerges in
 LL> the Islamic world.  A leader who unites the Islamic world to act as
 LL> one.

There is an expectation that such a leader will soon strut the world stage,
- the 12th Imam or Mahdi. There are differing muslim views as to the Mahdi,
this is one of them:


http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-ithna-ashari.htm


Twelvers / Ithna Ashari Islam

The Twelvers are by far the largest group of Shiite Muslims, because the
Iranians are Twelvers. Perhaps eighty percent of the Shiis are Twelvers.
Twelvers constitute ninety percent of the modern population of Iran and
fifty-five to sixty percent of the population of Iraq. Twelver Shiites 
are the majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and also have substantial 
populations in Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, India, Afghanistan and 
Bahrain.

The following of Jafar Sadik bifurcated into two branches - the Ismailis, 
the followers of Ismail, and the Musawite, the supporters of Musa Kazim, 
who later on came to be known as Twelvers, or Ithna Asharites. Canonical
schools in Islam are called "Fiqh's". the only Fiqh's in Shia
Islam, are Usuli, Akhbari, and Shaykhi. These 3 all belong to the
Ithna-Ashari or mainstream Shia Islam, which believes in the 12 Shia Imams;
hence the 
name which means "Twelver's".

[...]

Modern Twelvers believe that, for his own protection, Mohammad al-Mahdi 
went into "occultation" (hiding). He is reported to have communicated to 
the faithful via intermediaries called Babs (Gates), the first of whom was
Uthman al-Amri. When the last of the four gates died in 941 CE, the lesser
occultation ended and the greater occultation began. The line of Twelver 
Imams came to an end.

About the time the lesser Occultation came to an end the Twelvers came to
believe that the Twelfth Imam would return to earth in the last days as the
Mahdi, and would establish a reign of justice and peace on earth. After his
coming, they believe, Christ will return. Some from Iran claimed when Imam
Khomeini was alive that he was in fact the "Disappearing Imam"
who had come 
back to rule. Others said that he was the Mehdi or "Promised Messiah". 


Steve

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