Opinion

A’jad’s ‘apocalyptic’ power ploy

Is the world drawing to an end? The question is raised in a new “documentary” that has intensified the power struggle in Iran’s ruling establishment as it prepares for parliamentary elections fraught with dangers for the regime.

“The Return Is Imminent” has never been shown in any cinema in the Islamic Republic. But the DVD has sold more than a million copies under the counter; millions of people have seen parts of it via the Internet. The “return” is of Muhammad bin Hassan — the last of the 12 imams of Shiism, the majority faith in Iran. Nicknamed “lord of the time,” Muhammad is said to have disappeared in the 10th century to prepare for creating “the perfect world.”

During the hidden imam’s “long absence,” 36 pious men, working in secret, prevent the earth from falling down. In Shiite theology, they are known as “pegs” or “nails.”

According to tradition, a number of signs herald the return. These include a cast of characters with different functions. A key one key is Shuaib bin Saleh, a model Muslim who leads the imam’s armies in a final war against non-Muslims across the globe.

The “documentary” identifies President Mahmoud Amadinejad as the incarnation of Shuaib bin Saleh and his appearance on the political scene as a sign of the hidden imam’s return. Also according to tradition, the return becomes imminent when “a tall black man in the West” becomes the commander-in-chief of “infidel” nations.

Another character, Sofiani, is a truly bad guy who tries to sabotage Shuaib’s mission. In “The Return Is Imminent,” that role is given to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who has called for an Arab front to stop Iran’s alleged hegemonic ambitions.

What has enraged part of the Khomeinist establishment is that the film also identifies most of the regime’s prominent figures as bad guys. It also ignores the “supreme guide,” Ali Khamenei, who himself claims to be an understudy for the “hidden imam” during the “long absence.”

In short, the film shuts the mullahs out of the story by arguing for a Shiism without the clergy (an idea launched in the 1960s by pamphleteer Ali Shariati).

Last week, the daily Kayhan, reflecting Khamenei’s views, attacked the documentary as “a conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.” It called on Ahmadinejad to denounce the idea that he is Shuaib bin Saleh. Ahmadinejad hasn’t done so.

Ahmadinejad claims to have had mystic contacts with the hidden imam. In 2009, he claimed that the imam had accompanied him during a visit to New York.

Some Ahmadinejad supporters claim that he is one of the “pegs.” Ahmadinejad’s life-long friend Esfandiar Masha’i is also identified as a “peg.”

On Sunday, the Center for Studying the Return in the “holy” city of Qom denounced the “documentary” as an “attempt by certain circles to exclude the clergy” and “promote a new ideology centered on Iran rather the Islam.” And now the Islamic prosecutor-general has announced that he’s opened a case against the film’s unidentified producers.

“We all have the duty of preparing for the return,” Ejehi said. “However, fixing the time and manner of the return is a crime.”

Chief Justice Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani has called for “urgent dealing with this sinister plot.” More senior theologians have also been drawn into the controversy. Ayatollah Vahid Khorassani has demanded consultation among leading theologians about “The Return.”

Last week, Qom dispatched a delegation to the “holy” city of Najaf in Iraq to raise the matter with Grand Ayatollah Ali-Muhammad Sistani, regarded as Shiism’s highest religious authority. Sistani refused to comment on the film but declared that “tawqit,” or fixing the time of the return, and “tatbiq,” the identification of the Imam’s companions, are “sensitive matters” and shouldn’t be treated “by persons unqualified.”

The film appears to have two objectives. First, to script the mullahs out of political life: If the hidden imam is about to take charge, there is no need for mullahs. What we need are the “pegs” to start preparing for the return with instructions from the lord of the times.

The second goal is to pave the way for constitutional amendments to let Ahmadinejad stand for a third consecutive term as president. Failing that, the presidency could go to Masha’i for a term, allowing Ahmadinejad to return to office four years later.

The argument is that the two “pegs” need time to prepare for the return. Ahmadinejad’s critics claim that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has planted the idea of “presidency for life” in his Iranian friend’s mind. Meanwhile, the “grand waiting” continues.