Ahmadinejad is tapping into a deep reservoir of religious fervour

QOM: The deep percussive thud sounded like the drums of doom — an impression compounded by the preacher’s doleful wailing and the weeping of thousands of worshippers.

However, the bass-like rhythm was produced not by drums, but by the beating of countless hands against chests in the age-old ritual of Shia Islam. And the faithful inside the packed prayer hall were conveying a message not of dread, but of fervent hope.

Encouraged by the preacher’s impassioned pleas, they were expressing their desire for the return of the hidden Imam Mehdi (AS) — the revered saviour of Islam, whose reappearance after more than a millennium in occultation is awaited by believers in a manner similar to that with which Christian fundamentalists anticipate the second coming of Jesus. In Islam, Imam Mehdi (AS) is predicted to reappear in Makkah and herald a new dawn of justice after the world has been torn asunder by violence and oppression.

“O thou who are close to God, be the middle man between us and God,” bellowed the preacher, prompting a noisy chorus of tearful sobs from the crowd in the famous Jamkaran mosque, a 1,000-year-old, five-domed mosque on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all corners of Iran go there every Tuesday night — when the Imam’s spirit is said to be present — to pray for their saviour’s return and ask him to perform miracles.

Such devoutness is in harmony with the beliefs of Iran’s ultra-Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has put the hidden Imam’s long-awaited return at the heart of his political philosophy in a manner not exhibited by his predecessors.

In what has been depicted as an example of Mr Ahmadinejad’s excessive religious devotion, a video has been circulated in which he is heard telling a leading Ayatollah of having felt “a light” while making a speech to the UN. Mr Ahmadinejad has dismissed the video as part of a campaign of “psychological warfare” by his enemies.

But he is committed about his robust beliefs on the Imam.

“His name is known and he will emerge and establish justice in the world,” Mr Ahmadinejad told a recent press conference. “I’m proud of this belief. It’s not just a religious belief, it’s very progressive. A belief in the 12th Imam is a belief in the world of tomorrow.”

Mr Ahmadinejad is tapping into a deep reservoir of religious fervour that has not run dry since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An estimated 17 million pilgrims visit Jamkaran’s mosque every year. Between 500,000 and 600,000 pass through its gates each Tuesday evening during the summer. The figure falls to 300,000 in the winter months.

Many have been coming every Tuesday night for the past 40 weeks or longer, believing that their requests for such earthly desires as a job or a cure for a sick child have been realised. Requests are written on a piece of paper addressed to the Imam and deposited into a wishing well.

“I made a vow to come every week if my husband found a job and my wish was fulfilled,” said Khadidje, 26, her eyes wet with tears. “I also prayed that my uncle would be cleaned up from his drug addiction and that also came true. I believe the Imam (AS) is alive and present here. He is our master.”

“What I hope is that Palestine will get its freedom back. Iran alone cannot free Palestine,” said Farzad Kahzadi, 24, a police officer, who had come from Tehran with his wife to pray for the resolution of a work problem.

“I agree with Ahmadinejad that Israel should be wiped off the map, but not through war. By the appearance of the 12th Imam, Israel would be wiped out automatically.”

Asghar Hatami, 25, a construction businessman who backed Mr Ahmadinejad in last year’s presidential election, said: “I hope the 12th Imam’s return would bring justice, peace and fairness in the world and put an end to countries like America oppressing Islamic countries, including Iran.”

Mr Ahmadinejad’s critics believe his public proclamations on the 12th Imam go to the heart of a debate on the nature of Iran’s Islamic republic system of government provoked by recent comments from his religious mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi. Questioning the necessity for elections, Mr Mesbah-Yazdi, a cleric, said the system’s Islamic component should override the republican element, meaning officials should derive their authority from God rather than people’s votes.

“Ahmadinejad is just deceiving the masses,” said Abdel Reza Tajik, political editor of the liberal Shargh newspaper. “They have been elected by people’s votes but now that they want to put democracy under question, they argue that legislation and legitimacy should come from somewhere else — and that somewhere else is the 12th Imam (AS).”

But the president’s supporters insist he is merely stressing the purist values of the Islamic Revolution.

“In our political system, we are already following and practising for the return of the 12th Imam (AS) by following the word of our Supreme Leader,” said Hamid Reza Tarighi. “We are introducing a pattern for an Islamic society. The world should know what kind of pattern and society we long for. That is one of Mr Ahmadinejad’s slogans.” —Dawn/The Guardian News Service