Ahmadinejad: mad man or master mind?

Comedian Jay Leno recently quipped,

"The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahma-nut job, has arrived in the United States. Did you know he was issued a visa to come here? Isn’t that amazing? You need a visa to get into the United States now, when did they start with that? … You know the interesting part? After he landed, he actually drove his own cab in from the airport."

Well, Mr. Leno, Ahma-nut job, the president of Iran is not! And, for you or me, or anyone else to dismiss him as just another "rag head" is to undermined the seriousness of this man’s ideology.

Nutty, Ahmadinejad is not. Sinister and calculating, yes! But a nut job? Hardly.

In 1976, Ahmadinejad took Iran's national university entrance contests, and was ranked 132nd out of 400,000 participants that year, following which he enrolled in the University of Science and Technology (IUST) as an undergraduate student of civil engineering. Eventually, he took his PhD (1997) from the same university at the campus in Tehran.

Supporters of Ahmadinejad consider him a "simple man" that leads a "modest" life. As president, he wanted to continue living in the same house in Tehran his family had been living in, until his security advisers insisted that he move. As a further expression of his piousness, Ahmadinejad had the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace sent to a carpet museum, and opted instead to use inexpensive carpets. He is said to have refused the V.I.P. seat on the Presidential plane, and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead.

Now, allow me to insert a word of caution to the cynic, I suggest that we take this piousness at face value. He is sincere, dedicated, and on a religious jihad in the truest sense of the word. As further example, it is interesting to note that upon gaining Iran's presidency, Ahmadinejad held his first cabinet meeting in the Imam Reza shrine at Mashhad, an act perceived as "pious".

Now, if you need further help in understanding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, consider these words from the heart of his Prophet, Muhammad, as expressed in the Qur'an:

"When you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in battle (fighting Jihad in Allah's Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them) captives. Thereafter either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam." Qur'an:47:4

Now does the July 31st 2009 kidnapping, and hostage of the three American hikers—Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, suddenly make sense and illuminate his stratagem? Listen, once again, to the words of Muhammad, “Thereafter either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam).” To further elucidate his thinking, consider what author and Middle East authority Joel C. Rosenberg has to say,

"When [Ahmadinejad] addressed the United Nations General Assembly last year [i.e., 2005) he concluded his speech by praying for Allah to hasten the coming of “the Promised One,” the Islamic Messiah also known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi.” When he got back to Tehran, the Iranian leader told colleagues that during his speech he was surrounded by a halo of light, and that for 27 or 28 minutes as he spoke, delegates were so mesmerized by the words Allah was speaking through him that no one blinked. Not once.

In the months that followed, Ahmadinejad made his Islamic eschatology even more clear. He told followers that he believed the end of the world was rapidly approaching, and that the way to hasten the coming of the Messiah was to launch a global jihad to annihilate Israel and the United States. He also told followers that the “Mahdi” is already on the planet, but has not yet chosen to reveal himself. What’s more, Ahmadinejad has said that he has personally been in contact with the “Mahdi” and received instructions from him, instructions that are apparently leading Iran to prepare for an apocalyptic war to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it." Joel C. Rosenberg, National Review Online, 9/20/06

Is Armageddon just around the corner? Friends, I have no way of knowing, other than trying to decipher the words of Christ who instructed us with:

"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door." (Mark 13:28-29)

I for one, want to be ready. But that is not enough. Christ died for the whole world. We must tell them also. If you would like to help click onto the button below: