Iran's Government Seeks Agreement with 12th Imam - in hiding since 13th century?

Kamal Tehrani, Rooz Online: a "reformist" website

A long time ago, the boundaries of imagination and reality merged. You may be surprised, but in today’s Iran, such stories still abound. Even among its cabinet members.

In a formal cabinet meeting chaired by Iran's new president’s first deputy, the ministers printed and ratified an agreement with the Shiites' 12th Imam. In his opening remarks, Parviz Davoudi, Ahmadinejad' first deputy suggested that the cabinet ministers should sign an agreement with 12th Imam, the same way they signed a pact with the new president. The ministers collectively agreed and so there is now an agreement between the two! The ministers then questioned how the 12th hidden Imam will sign the agreement!

The solution was resolved when the government's cabinet ministers agreed to ask Saffar Harandi, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance how president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad planned to take the letter to the holy Imam. Next Thursday night, Saffar Harandi dropped the signed agreement to the Jamkaran well, a spot that Moslem religious groups believe is where the Shiite 12th Imam is hidden. This well is also the resting place for tons of letters and requests from Muslim pilgrims.

A short while after the cabinet ministers' collective agreement, the government spent 70 billion rials to feed the needy pilgrims of Jamkaran Mosque. At the Transportation Minister's suggestion, this money would be spent to reconstruct the roads leading to Jamkaran and to allocate large amount of money for other similar projects. There was strong criticism on this from all fronts and even Ahmadinejad seemed very offended. He said that this government was not in power to build roads and that it should be thankful to 12th Imam's blessing for being in power.

The most important contemplating issue is that a large number of Ahmadinejad's close allies are talking about preparing the grounds for the hidden Imam's imminent manifestation and seriously and explicitly relate it to Iran's nuclear program. Based on informed sources in their conservative inner circles, they believe that resisting the international pressures and insisting on Iran's right to have nuclear capabilities will help the manifestation of the 12th Imam.

Some analysts believe that such talk among senior members of the new Iranian government indicates how deeply Ahmadinead and his supporters are influenced by ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and his students in Qom's religious circles. The unprecedented presence of many of his strong supporters in senior government positions and presidential offices is a good indication of these claim.

Who is the 12th Iman?

According to Azarmehr, writing about Ahmadinejah's spiritual mentor, Mesbah-Yazd and his views of the 12th Iman:

According to thhe Shiite version of Islam, the 12th descendant of prophet Mohammed, Mehdi or the Lord of All Ages, went into hiding when he was a child, some 1300 years ago. Shiites believe he will reappear again when the world has become full of oppression and tyranny.

So according to Kamal, Ahmadinejad's cabinet is looking for the supernatural return of the 12th Iman to help them deal with the U.S.

For they actually believe in the spread of tyranny and oppression. They argue that if the Lord of All Ages is to appear when the world is full of oppression and tyranny, then we ought to help spread evil, tyranny and oppression in order to facilitate the coming of the 12th Imam, Mehdi.

If these reports are accurate, how do you deal a government that believes this?