To understand Ahmadinejad’s mind set and behavior requires a close scrutiny of the elaborate and intricate theology of Hujjatiyyah Shiism, perhaps the most fundamentalist of the numerous Shiite sects.

 

In the 1950s, a group of Islamic clergy led by Sheikh Mahmoud Halabi (a close associate of Ayatollah Khomeini) formed a society called the Anjoman-e Khayryyehye Hujjatiyyah-ye Mahdaviat (Charitable Society of the Mahdi), based in Mashhad, Iran.

The Hujjatyyah society were mostly made up of the bazaar-i businessmen and fanatical mullahs. Among many things, they were against the communists, Marxists, and atheists. Their overarching “raison d'être,” however, was to prepare the world for the upcoming of the 12th Imam - the Mehdi. Though, the most important agenda on their list was to harass, campaign against, and persecute the Baha’is, a religious group representing a very small percent of Iran’s population. In fact, the group’s other name became Anjuman-e Zidd-e Baha’iyat ( the anti-Baha’i Society). They collectively worked for a single purpose: the eradication of Baha'is.

The terrible plight of the Baha’is in Iran is particularly heart-wrenching, since they are the largest non-Muslim population in the country and have, from day one, been severely brutalized by Muslims. The Baha’i faith dates back to the middle of the 19th century when an Iranian nobleman, Baha’u’llah, founded the new faith as an independent religion—a very painful thorn in the side of a ruling vested clergy with a stranglehold on the masses. The slaveholder, Islam, finds the Baha’i faith a threat to its very existence, since many of the Baha’i teachings are anathema to that of Islamofascism—the favorite version of Islam.

The egomaniac President Ahmadinejad, is a member of Hujjatyyah society. He sees himself as the personal vassal of the Mahdi-Messiah or Hidden Imam, with whom he has fantasized tête-à-têtes all the time.

In the same fashion that George W. Bush has a spiritual advisor in Billy Graham, Ahmadinejad has one too- Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi (the defacto leader of the Hojjatieh). He is known for his extremist views on Islam; he promotes suicide bombings, attacks on civilians in the West and once said, “if anyone tells you their own interpretation of Islam, punch them in the mouth!”

He has, thus, in a short time acquired great many appellations. He is viewed as zealot, fascist, fanatic, anti-Semitic, lunatic and more. One prominent Western columnist called him “unhinged.” All these labels aim, in part, to dismiss the man as an aberration, as someone who is in urgent need of psychological help, a person out of touch with reality who represents nothing of substance. He has, thus, in a short time acquired great many appellations.

Once again the West is misreading and misjudging the people and the events in the Middle East, due to the fact that it views things through its own prism.

Looking at the man through Western spectacles, he indeed appears to be all of the above and more. Yet Ahmadinejad is far from unhinged. As a matter of fact he is firmly hinged to a set of beliefs that dictate his views of the world and how he should deal with it from his position of power. An unhinged has the potential of being hinged. But, there is very little that can be done to a person who is inseparably hinged. Ahmadinejad views are firmly rooted in the most orthodox philosophy of Shiism.

For our purposes, however, it is sufficient to document the fact that Ahmadinejad is not unhinged. “Unhinged” is a derogatory term for a person who is mentally disturbed. A prominent feature of a mentally disturbed person is the display of contradictory thoughts and behavior. Ahmadinejad’s words, deeds and beliefs show a fully hinged person. He, to the perception of many, may be hinged to a dangerous and faulty hinge. Yet he is hinged.

There is a full internal consistency in Ahmadinejad. Below are a few examples of his sayings, beliefs and actions. Whether one agrees or disagrees with them, they all fit perfectly into a consistent pattern.

• He literally believes in the imminent emergence of the Mahdi – the Shiites promised one who is expected to appear to set aright a decadent and wretched world.
• He views himself as the vassal of Mahdi, working for him and being accountable to him.
• His main task is to prepare the world so to hasten the Mahdi’s coming. If this preparation requires much destruction and bloodshed, so be it.
• As a former mayor of Tehran, he developed elaborate detailed plans preparing the city for the arrival of the Mahdi.
• He allocated generous sums for extensive road improvement to a mosque at Jamkaaraan near the city of Qum where it is believed the promised Mahdi is hiding in a well since the age of nine, over 1100 years ago.
• He reportedly visits the well frequently and drops his written supplications into the well for the hidden Mahdi to act upon them.
• He has said in private that it was he who asked the Mahdi to inflict the massive stroke on Ariel Sharon.
• He sees the Jews as the sworn enemies of Islam. The hostility dates back to the time of Muhammad’s own treatment of the Jews in Medina. At first, expediently, Muhammad called the Jews “people of the book,” and accorded them a measure of tolerance until he gained enough power to unleash his devastating wrath on them.
• He says that the Holocaust is a myth. He is, in this respect, in good company with a number of other revisionist claimants.
• He wants Israel to be wiped out of the map or transferred to Europe.
• In his speech at the UN general assembly, he implored the Mahdi to come and save the world. He claimed that during his speech of some twenty odd minutes, a powerful light enveloped him and all participants were held transfixed unable to move their eyes.
• He believes that the earth is Allah’s and all people must either become believers of his brand of Islam or must perish as infidels najis (unclean) who by their very presence defile Allah’s earth.
• He believes that this earthly life is passing and worthless in comparison to the afterlife awaiting a devoted and faithful believer. Hence, he holds to the old belief that if a faithful kills an infidel, he goes to Allah’s paradise; and, if the faithful gets killed in the process of serving the faith, again he goes to Allah’s paradise. Hence, it is a win-win proposition for the faithful.

Ahmadinejad is a true devoted Muslim. Being unpredictable, self-contradictory and inconsistent are major symptoms of the mentally unhinged. By these standards of insanity, Ahmadinejad emerges as completely sane. He is fully predictable, consistent and has shown no self-contradiction. He does not even pretend that he misspoke or apologizes for his outrageous statements. He is not a typical politician who practices the devious art of doublespeak, deception and change of position to suit him.

He knows who he is, what he believes, what he holds as veritable truth and what his own mission in life is – serving as the instrument for the revered Mahdi whom Allah shall make him emerge from the well as soon as the world’s conditions hit the absolute hopeless bottom. Ahmadinejad sees himself as a driver who can play a critical role in doing just that – driving the world to the very bottom.

There is nothing really “unhinged” about Ahamadinejad’s thinking, statements and actions. They are internally consistent. He is simply a fanatic who is wedded to an extremely dangerous exclusionary system of belief. Humanity must learn that dismissing a fanatic as lunatic or unhinged rather than squarely facing the likes of Ahmadinejad and Hitler will result in great suffering.

Tragically, Ahmadinejad is not a single solitary “unhinged.” He is the embodiment of several million people who are hinged exactly like him and are willing to give their life, and take as many lives as required in the service of their belief. And in the age of Weapons of Mass Destruction a man with huge sums of petrodollars can indeed serve as the catalyst of total annihilation. It is by far more prudent to err on the side of being an alarmist than a complacent dismissive.

Ahmadinejad and his ilk are not interested in any negotiation, any compromise or live-and-let-live. They are determined to be the soldiers of Mahdi come-what-may. They have no problem with the total destruction of the world. They are headed for a life of eternal bliss in Allah’s paradise. They hardly care, even rejoice, if the rest of humanity is subjected to a tragic death in the nuclear, biological and chemical wasteland of planet earth.
Humanity cannot afford and must not ignore the emergence of the final threat to its very existence on this planet.