On the Millenium Debate: In Shi'a Islam and Protestant Christianity

Calligraphy with the 12th Imam's name "Ya Aba Salih, al-Mahdi"

.

Reading "Scary Theory" on I Like Your Sleeves, then going to some of the links the blogger and bahai.org provided regarding Hojjatieh, I am reminded that Islam as practiced today, like Christianity, is not monolithic in its beliefs. There are, for example, differences of opinion in Shi'a Islam over the return of the 12th Imam in a discussion that paralells a similar discussion in Christianity over the return of Christ. Baha'is believe that Christ has returned with the coming of Baha'u'llah. For Christians the debate is as follows:

The Millenium Debate
* Raptured Before the Reign (Premillenial View)
* Working Toward and Waiting for a Coming Reign of Peace (Postmillenial View)
* The Symbolic Thousand-Year Conquest of Satan (Amillenial View)

Administrator, "Proposed topics for threads - Religious Education"

Hojjatieh followers, according to the Wikipedia, believe that "chaos must be created to hasten the return of the Mahdi, the 12th Shi'ite Imam. Only then, they argue, can a genuine Islamic republic be established."

It doesn't take much to bring on chaos in today's world. In fact, the world has been in the grip of chaotic conditions for a long, long time. Misguided attempts to bring order to the world by conciously wrecking havoc causes further unnecessary suffering for humankind, given that more than a century and a half ago God sent us the Bab, the return of the 12th Imam, and Baha'u'llah, to Shi'a Islam the the return of the Imam Husayn and to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ). The construction of the Kingdom of God on earth is well underway. The bahai.org links regarding Hojjatieh are below. -gw

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_10945.shtml
http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/iranica1
http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/2004/09/31-130904.asp