Bin Ladin: The Man Who Would Be Mahdi

[Conscious Manipulation]

This is interesting...

 

The Middle East Forum

[Paragon]

The first step in dealing with any self-proclaimed Mahdi would be for the United States and its Muslim allies to rely on Muslim scholars, preferably practicing Muslims themselves, to denigrate Mahdist claims, by portraying Mahdism as a kind of superstition, and by pointing out incompatibilities between the Mahdist claimant and the hadiths. For example, were bin Ladin to reveal himself as the "Rightly-guided One," ulema and muftis could draft and disseminate official fatwas (legal opinions) challenging his Mahdist claims by noting that: 1) the Mahdi must be born in Medina, whereas Usama bin Ladin was born in Yemen; 2) the Mahdi must not kill other Muslims, as bin Ladin and al-Qa‘ida have done in Tanzania, Kenya, New York, and Afghanistan; 3) the Mahdi is to be preceded by not only the Muslim antichrist, the Dajjal, but also by Jesus, neither of whom is known to be present on earth.

The Ottomans took this approach against Muhammad Ahmad, but since they and their ulema were seen as interlopers in Sudan, they could not discredit the movement. The Saudis, on the other hand, succeeded with their anti-Mahdist propaganda blitz, for they were fighting on their own turf, both rhetorically and militarily. It is not too early to encourage the development of a counter-Mahdist doctrine, as a kind of immunization against a future claim by bin Ladin or anyone else.

 

The second and most important aspect to defeating any revolutionary leader claiming the title of Mahdi is military power. The destruction of the Taliban regime is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a military victory over bin Ladin. So long as he lurks in some corner of the Islamic world, he will remain a latent contender for the leadership of any millenarian trend in Islam.

Of course, Usama bin Ladin may not have the ambitions speculatively ascribed to him in this article. He may very well die in Afghanistan, or survive but never arrogate to himself the title of Mahdi. Even so, the spread of Mahdist belief in the contemporary Sunni Muslim ethos, wedded to resentment against dire socioeconomic conditions, repressive political regimes, and Western and Christian global dominance, practically ensures that Mahdism will at some point erupt. When it does, it will threaten not only the Islamic world, but very possibly the entire world. This is an eventuality for which the United States would do well to prepare.

 

Timothy R. Furnish

teaches world history at Georgia Perimeter College and holds a doctorate in Islamic history.

[Mohamed nuur]

I would rather think less of those kind of things

[Yusufaddie]

Salaam isn;'t it a shame that the kufa knows what islam needs to restore its dignity and muslims do not. how glorious it would be if Somalia becomes dowlatul islamiyyah.