ArnoldRimmer said:
Actually, Islam has always expected Jesus to return. The difference to the christian "second coming"-belief is that they basically expect two "messiahs" will come in company: One being Jesus Christ, the other being the hidden twelveth Iman Al-Mahdi (who, by the way, is the legitimite ruler of Iran according to their constitution - so if one wanted to overthrow the iranian government, all he had to come up with was a person credibly claiming to be Al-Mahdi ;) ). When Ahmadinejad gave his UN speech about 2 weeks ago, he even dedicated more than one whole page of his speech to this topic, how great it's going to be and even claimed this would happen soon. It was quite bizarre and I'm still wondering why not a single media over here even mentioned this, for I think it would have matched the usual "crazy Ahmadinejad"-stereotype perfectly. So Islam would hardly disappear, it would rather prove their beliefs. I think there would be more danger to judaism, for according to the talmud, Jesus is forced to rot in hell forever, swimming in boiling hot excrements... |
Yes Muslims believe in the second coming of Jesus, but what you've said about the Mahdi is correct and incorrect.
The hidden 12th Imam belief belongs to a sect called the twelvers who constitute about 10-15% of the muslim population. You might know these people as the Shia. Iran is mostly Shia.
The rest are Sunnis who also believe in Mahdi, but do not believe he is some person who has been invisible/hiding for 1200 years or so. He will just be a normal person born, but will have role of leadership in the arabian peninsula.
