Hi Furball,
Originally posted by Furball
I get the impression that Iran is desperate to make a martyr of itself.
Ahmadinejad and the ruling council of Mullahs certainly are. Bernard Lewis, picked up on the 8/22 theme in the Wall St. Journal yesterday (I'd link directly to the article, but WSJ is subscription only). Lewis is easily one of the West's leading scholars on the subject of modern Islam.
He writes in part:
"What is the significance of Aug. 22? This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to "the farthest mosque," usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.
A passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, is revealing. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours." "
The Martyrdom/Final Conflict language is currently being ramped up both in the Hezbollah and Iran. Even "moderates" in the Arabic world are framining the current conflict as modern day battle of Khaybar referring to the Prophet Muhammad's successfull raid on the Khaybar oasis which led to the final defeat and expulsion of the last Jewish presence on the Arabian peninsula.
Hence in Kuwait (one of the most supposedly "moderate" and pro-west Muslim nations) crowds chanted:
"Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.” (incidently, one of the Hezbollah missiles supplied by Iran is called the Khaybar-1 - which would have been like the Germans officially naming the V-2 "Brit Killer")
You see for us in the west, this is a nasty political conflict, in the middle east its a continuation of a religio/political conflict that began in 611 AD and which men like Ahmadinejad believe is now entering its final phases. They believe they can also speed up the final outcome.
The conflict is essentially irresolvable, because Israel occupies land that was conquered by Islam from the Byzantines and is thus an Islamic
waqf (a permanent part of the Dar-El-Islam). The Hamas charter (and the Hezbollah charter) embodies this Sharia doctrine:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?
This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement." (Hamas Charter, Article 11)Therefore Muslims must never stop fighting for the removal of Israel until the judgment day, and to die in such a fight is to enter directly into paradise. If you understand that, you'll understand why for Ahmadinejad, mutually assured destruction is actually an assurance of paradise and no threat at all.
- SEAGOON
