,,Ein Licht umgab mich ...“ – Die eschatologischen Visionen des iranischen Präsidenten Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād

Abstract

Since assuming office in 2005, Iranian president Ahmadīnežād surprised both many Westerners and Iranians by stating repeatedly that the Mahdī's advent is to be expected in the near future. He even talked about an aura that wreathed him throughout his first UN speech suggesting the presence of the Hidden Imām. The belief in the return of the Twelfth Imām, who went into hiding in 873/4, is one of the main items of Shi'ism and is also embodied in article 5 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran which says that only due to the occultation of the Lord of the Age the mandate to rule devolves upon a faqīh. Messianism is an inherent element of Shi'ite fundamentalism providing a deeper meaning for actual crises and nurturing hopes for a glorious future ultimately accomplished by the Imām's return. However, as the Islamic Republic is perceived in its self-conception as a preliminary stage for the absolutely just government of the Mahdī, the ruling clerics have a strong interest in suppressing all-too enthusiastic evocations of the Hidden Imām to ensure their own power. I argue in this article that Ahmadīnežād by stating that his government is conducted by a “hidden hand” and by setting times for the appearance of the Mahdī has provoked harsh criticism by a number of clerics, but his statements are still judged as tolerable given his rather limited competences in the Iranian system of government and his general call for returning to the ideals of the revolution.