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Article: Waiting for the Mahdi: Jesus and the Shi'a savior.
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- June 17, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WHEN IRAN president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed an open letter to George W. Bush in May 2006, he invoked Judgment Day, the day when the deeds of all political leaders will be examined. Ahmadinejad asked Bush whether either of them would be accepted "in the promised world, where ... Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) will be present." Ahmadinejad appeared to be trying to connect with American Christians and to critique Bush in light of the U.S. president's own faith. He expressed not only his own reverence as a Muslim for Jesus but his expectation that Jesus would return to earth.
This expectation is part of a Muslim belief in the appearance of the Mahdi--a savior ...