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By Peter Burrows 4/30/25
On August 8, 2006, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Bernard Lewis, a British American historian who was regarded as one of the foremost experts on the Middle East. In that article, published almost 19 years ago, Lewis pointed out the dangers inherit in Iran having nuclear weapons.
Namely, while other nations are deterred from using nuclear weapons because of the threat of nuclear retaliation, known as the MAD doctrine, mutually assured destruction, this is NOT a deterrence for Iran. In fact, given Iran's Islamic dogma, "MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement." (Emphasis in original.) (1)
This is as true today as it was then, and the fact that so many Western leaders still think it is possible to negotiate a lasting peace with Iran shows how little we've learned. The results could be catastrophic.
One of the rules of warfare, emphasized 2500 years ago by Sun Tzu in The Art of War, is to know your enemy. I don't know of any Western leader who has said anything that indicates they know our enemy. This is what they should know:
Our enemies in Iran are Shia Muslims who believe that the twelfth and last Shia Imam was 5-year-old Muhammad al-Mahdi, a direct descendent of Muhammad, who was rescued from Sunni persecution by Allah in 854 A.D. The still living Mahdi, now 1,160 years old, has been in a state of occultation waiting for Allah to send him back to lead the Shias in their conquest of the world.
Sometimes called the Hidden Imam, his followers are known as Mahdaviats or Twelvers. Millions of them have made a pilgrimage to a well at the Jamkaran Mosque near the city of Qom, where it is believed Allah hid him.
The sad truth is that the little boy was probably kidnapped and murdered by the Sunnis as part of the nascent Sunni-Shia struggle for dominance, and perhaps his remains were thrown down that well. We'll never know. The Shias and Sunnis have been fighting each other ever since, something non-Muslims can be thankful for.
The Shias are only about 15 percent of all Muslims in the world but virtually 100% of the Muslims in Iran, of which about 90% would be considered Mahdaviats. Whatever theological differences might exist between Sunnis and Shias or between different sects of Shias, is irrelevant considering it's the Mahdaviats who could have their finger on the nuclear trigger.
That is why it is so important that we know that the Mahdaviates believe the return of the Twelfth Imam will occur in a time of great chaos, and if they can initiate that chaos, they will be simply hastening the day of Shia rule and world salvation. What better way to be proactive in such a holy cause than to use nuclear weapons against the unbelievers, starting with Israel?
It is immaterial if this results in the death of the Iranians because they will be in Paradise, their promised reward for dying in the cause of Allah, something true for all Muslims, not just Shias. From the Quran, Mawdudi translation:
Verse 9:38: "Believers! What is amiss with you that when it is said to you: "March forth in the cause of Allah," you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the worldly life to the Hereafter? Know well that all the enjoyment of this world, in comparison with the Hereafter, is trivial."
Verse 9:111: "Surely Allah has purchased of the Believers their lives and their belongings and in return has promised that they shall have Paradise. They fight in the Way of Allah and slay and are slain. Such is the promise He has made incumbent upon Himself ---. Rejoice then in the bargain you have made with Him." (Slightly edited for brevity.)
While those verses apply to all Muslims, the Mahdaviates believe in a specific apocalyptic event, the return of the Hidden Imam, believed by no other Islamic sect. This means they are uniquely dangerous. To that point, here's what the founder of the Iranian Shia theocracy, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is quoted as saying:
"I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers (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 hand 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." (2)
Let that sink in: "IN BOTH CASES, VICTORY AND SUCCESS ARE OURS." I don't think it's necessary to note that in both cases, whether defeated or not, a helluva lot of death and destruction will be visited upon the non-Muslims, us infidels, by these fanatically religious Muslims.
The Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, but his successors have not deviated from Mahdi orthodoxy. The current Supreme Leader of Iran is the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who last year said that any retreat from punishing Israel for assassinating a Hamas leader when he was in Tehran would risk "divine wrath." (3)
Trump has been elected since then and is spouting a lot of tough talk about Iran's nuclear program. He says it's unacceptable for them to ever get a nuclear weapon, yet he's negotiating with them. Why? There's nothing to negotiate. Is his rhetoric merely a gambit in "the art of the deal?"
In the short run, risking Trump's decidedly undivine wrath may be something the Ayatollah wants to avoid, but in the long run we can be sure that it's avoiding the "Divine wrath" that matters. This means he'll play Trump's ego and negotiate a deal for the self-anointed world's greatest deal maker, a deal which might even get Trump nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. All that such a deal will do, unless it has on-site monitoring and on-demand access to anyplace in Iran, is buy more time for the Iranians to continue developing nuclear weapons.
After all, they have been waiting for almost 1,200 years for Muhammad al-Mahdi to lead the Shias to eternal victory in the cause of Allah, so a few more years or decades is of little consequence. As one Muslim famously said, "You've got the watches, we've got the time."
I haven't given up hope, though. Trump just appointed Mark Levin to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and Levin is smart, tough and Jewish. You probably know him from his TV show, "Life liberty and Levin" which airs twice a week on Fox. This past Sunday, April 27, his guest was Alan Dershowitz, another smart, tough, Jew, and they talked about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran would pose to Israel.
They both agreed that Iran should never have nuclear weapons, that negotiating is a mistake, and that anybody advising Trump to make a deal is simply wrong. I hope Trump takes their advice.
1) www.wsj.com/articles/SB115500154638829470
2) ibid
3) www.iranintl.com/en/202408148230
Other sources:
www.raymondibrahim.com/2023/12/21/mahdism-the-apocalyptic-ideology-behind-irans-nuclear-program/
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401858/Why-man-nightmares.html
www.americanthinker.com/articles/2006/01/ahmadinejad_awaits_the_hidden.html
https://en.radiofarda.com/a/ap-was-there-iran-s-1979-islamic-revolution-sweeps-nation/29765359.html
www.breakpoint.org/preparing-for-the-mahdi/
