True Message Missed Amongst Rhetoric at Columbia University

Put aside all of the rhetoric of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University and understand what is truly important. It seems that Columbia has forgotten about the atrocities that Adolf Hitler inflicted on millions of people during his reign of terror. In all reality, he should not have been welcomed to our country and this sentiment is felt by Republican Congressional Candidate Jim King, Fifth District of Florida, who said, "Ahmadinejad should not have been allowed into the country and if the only reason he was allowed was to attend the UN then perhaps the UN should be moved."

Ahmadinejad is on a mission to end the world by hastening the return of Al-Imam al-Mahdi, which can be seen in his opening prayer at the university. In his opening statements he prayed, "Oh God hasten the arrival of Imam al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his right foremost."

For those that do not know Mahdi is the Shia parallel to the second coming of Jesus Christ, which the Ithna-Ahariyya follows. It is believed that the twelfth Imam will return in Mecca first then to Median and then to Karbala Iraq. Once he is there, an Islamic caliphate will be established to take over the world. An advisor to Ahmadinejad Ayatollah Amini, professor at the Religious Learning Center in Qom, Iran, describes the coming of the Mahdi in his book "Al-Imam al-Mahdi." Amini is quoted as saying in his book, "The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and Christians, if they accept they will be spared. Otherwise, they will be killed. It seems unlikely this catastrophe can be avoided. War and bloodshed are inevitable."

This group is also known as the twelvers and they believe that they can hasten the return of the Imam through the right conditions. These conditions are chaos, war, and bloodshed because it is believed that only in these conditions Mahdi can return with peace and justice.